What's Your Content IQ? Strategies to Solve Real-World Brand Challenges

What’s Your Content IQ? Strategies to Solve Real-World Brand Challenges

Who are you guys?

Hi, I’m Andrew

@hanelly

I am:

 VP, Digital Experience at TMG

 Involved with all sorts of clients’ digital communications

Hi, I’m Kim

@kimcaviness

I am:

 SVP, Content at TMG

 Creator and executor of branded visions

And this is TMG

Quality content on every page, screen, platform and device.

And this is TMG

Quality content on every page, screen, platform and device.

What are you talking about?

 The new attention economy

 A call to arms for brands

 Three real-world scenarios

 Parting shots

What are you talking about?

The new attention economy

“Add this to the endangered list: blank spaces.”

- Louise Story, New York Times, 2007

“We’ve gone from being exposed to about 500 ads a day back in the 1970s to as many as

5,000 a day today.”

- Jay Walker-Smith, Yankelovich Consumer Research, 2010

“We’ve gone from being exposed to about 500 ads a day back in the 1970s to as many as

5,000 a day today.”

- Jay Walker-Smith, Yankelovich Consumer Research, 2010

Our exposure to media is at an all-time high

1960

5 hours per day

Today

12 hours per day

Every 60 seconds …

571 new websites are created

Every 60 seconds …

3,600 photos are sent to Instagram

Every 60 seconds …

of video are uploaded to YouTube

48 hours

Every 60 seconds …

Romain Toornier

Tumblr publishes 27,778 new posts

Every 60 seconds …

204,166,667 emails are sent

Every 60 seconds …

Every 60 seconds …

300,000 pieces of postal mail arrive

Every 60 seconds …

- Jay Walker-Smith, Yankelovich Consumer Research, 2010

People Google about 2 million things

Every 60 seconds …

Facebook is updated 684,478 times

Every 60 seconds …

- ilamont.com on Flickr

47,000 apps are downloaded from iTunes

And we’re all walking around like this

- UltraSlo1 on Flickr

“If Your Kids Are Awake, They’re Probably Online”

Henriksent on Flickr

Kids spend 7.5 hours with media per day

But, on average, people think the average message they encounter is below average.

-  DairDair on Flickr

That will not stop the rise of ‘content marketing’

And more messages are on the way

of brands will be socially active by 2014

93%

A sign of the times?

A call to arms for brands

“Understanding and managing attention is now the single most important determinant of

business success.” - Davenport

“People don’t read ads. They read what interests them. Sometimes it’s an ad.”

- Howard Gossage

The rest of the time it’s content.

Give the people what they want

74% of people prefer to learn about brands via articles instead of ads

believe companies that provide branded content are interested in building good relationships with them

Earn trust and build relationships

say branded content helps them make better purchasing decisions

Help them make better decisions, like buying from you

68%

Be simple. Be useful. Be interesting. Or be ignored.

And don’t try to fake it. They can smell that.

The Venn diagram of strategic relevance

To love your audience is to serve your audience.

Think:

 What keeps your audience up at night?

 What are their aspirations and goals?

 What kind of music do they listen to?

Think:

 Is it “of the now” among my audience?

 Is it naturally engaging?

 Is the tone sensitive to all audience needs?

Is this culturally relevant?

Think:

 Does it fit with our tone and worldview?

 Does it engage or alienate our core audience?

 Does it contribute to an actual business objective?

Is this right for the brand?

Two scenarios

What would you say if I asked you:

 How do you get 250 bloggers to talk about your brand?

 How do you get your entire industry to watch an hour’s worth of video?

Two scenarios:

Scenario 1

How do you get 250 bloggers to talk about your brand?

(In a good way …)

Blogs have the audience:

72% of people read blogs regularly

Blogs have the influence:

66% of people buy based on

blogger recommendations

The opportunity

Blogs and brands don’t always mix.

39% of bloggers say they never mention

product names or brands on their blogs

42% of bloggers describe their relationship with

brand representatives as “unfavorable”

The challenge

How do you get 250 bloggers to talk about your brand?

The parameters:

 You sell consumer electronics

 Your audience is mostly male, kinda geeky …

 You have a company blog with a fair amount of content

The big idea

We discovered, vetted and published a “best of” list featuring the most relevant bloggers in the vertical

The logic

Because it was editorially vetted, this put us on their radar and in a favorable light. It was an attempt to make the first step in building a relationship.

The logic

We wanted to make it more than a one-off, we wanted a lasting relationship via content.

The logic

We did it for five separate industry verticals.

(Spread out over the course of a year.)

Increases in:

 Visits

 Pageviews

 Time on site

 Inbound links

 Social engagement

The payoff

Scenario 2

How do you get 100,000 people to watch an hour’s worth of video?

People love video.

180 million people watch video online monthly

The average user watches 4.3 hours per month

How do you get 100,000 people to watch an hour’s worth of video?

But keeping their attention is tough.

How do you get 100,000 people to watch an hour’s worth of video?

- ReelSEO, 2012

~20 seconds ~30 seconds ~60 seconds

Remember, cat videos are awesome, but they don’t tend to make money.

How do you get 100,000 people to watch an hour’s worth of video?

How do you get 100,000 people to watch an hour’s worth of video?

The parameters:

 Your business is running B2B trade show events

 Your audience are jewelry retail store owners

 They’re not super tech savvy

The big idea

We created a made-for-web branded entertainment series with strategic product placement.

The logic

We borrowed from pop culture: a challenge, some conflict, and a dramatic conclusion.

The logic

We borrowed from pop culture: a challenge, some conflict, and a dramatic conclusion.

The logic

We broke it into 13 episodes, supported it with editorial coverage, and coordinated the big reveal to happen at the annual show.

The logic

We wove the sponsor into the content instead of interrupting.

The payoff

Increases in:

 Visits

 Pageviews

 Time on site

 Inbound links

 Social engagement

Parting shots

Thank you!

Andrew Hanelly VP, Digital Experience ahanelly@tmgcustommedia.com 202.530.8053 @hanelly

facebook.com/tmgDC

Connect with us!

@tmgmedia

linkedin.com/company/tmgDC

engage.tmgcustommedia.com

Kim Caviness SVP, Content kcaviness@tmgcustommedia.com 202.721.1442

Keith Sedlak SVP, Client Partnerships ksedlak@tmgcustommedia.com 646.783.3755