Mediastreet
Tag

marketing

Browsing
In News

KPMG Australia steps up the battle of the consultancies with launch of CMO advisory business

No Comments

By Danielle Long

KPMG Australia has become the latest management consultancy to launch a specialist marketing advisory team targeting chief marketing officers.

KPMG has appointed Carmen Bekker as a partner to launch its CMO advisory team, which is part of the firm’s customer, brand & marketing advisory business.

Bekker brings 20 years experience working on leading international brands in the UK, Europe and Australia. Her previous roles include management partner and European marketing director for J Walter Thomson London as well as business director at Saatchi & Saatchi in London and Sydney.

Bekker said her role was to help CMOs and brand leaders to grow their businesses by providing new perspectives and leveraging best international practice, however, she also plans to focus on championing diversity.

“CMOs and brand leaders have a huge responsibility to consistently deliver and innovate for their organisations in today’s rapidly changing environment. They face challenges from global trends as they navigate the new world, including media transparency, marketing spend accountability, and creating meaningful customer engagement.

“I will champion diversity within the wider industry with a focus on female leadership, and also on diversity in the work that brands create when marketing to customers. Australia has all the ingredients to be an innovative leader within the global marketing sector, and I look forward to playing a role in this at KPMG,” she added.

Bekker is the latest senior hire to join KPMG’s customer, brand & marketing advisory business, which launched in June following the firm’s acquisition of research company Acuity Research and Insights.

The division also includes former Google industry leader for mobile and new business development Lisa Bora, ex-Virgin Australia chief customer officer Mark Hassell and former Telstra GM of Business to Business IT Melanie Evans.

Paul Howes, partner in charge of KPMG’s customer, brand & marketing advisory, said the division had experienced “rapid growth” since launching. “Our practice has proven there is increasing demand for new approaches in Australia’s marketing landscape. The launch of a new CMO Advisory practice under Carmen will take our business to the next level as we move into 2018.”

Consultancy companies have been ramping up their marketing divisions across APAC this year. PwC has appointed a host of former advertising executives to its CMO advisory including former Network Ten executive general manager Russel Howcroft who joined as chief creative officer in 2016. It also follows Accenture’s acquisition of creative hotshop The Monkeys earlier this year.

By Danielle Long

Sourced from THEDRUM

Read More
By
In News

Putting a Human Face on a Product: When Brand Humanisation Goes Wrong

No Comments

Branding was never an easy task, but here’s something new to look out for.

By MediaStreet Staff Writers.

When companies put a human face on their brand, the public usually responds positively. This advertising approach has brought us alarm clocks with sleepy faces and colour-coated chocolate candies with legs and arms.

But a study conducted by Oregon State University showed that there is a greater backlash by the public when a product branded with human characteristics fails.

Lead author of the study, Marina Puzakova, said even though consumers can tell a camera designed with human characteristics such as little eyes and legs isn’t a person, the very act of humanising a product can be a powerful tool.

A humanised product (left) versus a non-humanised product.

“Somehow, now the product seems alive and mindful, and therefore can be perceived as having intentions and its own motivations to act in a certain way,” Puzakova said. “This perception of intentions can be extremely strong – consumers now see the brand as performing bad intentionally and therefore consumers develop more negative sentiments toward the brand.”

Puzakova conducted five experiments with products that had experienced negative publicity. As a general procedure, participants saw advertisements of both existing and fictitious products, where “human” characteristics, such as arms, legs, or facial-like features were manipulated. Then Puzakova showed participants news reports about how the product had failed in some way, not lived up to its advertising claim, or did not function based on consumer expectations.

In every instance, participants reported that they had stronger negative reactions to the products that were given human characteristics, also known as “brand anthropomorphisation.”

“Brand anthropomorphisation can be a very powerful advertising tool, so I am definitely not saying that companies shouldn’t use it,” Puzakova said. “However, they need to be aware that when they imbue their products with human-like characteristics, any backlash when something goes wrong could be stronger.”

