Optimize Magazine - Fall 2016

FALL 2016

IDEAS FOR MARKETING AND CREATIVE PROFESSIONALS

IN 3-2-1 … GOING LIVE WITH FACEBOOK LIVE!

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A Sit-down with Mark Schaefer: Best-selling Author, Speaker & Educator How to Write a Kick-butt Marketing Case Study The Need for Customer Journey Mapping

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WELCOME

EXPERT OPINION

Welcome to the Fall issue 3 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT HOPKINS PRINTING

Roy Waterhouse President, Hopkins Printing

Read insights from the following contributors in this issue:

1 PURL Marketing Multi-channel marketing continues to be a trending topic in our current communications environment, and with continued requests by our customers to see examples and case studies, one of our goals is to share ideas and applications using our own resources.

To that end we have started a PURL (personalized URL) campaign to inspire creativity of your marketing across these multiple channels and platforms. Our campaign began by showcasing our wide format capabilities, and to-date the program has yielded great comments and results. Our plans are to document our own success and offer it as insight to our customers, showing them how they too can replicate it for their own brands.

Mark Schaefer The author of The Content Code talks to us about creating practical, or reality-focused, marketing and content strategies. (Page 6)

2 New Equipment Thanks to our valued employees who serve our customers with enthusiasm and happy hearts, (which keeps them coming back!), we have reached the need for additional production capacity.

This year at DRUPA, the largest print show in the world (located in Germany), our CEO placed an order for a new Polar cutter and Stahl folder. If you aren’t an equipment guru, that may not mean much to you. But in the world of print, it’s considered the best-ofthe-best combination of solid-state manufacturing and state-ofthe-art technology. The Polar cutter will be installed by year end and will improve our throughput by more than 25%, while the new folder will net a 30% improvement in folder production..

3

Tim Sweeney Tim explains where and how to start when faced with creating compelling case studies. (Page 10)

Our Philosophy...

culture, and management style intersect at the corner of talent and technology. By this, I mean that we are always reinvesting in both our our people and our equipment. Skilled and talented craftsmen with poor tools is no different than untrained craftsmen trying to utilize the latest technology. It truly does take both to keep our company strong and on a path of continuous improvement. At Hopkins, this is a cornerstone of our company success, our individual employees success and happiness, and ultimately what allows us to continue to successfully serve our customers in the future. We’re most proud of our employees and their commitment to excellence and to our customers, and also proud of our ability to give them the best environment to come to work in each day.

Follow us online

facebook.com/HopkinsSolutions

@hopksolutions

Fall 2016

Jay Acunzo Feeling the content talent crunch?

Jay Acunzo talks about how to identify and nurture new talent. (Page 12)

linkedin.com/company/hopkins-printing

OPTIMIZE is printed on 100# U Velvet Cover/100# U Velvet Text paper

01 Welcome

Letter from the President, plus a selection of the key contributors writing in this issue.

02 Insights

10 How to Write a Great Case Study

Tips from a seasoned writer on preparing for and writing a great case study.

12 The Perfect Storm for Content Marketing Talent

Executive Editor

Cindy Woods, cmoteam.com Contributing Writers

Carro Ford, Tim Sweeney, Cindy Woods

Ideas, opinions, news, and trends.

Jay Acunzo shares his thoughts, tips, and advice on content marketing as a craft and finding the craftsmen.

Design

Production Design

06 Interview with Mark Schaefer

16 My Working Day

Designlogix

Diann Durham

©2016 All Rights Reserved

College educator, consultant, and best-selling author of five marketing books gives us one of our best-ever interviews.

June Steward, a professional nonprofit marketer and copywriter, talks about working with her client organizations.

Printed and distributed by Hopkins Printing www.hopkinsprinting.com

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Fall 2016

INSIGHTS

NEWS | REVIEWS | IDEAS | OPINION |

SOCIAL MEDIA »

Customer Journey Mapping: The Road to Relationships Left: Laura Patterson, President VisionEdge Marketing

Right: Katrina Busch, President Roberts Communications As marketers, we can be guilty of chasing the next shiny toy, but does customer journey mapping fall into that category? No, say many marketing pros. “Journey mapping isn’t new. It’s rebranding what we used to call pipeline engineering,” says Laura Patterson, President of VisionEdge Marketing. The funnel is another buzzword for the same concept.

“Journey mapping is a fancy name for what marketers have always said—know your customer,” declares Katrina Busch, President of Roberts Communications.

“The concept of customer journey mapping puts a practical process to something that just comes naturally, which is building relationships.”

Customer insight is essential for true relationship building, and the only way to do that is by truly knowing someone. With a journey map, you do.

MANY JOURNEYS TO MAP Customer journey mapping can include other pathways, not just those leading to a purchase.

