Sadly, B&T was unable to make it across to the US to attend Content Marketing World. Thankfully though, Colloquial Australia GM Zeina Khodr (pictured below) has offered to keep us updated with what’s going down there like so…
Over 4,000 storytellers, content creators and digital marketers from all over the world have arrived in Cleveland, Ohio for the 7th annual global Content Marketing World conference by the Content Marketing Institute.
Three days devoted to storytelling, data, insights and content? Is content marketing even a thing? Google didn’t even know what content marketing was in 2011. Today, it’s maybe the most import discipline going on in marketing, says the godfather of content marketing and founder of Content Marketing World, Joe Pulizzi.
Opening the conference, Pulizzi challenged marketers to think differently about the practice of content marketing and to start thinking of content that delivers an ROI and a profit back to the brand.
He told the audience that business models are changing and content marketing is driving it. Brands are building loyal and trusted audiences to make this happen to drive ROI.
Before 1990, there were only eight ways consumers could get information, and today channels have exploded – we’re creating massive amounts of content every day. It’s real-time, instant and covers what’s happening in the moment.
Modelez and Pepsi last year announced they are building content studios and will make them profitable.
Tasty has sold over 100,000 custom print cookbooks and launched a smart phone cooker and app – since when did BuzzFeed get into the smart phone appliance market?
GE, the early adopters of content marketing gets a shout out for paving the way and demonstrating how they have become the powerhouse content makers and publishers of today.
Linda Boff, CMO for GE, delivered the first keynote and shared why the company creates stories that connect and engage with an audience that’s inspiring and memorable.
Boff implores marketers to constantly think about the audience.
“First and foremost, be relatable and exceedingly human in your storytelling, because getting to the simplest idea is the hardest part of storytelling,” she said. “It’s part of the strategy and reinforce who we are.
“That’s something every brand can learn.
Jay Acunzo from Unthinkable (and last year’s most popular speaker) took the stage to challenge marketers to stop creating average content and be exceptional.
“It’s never been easier to be average,” she told conference attendees. “What is takes to be exceptional as a marketer is to trust your intuition. It’s pulling out your knowledge from within really quickly and trusting yourself.
“Stop doing the commodity work and focus on resonance than reach – inspiring your true believers. Learn the first principle insight about the audience and find the true believers.”
According to Alan Schulman, Deloitte Digital’s MD of brand creative and content, and an advertising industry veteran, content marketing represents the new craft of advertising.
“Content marketing is hard, advertising is easy,” he said. “The opportunity is for marketers to combine three key attributes: real-time relevance, personalisation and emotion.”
Forget the marketing you have learnt in the past, because there is something greater – the business of the future is based on content.
