By Tom Elgar – CEO, Passle

The Content Marketing ShowFriday 8th November, 2013

Success, failure and making content work in the long term

Success

My brother Adam set up a conference company called Streaming Media in the late nineties and asked me to code the website. Doesn’t look like much now. But the clever bit was…

My brother Adam set up a conference company called Streaming Media in the late nineties and asked me to code the website. Doesn’t look like much now. But the clever bit was…

My brother Adam set up a conference company called Streaming Media in the late nineties and asked me to code the website. Doesn’t look like much now. But the clever bit was…

San Francisco, 2000

So instead of: 1. Buying a mailing list2. Printing flyers 3. Sending them4. Hoping for the best

San Francisco, 2000

So instead of: 1. Buying a mailing list2. Printing flyers 3. Sending them4. Hoping for the best

Streamingmedia Inc. created a community.

We spoke to THE RIGHT 25,000 people each day.

The competition spoke to THE WRONG 100,000 PEOPLE twice a year.

Nowadays it’s called ‘Content Marketing’.We just thought it was very clever indeed.

Nowadays it’s called ‘Content Marketing’.We just thought it was very clever indeed.

Either way, Streamingmedia won.

Nowadays it’s called ‘Content Marketing’.We just thought it was very clever indeed.

Either way, Streamingmedia won.

Streamingmedia Inc. sold to Penton Media for $100m in late 2000.

Failure

Then we set up Serverside Group, which puts pictures on payment cards

I thought it would be great for small business logos, but actually it was mostly dogs and kids

But there are lots of dogs and lots of kids, and we started to do lots and lots of cards

But there are lots of dogs and lots of kids, and we started to do lots and lots of cards

And we signed up lots and lots of the world’s leading banks.

We wanted to make Serverside the content hub for our niche

We wanted to make Serverside the content hub for our niche

We had a great topic and very clever people across all functions. Everything was set up perfectly

But writing content was always the second priority for the senior management and sales guys.

We wanted to make Serverside the content hub for our niche

We had a great topic and very clever people across all functions. Everything was set up perfectly

We had loads of great stories to tell, but lacked the the time and writing ability to bring them to life

We tried to outsource our content writing, but the agency didn’t really understand our weird little niche. So the content was BORING.

We tried to outsource our content writing, but the agency didn’t really understand our weird little niche. So the content was BORING.

One day we walked our little blog out in to the snow… And shot it.

We tried to outsource our content writing, but the agency didn’t really understand our weird little niche. So the content was BORING.

One day we walked our little blog out in to the snow… And shot it.

Passle Research Shows:

There is Lots of Failure

We went to 525 websites and found …

80%of Businesses do not

have a blog

We went to 525 websites and found …

35%of Businesses with a blog

have a ‘dead blog’*

* Less than 4 posts in the last year

We went to 525 websites and found …

only 1 in 8businesses have an updated blog

This was confirmed with an online survey of 401 B2B Marketers …

13%said that they keep a

company blog (1 in 7.7)

This was confirmed with an online survey of 401 B2B Marketers …

and only 1 in 5said they use social media

Another piece of research of 200 B2B Marketers found that:

just 18%say they have even heard the phrase “content marketing”

So there are 2 issues:

1. For the SMEs – no time, skill or help to create a meaningful blog presence

2. For the Agencies – cannot get the expertise from the client onto paper

But … our research also told us:

70%of businesses understand

the value of a blog

That’s why we built Passle

That’s why we built Passle

So the other 7 in 8 businesses can also keep an updated blog presence

… create exceptional content by getting ideas, news and

opinions from the heart of their client’s business

And so agencies can …

Invite all the key people at your client’s business1

Here’s how …

Everyone adds the Chrome Extension/bookmarklet button to their browser

2

Any time they come across interesting news, they highlight the key part, hit the button and add in their thoughts

3

All of these content ideas land on your dashboard where everyone can comment, debate and discuss them

4

Create informed, interesting content and stories using this constant flow of ideas from within your client’s business

5

Once you have got your client their coverage, use the button to capture and display it all in one place

6

Passle even pulls in all the Twitter chat on each piece of coverage

7

Conclusions (for B2B)

1

2

If your primary business is content, data, knowledge etc… then having Content at the core of your marketing strategy also makes great sense.

For everyone else, use content to enhance your site - to attract the Search Engines, to prove competence and make sales. But it is a supplement not primary marketing activity.

Thanks