There could be an upselling journey, a service journey, or a referral journey. What are all the journeys a customer makes to be successful with your services or products? Does their experience along the way match up to their expectation? What do you need to improve?

Even the same product sale can involve different journeys. “Consider all the ways Starbucks reaches consumers

and makes it easy to access their product,” notes Laura. “You can get it at home, at the airport, or on the way. You can get it on the plane, in a hotel kiosk, or from room service.”

Clearly, Starbucks thought about all the paths their customers could take, and this is a “simple” B2C transaction!

SPIGOT PROJECTS: TURN ON SOME HELP Marketers sometimes hesitate to ask for assistance, because they’re afraid to appear underqualified to do mapping. If you don’t have the skill or expertise, there’s no shame in reaching out. Even elite athletes depend on their coaches.

Your people know your customers best, but many experts recommend a third-party facilitator for journey mapping. “A facilitator is a great idea,” says Katrina. “An unbiased third party keeps you on track and asks good questions. This is where to invest if you have to prioritize.” And a strong customer journey map can be used across all marketing and sales disciplines, greatly increasing its value.

Think about what’s the best use of your time, too. Customer journey mapping is a “spigot” project, meaning you can turn it on and off.

If it’s not something you need every day (and it’s not), why take on the overhead of a full-time role?

B2B OR B2C? DOES IT MATTER? Journey maps work for both models.

The two categories aren’t as different as we sometimes assume. “You can’t always separate the world that way anymore, because some B2B commerce is transactional, and some B2C involves complex selling,” explains Laura Patterson.

Whether you’re talking B2B or B2C, consider first the complexity of the sale. Ask questions that get into the details of the process. Is it a consultative or customized engagement? Is it a simple, self-serve or transactional encounter?

The interactions and content will be different for each.

Here are other questions to help build a customer journey map: •A t the front end, are you targeting new customers or existing ones?

•A re you asking an existing customer to change something about their relationship with you, such as upgrade to a newer product?

• I s the purchase a complex decision involving multiple stakeholders?

•H ow does that create a different process and experience for your customer?

•W hat do you know about the typical sales cycle?

•W hat indicates that a customer is moving from one buying stage to the next?

•W hat are your internal touch points with customers and prospects?

•W hat are gates or roadblocks to a successful end result?

•W hat geographies are involved in the journey?

•W hat’s the financial impact to the buyer or their company?

• What is the perceived risk?

INSIGHTS

BENEFITS BEYOND THE CUSTOMER Customers benefit from use of a journey map when the brand becomes more focused on delivering what that consumer wants.

The journey map also delivers benefits for your internal teams.

Use your customer journey map to: •B uild internal relationships: The journey map encourages cross functional, collaborative relationships within your organization.

It leads to a harmonized, customer-centric team, instead of one that’s product-centric or sales-driven.

• Experience the customer experience: What’s it like being a customer of your brand? With a map, you can walk a mile in their shoes. Many departments have a hand in how the business engages with customers and need to understand the experience.

• Motivate your best resource: Employees become empowered when they clearly understand who you sell to and how they affect the outcome. Customer service, sales, marketing writers—anyone who touches a customer can benefit from a true understanding of the buyer.

Fall 2016

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• Understand the business: Your team better understands what the business does in the marketplace and how the customer fits in the context of that.

• Anchor a marketing plan: Without a good view of the customer, marketing efforts are directionless. With a map view, your plan can be built around your customers’ objectives.

• Find common cause: Whether you need to grow share of current customers, expand geographies, or bring new products to market, a journey map puts all the team on the same page.

TIPS FOR A DIY JOURNEY MAP If it’s not in your budget to hire a facilitator, consider running an internal focus group yourself, but be sure to have internal support.

“Having been part of building many customer journey maps, I can tell you that it can’t be done in a vacuum,” says Katrina Busch. “The project leader may not have much customer contact and, therefore, needs input from a team; and a team of colleagues will be more likely to get behind the map if they have a hand in it.”

These tips will help you get useful results: • T alk with sales, customer service, and other employees. Invite a group of internal “touch points” to share their organizational knowledge and workshop a journey map. Include as many people who touch customers as possible.

• M ake it an open-ended effort, not a one-time project. Don’t just post the map on a wall.

It must be a living idea that employees will return to as they make discoveries and decisions.

• S tart a customer advisory board. Have them validate the journey map.

• Y ou don’t need a special tool.

“Just have a lot of Post-it® notes,” Katrina says. You just need brains and the openness to think differently.

• R efresh your journey map when you initiate a campaign, and incorporate it into the campaign plan for greater success.

Think of the map not as a final document, but as a snapshot of behavior and communications. It’s never a one-and-done effort, since customers are always moving, and what they want changes. n

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Fall 2016

INSIGHTS

NEWS | REVIEWS | IDEAS | OPINION |

TRENDING »

Going LIVE with Facebook Live In December of 2015, Facebook made Facebook Live available to the masses, allowing for live broadcasting on the platform. Though brands are still in the experimental phase of using this newish feature, many are leaping into the fray, excited by the ease with which they can broadcast to followers. And it really is easy.

