The CMO's Content Marketing Report Card: 5 Steps to Operationalize a Content Marketing Program that Drives Business

1©2014 Skyword

How CMOs can spark profit-generating

conversations with technology decision

makersby operationalizing content marketing

Caitlin Roberson — VP, West

2©2014 Skyword

I wanted this…

… But I clicked here, because I hadn’t heard about this.

And I DEFINITELY didn’t care about this.

Forbes

Once upon a time…

3©2014 Skyword

What is content marketing?

Marketing is identifying or creating a market for your product or service. Content marketing is building this community using content.

– Brian Honigman

4©2014 Skyword

5©2014 Skyword

Are you ready to move forward?Are you ready to

move forward? The game’s changed.

6©2014 Skyword

We used to control how information is delivered.

7©2014 Skyword

Now buyers do.

8©2014 Skyword

It’s become harder to stand out.

9©2014 Skyword

Enter, content marketing.

10©2014 Skyword

93 76 94

These numbers tell a story:

11©2014 Skyword

93 76Percent of B2B

marketers who use content

marketing.

Percent of CMOs who will increase

2015 content marketing

spend.

Percent of purchase

path governed

by content.

Sources: Content Marketing Institute, CMO Council, Digiday

94

12©2014 Skyword

ROI reported

by IBM for 2014.

390%Return

reported by an SMB for

2014.

2X

Sources: Skyword

And these may explain why brands are scrambling for a piece of the content marketing pie.

13©2014 Skyword

Content is important.

14©2014 Skyword

Especially for SaaS companies, where the recurring revenue model has primed customer

expectations.

15©2014 Skyword

“There’s no excuse for not understanding your metrics, for not providing great customer service, for not understanding the role of customer success, for not doing intelligent lifecycle marketing,

for not doing great content marketing…What was hard and innovative 5 years ago is #TableStakes now.”

— Christoph Janz, Point Nine Capital (on Twitter)

16©2014 Skyword

“Content marketing is one of the most powerful marketing tools startups can employ. Blogs are powerful drivers of awareness and creators of purchasing intent which ultimately lead to new customers, new employees or other new opportunities.

“This is doubly true as buyers are educating themselves before contacting sales teams to a far greater extent than ever.”

— Tomasz Tunguz, Redpoint Ventures

17©2014 Skyword

And yet …

18©2014 Skyword

Executives are panicking, esp about budgets + tech.

Half of CMOs report worrying about managing the intersection of marketing + tech in 2015…

19©2014 Skyword

They need to figure it out: Their budgets will out-size CIO budgets in 2017.

20©2014 Skyword

• Less than half (35%) of content marketers document their strategy, which shows many don’t understand this process is a simple, repeatable science — yet.

A few things are going on:

21©2014 Skyword


• Marketing teams struggle to find and retain qualified talent.


22©2014 Skyword


• Marketing teams struggle to find and retain qualified talent.

• Most marketers haven’t closed the data loop to prove content’s business value.


23©2014 Skyword

Source: Gartner, IBM CMO Study 2015

It’s a lot.

24©2014 Skyword

But, there is hope…

25©2014 Skyword

But, there is hope…5 Steps: Deliver ROI with Your Content

26©2014 Skyword

Your Content Marketing Report Card

5 categories30 points possible for each150 points total

27©2014 Skyword© Skyword 2015 27

1) Magnetize your message.

28©2014 Skyword

Like any engaging conversation, a successful content

marketing program factors in:

And filters topicsaligned with your Brand

People you’re trying to influence

Topicsthey love

21 3

29©2014 Skyword

Today’s tech executive must

power innovation + mobility w an

infrastructure that’s scalable + secure.

Source: “The Human CIO”, IBM

Start by understanding your decision maker.

30©2014 Skyword

Then, activate empathy networks,

with a storytelling approach.

31©2014 Skyword

Brands have always sold by telling stories.

32©2014 Skyword

How did you learn not to “cry wolf”?

33©2014 Skyword

• Why change?• Why change

now?• Why change

now with [your brand]?

