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Be The

Benchmark

February 20, 2015

Ashley Brown, Vice President

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Ashley Brown

Vice President, Strategy

@iamashbrown

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Inspire Powerful Advocates.

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What We’ll Cover Today

• Why you should you care about content?

• What does great content look like?

• How do you build a content team?

• What do you measure?

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Traditional News is Dying

And it’s Not Coming Back

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Newspaper Ad Revenue 1950-2013

Billions of 2013 Dollars. Source: Slate/NAA

$0

$20

$40

$60

$80

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2013

Revenue

Revenue

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What is Content Marketing?

“Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach

focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and

consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined

audience – and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer

action.”

- Content Marketing Institute

What is Content Marketing

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Brands Increasingly Own Media

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Corporate Blog Growth is Leveling Off

After years of steady growth

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

No Blog

Blog

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Social Media is Increasingly Entrenched

And It’s Not Just Facebook

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Instagram Pinterest

2012

2013

2014

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Coke: It Starts With Structural Change

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You Have to Make the Basics Brilliant

Great Stories Great People Great Process

• Do you have a written content

strategy?

• Is your focus clear: build the

brand, drive sales, feed the

funnel, remove obstacles?

• Do you have license to

provoke?

• Are you a true storyteller?

• Do you have the right talent

in place?

• Do you have an SEO expert?

• Do you have strong writers?

• Do you have photographers &

videographers?

• Do you have a digital

technologist?

• Do you have executive

support?

• Do you have an editorial

process in place?

• Do you understand the

CMS?

• Do you have agreed upon

digital/social KPIs?

• Do you have the right-

sized budget?

• Do you have a paid media

budget?

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Key Ingredients to Great Content

Be Emotional

Be Useful

Be Brave

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“Why fit in when you were

born to stand out?”

- Dr. Seuss

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Berlitz – German Coast Guard

VIDEO

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Victoria’s Secret

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The Home Depot

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The Museum of the Great War

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The Museum of the Great War

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Rock the Vote!

• 2014 was the year Real-Time

Marketing went mainstream; in

2015 smart marketers will bake

RTM into communications plans.

• This doesn’t mean that you have

to build a war room.

• Remember that awesome Arby’s

tweet at the 2014 GRAMMY’S –

Social Media Director Josh Martin

wrote it on his couch.

Unlock the Power of Super Fans

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Timely Content Bumps Performance

262% Increase 67% Increase

Across 20 Participating Brands Tapping into the #NationalIceCreamDay

Conversation

In Retweet rate vs. the last

3,000 tweets by each brand

In Favorites rate vs. the last 3,000 tweets by each brand

Use of the hashtag #NationalIceCreamDay had a positive

Retweet impact for 13 brands, reduced Retweet impact for 7

brands.

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Best Performing Content

Smithsonian

3,647% Bump to RT

27% Bump to

Favorites

Ben & Jerry’s

202% Bump to RT

92% Bump to

Favorites

The Knot

174% Bump to RT

70% Bump to

Favorites

Food Network

372% Bump to RT

175% Bump to

Favorites

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Performance vs. Average 2014 Performance

Retweet Performance

Across 20 Participating Brands Tapping into the #NationalIceCreamDay

Conversation

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How to Plan for RTM

Prepare

• Don’t wait –

brainstorm

strategy in

advance.

• Draw lines in the

sand/boundaries

before the event.

Communicate Measure Act

• Ensure that the

process is easy,

and understood.

• Be nimble – most

messages won’t

be written until

minutes before

they’re posted.

• Communication

allows you to

move fast.

• The team needs to

be empowered to

act – with clear

roles.

• Have a copywriter,

creative lead, legal

rep, analyst, and

program manager

on hand.

• Every brand and

every team will

see different

results – know

what success

looks like.

• Make sure you

have the tools and

the skills to use

data to your

advantage.

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This Will Rise to 42% in 2015.

Marketers Spent 25% of

Their Budgets on Digital

Marketing in 2014.

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You Will No Longer Reach

Your Audience

For Free

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Get Ready to Pay to Play

No More Boxes

• Generic copy and

stock imagery is

the digital

equivalent of junk

mail.

• Free the team to

think outside the

box, invest in high-

quality visuals,

and leverage

UGC.

Know The Audience

Right-Size Budgets

Relentlessly Measure

• Fully understand

your audience and

customer

psychographics.

• Build the right

audience sets

based off K&I

data.

• Only target those

sets – no more

spray & pray.

• Build a rigorous

measurement

program.

• End the days of

“everyone is

always

successful.”

• A/B test

everything.

• Expect to spend

25% of your total

marketing budget

on digital,

including search

and social.

• This does not

include content

creation – this is

reach only.

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Build the Right Measurement Plan

Social Media Owned Media

• Comments

• Likes

• Shares/Re-posts/Re-grams

• Completion rates

• A/B and test & learn data

• Conversion data

• Views

• Completion rates

• Pageviews

• Time spent on page

• Bounce rate

• Social shares

• Referrals from social media

• Open/Unsubscribe rates

• A/B testing

• Conversion data

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“In this profession, it’s a

long walk between drinks.”

- Truman Capote

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Thank You

Ashley Brown

@iamashbrown