The key difference between thought leadership and commercial insight

Marketer's are a passionate group of people who love what they do and at a very basic level, love learning. If we didn't, we wouldn't have become marketers. When I talk to students about what they want to do post-graduation and they're in marketing/communications programs, they usually have no idea what roles exist. If they DO have some idea of what roles exist within a corporate communications department, or the media arm of an ad agency, they rarely have any idea what the people in those roles actually DO on a day-to-day basis. 

So I ask them this: 

How do you like to spend your time? 

Do you like to read and write? Or do you enjoy talking on the phone? Attending events? 

Or does spending time in an excel spreadsheet give you energy?

Don't laugh, some people actually enjoy spending all day in spreadsheets! (They might just be one of the greatest inventions of all time: cell-ception. A cell within a cell, containing infinite cells of with which to input data). Mind boggling I know. 

I enjoy discovering what makes people tick (doing the research, talking with customers, discovering insights) and then crafting the perfect message; writing a story so good and so undeniably RIGHT for who that person is and what they need, that they feel it was written directly for them. 

The sale is closure. The sale is validation. Approval. It's all of those things. But the journey is what's really addicting. It's one of those stories that evolves over time, connecting the dots one-by-one, unable to see the entire picture except for brilliant flashes and glimpses of what it might be. Until finally it's over and done, hung on the wall. Time for the next puzzle. 

Tomorrow is an exciting day for me. 

Vertafore is working with CEB and we've brought in a team to do a full 2-day training session in order to learn how to discover commercial insights. 

Going to college was one thing, but this is training and education I could neither afford or discover on my own. I'm thrilled at the opportunity to have some more formal training around the art and science of marketing. And as always, I'll report back here on my experience. 

High level Content Strategy

Purpose

The purpose of this blog post is to give anyone a high-level view of what Content Strategy is and how it works. You should be able to walk away from this article nodding your heads with a decent understanding that you could then take to someone else and explain: This is what content strategy is.

This is a very, very simple way of explaining things in a fast-moving conversation but has proven to be extremely effective for me in it's ability to convey that I know what I'm talking about.

So if you want to sound like you know what you're talking about...keep reading.

Intro

I've been going through the interview process for about 6 weeks now after moving back to Seattle from Phoenix in mid-August. During that time I've been talking with a lot of people about what content strategy is and what content strategists do. At first I was finding it hard to communicate because I was more concerned with explaining my story and how I'd ended up at their door, but eventually I learned to distill things down to a very simple formula that I believe works for communicating the core principles content strategy.

Who is this for

Content Strategy can be a confusing topic for:

• People who don't work in marketing. 
• Is that you? Don't worry, this is still extremely important for you to understand because you now live in a digital world and are affected by good and bad content strategy, keep reading!
• Marketing and advertising professionals that work on the Account and/or Media side of the business.  
• Not that you aren't strategists, you just don't spend all day in the creative world ensuring you're finger is on the pulse of the latest content marketing tactics. This post should provide some added clarity when it comes to conversations with highly educated clients or horizontally, your industry counterparts. This post will make you smarter. 
• Agencies with clients who don't understand the value. 
• Good news! This blog post should help you convince them why content strategy is important and why they should give you MORE MONEY to do more of it. 
• Literally anyone who doesn't know what SEO stands for. 
• Hint: it stands for search engine optimization. 

Search Engine Optimization

Okay, so to really understand why this is important from a high level, you kind of need to understand how search engine optimization is and how it works. The good news, we can boil it down to one sentence, albeit a bit of a mouthful: 

"Who ever has the most links back to their website on a specific keyword or key phrase ranks the highest in google for that keyword or phrase."  

Now take that with a grain of salt. Google has over 200 different factors that contribute to how sites are ranked (another data point you can drop in a client convo) but that sentence above, that is 95% of the algorithm. After that, it's: 

• How long has your site been around? 
• And, are you following all of Google's other rules like: 
• You can't get paid to post links back to other peoples sites
• You site needs to be mobile friendly
• You haz lots of social shares? Super. You're cool, we'll rank you a lil higher. 

The Rub 

So you might have noticed something from what I just explained above. The way to rank the highest is to have the most links back to your site...but I also said you aren't allowed to pay for them...

Google's mission is to organize the worlds information. 

It's every company's goal to manipulate Google's algorithm in order to rank higher, get more people to view their site, and convert those visitors into customers. (The first 5 search results get 75% of the clicks). 

So you want more links, but you can't pay...Boom! Enter Content Strategy. 

Someone has to figure out how to create content that's cool enough or useful enough to encourage people to share and link back to. That's pretty much it. 

How you do that? How do you create content that's cool enough or resourceful enough to get people to share it, link back to it, or even buy your product simply from viewing or engaging with your content?!?!  - Honestly, this is more of a question for the agency crowd so we're going to skip that and come back to it another time. For the sake of time, and making sure you walk away with something tangible, let's understand the core principles, and let's understand them in human speak, not crazy convoluted marketing speech.

Content Strategy 

Okay. So you totally get why content strategy is a thing now...but again...what is it...well, in the most basic terms I can use to break things down, this is how I explain it to other people in conversation: 

• What are we saying
• How are we saying it 
• What's our process for creating the content
• And what's the process for measuring it? 