Storytelling creates a buying vision when it answers these questions:

34©2014 Skyword

• Lead with third-party stats• End with proof points

The Exoskeleton of a Buying Vision

Tools:• Social listening• Competitive landscape

analysis• Trends research

35©2014 Skyword

1 + 1 = 5The enterprise incubator

Collaboration happens when people create something better together than alone. To unleash that potential,

people must connect. This is especially true for enterprise Sales, Marketing and

IT teams. To few are cashing in on pooling their talents.

Still, as change accelerates, and knowledge gets more specialized, businesses will only win by co-innovating.

Let’s create a publication that spotlights how real-life enterprise

professionals are doing big things, TOGETHER.

36©2014 Skyword 36© 2014 Skyword Inc, Confidential. All rights reserved.

It’s not just about athletics. It’s about life skills.

Performance for the future

37©2014 Skyword

1) How well do you know who you’re talking to, and what s/he care about?

2) How consistent does your team conduct social listening and trends research?

3) Do you lead with ideas and innovation, to make information sticky?

Do you own the conversation?

Rate yourself: 1-10 points per question


2) Risk-proof your strategy.

39©2014 Skyword

8 seconds.

40©2014 SkywordKentico August 2013

10 : 10

41©2014 Skyword

REACH

ENGAGE

CONVERT

3X

2X

X

Content Ratio

This is why content needs to span the entire funnel.

42©2014 Skyword

Content : Dating Progressive levels of commitment + branded details

43©2014 Skyword

Produce and leverage multiple content types in the customer journey including: Articles, eBooks, whitepapers, infographics, and videos.

Impactful stories are told in multiple content types +

formats…

44©2014 Skyword

A E C Nwareness

• Re-active storytelling

• Audience-driven

• Trending topics

ducation

• eBooks• Infographics• Customer

stories• Long-form

asset support

onversion

• Video• Innovator

spotlights• Events• Webinars

urture

• Email campaigns

• Innovator spotlights

• Customer stories

Aligning directly to audience(s) + individual decision-

making processes.

45©2014 Skyword

A E C Nducation



asset support

onversion



urture

• Email campaigns



Most B2B tech brands are currently doing THIS alright:

46©2014 Skyword

A E C Nwareness

• Re-active storytelling

• Audience-driven

• Trending topics

ducation



asset support

onversion



urture

• Email campaigns



But they MISS driving audience demand with top-of-

funnel content:

47©2014 Skyword

Regular listening and conversation analysis

of social networks

Collaborative monthly topics planning among

key stakeholders

Analysis of search trends, volumes, and consumer demand

Skyword conducts regular analysis of search and social consumer trends to identify content opportunities. In addition, monthly topic planning

aligns all content efforts to broader marketing efforts and content production.

Recap: You do this by analyzing social conversations +

search trends…

48©2014 Skyword

May June July August September October November December January February March April May June July August September0

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

70,000

80,000

Irregular publishing/low

volumes

Consistent monthly publishing/increased

volumes

Actual Skyword client data, monthly page views, in the consumer technology industry.

With the flexibility to publish regularly, scaling up or

down as needed.

49©2014 Skyword

1) Searchable 2) Snackable3) Shareable

At all times, content must be three things:

50©2014 Skyword

Consistency is key

Break-through requires 3 to 7 repetitions.

51©2014 Skyword

52©2014 Skyword

Source: Sysomos research, IBM CMO study

Above all, Sales & Marketing values two things:

1. Thought leadership that’s validated by third-party research

2. Fact-based assessments of products + services

Know your personas’ content consumption habits.

53©2014 Skyword

“When it comes to content, I’m one of four (of five) CIOs

who prefers information that’s:

• News-driven • Relevant to my

industry• No more than 150

words”Source: Sysomos research, IBM CMO study

Like these, of today’s C-level IT executive:

54©2014 Skyword

Cloud

Storage and Sharing

Secrets

Mobility Innovation Collaboration

Ensuring Secure, Scalable

Infrastructure

BYOD Trends

Astonishing Productivity

Hacks

The Best Travel Tips

Pursuing Work-Life Balance

Inspiring Entrepreneurs

in Teams

Equipping the Virtual Workforce

Powering Face-to-

Face Connections

Communication Secrets

Management &

Leadership Spotlights

Sparking Productivity

Select recurring content themes + sample topics.

