Fast Company: 20 Top Insights For Creating Appealing Content

content marketing for new business

Creating content for new business can offer 24/7 awareness for your agency.

Creating good content requires agencies to think first and foremost from the point of view of their prospective client audience. They need to create and curate content that their audience finds helpful and appealing to their point of need. This is a major shift in perspective for many agencies and one that some finding difficult to make. It mandates talking about a category or the subject that your prospects are interested in and rather than the characteristics, capabilities and credentials of the agency.

FastCompany’s Co.Create staff created a virtual panel to discuss brand content. Panel participants included:

  • Linda Boff, global director, marketing communications, GE:
  • Jae Goodman, co-head and chief creative officer, CAA Marketing
  • Scott Roen, VP, digital, American Express
  • Jonah Bloom, executive director of content strategy, KBS+ Content Labs
  • Geoffrey Campbell, senior director, MediaCom Content
  • Werner Brell, managing director, Red Bull Media House
  • Noah Brier, founder, Percolate

This discussion of content included everything from a Twitter feed, pins, and blog posts to web video, apps, and feature films.

Here are the 20 top highlights from this panel:

1. “We’re moving to a point where brand communication is always going to be on…a future where marketing on the web is all about content” Noah Brier, Percolate

2. “Content discovered through trusted recommendations strongly influences user opinions and can build a personal association with a brand.” Linda Boff, GE

3. “The first thing they need to know about content is that it’s part of a bigger shift to always-on marketing” Noah Brier, Percolate

4. “I’m not actually sure that creating editorial content is all that different than creating promotional content, at least on a high level” Noah Brier, Percolate

5.  “I think it’s easy to spend a lot of time trying to distinguish between “advertising” and “content” when the practical reality is that the line has been totally blurred” Jae Goodman, CAA Marketing

6. “We don’t view content creation and advertising exclusively as opposites or as a “versus.” Rather we view traditional advertising and content creation as being complementary” Werner Brell, Red Bull

7. “The key thing about good content is that it requires that you think about it first and foremost from the point of view of the consumer and what they want to hear, rather than from the point of view of the brand and what it wants to say” Jonah Bloom, KBS+ Content Labs

8. “…all content creation is about consumption at its most basic. It’s about understanding the world around you and turning that into something new.” Jonah Bloom, KBS+ Content Labs

9. Creating content “requires talking about your category or the subject you’re expert in rather than the characteristics of your company or brand.” Jonah Bloom, KBS+ Content Labs

10. “Employees are also natural brand ambassadors and storytellers. We are thrilled when our employees step up and engage on emerging social platforms.” Linda Boff, GE

11. “Brands need to pay attention to a world that’s wider than just mentions of their brand and start to think about how their voice can extend to broader categories and topic areas.” Noah Brier, Percolate

12. “You definitely need internal champions both in terms of advocating for a more editorial/audience-focused approach to content creation and knowing where the brand’s expertise, insight and talent lies.” Jonah Bloom, KBS+ Content Labs

13. “It requires a long-term commitment to build an audience through a strategic content creation and distribution plan vs. one-offs with short-term impact.” Werner Brell, Red Bull

14. “Brands will be more successful in this space by knowing who their target audience is, what content will be relevant for them and which platform will be most effective in reaching this audience.” Werner Brell, Red Bull

15. “Focusing on the right distribution channels to maximize the impact of our content is essential.” Werner Brell, Red Bull

16. “The best content has a strong social component and vice versa.” Linda Boff, GE

17. “Content and social channels are combining to almost become products in and of themselves. A brand can use Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn to get their message out just like they did in the Yellow Pages of years past, but if they create a presence within one of these channels, it’s like setting up shop on Main Street.” Scott Roen, American Express

18. “Rule #1 is listen hard. What stories are resonating with your audience? What content is being shared or promoted?” Linda Boff, GE

19. “I think about curation as a type of creation. If you think about the vast majority of “content” produced on the web, it’s people sharing things with a bit of context. Noah Brier, Percolate

20. “To stay relevant a brand is going to need to create quite a bit of content every day and that will need to be a mix of original and curated.” Noah Brier, Percolate

Click on the following link to read the entire panel discussion “THE CO.CREATE VIRTUAL PANEL: BRAND CONTENT”

My Story

Since 2007, my new business consultancy was built through content marketing.

I’ve now worked with over 100 advertising, digital, media and PR agencies in almost all 50 states, as well as agencies, in Canada and the UK. Plus I’ve been able to do generate these new business opportunities without having to rely on distributive outbound marketing tactics such as direct mail and cold calling.

What has worked for me will also work for your agency’s new business.

Additional articles that may be of interest:

photo credit: Stephen Poff via photopin cc

About Michael Gass

Consultant | Trainer | Author | Speaker

Since 2007, he has been pioneering the use of social media, inbound and content marketing strategies specifically for agency new business.

He is the founder of Fuel Lines Business Development, LLC, a firm which provides business development training and consulting services to advertising, digital, media and PR agencies.

Comments

  1. lol. Thought that looked like Stephen in the photo. Great post, and the FastCo article has enough to chew on for weeks to come.

  2. Thanks Danny.

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