Marketing Strategy

Marketing budgets will move away from conventional advertising and toward content marketing in 2012, according to experts at a Content Marketing Institute forum. The content generated will be of a higher quality, experts from SES San Francisco say, as marketers seek the edge that journalists can bring to the work. The CMI asked marketers about their top content predictions for the coming year, and experts seem to agree that 2012 will see content marketing take precedence. Several respondents noted that marketers can expect to see budgets moving from advertising toward content marketing.

When you’re competing for business, especially against companies with more established brands, you know that you have to differentiate your company. Typically, you hire extremely knowledgeable and helpful staff to provide premier service since that is a distinction that consumers quickly recognize and value. Your top-notch employees help guide consumers to make intelligent choices (such as purchasing your products and services) and they inspire those consumers to come back in the future, rather than shifting to your competitors. That’s the historical scenario.

Today, a prospective customer's first impression of your business is more likely to be with your website rather than with your employees. So how do you provide that same superior service on the Web? That’s where content marketing comes into play. Content marketing is how you can take your company’s expertise and make it easily accessible to prospective customers online through advice, tips, downloadable whitepapers, etc. Content marketing is also how you get more people to visit your website instead of your competitors’ websites, since relevant content is the best way to boost your search rank.

Read this case study by Newt Barrett, How Content Marketing by SW Florida Insurance Agency Clobbers a Billion Dollar Competitor--it's a perfect example of how to win clients by providing customer service through content marketing. It showcases a content marketing strategy that genuinely benefits customers. You’ll see the creative, timely, relevant information that Gulfshore Insurance provides front and center on their homepage.

Then take a look at your website from the perspective of a prospective customer. Are you providing them with a valuable service that they can’t get from your competitors? What types of valuable content marketing are your competitors providing? I think this is an important exercise we all should perform on a regular basis.

And don't forget, DCP can help you implement an effective content marketing strategy.

Hospitals are flocking to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter in order to attract consumer attention and to engage consumers in meaningful and ongoing dialogue. The attraction is obvious since millions of consumers turn to these internet communities to find information and local services. But special challenges are presented to hospitals on social media sites because of concerns about patient privacy and the limits participants have in controlling the dialogue.

In a recent white paper entitled "To Facebook or Not to Facebook: The question for hospitals today" the people at MyHealthCommunity Social Network, Inc. do a great job of framing the issues and offering sound advice for hospital marketers developing a social media strategy. You can download the white paper here.

In their conclusion, the authors offer a series of recommendations on how hospital marketers should proceed. One of the points that sticks out for me is that you should “use Facebook as a place to find your audience and direct them to the appropriate platform for communication.” Those appropriate platforms include the hospitals’ own websites. DCP helps hospitals build out sections of their sites where this more secure conversation can take place.

According to the results of the 2010 Omniture Online Analytics Benchmark Survey, the majority of marketers value the importance of measuring ROI from online marketing activities but 55% can’t effectively measure it. The survey results also reveal that only 14% of respondents currently use all three emerging channels (mobile, social media, video) in their marketing efforts.

I was surprised by these numbers! I expected that more marketers would be using emerging channels and would have systems in place for measuring results. Take a look at the highlights below or click here for more survey results. What's your reaction to this?

ROI
80% of respondents believe ROI from online marketing activities is important to measure, but only 31% of marketers can effectively measure it.

Social Media
69% of respondents are using social media in their marketing efforts however, 41% lack a mechanism to measure social media conversion.

Mobile
23% of respondents are currently using mobile in their marketing efforts. Of these people:

• 73% can measure if website visitors are coming from a mobile device
• 30% are able to measure their mobile app conversions

Video
43% of respondents are using online video in their marketing efforts. Of these people:

• 59% feel that post-video conversion is one of the most important video metrics, yet 70% are unable to measure post-video conversion.
• 40% are using online video lack a mechanism to measure video starts.

Conversion
86% of respondents think conversion rate from online marketing activities is important to measure, but 25% cannot effectively measure it.

Results of the survey included here are as of May 7, 2010.

According to a new survey from the Custom Content Council (CCC), U.S. corporations spent a record $47.2 billion on branded content last year. The 10th annual industry “Characteristics Study: A Look at the Volume and Type of Content Marketing in America for 2010” includes the study of electronic and other forms of content marketing for the first time—which explains the significant increase in spending from 2008.

This year’s study reveals that 32% of the overall marketing, advertising and communications budget were dedicated to content marketing. This is the greatest-ever proportion of funds dedicated to content marketing in the 10-year history of this study.

What does this mean?

Marketing organizations recognize the need to communicate regularly with their audience and provide them with meaningful content. Marketing today is not as much about flashy marketing campaigns as it is about constant interaction and sharing of relevant information with a targeted audience. Since today’s consumers make highly educated decisions, marketing organizations need to play a key role in the transfer of knowledge and participate in their consumers’ decision-making process. The more valuable content an organization provides, the more likely they will build and grow a loyal customer base.

How are companies communicating with their audience today?

Custom Magazines/Newsletters Still Strong:

• In 2009, average circulation per issue increased to an all-time high of 48,162 copies per issue.
• The number of unique printed custom publication titles decreased from 1.9 in 2008 to 1.7 in 2009. That said, those titles published increased in both page count and circulation.

Other Forms of Branded Content:

• The most common other forms being used are website updates of articles, blog post and e-newsletters.
• The least common are mobile and e-zines such as flipbooks and interactive PDFs.

What marketing vehicles are companies expecting to add in the future?
While mobile content is not yet widely used, it does rank as the medium that most marketers believe they are likely to invest in next year. Beyond that, marketers plan to invest in video and audio.