With a smartphone and a solid connection, preferably Wi-Fi, just tap on the livestream icon and broadcast right from your phone.

“It’s the democratization of broadcasting,” says Jack Martin, London-based Senior Community Manager at 1000heads, a global agency that specializes in social media and works with brands such as Skype, Dubai Tourism, Salomon, and Red Bull. “Brands who previously would never have been able to afford the massive financial outlay in live broadcasting are now empowered to embrace the opportunity.”

Facebook created great buzz around the platform by making livestream posts highly prominent in the newsfeed early on and by making livestream capabilities available to celebrities and public figures in 2015. “That delivered brands and publishers free media that they would normally be forced to pay for,” Martin says. “Facebook also cleverly inserted push notifications to users who followed brands, instantly alerting them to livestreams as soon they began. This initial promotion ensured Facebook Live gained immediate interest among brands and consumers.”

Now, it’s a question of how quickly brands are able to take advantage of it. Martin says innovative publishers such as BuzzFeed have led the way with interesting examples, such as when 800,000 people tuned in to watch 45 minutes of two people exploding a watermelon

with elastic bands. The challenge is that traditional brand publishing is not designed to deliver impactful live broadcasting.

“Brands need to ensure that they have content teams with the appropriate experience, talent, and equipment in place to deliver compelling stories via Live,” he says. Brands that embraced platforms such as Periscope and Meerkat, which exploded in 2015, are at a distinct advantage. “The rest,” Martin believes, “are playing catch-up.”

So why would you want to broadcast live on Facebook rather than create your own live “Wayne’s World” and air it on YourOwnBrandNameHere.com? First, Facebook Live lives on something called Facebook, which has 1.7 billion monthly active users. It’s also a platform on which most brands already have a presence, so it’s easy to integrate live content into your existing content plans. As Martin points out, the added element of social engagement means livestreams are no longer a passive experience. Instead, they are an active one, during which viewers can interact with the broadcaster instantly.

“Facebook also enables easy sharing among consumers, which gives brands the opportunity to drive word of mouth through Live to an extent that no other social platform offers,” he explains. “And the data Facebook holds on its users allows brands to create the most effective audience to target based on

their interests, browsing behavior, and similarity to your existing customer base through creating look-alike audiences from your CRM data.”

And, yes, your Facebook Live broadcast can still live on your website or blog going forward if you simply embed a bit of HTML code into your site. Martin adds that, while you can signpost your broadcast on other social networks, “It is not a natural user behavior to move to a different social network while browsing another, so nailing it natively on the platform is always preferable.”

Facebook has already promised advertisers advancements to the platform that will allow advertising on it. In August, they started testing 15-second, midroll ads on livestreams. Martin says Facebook has created an API for the Live platform.

That means developers can access the platform code and then plug additional hardware and features into it. “At the moment, the offering is limited, but you can already stream from drones and stand-alone cameras,” he says. “We can expect that hardware brands such as GoPro will develop this offering for their cameras, as they have done with Periscope.” n

INSIGHTS

Fall 2016

05

5-MINUTE EXPERT »

Maximizing Your Facebook Live Broadcast JACK MARTIN OFFERS SOME SIMPLE THOUGHTS FOR GETTING THE MOST

Ted Grigg Direct Marketing Specialist President, DMCG

Are You Making These Direct Mail Testing Mistakes?

FROM YOUR BRAND BROADCAST ON FACEBOOK LIVE. BE INTERESTING. There isn’t an ideal length for a Facebook Live broadcast. Do interesting, compelling things, and people will tune in and stay engaged. Red Bull created one of the most compelling and most watched moments in live-streaming history when Felix Baumgartner skydived from space. Be interesting, be relevant, and the audiences will follow.

DON’T BE TOO AMATEUR . . .

OR TOO PROFESSIONAL. A professional video production crew with experience in lighting, sound, and direction of live broadcasting will deliver a more polished product. However, there is a strong argument for a more rough-and-ready stream. Consumers will see this as a more authentic, intimate window into a story. Viewers’ expectations of online broadcasts versus traditional, live TV broadcasts are set at different levels, due to their exposure to live-streaming.

A LITTLE AD SPEND GOES A LONG WAY. Like most social networks, Facebook is pay to play. Organic reach of a brand’s Page posts will be, on average, 2.6 percent of their fans, so ensuring ad dollars are put behind posts is essential to their success, unless you are fortunate enough to go viral. The positive part of this is that Facebook is a mature ad platform that offers advanced targeting options, allowing you to reach the audience at the right time. If you are investing budget and effort in producing something cool, make sure people can see it.