Puzakova’s study found that the strength of negative reactions depended on consumer personality differences as well. Based on a personality test she gave participants, she found that people who believe in “personality stability,” or that personality traits are always the same and don’t change over time, tended to have stronger negative feelings towards anthropomorphised brands.

“Broadly speaking, men tend to believe in personality stability more than women, and seniors as well,” Puzakova said. “Also, some cultures tend to believe in this more than others. This can be important for advertisers to know, depending on who their target market is.

Having a deeper knowledge about their target markets, companies can also design their advertising communications tailored for different types of consumers. For example, marketers may want to emphasise flexibility and change in an ad campaign in order to reverse negative attitudes by male consumers, who tend to believe in personality stability.

Puzakova’s research also has a lesson for companies whose brands fail because of a product malfunction.

“As consumers who believe in stability of personality traits react to product failures more negatively, our research finds that companies need to provide either monetary compensation or give away coupons,” Puzakova said. “Offering a public apology is not enough. For instance, companies that have a humanised brand marketed heavily towards seniors may need to be prepared to generously compensate those consumers if something goes wrong.”

The bottom line, Puzakova said, is companies need to know their audience and the possible dangers of humanising a brand when a product malfunctions. It can be a powerful advertising tool, but if the product fails in some way, the damage control could be costly and timely.

 

Read More
By
In News

Most Online Shoppers Don’t Write Product Reviews, But Do Rely on Them When Considering a Purchase

No Comments

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

How can you get your customers to write more online reviews?

Most online shoppers (81%) do not write reviews of their purchases, according to a new survey by Clutch. However, many of those same online shoppers say they rely on product reviews when considering a purchase.

E-commerce businesses face the challenge of growing the approximately 20% of online shoppers who regularly write reviews, since online shoppers often rely on reviews to make purchasing decisions. The study suggests the gap is an opportunity for e-commerce businesses to engage more online shoppers and address the reasons why they typically don’t write reviews.

Email marketing is an effective strategy for garnering reviews, prompting nearly one quarter (23%) of shoppers to write reviews. However, online shoppers cite lack of time and incentives as key reasons for their unwillingness to write reviews.

E-commerce businesses can potentially reverse that unwillingness with simple changes to their review gathering process. For example, businesses should ensure that the review process is as efficient as possible by requesting specific feedback through guided questions or star ratings.

Incentives, such as a discount or contest entry, can also help secure more reviews. However, companies should be aware of any local laws that prohibit exchanging incentives for favourable reviews.

Timely and effective customer service, including resolving an order issue or complaints, can also increase the likelihood of garnering reviews. Shoppers are more motivated to write positive reviews than negative ones: One third (33%) of online shoppers who write reviews share an especially satisfying experience, compared to 2% who write about negative experiences, according to the survey.

Experts say companies should use the review-gathering process to give customers the opportunity to alert them early on to problems that could undermine their satisfaction.

“If any issues arise within that initial use of the product, you can usually remedy the situation and put a stop to anything that might put a damper on positive reviews,” said Dan Scalco, CEO of Digitalux, a digital marketing and SEO agency.

Let’s get those happy customers reviewing your products ASAP.

Read More
By
In News

Millennials Trust Social Media Influencers Less

No Comments

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

Millennials rely on social media influencers more than ever for fashion shopping ideas and inspiration, but say they trust them less.

This is according to a Dealspotr survey of Millennial shoppers, conducted to better understand the shifting dynamics between consumers, lifestyle influencers and retailers in today’s digital economy. They say, “Perhaps more than any other industry, fashion retail has been upended by social media and the rise of digital influencers. Millennials are increasingly reliant on social media and the influencers who dominate them to curate trends, new brands, and the styles they wear.”

