A Crash Course on Content: CMI Master Class

           This past week, Marketing Mindspace had the opportunity to attend the Content Marketing Master Class, brought to us by the Content Marketing Institute and LinkedIn. This post is intended to share with you the insights we gained from the event, and open the door to a conversation regarding Content Marketing.

        Hosted at the stunning Four Seasons in Toronto, the conference presented the opportunity for attendees to become intimately engaged with the core concepts around Content Marketing, and how it fits in the evolution of advertising.

        Three keynote speakers were in attendance: Joe Pulizzi – who is the founder of CMI (Content Marketing Institute), Robert Rose – the Chief Strategist of CMI, and Jason Miller – the Senior Content Marketing Manager at LinkedIn. Each brought to the table their unique backgrounds to present a rich and meaningful seminar.

        Pulizzi started by speaking on the Evolution of Content Marketing. Key points from his talk include the core elements of Content Marketing, which are: Sales, Savings, and Sunshine, and a Content Marketing Mission Statement. The Sales, Savings, and Sunshine relates to the importance of having a clear goal in mind for your content marketing, whether that be to increase sales, decrease costs, or create customer satisfaction. This involves developing a “WHY” for each communication channel in the name of guaranteeing that the content produced is working toward the correct purpose.

        A Content Marketing Mission Statement has to answer three questions: 1) who is the Core Target? 2) What content is to be delivered? and 3) What is the intended outcome of this content?

        Note, contrary to common belief, content marketing is not owned media aimed at generating earned media. In order to maximize the effectiveness of a content marketing strategy, it is imperative to have a narrow consumer focus to deliver the most relevant communications. This can result in having multiple content marketing strategies in order to reach your products full demographic range.

        Rose continued this thought, discussing the key difference between targeting virality and targeting resonance. Highlighted through the video below, his discussion pointed out that having a million views means nothing, if your content fails to stimulate behavior. However, a video with a hundred views that stimulates a hundred people to act is far more effective. An underlying fundamental of Content Marketing, is that it should stimulate not more leads, but better leads. This is achieved through messages that resonant, not ones that go viral. With that being said however, there is nothing wrong with virality, as long as it is accompanied by resonance.

Jason Miller then talked about what makes good content. Relevance was cited as one of the most important attributes to have in communications aimed for content marketing. This goes in line well with having content that resonates. A more unique point he brought up was the concept of using content like you would a turkey a thanksgiving. By choosing topics that are large and innovative, you can reuse content in a multitude of platforms, in order to increase the shelf life of an idea, and reduce the pressure of creating new content. Similar to how you eat the leftovers of a turkey dinner for weeks, in the form of sandwiches, soups, etc., great content can be used in blogs, videos, white papers and many other forms, before losing its appeal.

        While we could go on for days about the content discussed at the conference, the above is a good recount of the highlights. The event was well run and a great introduction into the ever-emerging world of Content Marketing. What are your thoughts? Is Content Marketing where we all are headed?

For any others who were in attendance, what are your thoughts? What key takeaways do you have?