So, you haven’t given up on direct mail?

NOT TESTING BOLDLY Good call, because, done right, direct mail Don’t test minor factors, such as letter length still delivers solid results. According to the or changing the shape or color. While these Direct Marketing Association (DMA), affect response a little, tweaking them won’t 39 percent of customers try a business the deliver breakthroughs and new benchmarks. first time because of direct mail advertising, Test major factors, such as pricing, list source, while an Epsilon study found that half of US package format, and, especially, the offer. Offers consumers prefer direct mail to email. and calls to action (CTAs) drive response. Test There’s never been a better time to include offers to see which pulls better, 50% off versus direct mail as part of an integrated strategy, 25% off, or $14.95 versus $19.95. See what CTA but there are risks. Direct drives the next level of engagement. marketing savant Ted Grigg A printed QR code linking to a video The biggest wants you to avoid these may generate more views and clickmistake is direct mail testing mistakes. throughs to a website than a link in lack of testing.

He’s led direct marketing on an e-blast. Test boldly!

And when both agency and client sides, marketers do test, STICKING WITH THE using every conceivable they look at the STATUS QUO channel, and his advice can wrong things or “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” is not help you avoid problems. make no effort a good motto for direct mailers. to beat existing Companies fall into the trap of LACK OF TESTING benchmarks not checking the quality of their The biggest mistake is or controls. lists, due to the time-consuming lack of testing. And when nature of it. Do an internal audit marketers do test, they of your database every year; choose one look at the wrong things or make no mail piece and pay the extra postage fee for effort to beat existing benchmarks or undeliverable mail to be returned to you, controls. We see over and over that the giving you the opportunity to update your postcard worked or the ad worked, but database. Continuing to send mail to duplicates, compared to what? Every mailing should undeliverable addresses, and erroneous zip include a test and should always try to be codes adds up to a tremendous waste of dollars. at the controls.

Have serious direct mail questions? Call Ted! We weren’t kidding when we referred to him as a “direct marketing savant.” Visit Ted’s website: dmcgresults.com.

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Fall 2016

COVER STORY

Q&A WITH

MARK

SCHAEFER Interview by Tim Sweeney

Internationally acclaimed college educator, author of five best-selling social media marketing books, speaker, and strategy consultant.

Mark Schaefer is an author, commentator, and educator who has appeared on international television shows and periodicals, including The Wall Street Journal, Wired, The New York Times, MSNBC, and the BBC. He has worked in global sales, PR, and marketing positions for 30 years and now provides consulting services as Executive Director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions. He specializes in marketing strategy and social media workshops. We interrupted his busy schedule to pose a series of questions on social media, content marketing, and whatever else he would answer.

Q: You’ve worked with a range of international businesses, government organizations, and news organizations.

Despite their differences, where does the diagnosis begin when you meet with them?

Mark: Remarkably, the diagnosis begins well

before content or a Facebook Page. It begins with the organization itself. The biggest predictor of success is not a strategy, a budget, or even talented resources. It’s the company culture. So, the first

Fall 2016

07

WHO MARK FOLLOWS

step is to take a rational look at what is possible.

What is the current strategy, if they even have one? What are the obstacles to success, both real and perceived? Is the organization ready for a public social media presence? Are they a conversational brand, meaning, is this a natural fit for the company, or will it take extraordinary creative effort? If you don’t assess this carefully, you aren’t looking at the primary factors that can derail you.

We asked Mark Schaefer for three sources that he relies on to keep his fingers on the pulse of all things marketing. He gave us four.

“There are so many great resources out there that it’s difficult to name just three,” Schaefer says, “but here are a few I follow religiously.”

Christopher S. Penn

He’s a data scientist who is continually creating breakthrough thinking on measuring what matters.

He blogs daily, and his books are indispensable.

Scott Monty

He curates the latest digital communication news in a weekly newsletter called The Full Monty. This is the single best way to stay on top of trending topics in the digital space.

Affinio and BuzzSumo

I follow these two companies closely. Both take a scientific approach to marketing and audience data, and they give away their insights quite generously on their blog. They both create something useful and thought-provoking every week.

Q: As an adjunct marketing professor at Rutgers University, you teach to the marketing brains (and, potentially, leaders) of tomorrow. What are the skills they will need most to make an impact in their chosen profession in the decade ahead?

Q: You speak specifically about creating

Q: You wrote in a LinkedIn post

practical, or reality-focused, strategies. Have you seen too many marketing strategies that are unrealistic? How might companies avoid this pitfall?

