We all know that the name of the marketing game has changed. In this day and age, marketers must also act as publishers and produce share-worthy blog posts, video, and multimedia content that shares a brand’s story.
According to research by MarketingProfs, just 42% of marketers say that their content is effective. This staggering statistic proves that as marketers, we’re not alone in this quest for better, more effective content marketing strategy.
The secret to creating content that others will share is to capture their attention and entertain them.
In this new world order, two brave strategists have risen above the ashes to inspire and lead marketers in their quest to master content marketing. Enter Andrea Hadley and Kelly Kubrick, co-founders of the Digital Strategy Conference, a multi-day event held in Ottawa and Vancouver. Featuring speakers and panelists from all over the world, Vancouver’s three-day conference gathered together marketers from all kinds of industries to share and inspire. Topics ranged from integrating mobile technology, mapping out a company’s digital maturity, and how to master paid, owned, and earned media.
The impressive roster of speakers included experts such as: Author of Content Rules and Chief Content Officer for MarkeingProfs, Ann Handley; Social Media Director for Sustainability at Coca-Cola, Tim Goudie; Author of Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy and CEO of the Rockley Group, Ann Rockley; CEO and Mr. Content Wrangler himself, Scott Abel; and many more.
Here are a few nuggets to that will help you master your master marketing plan:
1. The power of social media must never ever be underestimated. I’ve seen it in action, I’ve smelled the tear gas.” – Tim Goudie
Social purpose becomes the single more important factor in distinguishing you from your competitors. Use social media to deliver your sustainability model and build trust among your customers.
2. Take small steps to get it right. You don’t need to boil the ocean with clichés. – Brian Flanagan
When developing a mobile strategy, think about your business and how it makes sense for your customers who are not at their desks.
3. Create content that your customers will thank you for. Innovation is more about brains than budget. – Ann Hadley
Instead of focusing on articles and blogs, focus on empathy and human experience. This will help you build an audience, not just sales leads.
4. Failure is a part of the game, it’s what drives you to success. – Peter Hrabinsky
At the end of the day, it’s about testing, tweaking, and optimization.
5. Without a handle on data, you’re flying by the seat of your pants. – Andrea Hadley
There’s so much talk on data, our world is a buzz about ‘data.’ But if you’re not managing your data, your organization is at risk. Data is essential to our roles as marketers and communicators to understand it and use. It’s the data that is going to empower the c-suite to anticipate threats and opportunities.
6. Seek to entertain, engage, and then communicate your message – in that order – Lauren Sanders
The secret to creating content that others will share is to capture their attention and entertain them.
7. Identify your ‘search’ competitors. – WebMama’ Barbara Coll
These aren’t always your sales competitors. Rather, seek out the companies that compete with you for visibility on the web. Understanding what your search competitors are doing on the web provides insights into how you too could achieve higher search visibility, and gain more traffic.
8. Digital strategy is more than just incorporating email and social media into business and it doesn’t just relate to “going mobile.” – Kelly Kubrick
Digital strategy is the process of identifying, articulating and executing on digital opportunities that will increase your organization’s competitive advantage.