Talking Content Marketing – With Chad Pollitt
Talking Content Marketing discusses the importance of content promotion with Chad Pollitt.
Chad is a decorated veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and former Army Commander. He is VP of Audience and Co-founder of Relevance.com, an online publication solely dedicated to helping marketing and communications executives solve their online content visibility challenges.
Six questions, six answers lets look at how we want our messages to be seen.
Have businesses focused too much on content curation and not enough on distribution?
That depends on how you define curation exactly. If what you mean is internally curating content within an organization to publish online in some form or fashion, than yes. Most content marketers focus entirely way too much of their attention on content creation and not enough on promotion.
Last year, on average, brands spent at least 15.2% of their content marketing budgets on promotion, but only 37% of content marketers felt their efforts were effective. That tells me that not enough time and resources are being spent on promotion. Content marketers should be spending 40% to 60% of their time and resources promoting the content they produce or curate.
You highlight that content marketing is evolving to marketing content. Do we need to become skilled at where we want our messages seen (and by whom) as opposed to solely relying on the ‘publish’ button, social channels and using email to distribute?
Absolutely. This is why research is so important in content marketing. Media, content, audience and influencer assessments are critical in not only figuring out what content to create, but exactly how you’re going to promote it.
Are you going to pitch an online media outlet, blog or influencer? If so you better know about their audience and what they like to consume. Same thing with paid distribution, native or otherwise.
Is a combination of earned, owned and paid media a trusted model for content to build resonance?
I sure trust it and it works great for Relevance. I also watched a B2B SaaS company drive six-digits of incremental revenue using one campaign that converged all of the media channels. The campaign alone drove a 36x return on investment for them.
Do brands need to take a step back from pure product messages and the only way to build credibility is to concentrate on emotional content to generate demand?
Pure product/service messages should never go away. There is a place for them in every buyer journey.
That place is the bottom of the funnel, not the top of it (awareness stage). Brands that litter the top of their funnel with salesy content have little to no chance of building a loyal audience, brand trust, and credibility. I don’t necessarily believe content needs to be emotional for a brand to generate demand. However, that content better be helpful.
Are the companies that will succeed those who can react quicker, embrace change and build deeper relationships with their audience?
Companies succeed for many different reasons, but what you mention above will sure go a long way in making their chances of success greater.
How do you learn? Where do you find inspiration?
I mostly read blogs and online publication about digital marketing.
However, I also read books from experts I trust. Jay Baer’s Youtility is excellent. So is Pam Didner’s Global Content Marketing. I’m getting ready to read Paul Roetzer’s Marketing Performance Blueprint, too. It’s sources like the aforementioned and conferences that drive my learning and aspiration.
Thanks to Chad for his time and being part of the Talking Content Marketing project. Why not find out more about what Chad stands for:
Chad on Twitter: click here
Chadpollitt.com: click here
Relevance.com: click here
The ‘Content Promotion Manifesto’ Ebook: click here