MS: Since I teach at the graduate level, most of

MS: A challenge for companies is becoming

my students are already marketing professionals looking to up their game—and this is a wise choice! Certainly, digital transformation is at the forefront today. My view is that leaders don’t need to have all the right answers. They can surround themselves with people who can set up a social media account or create Facebook ads, for example. But they do need to have the right questions to know what is possible, to know what is ideal for their organization.

intoxicated with the shiny new thing. It is only natural that you don’t want to be left behind, that you want to understand and master the latest platform. But the fact of the matter is, most new platforms don’t make it. If you look at some of the hot ideas over the past couple of years, it proves my point—Meerkat, Blab, Foursquare, Quora, to name a few. A couple of years ago, Ello was so hot, people were selling invitations to the platform on eBay. Where are they now? These platforms may have a place in the marketing ecosystem, but it is a minor one, and, if you had a goal of becoming the Ello-master, it was a giant waste of time. Let others make those mistakes. It’s more practical and realistic to be a fast follower in most cases.

about companies only being concerned with building an audience—blog and newsletter sign-ups, etc.—without being dedicated to moving people from being involved with the brand to being committed to it. Who is doing this well and how?

In my view, the ideal marketing leader would know enough to ask the right questions about: • The role of big data and analytics • T he skill sets needed to lead to the next level of marketing proficiency • M egatrends on content, social media, e-commerce, etc., all of which require ongoing education • Generational changes in consumer behavior • S hifts in digital platforms relevant to the business • Emerging technologies, such as virtual reality

MS: It’s easy to find the companies doing

well on social media. Look at the bestmanaged companies in the world—they tend to do everything well! The challenge is to achieve a change of mindset. For decades, we have been conditioned to sell, sell, sell. But, if you try doing that on the web, you will usually fail. People are sick of being advertised to, marketed to, and sold to. They don’t go on social media to learn about your new line of adhesives; they go to see pictures of babies and Grumpy Cat. That’s your competition.

A challenge for companies is becoming intoxicated with the shiny new thing. It is only natural that you don’t want to be left behind.

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Fall 2016

COVER STORY

Q: So, what should brands be doing?

MS: The new challenge is to help, help, and

help—and to do it in a patient way. Many companies expect social media to work like advertising. It doesn’t. A better analogy for social media is a networking meeting or industry conference. You go there to build relationships, and it may take months or years to pay off.

As they begin to know us and trust us, they are more likely to opt in to our content and begin more of a two-way exchange. Ultimately, you want this to lead to a buying relationship.

Q: You managed a highly successful e-commerce team at Alcoa. If you were to give our readers two pieces of actionable advice on growing e-commerce, what would those be?

MS: Number one, treat people online like you

would treat them offline. If somebody walked into your store, you would not demand an email address before talking to that person. And you wouldn’t try to trick them into subscribing to something through a pop-up. So, the first piece of advice would be: act like a human in everything you do. Make technology a tool to take down barriers with your customers, not build them.

Number two, just because you can do something with consumer information, doesn’t mean you should. I have sat in meetings and have been blown away by the clever (sneaky?) things companies can do to track behavior, link emails to sales, and even determine incredibly intimate details of a person’s life from their online behavior.

Consumers are resigned to the fact that they are trading privacy for some value. The keyword here is “resigned,” just like they were resigned to seeing ads to receive free content. Most marketers assume this is a fair trade. It’s not.

Studies show consumers do not like it. So, breaching their confidence even once will have a severe backlash. I’m concerned we live in an age where we can hack together some software utility so quickly and so cheaply that we will be implementing without testing, without thinking through unintended consequences.

One mistake will become a PR nightmare.

PERSONALIZED SOCIAL MEDIA

By Mark Schaefer An important megatrend I see right now is the shift from public social media to private messaging. In late 2015, for the first time, usage of the four biggest private messaging apps (such as Snapchat and Facebook Messenger) exceeded the usage of the four biggest social media platforms (such as Twitter and YouTube).

This is a profound trend. Here are four observations on that: People are taking the conversations offline. This presents challenges to companies who depend only on social to get their messages out.

1

Q: Your book The Content Code discusses the “psychology of sharing” on social media. Can you give us a bit of insight about that and what people could expect to find/learn if they get your book?

MS: My book is the first of its kind and suggests

that we need to build a third marketing competency based on six strategies to get our content to be shared, or to move. In fact, I argue that social sharing drives the economics of any social media marketing effort. Yet, most businesses don’t know the people who share their content the most, and these people are the bedrock of the business. Social sharing creates advocacy. It also drives sales and affects purchasing decisions. The data is clear on this. It’s time to wake up and focus on driving real value by igniting your content. My book tells you specifically how.

Q: You’ve written about creating content that “moves.” But it also takes a certain understanding of the audience or knowing the format and topics that resonate for it to move. How do people determine that?

MS: In my book, I outline six different strategies

to get your content to move, and you touch on two of them in your question. Absolutely, there are small things you can do to your content and your

Conversations that used to be out of reach on email and text messaging are now moving to platforms such as Messenger, which is owned by Facebook. So, Facebook will also own this consumer data, which is incredibly significant.

