At Hammock, we are big believers that a well-executed content marketing strategy develops content and media that engage a potential customer. That is why marketers should review this six-step content marketing check-up before they finalize their content marketing plans for 2010.
The six steps include: mapping site content to the buying cycle, reducing friction on gated content, reviewing content analytics, capturing the value of content, including sharing options with your content and optimizing content for search. This exercise will help marketers assess what is and isn’t working for them when it comes to their B2B content development and content marketing efforts.
My attention today, as with many around the world, is on Haiti and its earthquake victims. I spent some time last night with friends looking through photos of our trip there in March.
Here’s my shot of the Haiti Presidential Palace. Though just a building, its destruction is emblematic of the enormity of a crisis in which thousands are feared dead and many more thousands face real dangers moving forward.
Below is what it looks like today.
I realize that attention will soon (not too soon!) turn to other crises of a 24-hour news cycle. But I hope that some people will remain focused on Haiti tomorrow, and the next day and the days to come. Haitians lived on literal precipices of life before this earthquake, and I can barely imagine what those needs will be now. There are many relief groups already doing great work there (as Rex points to on his blog), but I have to give a personal plug to a faith-based organization called Nazarene Compassionate Ministries and its Caribbean Emergency Fund. Giving to the Caribbean Disaster Response fund enables people on the ground to provide immediate basic necessities such as food and water and, eventually, continue in the reconstruction process of homes and lives. Corruption is a serious problem in Haiti, but I can vouch that if you donate to this group, your funds will be used immediately as well as wisely and with integrity.
The start of a new year always brings a plethora of prediction lists: Resolutions, trends and forecasts. A recent blog post over at MediaPost Communications highlighting Keith Kelsen, founder of the 5th Screen Project and a contributor to Digital Signage Today, lists 10 predictions for 2010. Including one of our favorites: Content!
“Content will continue to be the No. 1 trend. As always, the most important part of any strategy remains the most difficult. According to Kelsen, DO companies really only began addressing content seriously in 2009. Kelsen sees more custom content created especially for DO networks, but at the same time more ‘continuity’ between this content and content delivered via other channels like cinema, TV, PC and mobile.”
We agree with the magazine experts at Foliomag.com who are predicting that content’s role for publishers this year will expand and grow. The creation and execution of targeted content will be a huge asset for publishers and will help them connect with their readers who are looking to access content not only in a variety of places, but also with different platforms and tools.
“It will be imperative to respond to the readers needs—where, when and in the format they prefer—or see yourself being pushed out of the market. Print will still play a flagship role for most magazine enterprises, but there will be a continued drive to expand existing channels including print magazines and newsletters, digital magazines and e-newsletters, mobile, Web sites, blogs, podcasts, virtual events, video and many others.”
A recent Deloitte & Touche study found that 75 percent of consumers in the U.S. think of Internet ads as intrusive, and some estimates say that more than 90 percent of Internet advertising is totally ignored.
So what’s a company to do to get their message out online?
Adotas says that a good content strategy may be the way to go:
“More and more marketers are re-allocating some of their interactive advertising budget to create articles, posts, tweets, videos, contests, social networking pages and other content to engage customers in an ongoing dialogue — informing and entertaining them instead of marketing ‘at’ them.”
According to the study, “The ContentWise and Custom Publishing Council’s 2009 Spending: A Look at How Corporate American Invests in Branded Content,”released by the CPC, marketers spent more on custom and branded content last year than ever before. Highlights of the study include:
We’re not out in Las Vegas this week for the annual Consumer Electronics Show (we’re a bit jealous of anyone who is), but we’ll definitely be keeping our eyes on what’s coming out of the event.
The Business Insider is predicting 10 trends for this year’s CES, and we’re eager to hear more about #4:
Content generally takes a backseat at CES, but this year the show devotes an entire day-long track, called “Content, Creativity and Cash,” to emerging paid models for content and how net-connected TVs, e-readers, tablets and mobile phones enable this new ecosystem. Not surprising: CBS and NBC Universal both have big stakes in how the CE industry interacts with content and both have huge roles in this year’s show, the former as owner of CNET and the latter as official TV sponsor (CNBC broadcasts from the floor).
Why would a marketer buy a Superbowl ad rather than hit a home run with a year-long content marketing strategy?
Yesterday, I wrote about some of the year-long content marketing plans I’d execute instead of spending $3 million on a Superbowl ad. (If you read to the 5th point, my list of ideas had more than $2 million left over.)
But why do companies keep spending money on the hail-Mary passes that a $3 million Superbowl ad represents? In some cases — Budweiser beer springs to mind — an ad during the Superbowl makes lots of sense. Budweiser probably generates tens of millions in revenue during the game itself, making the ad something of a “Let’s go out to the lobby” jingle from the old days at the movie theater.
But for advertisers who are using the ad to generate conversation about their brands or products, the venue and costs make little sense. So why do they spend such a significant portion of their budgets on a 30-second ad and not a year-long content marketing strategy?
Next Feb. 7, a 30-second Superbowl ad will cost around $3 million — just for airtime. That doesn’t include creative or production costs.
So what do you get for that $3 million? Lots of eyeballs and, the theory goes, lots of people talking about you before and after the game. Lots and lots of blog posts and Twitter users talking about your ad and pointing to your YouTube account.
The PR bonanza is supposed to make the $3 million airtime seem like a bargain.
I’m sorry. I believe most Superbowl ads are a waste of money.
For years I’d wanted to stop eating meat, but my stomach always found a way to convince my brain that I couldn’t live without barbecue or turkey sandwiches. Despite going through a period where I didn’t eat beef, I just kept coming up with excuses not to go vegetarian.
Until one week this August when I realized that, without even trying, I hadn’t eaten any meat for three days. I figured then was as good a time as any, and I’ve been a lacto-ovo vegetarian ever since (lacto-ovo meaning I consume egg and dairy products).
But I’ve come to realize that despite not eating meat products, I’m still not doing the planet any favors by buying my vegetables at the grocery store, where they travel hundreds of diesel-burning miles to get there. So today I signed up for my very first CSA (community supported agriculture) program! Not only will I be getting organically grown vegetables with no genetic modification (and minimal pesticides), I’ll be supporting local farmers, too.
I’ve got a couple of weeks before my first shipment comes, which I’m going to use to scour the Internet for good winter vegetable recipes and make plenty of room in my kitchen for the canned tomatoes, green beans and fresh pasta that I can’t wait to get my hands on.