Content marketing conversations priorities, problems and predictions for 2015 10 marketing leaders from across APAC share where they are focusing their marketing budget and energy in 2015.

1. CONTENT MARKETING
CONVERSATIONS: PRIORITIES,
PROBLEMS AND PREDICTIONS FOR 2015
10 marketing leaders from across APAC share
where they are focusing their marketing
budget and energy in 2015.

2. 02
SPEAKERS
Amanda Gome, ANZ
head of social and
digital media
Lois Avery, JLL
senior manager of
communications
and content
Andrew Knott,
McDonald’s
Corporation
vice president of
digital and media
Pam Kemp, King and
Wood Mallesons
marketing and
communications
manager
Brian Crisp,
Flight Centre
editor-in-chief
Raeleen Hooper, SNAP
general manager of
franchise services
Fiona Allen, Simplot
chief marketing and
digital officer
Shahrooz Chowdhury,
Domain
general manager -
sales and marketing
Georgia Hinton,
GE Healthcare
chief marketing officer
Vaasu Gavarasana, Asia
Content Marketing
Association (ACMA)
board member

3. 03
CRAIG HODGES
CEO, KING CONTENT
I had the pleasure
of attending King
Content’s recent
Content Marketing
Conversations in
Sydney, Melbourne
and Singapore and
found it interesting
to see that, although
there is a difference
in the maturity of the
content marketing
sectors between
Asia and Australia,
there are plenty of
similarities in the
challenges marketers
are facing in 2015 and
the predictions they’re
making.
The common theme
in the talks given by
the nine marketing
executives who spoke at
these events was that as
their content marketing
efforts matured they
not only started to act
like publishers but think
like publishers.
They have started to
tell stories with the
audience in mind, not
their product. They
have realised that telling
great stories shouldn’t
just be marketing’s
responsibility. It’s
equally as valuable
for human resources,
communications and, to
be honest, the whole of
C-suite to be involved.
They have realised
quicker than traditional
publishers, that
technology is a great
addition to storytelling.
Technology isn’t seen
as the enemy – as it has
often been viewed by
traditional publishers
over the years – but as
an asset.
They have also realised
that understanding
what their audience
wants to read is critical
and also forms part of
their content strategy.
On that point they
are also realising the
value and power of
having a documented
content strategy. They
know their audience
will change and evolve
and they realise their
content marketing
efforts will also change.
I think a lot of them have
also realised the power
of using their content
on other people’s sites
to draw audiences back
to their owned assets.
They understand that
native advertising is
not just paid, but an
extension of the content
they are developing –
it just sits on another
publisher’s site. It’s the
same thinking; same
quality; same strategy.“
”

4. 04
SYDNEY
GETTING INVOLVED IN THE ‘MOMENT OF INSPIRATION’
FOCUSING ON DATA SCIENCE TO DRIVE RESULTS
Flight Centre is in the midst of a marketing revolution – moving from a consultant-first approach
to a customer-first approach. By doing so, it is hoping to move into the ‘moment of inspiration’
in the customer’s travel buying journey. Flight Centre is investing in NewsCred to fill its content
gaps and partnering with Bazaarvoice to broaden its ratings and reviews offering.
Domain is focusing on its ability to remain responsive, real-time and agile. In 2015, it is
focusing on its data science capabilities, data warehousing and generally enriching the data
around its content. There is also a significant focus on marketing technology investment with
a long term view to bring capability in-house. Domain has also now physically integrated the
marketing team to sit alongside the editorial team.

5. 05
SYDNEY
EQUIPPING INTERNAL CHAMPIONS WITH THE RIGHT TOOLS
USING NEW MEDIA TO SUPPORT TRIED AND TRUE
Snap is continuing to build on diversifying its offering to provide marketing services and
consultancy for small businesses. To help its franchisees engage their audience it is looking
to grow its content assets, increasing its use of visual content. According to Raeleen Hooper,
Snap’s general manager of franchise services, the roadblocks are largely around educating
non-digital franchisees and it is looking to do so by boosting its case studies offering.
King & Wood Mallesons is focusing on building its content marketing presence and is in the
first phase – the internal education stage. Pamela Kemp, who is marketing and communications
manager at the law firm, says video is a big focus in 2015, but in the context of supporting the
firm’s print offering. As you would expect, in a multi-national organisation such as King & Wood
Mallesons, speed will be a roadblock and she will be making the case for marketing technology
investment so the marketing function can truly show the results internally.

