SearchLeeds 2018 - Hannah Smith - Verve Search - What happens when a werewolf bites a goldfish?

@hannah_bo_banna
what happens
when a
werewolf
bites
a goldfish?
@hannah_bo_banna

bad at photos, pretty good at other stuff

@hannah_bo_banna
my team’s job is to make things
that journalists want to write about
& people want to share

@hannah_bo_banna
to gain links, coverage
& social shares

@hannah_bo_banna
links from highly authoritative sites,
increase the authority of our clients’ sites

@hannah_bo_banna
over time this translates into
stronger organic rankings

stronger organic rankings = more money
(for the vast majority of websites)

@hannah_bo_banna
what sort of things do we make?

this was created for Lenstore,
the game challenges people to see how fast they can spot the hidden objects

this was created for PartyCasino,
we analysed forty years of box office data, to see which actors made the most profitable films

this was created for GoCompare,
it reveals the what some famous landmarks *might* have looked like

@hannah_bo_banna
so that’s what I do…

@hannah_bo_banna
what happens
when a
werewolf
bites
a goldfish?
@hannah_bo_banna
but what the hell is this talk about?

@hannah_bo_banna
there’s a question I’m frequently asked

@hannah_bo_banna
where do you get your ideas?

@hannah_bo_banna
& it’s a question that
I dread answering

@hannah_bo_banna
he also dreads that question

@hannah_bo_banna
here are some of his answers…

@hannah_bo_banna
from the
idea of the month club

@hannah_bo_banna
from a little shop in
Bognor Regis

@hannah_bo_banna
from a
dusty old book
in my basement

@hannah_bo_banna
people don’t like those answers

@hannah_bo_banna
but they don’t like his truthful answer either

@hannah_bo_banna
I make them up
out of my head

@hannah_bo_banna
it’s true, but it doesn’t satisfy anyone

@hannah_bo_banna
one day he gave a talk
at his daughter’s school

@hannah_bo_banna
& a seven-year-old asked him

@hannah_bo_banna
where do you get your ideas from?

@hannah_bo_banna
he felt he owed her a proper answer

@hannah_bo_banna
here’s what he said

@hannah_bo_banna
You get ideas from daydreaming.
You get ideas from being bored.
You get ideas all the time.

@hannah_bo_banna
The only difference between writers
and other people is we notice when we're doing it.

@hannah_bo_banna
he went on…

@hannah_bo_banna
you get ideas when you ask yourself
simple questions

@hannah_bo_banna
the most important of the questions is just,
what if?

@hannah_bo_banna
often ideas come from
two things coming together,
that haven't come together before

@hannah_bo_banna
if a person bitten by a werewolf
turns into a werewolf…

@hannah_bo_banna
what would happen if
a goldfish was bitten by a werewolf?

@hannah_bo_banna
what would happen if
a chair was bitten by a werewolf?

@hannah_bo_banna
you can read the full article here:
bit.ly/neil-gaiman-ideas

@hannah_bo_banna
right now you’re probably thinking,
wtf has this got to do with anything,
I don’t write books

@hannah_bo_banna
where do I get my ideas?

@hannah_bo_banna
the thing is,

@hannah_bo_banna
I suspect that isn’t the question
you really want the answer to

@hannah_bo_banna
I suspect the real question is something like this

@hannah_bo_banna
how do you get those links?

@hannah_bo_banna
there is no neat answer to that
question either

@hannah_bo_banna
because the answer lies
partially in the idea

@hannah_bo_banna
& also what we do afterwards

@hannah_bo_banna
right now some of you are
undoubtedly thinking

@hannah_bo_banna
piss off Hannah

@hannah_bo_banna
how do you get those f*cking links?

@hannah_bo_banna
I think it’s a question
you deserve an answer to

@hannah_bo_banna
& I’m going to try to answer it,
by talking specifically about
3 pieces we’ve created

@hannah_bo_banna
contact lenses
are *not* a subject
journalists have much cause to write about

@hannah_bo_banna
so we needed to think laterally

@hannah_bo_banna
stuff to do with vision?

@hannah_bo_banna
how people see the world?

@hannah_bo_banna
I was starting to research stuff
when I remembered something…

a talk Stacey MacNaught gave at LearnInbound

where she shared one of Hana Bednarova’s ideas

@hannah_bo_banna
could we do something like this?

@hannah_bo_banna
just do a bunch of those puzzles???

@hannah_bo_banna
what’s new or different
about that?

@hannah_bo_banna
we decided to create a timed game
& send 2,000 survey respondents
through before launch

@hannah_bo_banna
we hoped that if we uncovered who performs
best at these sorts of puzzles
it might help us get coverage

@hannah_bo_banna
but it still felt risky…

@hannah_bo_banna
were journalists sick of those puzzles?

@hannah_bo_banna
were people sick of those puzzles?

@hannah_bo_banna
we looked to see if journalists
were still covering those puzzles

@hannah_bo_banna
January to March 2017:
the Sun, Star, Mirror, Daily Mail & more
were still regularly publishing those puzzles

& would apparently continue to J

@hannah_bo_banna
incidentally,
if any of you have a burning desire
to know who performs best at these puzzles…

@hannah_bo_banna
women perform better than men

@hannah_bo_banna
people who exercise regularly perform better
than those who don’t

@hannah_bo_banna
Londoners are more observant
than any other region

we launched the piece in April 2017
& got coverage every single month, for a full 12 months

@hannah_bo_banna
we made a few extra puzzles…

there’s a christmas pud in this image…

& a bunny in here somewhere…

@hannah_bo_banna
what did we learn?

@hannah_bo_banna
the insight that there was
media appetite for these sorts of puzzles
was gold

@hannah_bo_banna
the survey data did help the piece go further

@hannah_bo_banna
& that piece spawned some others…

@hannah_bo_banna
ok, let’s move on…

@hannah_bo_banna
some people think
you can’t get links to a betting & gaming client
without paying…

@hannah_bo_banna
that’s not been our experience

@hannah_bo_banna
provided you
give journalists something
that allows them
to write the stories they want to tell

@hannah_bo_banna
so where did we begin?

@hannah_bo_banna
we wanted to target entertainment journalists

@hannah_bo_banna
most of the articles published are about
new releases & gossip

@hannah_bo_banna
clearly this wasn’t a place where we could add
much to the conversation

@hannah_bo_banna
however, we also noted
that the money-side of the movie industry
was also extensively covered

@hannah_bo_banna
& we wondered if
we could create something which
would be of value to journalists in that space

we’d been aware of this dataset for a while

@hannah_bo_banna
but we’d never figured out
what to do with it

@hannah_bo_banna
what could we do that would be
new or different?

@hannah_bo_banna
whilst the site was home
to a huge amount of historical film analysis,
no analysis had been done
for actors, directors or film studios

@hannah_bo_banna
could we calculate which
actors, directors and studios
have made the most profitable movies?

@hannah_bo_banna
if we used Box Office Mojo data
to create a list of the
100 biggest grossing movies
for each year from 1980 to date…

@hannah_bo_banna
then cross-referenced this list
with IMDb to gather
the budget, the actors, directors, & studios
associated with those films

@hannah_bo_banna
using both datasets,
we’d then be able to make ROI calculations

@hannah_bo_banna
but what are the risks?

@hannah_bo_banna
all data pieces are risky

@hannah_bo_banna
until you run the numbers
you’ve no idea how compelling
the story is going to be

@hannah_bo_banna
this isn’t really a new idea,
it just uses a new dataset & new methodology

@hannah_bo_banna
also,
will journalists understand our maths?

@hannah_bo_banna
we decided the risks were acceptable
& ran with the idea

@hannah_bo_banna
who’s the most profitable actor in Hollywood?
Tom Cruise? Brad Pitt? The Rock?

actually, it’s this guy, in the blue vest

@hannah_bo_banna
we thought there were a bunch of
great stories in the piece

@hannah_bo_banna
& yet outreaching the piece proved
incredibly tough

@hannah_bo_banna
three weeks in,
we’d scored a grand total of
zero pieces of coverage

@hannah_bo_banna
I don’t like rules

@hannah_bo_banna
but there’s a maxim
I do believe in

@hannah_bo_banna
if you’ve sent 100 emails
& you’ve got nothing

@hannah_bo_banna
what do you know unequivocally?

