executive blogging and content marketing
TRANSCRIPT
Content and the CEOMark Hillary – Carnaby - @markhillary
Edelman – March 2016
• British – based in São Paulo, Brazil •Former CIO – global banking tech head• Wrote 15 books on tech/globalisation• First UK govt blogger, London Olympics 2012 blogger, UN blogging advisor (also book for UN)• Short-listed UK business blogger of the year twice, won once• Ghost-writer for politicians, diplomats, CEOs – various companies from USA to Asia
Who am I?
Look Back First
• Before we talk about anything today, think of this … this is bigger than technology alone
• The iPhone was only invented in 2007• Social networks only went mainstream in 2008/09• All human communication is changing – look at
the MWC16 last week for examples• Now how do you convince corporate executives
of this? How do customers Learn about their company today?
A 2015 book by me focused on executives, blogging, and content marketing… plus I am presently completing a book about how LinkedIn is transforming sales
What is this about?
• First it’s important to look at the media landscape• Blogging was once niche or just for diarists• Now blogging is journalism• Look at how popular titles get clicks … Mashable, Independent, Buzzfeed all use great headlines and questioning articles – the style of blogs has pervaded the media
Blogging becomes Content
• The way we get news has changed from reading specific journals or broadcast channels to aggregators… Reddit, Twitter etc• This democratises the path from creator to reader – if you have an interesting view it can cut through• Often branded journals will use content from blogs or social media sites (how many stories have you read about an Instagram post?)• Ryan Holiday “Trust me, I’m lying” - book
Finding News Has Changed
• There is an opportunity for brands to use content in various ways
• Create your own podcast, create your own journal, publish a regular CEO blog, publish blogs by sales executives
• Strategy depends on desired outcome – generally sales or branding
Content Marketing
• LinkedIn is possibly the most important tool available to sales teams today
• LinkedIn Pulse blogging platform allows sales execs to create content demonstrating their expertise – not hard selling
• Great articles bubble up and become featured by LinkedIn in the community
• Even those not featured augment your profile – write something relevant before a big meeting because you know your client will check LinkedIn to see who they are meeting
Sales
• LinkedIn can be used as the central point as all new content there flows to the network of the CEO
• Content can be repurposed for trade journals, business journals
• PR and analyst teams can actively monitor key journalists/analysts and alert them to blog comment by the CEO
CEO
• Content works best when removed from the process of sales – independent
• Example I worked on was a company who wanted to be seen as a leading player offering contact centres in central America
• Created an online magazine focused on this subject, hired an editor plus staff, created a popular journal and stayed arms-length
Branding
• Obviously the ‘best’ depends on your business, B2B or B2C, company ethos or style, and customers
• However, it’s worth exploring multiple channels and in many cases you can get the client to help – if it does not take too much time
• For instance, a CEO that can be convinced to use Instagram when travelling is worth a lot – photos from on the road can be worked up into blogs and internal reports
What’s the best channel?
• Nobody outside of the media business really cares about number of followers, impressions, retweets etc.
• Think about the end goal … is it to elevate the brand in the public mind or to directly generate sales? Measure what matters, not social KPIs
• Sales team only cares if their blogs gets meetings with prospects (and then hopefully actual sales)
• Content can be very useful at creating intermediate links – reaching to those who influence the actual customers (journos/analysts)
Value and success
• Scope creep – client keeps adding just one more Twitter account to your workload
• Execs too busy – nobody ever signs off on content• Hubris – CEO assumes the world is waiting for his or her
message• Bureaucracy – comms team needs to check every comma in
every tweet• Technophobia – the online CEO doesn’t even know how to
install apps• No commitment – they want to do something, but have no
budget or budget too small to be effective
What Can Go Wrong?
• Get the expected achievements on the table from the start – not measurements of social activity, business achievements
• Get the senior team to buy in• Communicate with the team that interacts
most with the customers• Agree a realistic time to ramp up
Keys to making it work
Corporate silos are blending. Marketing, sales, PR, advertising, customer service etc… anything that interacts with customers needs to be coordinated. What has changed?
• How we source and curate news• How we find a new partner• How we transfer money or seek loans• How we engage politically• How we get educated• How we find a new job
In just the past decade, almost every human interaction has been changed in some way… this really affects how company services are found – all the rules have
changed in recent years (look at fintech!)
Summary
• The customer journey used to be want a product – go to a store – buy product – call customer service if there is a problem• Now it’s so much more complex and loyalty to a brand comes from engagement and this requires content and some kind of ongoing engagement strategy• Customers who become really engaged can become advocates and fans – they will buy regardless of price (Apple, Nike), but brands that fail to engage will really struggle in this new communications environment
Customer Journey
