{"id":23308,"date":"2014-05-20T08:30:54","date_gmt":"2014-05-20T15:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/content26.com\/?p=23308"},"modified":"2017-02-22T11:08:03","modified_gmt":"2017-02-22T19:08:03","slug":"6-takeaways-content-marketing-retreat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/987654321.space\/c26_dev\/blog\/6-takeaways-content-marketing-retreat\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Takeaways from the Content Marketing Retreat"},"content":{"rendered":"

On May 8th<\/sup>, content26\u2019s director of marketing<\/a> and marketing writer<\/a> made the trek north to Whidbey Island to attend the Content Marketing Retreat<\/a> at the Langley Center for New Media. We were delighted to find that the amount of information presented was staggering: insightful presenters, smart attendees, and abundant food for thought. Since odds are you didn\u2019t make it, gentle reader, here are a few key takeaways from our day on Whidbey.<\/p>\n

Takeaway 1: Community first, virality second.<\/h2>\n

The keynote was by Rand Fishkin<\/a>, founder of Moz<\/a>, and it was a welcome, vivid reminder that content marketing success is more than a matter of creating content and establishing a good governance plan. The key element so often omitted? Time. When you\u2019re creating your content plan, it\u2019s important to set your expectations accordingly, because it\u2019s never as simple as content = click = money.<\/p>\n

What also helps? Psychologically and emotionally appealing to people, of course. But content rarely goes viral without an existing community. Shore up your community, and you\u2019re that much closer to getting your content to your targets.<\/p>\n

Takeaway 2: Goals let you measure success, but they also help you define success.<\/h2>\n

In Best Practices in Measuring Content Marketing Results, Martin van der Roest<\/a> of Cadence9<\/a> reviewed the results from a recent survey of content marketers. The most important lesson: measure your content. Measure your everything. And document what you\u2019re doing and what you hope to achieve. Why?<\/p>\n

Because 86% of people who believe they’re good or excellent have a written content strategy.\u00a0Because measurement helps guide success, but it also lets people know what success actually is.<\/p>\n

What does this mean to you? Diversify your channels, publish frequently, and collect metrics regularly. The more active you are and the more data you collect, the easier it will be to take corrective action if something isn\u2019t achieving the results you want.<\/p>\n

Takeaway 3: Sell the why, not the what.<\/h2>\n

In Content Strategy: Data-Driven and Purpose-Focused, Russell Sparkman<\/a> of FusionSpark Media<\/a> stated:<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople don\u2019t buy what you do. They buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here at content26, we\u2019re evangelists of the feature\/benefit model. Sparkman put an interesting new spin on it that we\u2019ll be thinking about for some time.<\/p>\n

Takeaway 4: Be sure you’re measuring the right things before you act on your data.<\/h2>\n

In The Six Magic Metrics of Content Marketing, Jon Wuebben<\/a> of Content Launch<\/a> (and author of Content Is Currency<\/a>) got granular, examining the six ways you should measure your content marketing. (Consumption, sharing, lead generation, sales, thought leadership, and loyalty. But the presentation went much deeper than that.)<\/p>\n

One fascinating graphic in his presentation was a graph charting the types of content with the best ROI. In descending order, they are: featured articles, video, white papers, photos, interactive media, sales copy, infographics, buyers\u2019 guides, and illustrations.<\/p>\n

The effect of your content isn\u2019t always easy to measure. But with these separate, overlapping metrics, you can create a pretty accurate picture of how effective your efforts really are.<\/p>\n

Takeaway 5: Don\u2019t discount word of mouth. Ever.<\/h2>\n

\"WordNeil Beam<\/a>, director of client relations for MotiveQuest<\/a>, explained word-of-mouth marketing<\/a> and how one might measure it. Key stat: 90% of recommendations that lead to consumer action happen offline. So while social sharing and views and all of the other usual metrics are important, of course, never think we\u2019ve moved past word of mouth. So long as we have mouths, we\u2019ll be using them to rant or rave about the things in our lives.<\/p>\n

After lunch, Matt Heinz<\/a>, president of Heinz Marketing<\/a>, dropped an incredibly dense list of marketing tools that we\u2019re still racing to catch up with. He recommends an app each week here<\/a>, and it is a page well worth following.<\/p>\n

Takeaway 6: Communicate, communicate, communicate, with your targets and your team.<\/h2>\n

Pamela Muldoon<\/a> of Next Stage Media Group<\/a> discussed podcast and video metrics and made some great points about repurposing your content and always making it as available as possible. Basically, if you don\u2019t add a transcript to every infographic, podcast, webinar, and video, you are a sucker of the highest order.<\/p>\n

The afternoon session concluded with Thad Kahlow<\/a>, CEO of BusinessOnline<\/a>, who discussed How to Calculate Content ROI. He declared, \u201cData is the introduction, enabler, and insight of customer relationships (the biggest asset).\u201d He also hammered at the point that the loop between sales and marketing needs to be closed: sales teams need to report to marketing about what happened to the leads that they received, which helps marketing understand their best and worst lead sources. Companies that do this increase their revenue by 15% to 18%, according to Tina\u00a0Moffett<\/a>\u00a0and Forrester Research.<\/p>\n

Content Marketing Q&A Favorites<\/h2>\n

After the morning and afternoon sessions, the speakers gathered for a Q&A. Some choice quotes:<\/p>\n

\u201cCompetitive analysis may not show you\u2019re the best, but it will usually show you\u2019re not the worst, and that\u2019s valuable too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTry to reach the sources your customers read, rather than the customers themselves. Influence their influencers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou’re trying to sell the hole, not the drill.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf sales and marketing tell different stories, at best you’re creating friction. At worst, you look like you don’t know what you’re doing.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

More panels, please. It\u2019s always a joy to watch smart, experienced people perch uncomfortably on stools and riff off each other.<\/p>\n

Was this a bit overwhelming to read? Imagine the eyes of the people in that theater on Whidbey Island after several hours of content marketing revelations. This was the fourth annual Content Marketing Retreat, but only the first one content26 attended. With the volume and depth of information packed into a day, the drive north is more than worth it. We hope to see you there next year!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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