This year’s edition, Dealspotr’s Millennial Fashion Shopping Study, underscores some surprising shifts in Millennials’ perceptions of social media influencers. Notably, in 2017, Millennials are starting to trust influencers less than they used to. Millennials are also becoming more sophisticated in how they evaluate influencers – a previously important indicator of trust, an influencer’s number of followers, is now largely ignored by this demographic. At the same time, Millennials are now more reliant than ever on lifestyle influencers for fashion ideas and inspiration, creating a critical yet challenging landscape for fashion brands to navigate.

“Millennials now trust social media influencers more than their friends and family for fashion picks and recommendations,” says Michael Quoc, founder and CEO of Dealspotr. “However, as the influencer economy matures, brands must be hyper-aware of shifting perceptions and increasing skepticism towards online influencers when crafting an influencer marketing strategy.”

Highlights from the report:

  • Social media influencers are now the #1 factor driving fashion shopping decisions among female Millennials (41% selected as their primary influence). Lifestyle influencers now have greater impact than more traditional factors such as friends and family (37%), TV / magazines / advertisements (20%) and celebrities (19%).
  • At the same time, 52% of Millennials say they trust social media influencers less these days.
  • Millennials no longer judge influencers by their number of followers. Only 7% primarily care about an influencer’s number of followers, far outweighed by the influencer’s sense of style (60%).
  • Millennials are extremely price conscious when it comes to fashion brands. 70% of Millennials say price and value are the most important attributes of a fashion brand, above the brand’s style at 43%.
  • 36% of Millennials say the availability of a discount code is their primary factor determining whether they would try purchasing from a new or unfamiliar fashion brand.
  • 65% of Millennials primarily make fashion purchases in-store, compared to 41% who primarily buy online.

 

To download the full report, click here.

 

Read More
By
In News

How Twitter Made Me A Marketing Pro

No Comments

By Susanna Gebauer

A few years back when we founded our publishing platform exploreB2B I had my first contact with Twitter. And to be honest, I had no clue. I created my personal Twitter account for the single purpose of giving our new company account a first follower. I did not plan to use my personal account for the simple reason that I did not know what I know now about Twitter.

If I had known six years back what I know today, I would have created my Twitter account the minute we decided on founding a company and I would have started to build a following actively. And this seemingly simple and unimportant step would have solved (or helped to solve) all our marketing problems we encountered while building exploreB2B.To market successfully, I had to learn Twitter. Twitter made me a marketing pro and enabled me to grow traffic for any business without advertising it

Do you believe that Twitter is not that important to marketing? You are right: Twitter may not necessarily be the most important marketing channel. That is what we thought, too. So we tried everything else first:

  • PR: we threw a lot of money out the window by paying for a PR agency that did not give us any results at all
  • Google Advertising: We worked directly together with Google. One of their Adwords experts tried and failed to provide us with the success we needed
  • LinkedIn and Facebook Advertising: This gave us some success, but our budget was limited, and this could only provide us with an initial push but was not the way to scale our business
  • Social Media Marketing on various channels: We were no experts, we had no strategy. Results were meager, and our presence was growing too slow

So, it was a simple need that made us learn marketing. We had to figure out Twitter, which is a reliable channel once you figured out the fundamental processes. And these processes work for everyone. Plus you can do everything without a huge budget. We never paid one cent for advertising on Twitter.

About two years after starting exploreB2B my Twitter account had around 500 followers. Looking at Twitter you will find many accounts like that: With a handful of followers, growing very slowly. 500 followers on my account are not huge, and it shows one thing: I still had no clue how to build a following on Twitter. And it is not enough for real impact.

So: How did I grow my Twitter account to almost 200k followers?

Content and Guest Posts for growing on Twitter

We started to engage in content marketing. That was the first step towards success on Twitter. Because on Twitter, you need content to be successful. Twitter and content are a match made in marketing heaven. Without content you have nothing to tweet about, you have nothing to provide value with. You can curate content to grow your account, but you cannot have marketing success without your content.

In addition to publishing content on our site (the publishing platform exploreB2B), we wrote guest posts, and I learned to utilize the author bio for Twitter growth. Some of my best-running guest posts helped me gain a few hundred new followers for my Twitter account.

But that still was not the solution to our marketing problems.

Steady growth

Jonathan then figured out the way some of the most famous social media influencers used (and some still use) to grow their Twitter account. It is called the follow-unfollow algorithm. At first glance this routine sounds pretty straight forward: You follow people you want to follow you, some of them will follow you back. You unfollow the ones who do not follow you back and repeat the process.

The secret to success with the follow- unfollow routine lies in the targeting. The better you target your followers, the more people will follow you back, and the more of your new followers will be interested in your content and engage with it.

There is much more you can do on Twitter to grow:

Conversations are a great way to connect. Twitter is the place where you can talk to almost everyone from influencer to a newbie. Utilizing these possibilities will help you get followers, but it can also get you guest post opportunities, interview partners, business partners or even clients.

Back when we were building exploreB2B we were looking for two things: Traffic and new signups for the platform. For traffic, we just shared the great content published on the platform. Getting signups was a little more tricky. In the end, something that many consider spam, proved to be the key to unlocking growth for the publishing platform. We used the direct messages to invite people to publish on the platform.

Direct messages can be a very efficient tool. But it takes more than a single sales message to be successful with direct messages. You need to test different messages, and you need to figure out what your audience likes. For us, the simple message: “We invite you to publish on exploreB2B” proved to be very efficient. Apparently, a lot of people on Twitter were looking for exactly that: A place to publish their great content to find a larger audience.

The combination of a fast-growing Twitter account and an automated direct message sent to every new follower put us on our path to success with exploreB2B. We even found a way to scale this method.

Learn more about using Twitter to build a business! Learn how to “Grow Your Twitter Account Like A Pro” with our ebook.

twitter-ebook

Finding Success Too Late and Facing failure

In the end, it took us too long to figure all of this out. We had taken too long until we managed growth for the platform. We had to face defeat. Closing down the platform was inevitable. It didn’t need to come like this if only we had known what we know about Twitter now when we started out. If we had found our path to growth on Twitter and with our business faster, we would probably not have had to give it all up.

How about doing it again with a different kind of business?

We had to give up the publishing platform. But we still learned a lot. We made the best out of it and used the same methods again to grow The Social Ms. We took our new blog in roughly half a year from a new blog with a handful of readers to over 40.000 visitors in March 2015 – in one of the most crowded niches on the Internet: Social Media Marketing. And a large part of that traffic came from Twitter.

And what I love most about Twitter: These methods work and they are accessible to everyone. There is no need for a huge advertising budget. In truth, you do not require any budget at all – apart from your own time. These methods work for almost any niche because you can find an audience on Twitter for virtually any niche. You will see first results fast, you do not need to wait months or years for some impact to encourage your efforts. And once you figured out how to utilize Twitter, you can use your Twitter presence to help you grow on other social networks, too.

By Susanna Gebauer

Sourced from The Social Ms

Read More
By
In News

Advertisers Should Tie Their Ads To Major Life Events

No Comments

Want more traction in your marketing efforts? Then think births, deaths, and marriage.

Online social networking has revolutionised the way people communicate and interact with each other. This is despite all the annoying things that come with it (just think of all those articles complaining about the top ten most annoying habits on social media.)

Not only does social media make us happy and annoyed, there’s advantages to using it. For example, reconnecting and gossiping with old friends about babies, birthdays and baptisms/christenings.

A new study from the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business examined the impact of major life events, such as getting married or graduating from college, on social network evolution. And the researchers say that the results have important implications for business practices, such as in marketing.

The study shows that major life events not only get more social media attention overall, but also bring long dormant connections back into social interaction.

Researches Hong Guo, associate professor of business analytics, and Sarv Devaraj, professor of business, and Arati Srinivasan of Providence College, specifically focus on two key characteristics of individuals’ social networks: indegree of ties and relational embeddedness. Indegree is the number of ties directed to an individual. Those with high indegree centrality are assumed to be the most popular, prestigious and powerful people in a network due to the many connections that they have with others.

“We find that the indegree of ties increases significantly following a major life event, and that this impact is stronger for more active users in the network,” Guo says. “Interestingly, we find that the broadcast of major life events helps to revive dormant ties as reflected by a decrease in embeddedness following a life event.”

Relational embeddedness is the extent to which a user communicates with only a subset of partners. Social networking sites allow users to manage a larger network of weak ties and at the same time provide a mechanism for the very rapid dissemination of information pertaining to important life events such as engagements, weddings or births.

“We show that major events provide an opportunity for users to revive communication with their dormant ties while simultaneously eliciting responses or communication from a user’s passive or weak ties,” Guo says. “Increased communication with weak ties thereby reduces the extent of embeddedness. We also find that one-time life events, such as weddings, have a greater impact than recurring life events like birthdays on the evolution of individuals’ social networks.”

So why does this matter outside of our social media circles?

“Knowing this, advertisers may better target their ads to major life events. For example, a travel agent marketing a honeymoon package can target a user who has shared that they just got married,” Guo says. “From the social networking sites’ perspective, various design features may be set up to enable and entice users to better share their life events, like how Facebook helps friends promote birthdays.”

So, you might want to think about your next marketing campaign. Does it tie in with big life events? No? Then get on that.

 

Read More
By
In News

The Vast Majority of People Don’t Trust Social Media. So Where Should Marketers Put Their Ad Spend?

No Comments

If you want to reach people with your advertising message, what can you do?

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

While consumers use social platforms as their principal access point for information, not many people trust the content they find there. 89% of 18-64-year-olds are categorised as social skeptics when it comes to things they read that has reached them via social media. The solution? You’d better use a trusted news/information site, or you are just peeing your ad spend up a wall.

These results are according to a research conducted on behalf of Digital Content Next. The research highlights the fact that brand credibility is EVERYTHING.

“Consumers lack trust in social platform content and that it’s spilling over into their perceptions of brand sites and apps,” said Jason Kint, CEO of Digital Content Next. “While we don’t recommend that publishers walk away from the relationships they have with the platforms, we do recommend they urge the platforms to better utilise and protect trusted news and entertainment brands.”

When it comes to trust, consumers have higher expectations for brand sites and apps and expect them to be trustworthy, credible, accurate and up-to-date. Thus, brands should closely monitor trust and work to maintain it as a key differentiator in the volatile digital media marketplace.

Other findings:

  • Social automation and algorithms appear to have a negative impact with 62 percent of consumers agreeing that “there’s so much random content on social media, there’s no way to tell if an article is credible or not.”
  • A younger audience of “Social Skeptics” has emerged. Seven in 10 of these consumers choose quality brand sites for content and prefer brand sites/apps for information. In fact, 41 percent of Social Skeptics have a content subscription, which also signals a preference for premium content.
  • Brand sites build trust by delivering on key attributes, such as credibility and accuracy, which correlate highly to both trust and importance. However, there are also hidden drivers which are less obvious—but that correlate highly to trust. These include popularity, virality, and personalisation, all of which are important strategies to employ and very much a part of the algorithms of platforms.
  • “Trust as a Proxy for Brand Value” found that brand sites should incorporate four key building blocks of trust into their strategies:
    • Attribution (confirming multiple sources)
    • Reputation
    • Navigation
    • Prediction (past experiences with the brand)
  • Consumer trust in brand sites also positively impacts advertisers on the site. Higher trust in brand sites results in a trust halo effect for advertisers. Brand sites provide a significant boost in advertiser trust and positive perception compared to social media and YouTube.
  • Consumer expectations around trust are higher for brand sites and apps and they expect them to be trustworthy, credible, accurate, and up-to-date. Therefore, publishers should closely monitor trust and work to maintain it as a key differentiator in the volatile digital media marketplace.

To view the full research report, click here.

 

Read More
By
In News

Most Millennials Won’t Book a Holiday That Doesn’t Offer Free Wifi

No Comments

Because selfies.

By Mediastreet Staff Writers

A hotel company surveyed Millennials to see what they want from holidays. And it seems, they want to pose on social media and that’s just about it.

Holiday group Hotels.com commissioned a study into Millennial behaviour to best work out how to attract Millennial customers. It was conducted by One Poll in November 2017. The data they crunched was based on 9,000 respondents across 30 countries.

So were there any surprises? Not really. What do Millennials want from their holidays? It’s what we all want. To brag. And they don’t care if they are bragging to real friends or fake online friends. They just wanna brag. And most of us love looking at other people’s holidays, let’s be honest.

Whether it’s the deluxe suite, the hip hotel or the #foodporn, travel bragging has become an essential part of any trip. 30% of Millennials admit they spend over four hours a day on their mobiles whilst travelling, often more glued to the small screen than the beach scene.

When it comes to what social savvy travellers are bragging about on their trips, food snaps (44%) is up there. Travel braggers show off their #foodporn to those stuck at home with their avocado toast, posting weird and wonderful dishes from across the globe.

Being a generation of filter-loving, selfie-stick addicts, two out of three Millennials surveyed (66%) admit they would rather upload a selfie than a picture with their loved ones (62%) on holiday. Not only that, 60% of young travellers admitted to uploading pictures, checking in at cool locations (39%) and tracking the amount of interaction on their posts (32%) whilst on holiday.

The new global research has also proven the long-debated theory that romance really is dead, with 14% admitting they would rather travel with their smartphone than their partner. Travellers even get more anxious when their phone runs out of battery (15%) than if they argue with their partner on a trip (8%).

“We know that 28% of people wouldn’t enjoy their holiday without their smartphone in their hand – how could they possibly capture the best selfie or show off to their friends at home without it? Not only that, we also know that getting the perfect picture plays an even bigger role with 14% of travellers admitting they would pose anywhere for that flawless selfie, often putting selfies ahead of safety,” said Daniel Craig, VP of Mobile at Hotels.com brand. “With a third of travellers refusing to book a hotel that doesn’t offer free Wi-Fi, there is a clear demand for travellers to be connected at all times.”

 

Read More
By
In News

It’s all in the name: luxury is about signalling status

No Comments

By Rob Wilson

Brands are the engines of the luxury market. The red-soled Louboutins, the Mulberry tree, the Ferrari horse… without them, would people still buy the products they are emblazoned on? Maybe, but certainly not as many.

Luxury has always been about signalling status. Therefore, as a concept it is always evolving as people’s ideas about what confers status change. From the opulent luxury of most of the 20th century, recent years seem to have shifted to less conspicuous forms of consumption. This presents a challenge to luxury brands. Now they not only have to emphasise their quality, but also demonstrate their credentials in other ways that will appeal to the less conspicuous luxury consumer.

Marketers have often targeted campaigns at people based on broad demographic factors – their age, their gender – but we have found a much more effective way is to connect with people through their passion points. Whether that’s football, food or fashion, if you can connect to people through one of their passions it will create a much stronger connection between them and the brand. Through connecting with these communities of shared interest, you can also have a more effective influencer strategy. Whether you work with more traditional celebrities or social media stars, by targeting a particular community of interest you can ensure your influencers feel truly relevant to your target consumer. When we worked with Breitling to launch its flagship store, we worked with celebrities that were truly relevant to its target audience, whereas when we launched Garnier Moisture Bomb we worked with everyday women as that is who was relevant for its brand and the community it wanted to talk to.

Luxury brands need to appeal to younger audiences or risk falling sales. Luxury brands can often be seen as outdated to younger generations because of product perceptions or the heritage they celebrate. We are working with Johnnie Walker to help it change perceptions of whisky as a drink that isn’t for everyone and open it up to new audiences. Delivering campaigns globally, we are helping it highlight the different ways and different occasions to drink Johnnie Walker, emphasising that it is a drink for everyone and anyone.