55©2014 Skyword

Monday

ListicleIn-Depth ‘How-To’ Feature

Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Set a starting publishing cadence, to test.

Innovator Spotlight

News with Analysis

Tips & Tricks

56©2014 Skyword

Know the difference: Non-branded, branded and lightly-branded publishing destinations

Create a conversion strategy.

57©2014 Skyword

2/6/15 57 57©2014 Skyword

Case Study IBM SecurityFor IBM Security, it’s not about selling services—it’s about sharing news and analysis for information security professionals.

• Create central information hub to connect both IT and security professionals

• Become the voice of information security through thought leadership content

• Empower IBM internal subject matter experts and external influencers to blog on behalf of IBM

• Show business value of content marketing within a division of a large enterprise organization

58©2014 Skyword 58©2014 Skyword

Case Study IBM Security• Launched SecurityIntelligence.com and

increased traffic 494% in the first year

• On-boarded 150 internal and external contributors to drive content production for the website

• 1 in 10 site visits turn into business engagements

• 3.5% of site visits turn into marketing responses

• 15,000 marketing responses with average cost of $25

• $19 million in sales opportunities for IBM

• $1.2 million in savings, compared to content curation and other media spend

• 390% ROI in 2014

59©2014 Skyword

Understand the difference: Non-branded, branded, lightly

branded

60©2014 Skyword

Content should be one click away

If it looks like a landing page, buyers will bounce

An important note:

61©2014 Skyword

1) Does your strategy reflect formalized personas and buyer content consumption preferences?

2) How effectively does your conversion strategy fill pipeline? (Is your funnel ratio working?)

3) Do you publish on an owned destination?

How strategic is your brand?



3) Build a balanced content team.

63©2014 Skyword

What brain capital exists in-house?

64©2014 Skyword

What about your company’s partners?Consider:

Partners Resellers Customers Referral

sources Former

employees Venture

backers Board

members

65©2014 Skyword

Known influencers will up-level your results, as well.

66©2014 Skyword

A diverse contributor team incentivizes sharing.

67©2014 Skyword

(Most C-levels depend on middle management for fresh ideas + execution)

So, consider two-tiers: executive, mid-level contributors.

68©2014 Skyword

But how do you find contributors?

69©2014 Skyword

How do you verify their qualifications?

70©2014 Skyword

How do you assess true talent?

71©2014 Skyword

2/6/15 71 71©2014 Skyword

Case Study IBM Midsize InsiderFor IBM, it’s more than IT solutions — it’s about helping midsize IT professionals think differently in the work they do every day.After developing a reputation for being a costly

solution for midsize businesses, IBM had to extend its offerings beyond its core solutions to break this mold.

IBM recruited a highly relevant team of authors from the midsize-business and IT worlds.

These contributors regularly publish news-oriented and advice-giving stories that inform IBM’s target audience about the trends taking place in the industry.


IBM Midsize Insider ResultsIBM’s Midsize Insider program achieved the following resultsto date:

• IBM Wins 2013 Digiday Award for Best Content Marketing Program

• Acceptance into Google News

• 4,500+ professionally crafted, search-optimized articles

• 30+ writer relationships

• 365MM+ social impressions generated

• 890,000+ page views

• 85,000+ social engagements

• 2.4% CTR from MidsizeInsider.com to IBM.com Solutions Pages

73©2014 Skyword

1) How well do you evangelize in-house subject matter expertise?

2) How strategically do you ‘share the microphone’?3) Is your contributor group sufficiently diverse?

Are you leveraging influencer networks + knowledge?



4) Streamline a scalable workflow.

75©2014 Skyword

Once you find your contributors, how you approach them matters.

76©2014 Skyword

So does training.

77©2014 Skyword

Give your team the ability to manage an interactive

editorial calendar...

78©2014 Skyword

To streamline editorial workflow,

79©2014 Skyword

To store and compare content versions,

80©2014 Skyword

To automate content review and delivery,

81©2014 Skyword

To lock in SEO best practices, to get content found, and…

82©2014 Skyword

To augment content with social.

