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Who Is Your Content Talking To?

The president of the business line was stunned by my response.  “This is my advertisement,” she said.  “It should appeal to me.  Why is that wrong?”

In the early 2000s, Strategic Communications Group (Strategic) provided creative design and advertising services.  One of our most profile campaigns was developed for American Management Systems, a global technology company that has since been acquired by CGI Group.

While preparing the creative, we interviewed dozens of customers.  We evaluated competitors.  We reviewed analyst reports.  The result was a strategic and thoughtful presentation of capabilities aligned with user needs.

The president’s initial response:  “I don’t like it.  It doesn’t speak to me.”

Whether the advertisement speaks to you is irrelevant, I explained.  You are not the audience.  Will the ad garner interest and attention from your customers and prospects?  Does it speak to them?

That same review methodology applies today in content marketing.  I encourage you to consider the following when crafting or evaluating a blog post, article, podcast, video or infographic:

  1. Will this help the customer be more successful? That’s the focus of thought leadership. Share best practices, lessons learned and insight, rather than pitching product functionality or corporate capabilities.
  2. Is it timely? This is the bedrock of a journalistic approach to content creation. Tie your content to the issues and trends that influence and shape how your customer’s are executing on their business.
  3. Does it incorporate third-party perspective? Add insight from analysts, partners and users for credibility and to validate your key messages. Here is an example of content created for Reed Technology & Information Services that does just that.
  4. Is there a call to action so a customer can learn more? Cross-promote related content. Make available a Webinar replay.  Offer up a subject matter expert.  You want to make it easy for a reader to engage with your organization.

For marketers, the tactics and channels of communication have shifted during the past decade.  The process for content creation remains constant.  This isn’t about you.  It is about your customers, prospects and partners.

Make sure your content speaks to them!

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Accenture Study Reveals CMO Accountability

Spiderman understood the responsibility that comes with power. (Image: AllCartoonCharacters.com)

Soon after being bitten by a radioactive spider, a young Peter Parker learns with great power comes great responsibility.

Corporate chief marketing officers (CMO) should also come to appreciate the connection between authority and accountability.  That’s according to a new survey conducted by Accenture Strategy that found the CMO is the most likely member of the executive team to be fired when a company fails to hit its growth target.

Is this fair?

Absolutely — when you ask the CEO.  The survey results reveal 50 percent of CEOs view the top marketer as the primary driver of “disruptive growth.”  This involves launching products into new areas, expanding service models or increasing revenue through inventive approaches to data.

Yet, the more than 800 CMOs who also participated in the same study spend only 37 percent of their time on innovation.  The majority of their effort is focused on managing traditional marketing activities.

The take-away from this study is it is imperative for CMOs to realign how they invest their time.  They still need to set the path for brand, communications and demand generation programs, to be executed by their team and supporting vendors.

However, the CMO must assume the mantle of growth through innovation.  This is a wonderful opportunity to be more meaningful and relevant in the organization.  Plus, their boss expects it.

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Corporate CMO Set to Rule Tech Spend

A few years back a Gartner analyst turned heads with the projection that spending by the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) on technology would soon outpace the dollars invested by the Chief Information Officer (CIO).

That day is apparently close to arrival.  In a blog post published last month by Gartner’s Jake Sorofman, he cites new research from the firm that finds CMOs allocated 3.24 percent of revenue for technology in 2016, which is within a whisper of the 3.4 percent CIOs will put forth for IT.

Gartner’s Sorofman

Why has marketing technology continue to grab mind and money share in the executive suite?  Sorofman offers two reasons:

  1. Customer preferences and behaviors have shifted with the buyer’s journey increasingly self-directed and digitally led. CEB refers to this trend as the enlightened buyer. It’s the foundation of my consultancy’s Web2Sales methodology.
  2. Majority of CMOs now own or share P&L responsibility for a digital commerce channel. Their contribution to revenue growth is expected…and measured.

Sorofman concludes his post with a high impact thought:  “Digital marketing has become marketing in a digital world.”

True that!

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Tales of Marketing from the Undead

A work obsessed hedge fund manager boards a train with his daughter.  As they prepare to depart, a young woman stumbles on with a bite wound on her leg.  The nightmare begins.    

This is the set-up for the South Korean-made zombie movie Train to Busan, which has smashed all box office records in that country.  Busan’s success provides valuable lessons for corporate marketers who subscribe to the importance of story telling in their communications programs.

Lesson #1:  If you exist in a crowded market segment, play up a unique attribute – either real or perceived.

Let’s stick with zombie movies for comparison.  Night of the Living Dead created the modern genre in 1968.  The movie was fresh and innovative, which is why it attracted hordes of fans.

To garner interest today, zombie fare most sport some sort of creative distinction (i.e. zombies on a train) or be presented in a different media, such as AMC’s The Walking Dead.

Lesson #2:  Give your audience what they want…and lots of it.  Zombie movie fans want to see the undead chasing and biting.  That’s why they plunked down their money.

Marketers should follow suit.  Understand your company’s value proposition to key audiences and lead with it in Web, digital, social and sales-related communications.

Lesson #3:  Star power drives interest and attention.  Train to Busan features one of South Korea’s rising talents.  World War Z had Brad Pitt.

This is the business case to invest in thought leadership to enhance the visibility, reputation and credibility of your company’s senior team at corporate and customer facing field reps.

The bite is on! What marketers can learn from zombie movies like Train to Busan.

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Content Sources for the Thought Leadership-less

The value and impact of thought leadership continues to rage.  Corporate marketers espouse its virtues.  Analysts research its impact.  And consultants hype their wares.

What happens though when your organization and its executives have little to say?

Come on…everyone has some sort of perspective, right?  Credible companies participate in and shape industry dialogue and debate.

It may surprise you to learn the number one concern I hear from your peers when it comes to content marketing, social media engagement and digital promotion is the inability to identify thought leaders in their organization.  Here is an Email I received just this week from an experienced marketer who works for one of the world’s largest and most successful B2B brands:

We just don’t feel comfortable from a content and message perspective, as we are still building it all this year.

Cue up the dramatic music!  Is the promise of content lost for these thought leadership-less companies?

The answer is, of course, no.

Content that engages, educates and (when appropriate) entertains can be sourced from a myriad of third parties.  This will allow your company to still realize the ROI of thought leadership content.

Consider these sources:

1. Strategic and Technology Partners. I suspect they: a) have white papers, case studies, presentations and blog posts; and b) would welcome your help to distribute these materials to the market.

Plus, your investment of time and resources solidifies the relationship.

2. Market Research Firms, Industry Analysts and Business/Trade Media. They are in the business of thought leadership and, similar to your partners, will most likely applaud your efforts to help them attract new readers.

Please be sure to respect copyright by linking to their sites, rather than repurposing their content for your own agenda.

3. Your Own Customers and Prospects. That’s right, act like a journalist and interview ‘em. Publish a Q&A or a podcast.

Keep in mind though the objective is NOT to promote you or your company’s solutions.  Rather, it is about their thoughts, views and perspective about the industry.  You know, thought leadership.

Here is a link to three examples of how Strategic Communications Group (Strategic) executes on this via our Modern Marketing Today program.

 

Magic.Elixir.Photo
The thought leadership elixir can be sourced from third parties. (Image: http://www.gilliancasey.com/)

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