2

Although more people are using private messaging, social is still growing, too, so don’t abandon ship!

3

Facebook, Snapchat, and the other private platforms are developing new advertising models and “chat bots” that can help with consumer interaction and customer service. This is a huge trend, so keep your eye on this and on how it may apply to your company.

4

website to assure that you give your content the best chance possible to ignite. Similarly, on the audience side, there is a lot we can do to understand and nurture the elite group I call the Alpha Audience. These are the people who share your content the most, and it probably makes up less than 2 percent of your online followers.

The key here is to connect to these folks in a human way that builds an emotional connection between you, your content, and your audience.

Q: Should companies be hiring content creators internally, such as writers, video experts, and perhaps a photographer?

MS: I think that depends on a lot of

factors. The strategy and analytics should be in-house. The advantage of in-house content creation is stability, expertise, access to internal experts, and the ability to sustain a relationship with readers. The advantage of outsourcing is access to more creative treatments and keeping head count low, of course. I do feel strongly that these important Alpha Audience relationships should be owned internally, however.

Q: Content and social media marketing don’t mean anything if companies can’t find their audience. Any tips on how brands can realistically and practically find them?

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MS: There are lots of ideas for that in my book,

but let me hit on two of them. The first is by connecting with influencers in your marketplace.

Who are the people who already have an engaged and trusting audience? Is it possible to partner with them so you can “borrow” their audience when you are just starting out? This emerging field of “influencer” marketing is critically important as we try to cut through the noise in an information-dense world. A second idea is paid promotion. That is just a fact of life these days. The social streams have just become too crowded with information, and there’s a good chance you’ll need a paid component to build an audience early on. Facebook ads, for example can deliver an extremely well-targeted audience.

Q: The key to “leading them up the curve,” as you say, seems to be establishing that emotional connection, but what do you tell brands who think they sell products that no one can have an emotional connection to?

MS: Well, they may be right. I think you have

to be humble in these situations because, after all, these marketing professionals are experts in what they do and know their market better than me. Marketing dollars for a company that makes ladders, for example, might be better spent on a point-of-purchase coupon than a long-term content effort aimed at building an emotional connection to their product. Still, having said that, we do see wonderful examples of brand-building content for appliances, hand tools, leather goods, and other seemingly commodity products. I think you need to take a realistic approach and think, “Are we a conversational brand—or could we be?”

Then, allocate dollars to social media accordingly.

Social media and content marketing do not solve every business problem, as some of the gurus might have you believe. We still need to look at the fundamental drivers of the business and spend our marketing dollars in a way that has an impact.

Q: Finally, what one trending or current marketing topic would you like to expand upon for our readers that we haven’t covered?

MS: When I decide to write a book, it is to

answer a big question on the mind of my customers and students. Marketing is

becoming more challenging every day.

I addressed part of this problem in my latest book, The Content Code. How do we stand out as a company and get our message through? I think the next challenge, and where I have been spending a lot of my time recently, is thinking about how we stand out as individuals. If you have a goal of writing a book, beginning a speaking career, embarking on “social selling,” or building a reputation in your industry, it all boils down to building a personal digital brand. It boils down to becoming known. Is there a process to do that? I think there is, and that will be my next project. I want to codify the process of building a digital self. n

“ How do we stand out as a company and get our message through?

I think the next challenge, and where I have been spending a lot of my time recently, is thinking about how we stand out as individuals.”

Enter to Win The Content Code

by Mark Schaefer The cutting-edge book that shows you what’s NEXT in digital marketing.

TO ENTER

Scan the QR code or visit: hopkinsprinting.com/Fall2016Register

10

Fall 2016

FEATURE

HOW TO WRITE A GREAT CASE STUDY

by Tim Sweeney

W

riting a case study seems simple enough, but there’s a reason some are much better than others. And it starts with preparation.

Following are tips for finding the right subject, drawing the best out of them, and then delivering useful insights to the reader, compliments of Tim Sweeney.

A frequent contributor and case study author, Tim has experience in global marketing, content development, and communications for several global sports brands. www.timsweeneylive.com

FIND THE RIGHT SUBJECT That old adage to measure twice and cut once has merit. (That’s why it’s an old adage.) Similarly, choosing the right brand for your case study in the beginning is crucial to how the interview will go and, ultimately, how the story will be told and whether it will be useful to your audience. Before you ask any questions, ask yourself: Is my case study candidate doing something different than their peers? Do they mind sharing their secrets,

or at least their overall strategy, and some of their more successful approaches? If they’re afraid to share what they do because the competition might see it, they’re probably not the right people to help your readers learn from their actions.