83©2014 Skyword

Re-cruit

Subject mat-ter experts

Journalists, Videogra-

phers

Refine

Train on standards, voice

Mea-sure

Develop cal-endar

Assign

Mea-sure

Optimize &Publish

Ensure global scale.

84©2014 Skyword

2/6/15 84 84©2014 Skyword

Case Study Priceless CitiesFor MasterCard, It’s not about issuing credit cards—It’s about connecting with a global audience around their passions and love for their cities

• Built a website geared toward a global audience that profiles the amazing cultural events taking place in the world’s most-beautiful cities

• Connected with local writers and videographers to produce authentic written and video content about each city

• United global cities around citizens’ love and pride for their communities.


Priceless Cities ResultsExpanded from pilot study in one city to global campaigns, that are slated to include five continents:

• USA: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami

• Canada: Toronto

• Europe: London, Munich, Moscow

• Asia: Dubai

• South America: The Caribbean, Brazil

* Each program features local teams of contributors and editors, creating content for local markets

86©2014 Skyword

1) What’s your process for finding and training qualified talent?

2) How well have you formalized brand voice, guidelines?

3) Are you managing a defined workflow process all in one place?

Can your model can scale with company growth?



5) Close the feedback loop.

88©2014 Skyword

Retaining motivated contributors is as important as

reporting. Millennials– Promotion-seeking– Likes flexibility,

freedom and accolades

Generation X– Prioritizes time w

family

Baby Boomers– Warm to teaching

opportunities (impact)

– Thinking about retirement

89©2014 Skyword

Gamify the process for contributors.

?!

90©2014 Skyword

Create a reward loop.

?!

Intra-company announcements

Public recognition

SPIFs Bonuses,

MBOs Suggested

tweets with @mentions

Roving trophies

91©2014 Skyword

Drill into content’s impact on profit.

Report on anonymous + known leads viewing the most pages on your site

Receive MA email alerts about which companies view your site

Enable salespeople to monitor leads’ email + web activity on your CRM

Create URL links in MA platform

Append URL parameters to links w/in content + social to gain insight into information in hidden fields.

92©2014 Skyword

“My team directly

influenced 27% of booked

business in Q3 with our content.”

— Patricia Travaline VP

Marketing, Skyword

Know your ROI.

93©2014 Skyword

1) Have you identified and communicated which KPIs matter most?

2) How connected is your team with your results?3) What’s your process for comparing — and optimizing —

performance across topics, channels, and contributors?

Do you measure what matters?


94©2014 Skyword

So, how does your team score?

95©2014 Skyword

Are you ready to move forward?Are you ready to

move forward? • Crawl: 10-30 points• Walk: 40-60 points• Run: 70-90 points• Sprint: 100-120 points• Win: 130-150 points

Your Results

96©2014 Skyword

Are you thinking like a CMO in 2017?

97©2014 Skyword

1) Start with a big idea, based on competitive research. Deploy a storytelling approach that’s sticky.

2) Map content themes to progressive buyer interests. Formalize your conversion strategy. Delight your customer with varied content types.

3) Incorporate and automate social, SEO, and back linking rules.4) Always lead with fresh ideas. Make your content searchable, snack-

able, shareable.5) Publish on an owned property — as often as you want buyers on your

site. 6) Build a well-rounded contributor team. Empower internal SMEs and

partners. Share the authorship microphone.7) Motivate contributors to stay invested. 8) Invest in a content workflow that can scale with global projections.9) Close the feedback loop. Define and test KPIs. Measure consistently.

Tweak.10)Produce profit reports. Uplevel your place at the revenue table.

10-Step Checklist

98©2014 Skyword

Caitlin Roberson — VP, West

Email: [email protected] cell: 650.799.9917

The CMO's Content Marketing Report Card: 5 Steps to Operationalize a Content Marketing Program that Drives Business

Business

skyword content marketing

skyword executives

skyword roi

skyword theres

great content marketing

content marketing institute

content marketing pie

content marketers