6. 06
SOME CATEGORIES ARE STILL TOO PRODUCT-FOCUSED
In Australia, limited competition has meant there has been less need for fast-moving
consumer goods (FMCG) companies to engage with their customers. This has meant that
FMCGs have traditionally had a product-centric approach to marketing, with each brand or
product within a parent company functioning independently.
However, the continued success of Aldi and the arrival of Lidl will likely challenge the
traditional Coles/Woolworths supermarket duopoly and as Fiona Allen – chief marketing and
digital officer at Simplot Australia – said, this might be what is needed to persuade the food
and beverage brands to engage in a two-way conversation with their customers. She noted
that FMCGs will need to stop acting as silos and start functioning as an enterprise; each brand
or product in the portfolio should add to the customer’s overall experience of the company.
Her benchmark is Apple, where every purchase of an iPhone, iPad or MacBook serves to
enhance the customer’s connection to the Apple universe.
MELBOURNE
LOCALISED MARKETING MATTERS
Do different regions require different content? In response to a question from the audience, ANZ’s
head of digital and social media Amanda Gome, explained that this is already part and parcel of
ANZ’s strategy. As well as creating bespoke content for the Asia-Pacific region and delivering
localised news across Australia and New Zealand, ANZ employs local ambassadors throughout
its territories and trains content producers in the customs and interests of each region.

7. 07
MELBOURNE
CREATING INTERNAL BRAND ADVOCATES
Amanda Gome spoke about ANZ’s transformation from a ‘silent company’ to a social brand. For any
company, this is not a path without challenges. Her tips included implementing internal training for
current employees, recruiting staff with new skill sets, and challenging the status quo to embrace a
culture of listening to, and engaging with, customers.
SPEED, AGILITY AND ENGAGEMENT
THROUGH LICENSED CONTENT
You know your audience and you want to build engagement through the use of content, but you
haven’t got the capacity to produce it. Enter licensed content. Chris Emberson, business development
director at NewsCred explained how the platform provides brands with a gateway into the publishing
space, and allows them to align themselves with publishers who are trusted by their customers.
There are many amazing brands that have joined the content space over the past few years, but there
has been a tendency to throw content out there and hope for the best – “spray and pray”, if you will.
However, Chris Emberson revealed that brands are now equipping themselves with tools to analyse
their content marketing offering, allowing them to develop and change strategies according to
audience demand. Dr Georgia Rekaris Hinton confirmed this point with her prediction that data
will rule in 2015.

8. 08
A company’s operational readiness to accept content is essential when trying to get a content
marketing campaign off the ground. Gaining budget approval from management, who
often don’t have a good understanding of what content marketing is, can be a challenge for
marketers, especially in industries that are slow to adopt change and trends.
“The key to starting a successful content marketing program is getting buy-in from C-level
managers within the company,” says Vaasu Gavarasana, board member of the Asia Content
Marketing Association (ACMA). Industries such as financial services are still early in the
learning curve when it comes to content marketing. “We’re still in that phase where we’re
trying to educate the role.”
A LinkedIn study, entitled 3 Keys to Nurturing the IT Committee, surveyed more than 200
people who influence IT purchasing decisions and found that on average, influencers consume
seven pieces of content before they are ready to speak with a sales representative.
But this understanding of customer behaviour is not well understood by many companies,
because they can’t see a direct connection between content and the traditional notion of a
sales funnel. That’s where the education process is so important.
SINGAPORE
INTERNAL EDUCATION AND ‘MANAGING UP’