LOOK FOR THE UNEXPECTED STORY Remember that the idea is to use a brand that others can learn from. If you write about a company that everyone would expect to be

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In the case of smaller companies, it’s often the little, personal things they do to connect with consumers that big brands either don’t bother to do or don’t think of doing. Ironically, small brands do creative things because limited resources force them to. Dig deeply and see if the little guy is doing things the big guys can learn from, too.

dominating their industry because they have more resources than everyone else, most of your audience is unlikely to identify with them. Brands that have done more with less have interesting angles worth sharing.

CONTEXT IS CRUCIAL To tell the story of how a brand came to be one that your readers might want to “borrow from,” the audience needs to know the problem the company solved. That’s why it’s important to set up the story by describing the brand’s overall situation and the obstacles they identified prior to taking action with creative solutions. How many resources were at their disposal? Did they use outside help?

Was it costly? Readers will undoubtedly compare themselves to the subject and determine if the information applies to their own situation, so paint a full picture. Without background info, the reader can’t be expected to reasonably apply the actions of the case study to whatever they are working on.

INTERVIEW WITH THE READER IN MIND Ask yourself: What would the guy running his own small business—probably with a limited marketing budget—want to know that he could apply to his business and turn into sales? What is your case study example doing that isn’t obvious? In all likelihood, much of what your subject is doing is not revolutionary. It might be the combination of things they do that sets them apart, or choosing the best simple executions. For example, in the case of smaller companies, it’s often the little, personal things they do to connect with consumers that big brands either don’t bother to do or don’t

think of doing. Ironically, small brands do creative things because limited resources force them to.

Dig deeply and see if the little guy is doing things the big guys can learn from, too.

REPORT ON MISTAKES MADE, TOO You really do learn more from failures, and the brand you use as your picture of success undoubtedly learned a few lessons the hard way.

What were they? How did the company adjust and move on? If your audience is to learn anything from your subject matter and apply it to their own business, reporting on failures is crucial. Your audience needs to be able to avoid the pitfalls that the case study had to wade through on their way to success. Simply explaining how great they do things and how successful it was helps only so much. And, if your audience reads your case study, then gets surprised by anything outside of your case study, they won’t trust you in the future.

DELIVER EASY TAKEAWAYS Formats can vary, but the end goal should be to provide information in a digestible format. A sidebar or box of bullet-pointed items that your subject can pass along easily to the reader is a great way to go more in-depth on a topic that might not fit into the flow of your main story.

DON’T FORGET TO ASK “HOW?” It’s tempting to share loads of statistical evidence detailing how successful your case study is, where they came from, and where they are now in certain areas. Certainly, numbers help make your point— and everyone loves metrics nowadays—but the most important question to answer is how they did it. That means showing examples of what they did, real ones that make it easy for readers to put themselves in the shoes of the subject and envision how they might apply similar strategies to their own business.

TALK TO THEIR CLIENTS Speaking with someone who does business with your case study subject allows you to validate that they are, in fact, doing what they say. It’s also important for the reader to think not just about what success means to them, but also what it will mean to their own customers. In the end, that’s a big reason why they might undertake the same strategy.

There is also the possibility that the same strategy won’t be right for them or only part of it will be.

Putting themselves in the shoes of their customers is a great way to determine that. n

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Fall 2016

CONTET MARKETING

The Perfect Storm for Content Marketing Talent Get Jay Acunzo talking about content marketing, and it’s obvious he understands it like few others do.

Jay doesn’t just talk content—he lives it.

by Carro Ford

efore joining Google as a digital media strategist, Jay wrote for the Hartford Courant and ESPN. Later, he led content creation and marketing strategies for Breaktime Media and HubSpot.

Now he helps early-stage start-ups at NextView Ventures, a seed-stage venture capital firm. Oh, and did we mention he hosts Unthinkable, the show for creators in business? He also travels the world advocating for craft-driven marketing.

Marketers are buying into his fresh view of content as craft, because the outcome benefits sellers and consumers. But there’s a problem—the content marketing talent crunch.

B

MENTAL ATHLETES NEEDED When Jay asks marketers what they most struggle with, it’s talent. There’s a massive crunch for great content marketers, and it’s not just in the start-up space. It’s across the board.

What makes this perfect storm for content talent? As a formal job, content marketing is new, compared to other forms of marketing. The market hasn’t matured enough to feed enough talent supply for the demand.

“Before, you could have a career in content or in marketing,” says Jay, “but now, the two worlds are colliding, and it takes a special talent to do both.”

Content marketers are expected to be mental

athletes skilled at both marketing and editorial.

Teams need that duality, especially if they don’t have enough staff to specialize.

NAME OF THE GAME IS ATTENTION Content’s business purpose is to get attention in a noisy world. “Google leader Eric Schmidt says revenue solves all known problems, but I think audience is second. If you have loyal, engaged customers, revenue will come, but getting that audience is so difficult,” Jay declares.