Now don't get me wrong, we can go deep on all 4 of these points, and I intend to in different blog posts, for example, if we wanted to talk about point number 2 "How are we saying it" we would have a conversation about: What channels of communication are we using? Social media? Facebook vs Instagram? Email? Even traditional creative like TV, Radio or Print should be driven by the content strategy which is the guiding light behind everything you do. The real way to answer this question quickly is: Will this help us get where we're going?

But again, let's not get wrapped up in the tactics right now, memorize those 4 things above and you'll be miles ahead of the rest. 

An even shorter definition of content strategy coming from Kristina Halvorson and Melissa Rach's book Content Strategy For The Web is: 

"Content strategy guides your plan for the creation, delivery, and governance of content." 

If you want to dive deeper you can come back to my blog or you can simply go buy the book I've linked to above. It's literally THE book on content strategy and I suggest every serious professional content strategist have a copy in the top drawer of their desk at work. I do. 

Conclusion 

• What are we saying
• How are we saying it 
• What's our process for creating the content
• And, what is the process for measuring it? 

Got it? Of course you do! You're a smart cookie.

The next step is to start noticing how you're being marketed to and realize how stupid most of it is. How it lacks a comprehensive strategy that moves consumers down the purchase funnel and communicates consistently across the channels you spend the most time on.

Use what you've learned in this article to create your own insights into either your own work, your agencies work, or you're day-to-day life so you can learn to communicate more effectively.

Be Relentless. Be Curious. Be Human.

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Image credit: https://dribbble.com/shots/978690-Content-is-like-water

Are you marketing like it's 2015?

Content is king. 

Let's refine that statement: Amazing content with even better context is king. 

Should we refine it even more? Or is it time for marketers to stop talking about how "content is king" move the conversation forward in a more mature direction? 

I feel like the saying "content is king" has been around since the TV was invented. Duh. Hellllllo. We know content is king. 

Maybe what we should really be saying is: Having a well defined, thoughtful, and daftly executed content strategy is king. 

And content strategy isn't just "what blog posts should we write this month?"

Don't get me wrong, that is a very real part of content strategy. When it's done right it can have a massive effect for a brand of any size. But it's just one small part of the game. The content strategy role is a role that is no longer ignorable within marketing departments at any organization. Content strategy is applicable to every piece of creative that a brand produces. 

Most people don't have an intricate knowledge of the organizational structure of an ad agency, so the role of "content strategist" might sound foreign, but I view it as a hybrid of the account planning and copywriter positions. A role that lives in both worlds, strategic planning and creative. A role that requires a deep understanding of what makes the consumer tick as well as a deep understanding of the tools and resources available to execute on a given strategy. 

That means constant psychology/consumer research and a healthy does of Techcrunch and product hunt.  

The point is it's 2015. There are smarter ways for brands to be spending their money. New technology and innovation has opened new doors to help you reach THE RIGHT consumers more effectively and with more efficiency. 

Now ask yourself, is that what you're doing? 

If you want to see what the most innovative digital brands are doing, check out theAmplify. 

How do you measure the success of your work as a Digital PR?

Someone asked me this questions the other day and here was my response.

This is in regards to digital, but some of it applies to tradition as well:

The KPI's will always guide the work, so it depends on the project and what the sales/account management teams have worked out with the client, but some things that I hold in high regard are: 

-How many placements? (how many published articles)

-How many links (only count if they are "followed") 

-Did the placement of content result in a positive brand mention?

-Has my work strengthened our clients confidence in our companies ability to complete the outlined campaign? Difficult and time sensitive projects?  

-How much added value did we provide on top of the requirements for the completion of the campaign? 

It's not much, but it doesn't have to be complicated. In fact, it shouldn't be. Need some icing on the cake? Dig into your Google analytics and find a way to use the growth you've achieved to paint a beautiful picture for you client. Perception is just as important as reality. Especially doing digital PR. 

If you wanted to get more detailed, you could even look at the acquisition cost of a new users and pitch the client on the overall value you've provided. 

The hard work and hustle that you put into building relationships with publishers will only pay off if your able to effectively communicate (to your clients) the value that you've provided. 

Content Strategy

I have made a jump into content marketing and SEO over the past 4 months which has really made it hard to keep up with consistent posts on this blog... well make that zero posts in the last 4 months...excuses, excuses....

But there also comes a point in a man's life when he's got to go out and live it. Benjamin Franklin once said:

 Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.

Well, I've been off doing things worth writing about. And it jussssst might be time to start writing again. I'm still getting settled in with my new job and my new living arrangements but I am hoping to work out a schedule that will allow me to make time for personal writing and introspective topics and discussion (with myself! woohoo!).

The Art of Creating Awe

Another day, another amazing TED Talks. I seriously don't understand why these aren't required reading (watching) for kinds in school these days. I think I learn more about life and how to be a good person from TED Talks than I even learned in School. It's like getting a personal lecture from the best teacher you ever had...except its a new best teacher every day.

Now not every Ted Talk is as equally amazing. But excuse me if I end up going on a tangent and start posting new Ted Talks and my reactions for the next few....oh I don't know...years? check back in with me, you might learn something about yourself. I always do.

This talk comes from Oscar award-winning movie effects creator Rob Legato who has worked on movies like Titanic, Hugo, and Apollo 13. Talk about block busters. Not only does he show you how he created so of his most recognized shots, he also has some pretty insightful stuff to say about creating awe....Enjoy