Content in the Cloud: 5 Things that turn Content into Conversions

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So, I’d like to talk today about why I think you should NOT be a data driven marketer…. There’s a lot of talk these days about why it’s so important to be a data driven marketer. I think this is not only tearing the heart out of creativity and inspiration – as best exemplified by Douglas Bowman – one of the creativ forces – most recently at Google… You may have seen his blog post about the testing of the 41 shades of blue… I also think that it’s decreasing our success metrics… I think we – and perhaps people in our organization - are starting to become so fascinated with our ability to measure that we are forgetting that

Here are four things we can focus on in order to become content-driven… This is less of a to-do list – than how our online strategy has evolved. These aren’t necessarily things that we wouldn’t do in a great economy… But they are things that I believe are key in an economy where we don’t have the luxury of a growing budget. It’s a framework – and I’ll try and lay out that framework the best I can…. Where appropriate, I'll also wrap this into practical case study examples, so that they make clear the action plan you can take with your web site strategy. So, here the four that we’ll cover today – first… what I like to call… The Resurrection Of Web Site Marketing Management, then The Importance of Organic Free Range Content…. Or how content marketing is more than just Search engine optimization… Then, How Web Content Is Really Conversation and…. Finally… Your Content Mobility Ability…. So, let’s jump right into it….

The Resurrection Of Web Site Marketing Management It used to be - and when I say used to be I mean Sooooo early 2000’s- the case that the e-business strategy - WAS the organizational web site. It was so time consuming and expensive to launch a web site – that publishing a second site… Or anything other than what the e-business strategy called for was just not practical… So, for example, one of our customers is Old National Bank… And For them, like many banks, the main web presence is the online banking piece. A highly complex and (rightfully) highly secure piece of technology owned by the IT group - or the e-business team. Or, if you’re an insurance company it might be the retail or wholesale application for getting quotes and rates – And some of these were absolutely brilliant strategies that brought the business into the digital age… This was really the strategy that fell out of the conventional wisdom of the .com boom and that which immediately followed which that it was all about e-business… You had to have your e-commerce system up and your Web Site had to be functional – a destination – a portal..… And again many (certainly not all) of these ended up being highly profitable areas of business for the company...

But here’s the thing… over the course of last year, we all went through this Web 2.0 induced haze… Everywhere we turned we had people screaming that we had to engage our customers, get the community running, add the blog, give people the ability to rate content, figure out how to make our site like Digg or Slashdot… And, while we were trying ot figure that out we also figured out another surprising thing and that’s that this whole online marketing thing works…. So, again we come into this year – some having figured out web 2.0 – and adding this stuff, and some of us with half baked strategies as to how to leverage this whole social revolution… So, my recommendation for us as online marketers - is to let 2009 be the year that our web content strategy becomes a much more vital piece of our strategy.... When we look at driving leads into the organization... Or when we look at brand management, or in driving a content strategy for marketing, or in internationalizing our marketing efforts - it's the content that we need to look at. With today's technology and this economy it’s gotta be dead simple for us to launch new web sites, microsites and landing page programs. Of course we should be able to test and measure everything we're doing - and we should be able to do it without a herculean effort from the IT group.... Because frankly – their group is getting smaller, their jobs are getting bigger and they don’t have the time to deal with this stuff any more….

So, Old National bank is a great example, because what they had was a content challenge… Every time they wanted to update the web site, they had to print out the page…. Submit it to legal and get approval… Then they had to submit the change into their IT group who would update the web server a week later… So every content update took weeks to accomplish….. This just wasn’t tenable… And especially because when the CEO went to search for banks in Indianapolis he couldn’t find his own bank on the web…. So, after deploying a content management system and re-designing their site, the CMS gave them the workflow and auditing they needed for compliance, but empowered the marketing people to make those updates without having to submit to IT…. It’s saving them time and money and letting them update the site as they need…

If you’re an online marketer – you are a content manager…. Analytics data and measurement delivers efficiency…. Content is what delivers growth.

the Importance of Organic Free Range Content So… David Meerman Scott, author of the book, The New Rules of Marketing and PR has an interesting take on the rise of content marketing He says…. “ For marketers, it's not about seeing your company on TV. It's about your buyers seeing your company on the web.” And also…. “ The new publishing model on the Web is not about hype and spin and messages. It is about delivering content when and where it is needed and, in the process, branding you or your organization as a leader” Does that sound vaguely familiar… Let’s go back to that 1999 Quote we saw in SmartMoney magazine… Only this time… I’m going replace three words….

