Quality content can outperform any other marketing spend over time by growing reach, building brand engagement and loyalty, and serving your business objectives. Find out how in this presentation by Kim Caviness, TMG Custom Media’s SVP of Content, and Andrew Hanelly, TMG’s VP of Digital Experience. Kim and Andrew presented this in a workshop at the iStrategy 2012 conference in Chicago. Attendees got tips and tricks on how to solve the challenges that brands face in the constantly evolving media environment. Plus real-world data to help guide their strategy.

1. What’s Your
Content IQ?
Strategies to Solve Real-
World Brand Challenges

2. Who
are you
guys?

3. Hi, I’m Andrew
I am:
 VP, Digital Experience
at TMG
 Involved with all sorts
of clients’ digital
communications
@hanelly

4. Hi, I’m Kim
I am:
 SVP, Content at TMG
 Creator and executor
of branded visions
@kimcaviness

5. And this is TMG
Quality content on
every page,
screen, platform
and device.

6. And this is TMG
Quality content on
every page,
screen, platform
and device.

7. What
are you
talking
about?

8. What are you talking about?
 The new attention economy
 A call to arms for brands
 Three real-world scenarios
 Parting shots

9. The new
attention
economy

10. “Add this to the endangered list: blank spaces.”
- Louise Story, New York Times, 2007

11. “We’ve gone from being exposed to about 500
ads a day back in the 1970s to as many as
5,000 a day today.”
- Jay Walker-Smith, Yankelovich Consumer Research, 2010

12. “We’ve gone from being exposed to about 500
ads a day back in the 1970s to as many as
5,000 a day today.”
- Jay Walker-Smith, Yankelovich Consumer Research, 2010

13. Our exposure to media is at an all-time high
1960 Today
5 hours per day 12 hours per day

14. Every 60 seconds …
571 new websites are created

15. Every 60 seconds …
3,600 photos are sent to Instagram

16. Every 60 seconds …
48 hours
of video are uploaded
to YouTube

17. Every 60 seconds …
Tumblr publishes 27,778 new posts
Romain Toornier

18. Every 60 seconds …
204,166,667 emails are sent

19. Every 60 seconds …

20. Every 60 seconds …
300,000 pieces of postal mail arrive

21. Every 60 seconds …
People Google about 2 million things
- Jay Walker-Smith, Yankelovich Consumer Research, 2010

22. Every 60 seconds …
Facebook is updated 684,478 times

23. Every 60 seconds …
47,000 apps are downloaded from iTunes
- ilamont.com on Flickr

24. And we’re all walking around like this
- UltraSlo1 on Flickr

25. “If Your Kids Are Awake, They’re Probably Online”
Kids spend 7.5 hours with media per day
Henriksent on Flickr

26. But, on average, people think the average
message they encounter is below average.
- DairDair on Flickr

27. That will not stop the rise of ‘content marketing’

28. And more messages are on the way
93%
of brands will be
socially active by 2014

29. A sign of the times?

30. A call to
arms for
brands

31. “Understanding and managing attention is now
the single most important determinant of
business success.” - Davenport

32. “People don’t read ads. They read what
interests them. Sometimes it’s an ad.”
- Howard Gossage

33. The rest of the time it’s content.

34. Give the people what they want
74% of people prefer to learn about brands via
articles instead of ads

35. Earn trust and build relationships
believe
companies
that provide
branded content
are interested in
building good
relationships
with them

36. Help them make better decisions, like buying from you
68%
say branded content helps them make better
purchasing decisions

37. Be simple. Be useful. Be interesting.
Or be ignored.

38. And don’t try to fake it. They can smell that.

39. The Venn diagram of strategic relevance

40. To love your audience is to serve your audience.
Think:
 What keeps your audience up at night?
 What are their aspirations and goals?
 What kind of music do they listen to?

41. Is this culturally relevant?
Think:
 Is it “of the now” among my audience?
 Is it naturally engaging?
 Is the tone sensitive to all audience needs?

42. Is this right for the brand?
Think:
 Does it fit with our tone and worldview?
 Does it engage or alienate our core audience?
 Does it contribute to an actual business objective?

43. Two
scenarios

44. Two scenarios:
What would you say if I asked you:
 How do you get 250 bloggers to talk
about your brand?
 How do you get your entire industry to
watch an hour’s worth of video?

45. Scenario 1

46. How do you get 250 bloggers to
talk about your brand?
(In a good way …)

47. The opportunity
Blogs have the audience:
72% of people read blogs regularly
Blogs have the influence:
66% of people buy based on
blogger recommendations

48. The challenge
Blogs and brands don’t always mix.
39% of bloggers say they never mention
product names or brands on their blogs
42% of bloggers describe their relationship with
brand representatives as “unfavorable”

49. How do you get 250 bloggers to
talk about your brand?
The parameters:
 You sell consumer electronics
 Your audience is mostly
male, kinda geeky …
 You have a company blog
with a fair amount of content

50. The big idea
We discovered, vetted and published a “best of” list
featuring the most relevant bloggers in the vertical

51. The logic
Because it was editorially vetted, this put us on their
radar and in a favorable light. It was an attempt to
make the first step in building a relationship.

52. The logic
We wanted to make it more than a one-off, we
wanted a lasting relationship via content.

53. The logic
We did it for five separate industry verticals.
(Spread out over the course of a year.)

54. The payoff
Increases in:
 Visits
 Pageviews
 Time on site
 Inbound links
 Social engagement

55. Scenario 2

56. How do you get 100,000 people to watch an
hour’s worth of video?

57. How do you get 100,000 people to watch an
hour’s worth of video?
People love video.
180 million people watch video online monthly
The average user watches 4.3 hours per month

58. How do you get 100,000 people to watch an
hour’s worth of video?
But keeping their attention is tough.
~20 seconds ~30 seconds ~60 seconds
- ReelSEO, 2012

59. How do you get 100,000 people to watch an
hour’s worth of video?
Remember,
cat videos are
awesome, but
they don’t tend to
make money.

60. How do you get 100,000 people to watch an
hour’s worth of video?
The parameters:
 Your business is running
B2B trade show events
 Your audience are jewelry
retail store owners
 They’re not super tech savvy

61. The big idea
We created a made-for-web branded entertainment
series with strategic product placement.

62. The logic
We borrowed from pop culture: a challenge, some
conflict, and a dramatic conclusion.

63. The logic
We borrowed from pop culture: a challenge, some
conflict, and a dramatic conclusion.

64. The logic
We broke it into 13 episodes, supported it with
editorial coverage, and coordinated the big reveal to
happen at the annual show.

65. The logic
We wove the sponsor into the content instead of
interrupting.

66. The payoff
Increases in:
 Visits
 Pageviews
 Time on site
 Inbound links
 Social engagement

67. Parting
shots

69. Thank
you!

70. Connect with us!
Keith Sedlak
SVP, Client Partnerships
ksedlak@tmgcustommedia.com
646.783.3755
engage.tmgcustommedia.com
Andrew Hanelly
VP, Digital Experience facebook.com/tmgDC
ahanelly@tmgcustommedia.com
202.530.8053
@hanelly
@tmgmedia
Kim Caviness
SVP, Content
linkedin.com/company/tmgDC
kcaviness@tmgcustommedia.com
202.721.1442