9. 09
DECIDE WHERE CONTENT SITS IN YOUR BUSINESS
GETTING THE RIGHT RESOURCES IN PLACE
Because people are putting a lot more money into content marketing and investing more in
social media as a business tool, Lois Avery, who is senior manager of communications and
content at JLL, says “content and PR are becoming more blurred”. Companies are starting to
meld the two to work in harmony, rather than in opposition. “We’ve seen examples where
content has really enhanced PR and supported it,” she says.
Andrew Knott, vice president of digital and media at McDonald’s Corporation,
summarises what many marketers are starting to acknowledge: “Content doesn’t
necessarily reside in marketing or communications anymore. It’s starting to play a
role in every part of the business.”
Producing content and managing social media communities is time-consuming and hard
work. A primary concern of marketing teams heading into 2015 is the adequate resourcing of
content marketing programs.
“You need to invest in resources because creating content, managing the pipeline and coming
up with ideas is really important,” says Lois Avery. And resourcing extends beyond the pure
content production process into how you’re going to share those stories with audiences. She
says that along with amplification, businesses are increasingly looking at automation to make
life easier.
SINGAPORE
CONTENT
AND PR ARE
BECOMING
MORE
BLURRED.
Lois Avery, JLL
senior manager of
communications and content
”
“

10. 10
SHIFTING FROM A PRODUCT-LED MINDSET TO AN
AUDIENCE-LED VIEWPOINT
KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE AND MEASURE YOUR CONTENT
Vaasu Gavarasana echoes these sentiments. “We should move away from USP [unique selling
proposition] to UE [utility and entertainment],” he says. He believes utility and entertainment
offers a more beneficial way of thinking about content as it gets marketers thinking from a
customer perspective rather than a product viewpoint.
“Think about what serves a purpose and what serves a daily need.”
Content marketers are increasingly working to produce better results, and that begins with
clearly defining their audience and how results will be measured.
“One of our big challenges being a B2B company is defining the audience, determining what
content they want to read, then creating enough content,” says Lois Avery. Hand in hand with
that is defining the level of success and what that success means. “Next year, that will be a
huge focus – looking at click-throughs and analytics.”
Vaasu Gavarasana agrees. “Measuring content is fundamentally important, but it’s surprising
how many companies are not doing this.”
SINGAPORE
THINK ABOUT
WHAT SERVES
A PURPOSE
AND WHAT
SERVES A
DAILY NEED.
Vaasu Gavarasana, Asia Content
Marketing Association (ACMA)
board member ”
“

11. 11
Andrew Knott says one of the biggest challenges he will tackle in 2015 is relevance. With
the wealth of content entering the digital space each day, he says it’s essential, “to make
sure we’re consistently relevant and that we’re evolving with our customers.”
In a recent campaign by McDonald’s, entitled Our Food, Your Questions, customers were
given the opportunity to ask the brand any question at all about the restaurant’s food
and receive an honest answer.
Andrew Knott says the response was exceptional, with close to 20,000 questions asked
in Australia alone. The campaign was not driven by any traditional advertising and
demonstrates how highly relevant content can drive engagement.
EVOLVE WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS
INVEST IN PROMOTING YOUR BEST CONTENT
There’s no point in creating content when no one is going to see it and Andrew Knott says,
“One of the key learnings we’ve had over the last couple of years is that you need to put
paid media behind social and content to give yourself a greater chance of success.”
But this should not be done in isolation he cautions: “It’s one thing to pay [for advertising],
but it’s another thing to make sure it’s sufficiently interesting to get viewers.”
SINGAPORE
ONE OF THE KEY
LEARNINGS WE’VE
HAD OVER THE
LAST COUPLE OF
YEARS IS THAT
YOU NEED TO
PUT PAID MEDIA
BEHIND SOCIAL
AND CONTENT TO
GIVE YOURSELF A
GREATER CHANCE
OF SUCCESS.
Andrew Knott,
McDonald’s Corporation
vice president of digital and media
”
“

12. 012
KEY THEMES THROUGHOUT
INTERNAL EDUCATION AND GETTING BUY-IN
SHIFTING FROM PRODUCT-LED TO AUDIENCE-LED CONTENT
KNOWING YOUR AUDIENCE AND EVOLVING WITH THEM
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT - MEASURING YOUR CONTENT
www.kingcontent.com.au