Just a couple of examples here so I put it in context – as you consider web content strategies – you may decide like an organization I know that you’d like MANY people in your organization to utilize Twitter. However, having some governance and approvals on company related tweets might be in order – so you may want to consider a content management process that allows you to approve tweets – or simply make sure they are appropriate to your organization before they go out. Or, consider display ads that are running out on Ad Networks or third party web sites. It may be that you want to change a call to action on that ad – and the corresponding landing page. Having a centralized way to publish that content to both simultaneously will make it easier than having to run that ad through another production process and re-sending it to the third party sites. Or, repurposing or archiving all of your social media content – so that it can be archived and/or republished statically to give you an SEO benefit. Whatever you do in terms of tools here, the key is to make sure your solutions come from a content-centric point of view – and then analytics and/or measurement can be layered over the top of this content-centric strategy. You'll want to make sure that your content management solution can work, track and make accountable - the inbound content (such as comments to blogs and images etc..) through workflow as well as outbound content... And all that new content… and more importantly measure the relevance of all the new *types* of content… And that brings us to our fourth and last consideration…

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Content in the Cloud: 5 Things that turn Content into Conversions - Presentation Transcript

Content In The Cloud 5 Things That Turn Content Into Conversions
Rob Rose www.crownpeak.com @therobrose [email_address] blog.marketingo2.com
@crownpeakcms www.crownpeak.com
Content In The Cloud 5 Things To Turn Content Into Conversions
A Web CMS That Sucks Less
Sometimes We Only Think We Want Control
A good, well implemented CMS can make us better marketers.
- It’s YOUR Process, Not THE Product.
- Content Driven, Not Data Driven.
- “ Dynamic” Is A Writer’s Goal, Not A Preferred Delivery Method
- Content Is Now A Conversation Outside Your Site
- Stop Proving. Start Improving.
The Resurrection of the Marketing Web Site Tech people owned the web presence A strategy born out of the .com boom The Web site was all about the E -Business -Commerce Little, if any, attention paid to web site as online marketing engine.
- 60% - “Web becoming most important mktg. channel”
- Web content: primary source for buyer decisions
- Measuring, optimizing organic and paid traffic is critical
- Landing Pages are key
Last year was a Web 2.0 Induced Haze…. Technology should be dead simple for us to launch new micro-sites and landing page programs We shouldn’t have to bother IT with complex technology projects in order to launch content marketing efforts
If You’re An Marketer You’re In The
Once there was an online marketing group… Company: Customer Service Software Biz. Value: Save customer service costs – self help.
CAMPAIGN METRICS - CONVERSIONS SEM – 20% - Free Social Media Widget – 15% - Download White Paper – 3% - Community Demo – 3% DISPLAY ADS – 5% - Register for a webinar – 3%
The Importance Of Free Range, Organic Content Not only a lead generation engine an awareness and brand builder establish expertise build trust Establish your brand as a leader SEO Friendly
“
Web Content Now Lives Beyond Your Site Technology enables – that’s it. CM tools should enable you to manage content anywhere, anytime in any format CM tools should aggregate content too. UGC External Sites, syndication
Web Content – Outside Your Site Social Media – Workflow Approvals Banner Ads – Content change Mid-campaign test Social Media Content Repurposed content. Tweets repurposed into indexes of SEO friendly content.
Use Data To Gain Insight And Optimize Content Have the capability to measure Everything…. And then don’t. But more important…. Is measuring Who, and Why… What content is resonating A/B Testing, Multivariate Testing creative Most Importantly… Optimizing that content….
Thank You!!