Content Marketing Show was one of the most anticipated marketing events for me since last year’s show. The presentations from the thought leaders of the industry were inspiring, and the sweet treats ranging from Fizz Wiz (from Red Rocket Media) to candy bags (from Caliberi) were irresistible.
All the presentations were informative and worth reporting on but since there are already quite a few posts on the Content Marketing Show 2013, I will highlight only the 4 key points that were mentioned most about the process of content creation on the day. Certain themes and ideas were repeated in different presentations and links for the full presentations are in the end of the article.
Set a clear objective
The idea is to choose the metrics that you want to achieve trough the content in the beginning of the project. The metrics could range from the number of social media interactions and web visits, to the direct sales related to the content. This was mentioned in the presentation by Sarah Howard, head of content at Red Rocket Media; Pak Hou Cheung, a content strategist at Blue Glass UK; Justin Taylor, the MD of Graphitas; and Ed Bussey, the founder of Quill.
Understand your audience
Understand your audience or as Sarah Howard said “become your audience”. In other words immerse yourself in the digital environment of your target market. For instance, if you are creating content for a client who is an office furniture supplier then find out where the decision makers for office furniture are hanging out online.
Content marketing and buying cycle
The idea was presented by both Pak Hou Cheung and Sarah Howard, and both presentations complemented each other.
Pak Hou Cheung went into more detail to explain the nature of content for each stage (Awareness, Consideration, Purchase, and Retain/Upsell) and according to him the buying cycle is as follows:
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Awareness – create valuable content that will catch your prospect’s attention
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Consideration – know what problem your product/service solves
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Purchase – inspire your audience to buy
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Retain/Upsell – it is all about the relationship
Sarah Howard gave examples of content for these buying cycles. For example: create videos to get the attention of the prospects in the awareness stage. Please see her slide on the topic below:
Measuring your success
It tightly aligns with setting objectives before creating content: Justin Taylor enforced the point that the success of social media should be measured in terms of sales. He talked about 2 different campaigns, one went viral and had lots of social shares but direct sales from the campaign were zero. The second campaign was not successful in terms of social share measurements but generated large amount of direct sales.
I do agree with him that the measurements of content marketing should be closely related with the business goals but there are other aspects of marketing, such as increasing brand awareness, which may not end in direct sales but brings profit in a long run. So based on his example, the first campaign may have resulted in no direct sales but the individuals who saw and interacted with the campaign will have remembered the brand name when they make their next purchase decision.
What is your thought on it? Tell us in the comment.
Full presentation slides are:
