38 Key Take Aways from Content Marketing World

2nd Annual Content Marketing World Rock n Rolls

The second annual Content Marketing World rocked in Columbus, Ohio with over 1,000 attendees from 20 countries convening at the Columbus Convention Center September 4 – 6 to take in over 70 presentations from content marketing experts. It’s impossible to write a summary of all presentations. In fact, I was only able to attend 8 breakout sessions, 3 keynotes and I delivered one presentation.

If you are a marketing professional with a strong interest in digital marketing, this a conference you should put on your list for 2013. Joe Pulizzi and his talented staff host an amazing conference that offers high quality content from high quality speakers. Joe is widely recognized as the father of modern content marketing. His brand adds personality with his love all things orange, especially his orange shoes. He’s even inspired me to add some orange to my wardrobe.This year’s entertainment factor was highlighted by legendary rocker Rick Springfield at a private event available only to CMW attendees. His energy and entertainment were are as good as any rocker you’ve ever enjoyed live in concert. It was a show for all ages!

Below are 38 key take aways in bullet format. Note, that these are excerpts from some of the sessions I attended. You might want to consider purchasing the on-demand download of all presentations from the Content Marketing Institute to see the entire presentation of each speaker.

CTRL ALT DELETE: HOW TO REBOOT YOUR CONTENT FOR A MOBILE WORLD by Mitch Joel 

1. Power of direct relationships with consumers.
2. Data driven marketing
3. Utility or death (apps versus landing pages)
4. Passive vs. active
5. One screen. (screen agnostic, desktop, smartphone, tablet)

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO Content Marketing METRICS BY Jay BaEr

Why are you making content?

1. Brand awareness
2. Website traffic
3. Demand generation

Don’t do content marketing “checklist.”

Start with business goals, then marketing objectives, then content objectives, then content tactics, then content metrics.

4 types of content metrics

1. Consumption
2. Sharing
3. Lead generation
4. Sales

Brandscaping: THE SECRET TO UNLOCKING BIGGER CONTENT MARKETING BUDGETS AND DRIVING FASTER RESULTS by Andrew Davis

Getting budget for content.

1. Steal budget from other budgets
2. Partner with another firm

The historical 90/10 rule (should be the other way around).

• 90% of budget buying ad time or ad space.
• 10% creating the content.

Your customer tomorrow is someone else’s customer today. Who already owns your customer?

To raise awareness, buy ads….To increase demand, create valuable content.

GOOGLE’S ZERO MOMENT OF TRUTH BY Sam Sebastian

Put someone in charge (of Zero Moment of Truth).

Find your Zero Moments. Brands should run three search queries:

• Type their brand name in Google.
• Then type “[company name] review.”
• Then type “Best [your category, e.g., photocopier].”

Answer the questions people are asking. Brands should get specific and relevant in search marketing by answering questions that people are asking.

Optimize for ZMOT.

Be fast.

Don’t forget video.

Jump in! Test, fail, and adjust.

CUSTOMER STORIES, HOW TO UNLOCK AN ABUNDANCE OF CONTENT BY Deana Goldasich

The brilliance in how you facilitate the story can’t be forced.

Customer stories always have two stories:

1. The assumed story
2. The detour. Welcome it, embrace it.

One customer interview can result in: (stats below are real example)

• 1 e-book
• 3 stories
• 10 blog posts
• 25 tweets
• 3 Facebook posts
• 5 videos
• 12 Pinterest pics

Position the customer, not the brand.

Make the customer the hero, not the brand.

Look at the ratio of customer to brand ratio in the story. It should be 10 to 1.

DISTILLING THE MAGIC AND THE MYSTERY THAT IS CONTENT MARKETING SUCCESS BY THE SALES LION: MARCUS SHERIDAN

1. How do I get started with content marketing?

The ultimate content marketing strategy……Listening….Write down the top 50 or 100 questions from your customers. Create a content plan around those questions. Topics:

• Price
• Problems
• Comparisons
• The best
• Reviews

2. My competitors will steal my secrets.

Myth. We don’t have any real secrets.

3. I don’t have time.

We always have time for payroll. So, we have time for relevant content. It’s like breathing.

4. Thought Leadership

We should all have desire to be thought leaders. Marcus wrote an ebook about how to buy a pool. His email got flooded from people wanting his expertise.

“Have an opinion and share it.”

5. ROI

Use marketing automation software to measure keywords, leads, sales.

Moneyball Content Marketing. Find the key metric that correlates directly to sales. For RiverPools it was “30.” 85% of the people who read 30 pages of content purchased.

My favorite quotes from Content Marketing World Presenters:

“Content marketing is about utility—not just repurposing press releases and making them SEO friendly. You have to create utility.”

“Answer the questions people are asking.”

“Your community is only as interested in you as you are in it.”

“Think like the consumer, not like the marketer.”

“Write a review of primary competitors and you’ll show up in online searches for their name.”

“80% of all blog traffic comes from a first-time visitor.”

“Content marketing is not about storytelling, it’s about telling a true story well.”

“Be the best teacher in the world at what you do.”

“Every time you press publish, are you adding value to your customer relationships, or just more noise?”

“Ask your customers questions to create content you can summarize and share. Content is in front of your nose.”

“In storytelling, your AUDIENCE is the hero, not YOU. You (your brand, company, self) are the mentor, guiding them.”

MY PRESENTATION AT CONTENT MARKETING WORLD

I spoke on the value of content in your career. I reminded marketers that businesses don’t produce content, people do. And, I encouraged marketers to view the content they produce as currency in their career portfolio. Below is my slide deck. If you think it’s useful, I hope you’ll share it with your colleagues.

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