@hannah_bo_banna
your pitch email is sh*t

@hannah_bo_banna
it may take multiple attempts
to get your email right

@hannah_bo_banna
remember this?

@hannah_bo_banna
will journalists understand our maths?

@hannah_bo_banna
they didn’t

@hannah_bo_banna
language is powerful

@hannah_bo_banna
ROI is not a term that you regularly see
splashed about in headlines

@hannah_bo_banna
James reworked the pitch
again & again & again

@hannah_bo_banna
he used terms like
‘profitable’ & ‘bankable’
not ROI

@hannah_bo_banna
he also gave the piece context & contrast

@hannah_bo_banna
“I noticed that Emilio Estevez and Brad Pitt ranked top and
bottom, respectively, among top-billed actors.”

@hannah_bo_banna
“I thought this was interesting because
who we think of as Hollywood’s biggest stars,
aren’t necessarily the people who are most bankable.”

@hannah_bo_banna
it was this angle that generated
the first piece of coverage

but this journalist refused to link…

@hannah_bo_banna
however, it’s sometimes the case that
you only need one piece of top-tier coverage
to get things rolling
(even if that coverage has no link)

@hannah_bo_banna
because even though
that journalist refused to link

over 120 other journalists were happy to J

@hannah_bo_banna
incidentally,
a bunch of coverage came from
the Estevez vs Pitt angle

which women are most bankable?

@hannah_bo_banna
if you create something that’s
genuinely valuable for journalists

@hannah_bo_banna
particularly
if it’s something they
don’t have the time or resource to do

@hannah_bo_banna
& you work your ass off

@hannah_bo_banna
you can get links & coverage
even for a betting & gaming client

@hannah_bo_banna
also, on a more general note…

@hannah_bo_banna
what we were really doing here
was finding a ‘winner’

@hannah_bo_banna
which can make for a compelling story…

this is the deadliest film of all time

Stanford has bred more unicorn founders than any other institution

@hannah_bo_banna
Alternate Architecture

@hannah_bo_banna
this was actually a replacement campaign

@hannah_bo_banna
we had to come up with an idea which we
could execute quickly & would get results

@hannah_bo_banna
because our client is kinda pissed at us…

this piece was created to support the home insurance product

@hannah_bo_banna
there are a bunch of sites
devoted to home & interiors
(which feels like a fairly legitimate topic)

@hannah_bo_banna
but in our experience interior design sites
can be hard to secure coverage on

@hannah_bo_banna
& it felt like too much of a risk

@hannah_bo_banna
we needed an idea with broad appeal

@hannah_bo_banna
that still felt like a reasonable fit with
the product

we’d previously seen success with this piece…

@hannah_bo_banna
it’s about an architectural movement,
but we’d also managed to gain coverage across
news, travel & lifestyle

@hannah_bo_banna
in short,
we felt we needed to something
a bit like that

here’s where it all started…

@hannah_bo_banna
with a little research…

@hannah_bo_banna
there were more…

@hannah_bo_banna
could we do something with this?

@hannah_bo_banna
show how these landmarks might have looked?

@hannah_bo_banna
we could illustrate them in context…

@hannah_bo_banna
what are the risks?

@hannah_bo_banna
does this really need to be a piece?

@hannah_bo_banna
could journalists write the story
without our illustrations?

@hannah_bo_banna
we’ve deliberately included landmarks in a variety of countries:
UK, France, Australia, US; so there’s plenty of outreach potential…
but will the piece lack cohesion as a result?

@hannah_bo_banna
are illustrations the best way to execute?

& there was something about Nelly that I found really compelling…

@hannah_bo_banna
“let’s just do it”
(me, attempting to do a leadership thing)

links from over 180 domains…

nice article idea dude, where’d you get it?

