With the explosion of content marketing, the battle for customer attention is more intense than ever. We held an event in New York to discuss how organizations can win the war of the words.

1. Winning the
war of the words
Ten-and-a-half thoughts about
content marketing.

2. This little collection of thoughts was inspired by a
discussion between two of our favorite content marketers,
held at New York’s Soho House in October 2014.
Many thanks to our two speakers that morning:
Cristina Ampil, managing director of PwC US’s
Thought Leadership Institute; and Laura Fink,
vice president of Global Marketing & Communications
at American Express Travel – and to everyone else
who came along and pitched in.

3. Content marketing
surrounds us.

4. Certainly, the
buzz surrounds us.

5. Research shows that most
US companies are creating
content marketing.
*
According to the Content Marketing Institute, in their recent
‘North America Content Marketing Trends’ reports.
90% of B2C companies*
86% of B2B companies*

6. But most companies don’t
see any real value from it.
Forrester Research says 85% of B2B
marketers don’t feel they get business
value from their content marketing.*
*
2014 study, ‘Compare Your B2B Content Marketing Maturity’.

7. ‘When I scroll through my
news feed, all I see are missed
opportunities to connect. Sometimes
I wonder, why did they bother?’

8. To do it well, you have to
know why you’re doing it.
Content
marketing is
not selling.

9. ‘Today you’re looking for
people to share; tomorrow
for people to buy.’

10. B2B.

11. B2B.
B2C.

12. B2B.
B2C.

13. We’re all working to
stay relevant.

14. Start by having
something to say.
What do your
customers care about?
If you talk about that,
they’ll listen.

15. Say it when people want to hear it.
Many people are tuning out from traditional media.
They’re still paying attention.
They’re just doing it on their schedule.

16. Make it interesting.
Nobody wants to be ‘engaged’.
But we all want something real.
72% of ‘digital natives’ want
brands to entertain them.

17. Be concise.
Your readers are busy.
Respect their time.
Blah blah blah, blah blah. Blah blah.
Blah blah, blah. Blah blah blah.
Blah blah, blah blah. Blah. Blah blah.
Blah. Blah blah. Blah, blah blah.
Blah, blah blah blah. Blah blah.
Blah blah blah, blah blah blah. Blah.
Blah.

18. Instead of content marketing,
let’s call it conversation marketing.
You shouldn’t just be talking at your customers.
You need to listen to what they’re saying, and start
the dialogue.

19. To have a conversation, you need
to have a voice.
When you write in your own voice,
you’ll stand out from the crowd.

20. How do you make sure
it always sounds like you?
1. Know your brand’s personality.
2. Find the voice to match.
3. Define clear guidelines.

21. Don’t sound like a robot.
After all, you’re competing
for attention with kittens.

22. You might your
tone for different channels.
But don’t change the things
you stand for.
tweak

23. Fortunately, you can find
out what works.

24. Fortunately, you can find
out what works.
And what doesn’t.

25. Fortunately, you can find
out what works.
And what doesn’t.
As long as you’re measuring
the right things.

26. A meaningful conversation
with an interesting consumer
is easily worth 500 clicks on
a cute video.

27. Bring your whole posse.
Writers.
Graphic artists.
Editors.
Analytics experts.
Web designers.
Use the people around
you to make your content
as good as it can be.

28. What comes next?
More.

29. What comes next?
More.
New skills.

30. New skills.
New processes.
What comes next?
More.

31. New skills.
New processes.
New channels.
What comes next?
More.

32. You stay relevant by
connecting to your audience.
You do that by
staying authentic.
And you show that by
sounding authentic.
Keep it real.

33. Want a hand shaping your content?
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