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Using A Data-Driven Approach For Creating Messaging With A Measurable Impact
Crowe Horwath LLP is a large public accounting, consulting and technology firm in the United States. The document outlines Crowe's content marketing journey over the past 15 years, from initially implementing a lead nurturing strategy in 2005 to establishing a formal content strategy and operations team in 2015. It also provides examples of how Crowe has iterated on content campaigns for specific services like Dodd-Frank stress testing, measuring results to refine messaging and content offers with the goal of having a measurable impact.
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Using A Data-Driven Approach For Creating Messaging With A Measurable Impact
- 1. #B2BMX Using A Data-DrivenApproach For Creating Messaging With A Measurable Impact Christine Elliott, Content Strategy & Operations Practice Leader Crowe Horwath LLP @Im_Christine44 @CroweHorwathUS
- 2. #B2BMX Crowe Horwath LLPis one of the largest public accounting, consulting and technology firms in the United States. Crowe uses its deep industry expertise to provide audit services to public and private entities while also helping clients reach their goals with tax, advisory, risk and performance services. Crowe serves clients worldwide as an independent member of Crowe Horwath International, one of the largest global accounting networks in the world. The network consists of more than 200 independent accounting and advisory services firms in more than 130 countries around the world. Crowe Horwath LLP
- 3. 2006 2007 2011 2008 20172009 20162010 2015 2012 2014 2013 2018 APRIL2005 Learned about lead nurture at Marketing Profs B2B demand gen conference. SEPT 2005 Hired Kern Consulting to develop lead nurture strategy for Risk business unit. SEPT 2008 Implemented marketing automation platform (Eloqua.) APR 2010 Initiated first firmwide marketing plan with common objectives, one of which was expert positioning. JAN 2012 Asked to develop a lead nurture program for the Performance Consulting business unit in banking. DEC 2013 Created virtual content team: reps from all groups that develop or touch content. DEC 2014 Recommended formal change to org structure to bring content groups together. MAY 2015 Official launch of Content Strategy & Operations team. MAR 2016 Hired first full-time content strategist. JAN 2017 Recommending re-alignment of team, revamp of processes and expansion of coverage. The Crowe Horwath LLP Content Marketing Journey
- 4. #B2BMX Why marketersshould care about technology The importance of an iterative approach to marketing campaigns Why an iterative approach is wholly inadequate on its own Getting connected to the market conversation A model for a sustainable content ecosystem Takeaways
- 5. #B2BMX Technology Accelerates thePace of Change
- 6.
- 7. #B2BMX Traditional Iterative MarketingApproach Develop / Refine Messaging Execute ProgramsMeasure Results
- 8. #B2BMX Dodd -F rank an d S tress Testin g : Baselin e JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL Performance Improvement EARLY EARLY MID LATE Dodd-Frank EARLY EARLY MID MID AML EARLY EARLY MID LATE Vendor Selection & Management EARLY EARLY MID MID Big Data EARLY EARLY EARLY MID Credit Portfolio Management EARLY MID MID LATE Open Rate Click-to- Open Rate Open Rate Click-to- Open Rate Dodd-Frank 61% 19% 54% 15% Anti-Money Laundering 95% 12% 80% 11% Vendor Selection & Management 65% 12% 31% 9% Performance Improvement 79% 11% 58% 12% Credit Portfolio Management 94% 6% 42% 29% Big Data 56% 6% 38% 4% Total 76% 13% 48% 12% April 2013 Track December 2014
- 9. #B2BMX Dodd-Frank & StressTesting – Iteration #1 Develop / Refine Messaging OVERARCHING BRAND MESSAGE Crowe Credit 360 is a powerful stress-testing system that leverages machine learning – leading to a better, faster way to aggregate data, standardize modeling, provide dashboard reporting, and create submission reports, while providing capabilities to independently perform on-demand stress testing. SMART DECISIONS LASTING VALUE Employ machine learning to reduce the costs, time, and effort to support critical stress testing and capital planning needs, and to support extended model value and applications. Automate and calibrate the stress-testing process from one year to the next to redirect resources from information modeling toward information analysis. BRAND PILLARS Results Relationships Values We implement a powerful, proprietary platform that simplifies the complex stress- testing process Crowe professionals combine banking industry experience and technological expertise to develop a robust solution that simplifies and streamlines the stress-testing process. We approach every client engagement with a commitment to helping organizations move beyond compliance toward operationalizing data for improved decision-making. PROOF POINTS DIFFERENTIATORS Crowe Credit 360 produces a fully automated stress-testing analysis tool and submission file. New brand message development process Creating a sustainable and cost-effective stress- testing program to address Dodd-Frank requires advanced technology designed to improve model development and validation. Creation of storylines for each campaign Cascade messaging for business units, industries and even at the solution / product level. 25 message maps created this year.