To recruit younger audiences, luxury brands need to respond to our changing spending habits. We are living in the experience economy. The latest figures from Barclaycard, which processes around half of all of the UK’s credit and debit transactions, show a rise of 20% in spending in pubs in April this year compared to last year, with restaurants, theatres and cinemas also seeing rises. More than ever, the experience a brand delivers is key to convincing people to part with their cash and when your product has a luxury price tag, people expect a luxury experience.

Through research we conducted for one of our luxury clients, we found that the retail experience is a particularly important part of the buying journey for luxury consumers. Across the range of different people we spoke to, most expressed a desire for a personal experience, where needs could be openly discussed, as well as a rich experience where they could learn about the brand stories and values underpinning a product. If a brand can achieve both these things they are much more likely to convert.

Every bit of the brand experience, from in-store to brand communications, online to packaging matters, is an opportunity for a luxury brand to damage its luxury reputation. Whether that’s a bad retail environment or a piece of packaging that doesn’t feel as hand crafted and special as the product it contains, it is very easy for brands to lose their luxury status in the minds of potential buyers.

Delivering a total luxury experience wherever a consumer interacts with your brand is a difficult task, but it is a must for luxury brands. Some luxury brands are embracing the experience economy already – this summer Cartier partnered with the London Design Museum to curate an exhibition called Cartier in Motion, telling the story of their unique approach to watchmaking and the evolution of the modern wristwatch. We will see more luxury brands turning to experiential marketing in the future.

Luxury is a highly emotive concept. It is all about the experience, the touch, the taste, how it makes you feel. And it is all too easy to break the luxury feel at some point in the experience a consumer has of your brand.

By Rob Wilson

Rob Wilson is strategy and creative director at RPM.

This article was originally published in The Drum Network luxury special. You can get your hands on a copy here. To be featured in the next special focused on the charity sector, please contact [email protected].

Sourced from THEDRUM

Read More
By
In News

Content Conversations: Top Content Marketing Lessons Learned in 2017

No Comments

By Ashley Zeckman

One of the best ways to improve your skills as a content marketer is to learn from the successes and failures of other marketers. And as we near the end of 2017, many marketers are reflecting on what has (and hasn’t) worked in the past year and looking to what this means for content goals and plans for the coming year.

It doesn’t matter if you are a team of one or a team of one hundred, outside insights can be incredibly valuable for improving your approach to content marketing.

Since we know you’re likely busy working, wrapping up 2017 and planning for 2018, we’re here to help. Recently we had the chance to sit down (or stand up?) for some great content conversations with some of today’s top marketers.

Below you’ll find their top content lessons learned in 2017 as well as how you can apply these insights to your own content marketing approach.

Don’t Be Afraid to Take Risks

In a profession with so many moving parts and fast-paced changes, it can be easy to become risk averse. The problem is, if you don’t take risks to create great, more impactful content, your competition will, and your audience will follow.

Content risks don’t have to mean completely changing your approach. It can be slight tweaks and tests along the way to improve performance and innovate.


Ann Handley
Chief Content Officer, MarketingProfs

“More marketers are getting comfortable taking risks because sometimes our very best work comes out of us taking a risk.” @annhandley tweet this

Ask Yourself:

  • What are some small risks that you can begin taking today to improve your approach to content marketing?
  • How can you work testing new content approaches into your routine?
  • What can you learn from other marketers that are having success with innovation?

Make Owned Content a Cornerstone

It’s no secret that social networks and content on 3rd party websites are a great way to attract your audience. Ultimately though, these approaches should be used as a means to draw people to owned content on your website.

Social algorithms change constantly and you’ll find that if you put the majority of your efforts into building relationships on those platforms, you can lose that audience faster than you gained it.