@hannah_bo_banna
understanding the media landscape
is invaluable

@hannah_bo_banna
because breadth of appeal
increases your chances of success
multiple verticals (news / travel / architecture / lifestyle / culture)
multiple countries (UK / US / France / Australia)

@hannah_bo_banna
Ok, let’s wrap this thing up…

@hannah_bo_banna
there’s 3 things we do

@hannah_bo_banna
#1
we seek to gain a *deep*
understanding of the media landscape

@hannah_bo_banna
I said this earlier…

@hannah_bo_banna
give journalists something
that allows them
to write the stories they want to tell

@hannah_bo_banna
this is a bland and useless bit of advice
if you don’t understand the media landscape

@hannah_bo_banna
because if you don’t understand
the media landscape

@hannah_bo_banna
then
you don’t know
what stories they want to tell

@hannah_bo_banna
& believe me,
you really need to know

@hannah_bo_banna
a clear understanding of the media landscape
was key to the success
of all of the pieces
I’ve talked to you about today

@hannah_bo_banna
& every successful piece we’ve ever done

@hannah_bo_banna
#2
we pay attention

@hannah_bo_banna
an idea
can come from anywhere

thanks @staceycav & @miss_hanaB

you may just stumble across something…

@hannah_bo_banna
recognise these things as potential ideas

You get ideas from
daydreaming.
You get ideas from being
bored.
You get ideas all the
time.
The only difference
between writers
and other people
is we notice
when we're doing it.

@hannah_bo_banna
pay attention
to things that might become ideas

@hannah_bo_banna
validate them

@hannah_bo_banna
#3
we work our asses off

@hannah_bo_banna
when you don’t know the whole story,
it might look easy

@hannah_bo_banna
I promise you, it’s not

@hannah_bo_banna
please don’t think that those results came from
anything other than hard work

we got links from 120 sites because we weren’t prepared to give up

links from over 180 domains…
from a piece we had to rush through because we’d previously screwed up

@hannah_bo_banna
I’m aware that I still may not have given you
the answer you were looking for

@hannah_bo_banna
there’s a bunch of mythology
surrounding creativity

@hannah_bo_banna
& getting those damned links

@hannah_bo_banna
but in truth,
it comes down to
how hard you’re prepared to work

@hannah_bo_banna
for what it’s worth

@hannah_bo_banna
this comforts me

@hannah_bo_banna
because it means that…

@hannah_bo_banna
I don’t need to be ‘brilliant’

@hannah_bo_banna
I don’t need to be ‘well-connected’

@hannah_bo_banna
I don’t need to be ‘lucky’

@hannah_bo_banna
all I actually need to do is

@hannah_bo_banna
work *really* hard

@hannah_bo_banna
& I can do that

@hannah_bo_banna
you can too J

@hannah_bo_banna
for those of you still curious…

this is what happens
when a werewolf bites
a goldfish

@hannah_bo_banna
Hannah Smith
Head of Creative
Verve Search
send questions and/or pictures of cats to: hannah@vervesearch.com
tweet things @hannah_bo_banna

@hannah_bo_banna
Big love to the team at Verve who helped me put this together J
Images:
goldfish: http://www.boddingtonkoi.com/red-goldfish-5-6-13-15cm.html
money: http://fortune.com/2017/01/19/scent-of-money/
neil gaiman: http://www.denofgeek.com/us/books/neil-gaiman/273149/neil-gaiman-announces-new-book-with-chris-riddell
stacey: https://www.tecmark.co.uk/stacey-macnaught-learn-inbound-dublin-deck/
breakfast club: https://nypost.com/2014/03/28/whatever-happened-to-the-stars-of-the-breakfast-club/
buzzsumo: http://buzzsumo.com/
danbo - https://www.flickr.com/photos/nomadic_lass/6889892777/in/set-72157629144987013
weregoldfish: https://bearmantooth.deviantart.com/art/Weregoldfish-wolf-697457364
unicorn - http://queenofheartsonthesleeve.tumblr.com/post/58736423727/ok-not-much-but-here-it-is-3
Credits

SearchLeeds 2018 - Hannah Smith - Verve Search - What happens when a werewolf bites a goldfish?

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SearchLeeds 2018 - Hannah Smith - Verve Search - What happens when a werewolf bites a goldfish?