- 10. #B2BMX Dodd-Frank & StressTesting – Iteration #1 Execute Programs
- 11. #B2BMX Dodd-Frank & StressTesting – Iteration #1 Execute Programs Trigger emails Offer multiple content assets per email CHECKLIST / E-Book Sidebar CASE STUDY (if downloaded Checklist) CASE STUDY E-BOOK CHECKLIST / CASE STUDY CHECKLIST (if downloaded Case Study) E-BOOK / CHECKLIST / CASE STUDY
- 12. #B2BMX Dodd-Frank & StressTesting – Iteration #1 CHECKLIST / E-Book Sidebar CASE STUDY (if downloaded Checklist) CASE STUDY E-BOOK CHECKLIST / CASE STUDY CHECKLIST (if downloaded Case Study) E-BOOK / CHECKLIST / CASE STUDY Open Rate Click-to- Open Rate 18.3% 17.5% Open Rate Click-to- Open Rate 18.9% 16.1% Open Rate Click-to- Open Rate 18.5% 12.8% Open Rate Click-to- Open Rate 72.3% 63.0% Open Rate Click-to- Open Rate 83.3% 66.7% Open Rate Click-to- Open Rate 83.3% 80.0% Open Rate Click-to- Open Rate 66.3% 45.6%
- 16. #B2BMX Building a SustainableContent Ecosystem 2 Find white space and develop a unique perspective. 3 Align your messaging to the themes and terms being used. 4 Continuously innovate and test new platforms, technologies and formats. 5 Publishing content is not a strategy. Aggressively promote your content. 6 Look for non-traditional influencers and up-and-comers. 7 Make connections that provide value. Nurture those relationships. 10 Always stay focused on the market conversation. 9 Find ways to measure engagement, not just opens and clicks. 8 Make incremental improvements, but also swing for the fences. Spectacular failure is success. 1 Identify the conversations you want to be part of (or lead) and monitor them.
- 17.
Editor's Notes
- #3 As you can see from the list of takeaways, I’m going to completely contradict myself today. I’m going to tell you how important it is to continuously evolve and iterate – AND that that strategy is not enough. I’m going to provide real life examples of what we’ve done at Crowe and at the end will put forward 10 steps to creating a sustainable content ecosystem.
- #4 Crowe’s content journey goes back to 2005. There’s a lot of information on this slide, I just want to point out a few things. I I first learned about lead nurture at a Marketing Profs conference in 2005. I thought it was a great idea. We started to pursue a strategy and realized that we didn’t have marketing automation to make it happen. That led to us implementing Eloqua in 2008, so that makes me an Eloqua Old Timer and an Eloqueen. It took us a few years to ramp up with Eloqua while I was focused on building out FW marketing strategies. In 2012 we developed our first lead nurture campaign – I’ll share a bit of our journey later. This was the Content Marketing “bootcamp.” With all of the best practices we learned in nurture, we wanted to share that knowledge more broadly. So we created a virtual content team that met for a year and identified tons of content improvement opportunities. A year and a half later (May 2015), we changed the organizational structure and created an Content Strategy & Operations team. Now almost two years into that, we have developed content strategy capabilities and are continuing to evolve .
- #5 As you can see from the list of takeaways, I’m going to completely contradict myself today. I’m going to tell you how important it is to continuously evolve and iterate – AND that that strategy is not enough. I’m going to provide real life examples of what we’ve done at Crowe and at the end will put forward 10 steps to creating a sustainable content ecosystem.
- #6 I don’t know anyone who would disagree with this concept – that technology is transforming every aspect of our lives. And it’s also true – maybe even especially true – in professional services. This word cloud is from the ScribbleLive Insights tool as it relates to data analytics in the professional services space. It is a major tenet of the conversation about professional services firms. If you think about it, accounting and consulting services are heavily focused on selling “people.” However, technology can now perform many tasks that people had to do before – at a much lower cost. Professional services firms that do not embrace technology will not be able to remain competitive in the long run. And I would also suggest that it’s true for us as marketers. We need to embrace technology to innovate and iterate quickly and understand what’s happening in the market. And I want to give you a great example of the pace of change.
- #7 OK, maybe it took the Cubs 108 years to win the World Series, so it’s not a great example of how fast things are moving. But I’ve been a Cubs an my whole life, so I absolutely had to work them into this presentation. And does anyone know who I’m watching the Cubs game with? A Cubs legend. Mr. Ernie Banks. Mr. Cub. A highlight of my life. Anyway….
- #8 So this model should look very familiar to everyone. You develop messaging and strategies, execute programs, measure your results and feed that into the next iteration. It’s a solid model and one that has served us well. Spoiler alert -- until now. I’m going to share an example from our lead nurture program to illustrate this.