Custom Content Council Executive Director Lori Rosen said, “As more and more companies explore custom content solutions across print and digital platforms, we will continue to see an increased financial investment. Things are changing rapidly—the data shows just how much change the industry has undergone in 12 months-and we haven’t even touched social media surface. Next year we will be measuring Twitter, Facebook and more. It’s an exciting time to be involved in content marketing in all its forms.”

The title of a recent Junta42 Content Marketing blog entry caught my eye--“Five Reasons Social Media Marketing Comes Last”. When every other blog entry, email subject line, whitepaper, and webinar advocates the high priority of social media marketing, it was refreshing to read something different.

Based on an excerpt from Shama Kabani’s new book, The Zen of Social Media Marketing, this blog entry explains why social media marketing should come last in your marketing plan, yet why it must be there.

The main distinction Shama makes is that social media is a consumer platform, not a marketing platform. With a consumer-owned platform, you can listen and you can participate in the conversation but you don’t control what or how much is said. You still need a marketing platform—a one-way communication vehicle that enables you to deliver your marketing message to the consumers you want to reach.

Since social media is where your customers are, you have to be there. But don’t forget that while social media provides a great place to meet and greet customers, you still need traditional marketing platforms (i.e. advertising, websites, email, e-newsletters, PR, webinars, special events, catalogs, etc.) to communicate your comprehensive marketing message.

Diablo Publications is pleased to announce that Dave Reik has joined our management team as Director of Marketing. Dave will be leading the marketing efforts for both Diablo Magazine and the Diablo Custom Publishing (DCP) division.

Dave was previously with Penton Media, where he held the position of Director of Audience Marketing and Business Development for Mix, Electronic Musician, Remix and Music Education Technology magazines, as well as their online properties and events. As a key member of Penton's senior team, Dave led the marketing and business development activities for both the business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) sectors.

We asked Dave four questions relating to what he hopes to accomplish at Diablo Publications and how he intends to get up-to-speed in his new role. Here’s what he had to say…

Q: First, what intrigued you to join Diablo Publications?

A: One of the many compelling reasons to join Diablo Publications for me is their continued commitment to excellence from Diablo magazine, as well as DCP's extensive and impressive list of prestigious customers.

As an active member of the East Bay community for over 10 years, I’ve admired this high-profile publication and wanted to be a part of it. Now I look forward to getting involved with our readers and business community and sharing Diablo Publications’ message more broadly to help fuel the company's continued successes. I’m thrilled to be leading the next stage in the comprehensive marketing strategy for Diablo Publications.

Q: What are the initial steps you took to get acclimated as the new marketing director?

A: I started off by meeting with the strategic management team to understand each of their needs and to get a sense of the company’s 30+ year history. My goal was to get a true, firm understanding of the company’s business model. Then I reviewed the existing marketing collateral with the sales team and filled some gaps. After reviewing the internal systems, I was able to make a few quick efficiency enhancements to our web programming processes. I also researched the competitive environment for Diablo magazine and for custom publishing. My intent over the past six weeks was to get a sense of where we’ve come from and identify where we should be going.

Q: What do you see as your biggest opportunities in the near term?

A:  I can envision many ways to expand our customer base by targeting local companies that have a need for custom publishing and for building awareness of their brands. I anticipate there will be a variety of public relations opportunities with local media that will help us get the word out about Diablo and DCP. And our team is working diligently on providing extensive online applications to help our advertisers and partners achieve higher ROI. We plan to leverage new forms of media (i.e. video, podcast, social media, mobile devices) to discover new customers, as well as help our clients communicate with people they haven’t been able to reach.

Q: Where will you focus your marketing resources to achieve the greatest gains?

A: To start with, I plan to leverage our third-party partners. I’m exploring ways to get the most out of our existing relationships and I will be looking to form new partnerships that will help us quickly expand our new media offerings and provide our clients with a broader set of services.

Since one of the biggest benefits of Twitter for business marketing is tracking what people are saying about your organization and your industry, honing your Twitter search skills is essential. Plus, smart Twitter searches can uncover prospective customers.

That’s why you should read this article “7 insanely useful ways to search Twitter”, written by John Jantsch. You’ll learn how to get the most out of Twitter’s advanced search functionality and how to combine Google and Twitter to find out not just what’s being said but sometimes more importantly, the characteristics of who is saying it.

These seven tips provide an effective way to stay current on who is talking about your business or industry and what they’re saying. You’ll also learn creative ways to search for Twitter users who could be prospective customers. I highly recommend it!

Are you tired of all the negative business reports from 2009? “Marketing budgets are slashed.” “Print is dead.” I’m sure you’ve heard them all.

Read these two brief articles for some very encouraging news regarding the record growth in the custom media business.

This blog posting from "A List Apart" authored by Margot Bloomstein came to me this morning via an email newsletter I subscribe to form Junta 42.  In it, Margot talks about the importance of content strategy.  While she's primarily focused on content strategy via website design, the importance of content strategy has been something we've been talking about since long before the web became a critical marketing challenge for our customers.

The idea that all great marketing starts with a content strategy (or a messaging strategy) should come as no great epiphany to anyone (I hope)!  But taking the concept from the "big picture" to the nitty gritty of marketing planning requires spending some time to dig into some of the questions that Bloomstein raises along with some others.

Unfortunately, for many of our clients, by the time a project gets green-lighted, there is often a hard deadline that requires shortcuts at the outset and the thing that often seems to get short-changed is the content strategy discussion (at least at the level that the project deserves).

It all starts with content strategy....