verve: in bloom

David Meerman Scott’s book The New Rules of Marketing & PR has a terrific case study on The Concrete Network – a Web site that is full of great content about a topic as “mortar” (as in bricks and mortar) as you can get… concrete. To build traffic and increase search engine results, the site has tons of content in the way of images and articles and puts out an average of a couple of press releases a month. And not boring, “The Concrete Network announced today…,” but feature-style releases that provide tips, give seasonal advice on concrete, talk about trends and are generally interesting to a reader looking for info about concrete.

I’m hearing this idea come up again among some of the smart people in social media. Content marketing is the label that seems to be sticking. But the ideas is that good content drives traffic, builds credibility with readers, establishes expertise and – ultimately – results in more sales, more members, more donors, more volunteers, more “whatevers.”

Rather than a shiny sales flyer about your concrete installer network, tell me how to choose the best contractor. Instead of a newsroom full of yawn-inducing press releases, give me ideas about why decorative concrete will work in my house. The Concrete Network does this. So does WineLibraryTV, Whole Foods and the Student Loan Network.

How do you get started?

• Determine your objectives for a content marketing strategy. Clear objectives will result in clearer measurement.
• Identify the content creators in your organization. Don’t have any? Find a way to outsource with an agency or consultant that understands the strategies and isn’t just a good writer.
• Decide the type of content that will best suit your organization and its culture. Consider not just print-style content (articles, blog posts), but video and audio, too.
• Consider the technical implications of your decisions and how content can be easily published and shared.
• Integrate listening and measurement into your strategy from the beginning and build tools into your strategy and implementation efforts.