- #9 Back in 2012, we launched a lead nurture program with six tracks or topic areas. Dodd-Frank is a banking regulation that had just been enacted. We had no Dodd-Frank services at the time, but banks were trying to understand what it meant for them. This infographic really resonated in the market – showing the magnitude of difference between Dodd-Frank and Sarbanes-Oxley (which was the biggest disruption in recent history after the fall of Enron and the implosion of Arthur Andersen. ) 849 pages versus 66. Astounding. So our nurture program had six tracks, and so if we sent you a piece of Dodd-Frank content and you downloaded it, you would then receive another piece of Dodd-Frank content once a month. You could change tracks if you wanted at any time (a sidebar “if you’d rather receive information about….”) And the results were amazing. Through the first year of the program, we had astounding results. 76% open rates overall (versus 20% open rate from other e-comms to the same audience) and a click-to-open rate over double our standard results. But you can also see that our results diminished over time. Still strong, but we knew we had to iterate.
- #10 In early 2015, we worked with an agency to develop a new brand identity – Smart Decisions. Lasting Value. We didn’t, however, have the budget to have the agency do all of the roll-out of the new brand. So cascading the new brand message fell to the content strategy team. We developed a message map process to capture an overarching brand message and supporting points for each business unit, industry and even at the solution level. We asked questions about how we help clients make smart decisions and add lasting value. We captured statements around our three brand pillars – results, relationships and values. Our clients who are most satisfied working with us say those are the things that separate us from our competitors. We also document proof points, differentiators and audience-specific messaging points. For our Dodd-Frank work, by 2015 we had a proprietary technology solution to streamline the compliance process and provide capital planning models for strategic value. The message map provides a blueprint for anyone developing content to ensure consistency. Additionally, we strengthened the messaging for our nurture programs. Instead of just creating good content on Dodd-Frank and stress testing, we aligned the content in each campaign to a storyline. For this nurture program, we focused on the importance of model development and validation – a key differentiator for us.
- #11 So here you can see our new visual identity. And from a nurture program perspective, we moved from the drip campaign approach to structured mini-nurture campaigns. That helped us to better identify who may be more likely to want to have a conversation. Each campaign is typically 3-4 pieces of content. MUCH easier to execute on focused campaigns than feeding the ‘drip’ beast.
- #12 So we took the three assets and created a nurture flow. There were two main components of our evolved strategy – using “trigger” emails to drive further engagement and testing whether we could get more content viewed if we bundled it together. So we sent the ebook to the banking audience. People who downloaded the ebook immediately got an email offering the two other pieces (green arrow). Then a week later, they would get an email offering them whichever piece they hadn’t already downloaded. The gray boxes represent the non-responder path – similar to a drip approach. If they didn’t engage with the ebook, we sent the checklist a week later and then a week later the case study.
- #13 So let’s look at the results. For the non-responder path, the results were pretty static. Slightly under our typical 20% open rate, but strong click-to-opens. But look at the results for the trigger emails. A significant improvement. Even in the instance of the non-responder path, if they clicked on the second piece, we immediately sent the third and got the same results. Pretty impressive, right? We’ve made some real progress through iterating our approach. But guess what….
- #14 The market doesn’t care. At all. We are, in this moment, completely missing the mark. How do we know? We’ve been working with ScribbleLive and their insights platform, which allows you to monitor the conversation on topics you care about. Here’s the conversation happening on Dodd-Frank. It’s recently been ramping up in terms of exposure very recently. The tool is very intuitive and allows you to drill down to better understand. This word cloud represents the themes that are most influential in that moment. You can drill down to see the individual opinions that make up the themes. At this moment, the conversation is all about President Trump and his intention to roll back Dodd-Frank. There are strong opinions on both sides. If he is successful, our entire revenue stream could evaporate.
- #15 The platform also allows you to see what publications are involved in the conversation. We are able to easily see who is most active on this topic in this moment. Some of these publications are the standard ones we have relationships with – others are not. And you can even drill down and show the individuals who are most influential. Donald Trump has offered three times as many opinions as the senators for whom Dodd-Frank is names. You can also see how the influencers are interconnected. The blue trophy icon represents earned influence. The red lightening bolt represents the top 20% of influential opinions and the green megaphones represent smaller opinions. You can truly see how the influencers are interconnected. Clearly we aren’t on Donald Trump’s radar, but we do have relationships with some people in this web of influence.
- #16 To give you a sense of the magnitude of Trump’s influence, this chart says it all. His voice is astounding. Irrespective of your political beliefs, Trump’s influence is irrefutable. So what can we – Crowe Horwath – do to connect to the conversation. We were able to see through Insights that none of our competitors are showing up as influencers here. So it’s an opportunity for us. We need to take action now and get ourselves into the conversation with these three steps. And think about this – developing a perspective and connecting to influencers and publishers who are part of the conversation can be done very quickly. And with very little cost. So much for making small adjustments along the way and declaring victory. You really need to do both –continue to improve your targeting, messaging and programs. But even more importantly, keep connected to the market conversation.
- #17 So in summary, here are 10 steps to creating a sustainable content ecosystem.