The document outlines a content marketing strategy implemented by ShipServ, led by John Watton, focusing on blogging to engage a conservative audience in the shipping industry. Key lessons learned include the importance of authenticity, routine, and leveraging social media for content distribution. The strategy evolved from promoting products to fostering conversations and building a trusted community around the brand.

1. Blogging as part of your content marketing strategy.John Watton, CMO, ShipServ28 April, 2010

2. I will cover…A bit about ShipServWhat we didWhy we did itHow we did it5 Lessons Learned

3. A bit about ShipServE-marketplace. $1.5bn in GMV per annumConnect buyers & sellers of commercial ship suppliesFlexible monetisation modelSome Freemium elementsBuyer SubscriptionsSeller listings and advertisementsGo-to-market approachRegional direct sales (10+)Philippines-based telesales team (50+)

4. The challengeMicro-multinational (160 employees in 6 locations)Serve a global, fragmented business community.Risk averse, conservative audienceNo competition = have to educate the industry = nurture

5. Need to move from broadcast to conversation

6. Shift of features from software to usersWhat's your view of Social Media and its role in the shipping business?Source: ShipServ e-commerce survey, April 2010

7. Content marketing defined Content marketing is turning your insight and advice into campaigns that change people’s minds and incite action

8. My goalFROMImpersonalShoutSellPersuadeInstructProduct VendorPromoteTOPersonality

9. Listen

10. Nurture

11. Participate

12. Inspire

13. Trusted service

14. EntertainFrom “We USE ShipServ” to “We’re MEMBERS OF ShipServ”

15. Creating the right contentHas to pass a higher bar than ever beforeWhat passes that test? Information that a buyer believes willSave a fortuneMake a fortuneKeep him in his jobKeep him out of jail

16. Our content marketing plan v1.0Content and micro-content around calendared themesPromote and distribute the content through low cost online media – especially social media like LinkedIn and feeding the Twitter account with blog posts, social releases, etc.SEO keyword planning and site and landing page optimizationCreating a LinkedIn Group as a community hub and encouraging membershipExploitation of five other maritime groups on LinkedIn (who together have over 11,000 members)Viral videos to lighten the conversationMarketo lead nurturing and lead scoring to track visitor behaviour and create sales-ready leads

17. Our content marketing plan v2.0Started with big themes & campaignsPLUS quickly incorporatedShort company news & updatesPimping our own content“Bigging up” customers, partners, etc “Come and meet us”“Hey we’re people just like you”

18. Before

19. After

20. Publish once & keep our own “dial tone”RSStwitterwebfacebookLinkedin

21. Take the pain out of newsletters

28. “Splash and drip” – using blogs in lead nurturingNewslettereBookBlog……Tip #2………#3……...#4…...…#5…...…#6…..…#7….…#8..…..Tip #1Tip #912 month campaignApril 09May 09March 09Promotion & downloadLead nurturingLead scoringSales intelligence

30. Guidelines?socialmediagovernance.com/MSFT_Social_Media_Policy.pdf

31. Getting helpA good agency can help keep a blog on track -- but expect the core stuff to be from your core team (we do)Journalist freelancer can be good. After all it's a journalistic medium...

32. The benefitsThought leadership – the core of our TL programSpeed – to respond to timely stuffInformality – lets us relax our voiceEngagement – elicits comment & feedbackDistance – ability to get a bit of separation from the corporate storylineConnectedness – ease of linking to (and co-opting) anything on the webSocial Media fodder – something to tweet or link to from LinkedIn, etcSEO mojo

33. 3,321 people have read our blog in the 12 months up to April 2010READERSWeeks

34. 5 Lessons Learned

35. 1. People are people

36. 2. Go micro

37. 3. Get into a routine

38. 4. Re-pimp your content

39. 5. Be authentic

40. Thank Youjwatton@shipserv.com / @jwatton