Joe Pulizzi
Author & Keynote Speaker

“Use social media platforms to get your audience to your own content so you create a direct connection.” @joepulizzi tweet this

Ask Yourself:

  • Which platforms are currently the biggest drivers of audience members to your owned content?
  • How can social networks and other credible websites become part of your strategy for driving visitors to your website?

Focus on Quality Content

As more and more brands become publishers, that means that a huge influx of content has been hitting the search results and inboxes of your target customers. Unfortunately, a lot of what is out there is not at the level of quality that it needs to be to provide value.

That means, customers are becoming overwhelmed by crappy content and are in dire need of quality content created for them by marketers who understand their top needs.


Chris Brogan
CEO, Owner Media Group

“There should be a big, wide-open playing field for marketers that are passionate and make real business happen.” @chrisbrogan tweet this

Ask Yourself:

  • What would it take to create high-quality content on a consistent basis?
  • Should content quantity be reduced in order to focus on impact?
  • Can your team truly identify the difference between low and high-quality content?

Pay Attention to Distribution

All too often, content distribution and amplification are either ignored, or treated as an afterthought when creating content. At the end of the day, we are marketers that are responsible for the performance of the content that we creates which means giving distribution the time and attention it deserves.


Alexandra Rynne
Content Marketing Manager – Marketing Solutions, LinkedIn

“Give your content room to breathe and focus on what works and what doesn’t so you can approach it better next time.” @amrynnie tweet this

Ask Yourself:

  • Are you creating content for content’s sake or is your content tied to business objectives?
  • How can you give content distribution and amplification the same attention as creation?
  • Are you documenting which forms of content distribution are effective? And which ones aren’t?

Eliminate Marketing Buzzwords

It doesn’t matter if you create content for a B2C or B2B audience, the key is connecting with people. When marketers focus on creating product, solutions or services based content, they’re ignoring the true needs of their audience.

Buying audiences don’t care about marketing buzzwords, they want to know what problems you can help them solve. This requires creating a true connection and providing honest and helpful content based on what their top needs are.


Tim Washer
Writer & Producer, Cisco

“Instead of trying to change what people say, we need to change how people think.” @timwasher tweet this

Ask Yourself:

  • Is our content focused on the message we want to send or the true needs of our customers?
  • How much do we actually know about what our target audience wants and needs?

Invest in Dedicated Content Marketing Staff

You wouldn’t hire a plumber to do your drywall or a professor to act as an electrician. The same can be said for your marketing team. While there are some marketers that can fulfill multiple roles, now more than ever it’s critical to work with a dedicated content marketing staff.

That can mean hiring full-time resources in-house and/or partnering with an agency that has expertise in your industry.


Dayna Rothman
VP of Marketing & Sales Development, BrightFunnel

“One of the most important things your team needs is a dedicated resource to run content.” @dayroth tweet this

Ask Yourself:

  • Who in my organization is truly responsible for content?
  • Are we setting content teams up for success?
  • Do we need outside help to scale our content marketing program?

Document Your Content Strategy

While we are seeing a 1-2% increase each year in marketers who have a documented content strategy, we are still nowhere near to 50%. Your content strategy should be your guide for all content you create and serve as an anchor point if your team ever starts to get off track.

Without a documented strategy, it is MUCH more difficult to meet business objectives and make a case for content’s place within your organization.


Chris Moody
Content Marketing Leader, GE Digital

“Your content strategy is the single most important document you’ll create. It’ll make you more productive and it’ll be used internally on a regular basis.” @cnmoody tweet this

What Content Lesson Did You Learn in 2017?

If we are going to move forward and improve content in 2018, it’s essential to reflect on what we’ve learned in 2017. Some lessons are easy and others are plagued with difficulty. As you reflect on the past year, think about your biggest content lesson learned. Feel free to share in the comments below!

Disclosure: BrightFunnel is a TopRank Marketing client.

By Ashley Zeckman

Sourced from TopRank Marketing

Read More
By
Load More