Content Marketing World kicked off this morning with Jay Baer (@jaybaer), author of Youtility. The top-rated speaker of CMW last year, Jay didn’t disappoint today.
Echoing the themes of his book, Jay insisted that the best marketing content is that which is so good people would pay for it. However, the conversation took an intersting turn when Jay started to talk about promoting the content your brand publishes.
Content is crucial to buying decisions – the number of sources buyers rely upon has almost doubled over the last year. And according to Google, B2B buyers routinely complete 70% of their research before talking to a vendor rep.
Everyone is talking about content promotion at #CMWorld 13
Publishing isn’t enough
But publishing content isn’t enough. Jay noted that the convergence of our personal and commercial lives means that marketers are competing against friends, family and cat videos for audience attention.
Wednesday at Content Marketing World – learn to drive discovery of YOUR content
One way Jay suggests that brands create visibility for their content is to “make the story bigger” than just your products or services. Solve problems in your customers’ lives, not just around what you sell.
However, being dead useful to your audience is just part of the equation. Driving discovery of your content is crucial too.
Marketing your messaging
“Market your marketing, ” Jay encouraged the assembled faithul. “Put some effort behind it. Advertising isn’t the competition – it’s an enabler.”
Both paid and social media should be part of the plan.
Social media: Content is fire, says Jay. And social media is gasoline. However, don’t make the mistake of treating tweets like the world’s shortest press releases. Social posts still need to be useful.
Paid media: Advertising campaigns and PR can fuel significant visibility for the content your brand produces. You may even earn some media along the way, which will launch your content into a different stratosphere.
Tomorrow at Content Marketing World I’ll be presenting on driving content discovery, in a session titled “10 Online Discovery Tips that Will Get Your Content Promoted.”
I’ll be offering 19 (instead of the previously advertised 10) ways to build an element of discovery into your content strategy, and to promote the discovery of the information your brand publishes. Here’s a sneak peek:
Author Sarah Skerik is PR Newswire’s vice president of content marketing, and is the author of the e-books Unlocking Social Media for PR and the newly-published New School Press Release Tactics. Follow her on Twitter at @sarahskerik.
Tagged: #CMWorld13, marketing strategy
