7 Takeaways from Content Marketing World (day 1)
Posted in Content Marketing | News
by Casey Kenley on September 7, 2011
Raquel and I are attending a whirlwind, smarts-packed conference on content marketing in Cleveland this week. After Day 1, here are my Top 7 takeaways:
1. Sally Hogshead defines fascination as “an intense emotional focus,” and it’s the key to engaging your customers. If what you’re selling is treated like a useful commodity, you’re not getting ahead. If what you’re selling fascinates your audience, that’s good stuff. Sally is all about fascination and I’m drinking her Kool-Aid.
2. David Meerman Scott talked a lot about the “second paragraph.” I interpreted it as seizing an opportunity; what does that “second paragraph” or iteration of your opportunity look like? Raquel saw the “second paragraph” more as your opportunity to become the source for a newsworthy story or story angle. Either way, that opportunity takes real-time marketing and laser-sharp attention to what’s going on around you.
3. Todd Wheatland touted Slideshare as a strong tool for boosting Kelly Services’ marketing. It’s a tip I have heard over and over today.
4. Arnie Kuenn of Vertical Measures emphasized the importance of “long-tail” searches. No shallow strings of search terms allowed.
5. We believe in developing personas for clients that represent their customers. HP Software develops around 30 personas to help the company reach its audience. Dang.
6. For B2B, research shows that Facebook’s influence and importance continue to grow.
7. An amazingly enthusiastic Marcus Sheridan, CEO of River Pools and Spas, wowed the crowd with his content marketing evangelizing. He jumped on the blogging bandwagon in July 2009 and has since ruled his market segment on Google searches. He doesn’t do any keyword research. Instead, he says he anticipates his customers’ questions and answers them in his blog. Topics include cost and price and pros and cons. Since his blogging strategy and subsequent search optimization boom, his ad budget has dropped from $250,000 a year to $18,000, while the business has grown.
Thanks for the write-up! I think the info about Marcus Sheridan is amazing! If companies just put that ONE tip into action, they could grow their businesses exponentially in a year or less!
Thanks for your comment, Nicole. Yep, I loved getting his real-world perspective on how it worked for him.
I love number 7. It’s a great way to look at the whole keyword strategy thing.
People use search engines to answer questions or fulfill needs. So SEO is just helping people find the answer to their questions by becoming a trusted source on a topic. What better way to to do this than anticipate these questions that people are having and answer them on your blog.
You get me, Dean! You really get me!