The name of the game is attention, but it takes a rare person to come into the marketing machine and say, “Let’s do something different.” When you

Fall 2016

don’t have content talent willing to take a risk and try something new, you end up copying what works elsewhere. That’s not a strategy for getting attention. The most creative marketers are willing to reject best practices and instead get attention through the stories and content they create.

NONMARKETING CONTENT MARKETING New content talent isn’t there to run campaigns, track analytics, or do other things traditionally associated with marketing. “New” means “not marketing.” The job of content marketing talent is to focus on the audience and create attentiongetting content.

“Good marketing doesn’t feel like marketing,” declares Jay. “It’s about things people love—an experience or a game coming from a brand. It’s behavior that surprises people and gets attention in a positive way, but that’s tricky.” The problem is slick selling and tone-deaf marketing that skips to the end (the sale) and forgets to care about the content that gets you there.

CREATING CONTENT FOR THE LOVE OF IT When you have people who do quality content for its own sake, who want to create because they love it, the quality gets better and more authentic. And that translates into content marketing that works.

Good content creators are the best at reaching and resonating with audiences that don’t want to hear from you. It goes back to attention.

Consumers have all the power today, not the sellers. Consumers have millions of options, and they won’t choose anything they don’t love. It’s the same with creators.

The writer who writes for the love of it gives you a better end-piece, one that connects on an intrinsic level. Let your content creators do what they love. Then, you’ll find more people intrinsically motivated to consume it, allowing a tighter connection to your brand.

GUTS AND SPINES Even the best content teams come apart eventually.

How can marketing leaders prepare to quickly bring their group back to full strength when someone leaves? It’s about guts and spines, says Jay. “Guts are that feeling you get as a creator of content, the intuition about the quality and suitability of content

for its purpose.” The spine is what stays the same if the guts have a change of heart—or a change of job.

What underlies a long-term team is the framework of how you create: the spine. In the world of TV shows, this is called a “rundown.”

Every show has a rundown of blocks of time, each with a purpose, that make up the entire show. The writers understand what’s needed for each block, such as the “cold open.” The stuff inside the cold open container will change, but, for the consumer, the structure stays the same.

Don’t worry that a little structure will stifle creativity. Constraints actually breed creative freedom, and too much freedom can be counterproductive.

BEST WRITER, THE LEAST LIKELY HIRE EVER Traditional hiring approaches are risky when it comes to identifying content talent. If you look at content the same way you look at other marketing roles, you end up throwing out good candidates too soon.

“The best writer I ever hired was also the least likely candidate ever,” Jay says. “My boss sent me the portfolio for someone who had bartended for 10 years. If I’d seen him on LinkedIn, I wouldn’t have looked twice, and I would have missed one of the best content creators I ever hired.”

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HAPPY CREATORS. HAPPY CONTENT. How do you keep content crafters happy? Use these ideas to build a creator culture.

1. Celebrate content, not containers When marketers view content as containers, they say, “We need an infographic for the new campaign,” not, “We need emotionally compelling content to drive behavior.” Content consumers care about what’s in the container, so celebrate what’s inside. It’s okay to say, “Good job, that piece drove so many leads,” but the creator needs to hear that you liked how they opened the piece or how the data was distilled. People get excited when you recognize their craft.

2. Unpack the emotional appeal Don’t just compliment content; drill down on it. That shows you take it seriously. In team meetings, poke what works and what doesn’t. Someone might love how a podcast puts them right into the story. Unpack that feeling and talk about how to incorporate it into other work. Teams bond by talking about the craft of content, and they get better by exploring it. Create an environment where it’s okay to be honest and open.

3. Failure allowed

Traditional hiring approaches are risky when it comes to identifying content talent. If you look at content the same way you look at other marketing roles, you end up throwing out good candidates too soon.

Make it okay to fail. Jay’s content team came up with an idea to blame failure on a neutral object—a “crash demon.” Each team member had two demon coins to use when they wanted to try a crazy idea. Blaming this external demon took the pressure off the risk-taker. If it didn’t work, it was the demon’s fault, and the failure was okay.

4. Get out of the echo chamber Creativity needs inspiration, but it won’t happen in an echo chamber—a closed space that recycles the same ideas. Good leaders seek inspiration beyond the echo chamber. “Creativity is synthesizing things through the experience of you,” says Jay. “If all you experience is the same content, you get commodity content.”

As Seth Godin likes to say, “If you don’t want to be treated like a commodity, don’t act like one.”

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Fall 2016

CONTET MARKETING

in-house team is the best strategy. The serendipity of being at the business and immersed in a brand makes better content creators and stronger output.

The risk with agencies and freelancers is marginalization. It’s easier to turn an outside creator into a short-order cook when they’re not included in upstream strategies. They’re hired for a project, but miss the valuable context around it. They may also lack appreciation for the intrinsic value of the brand.

HIRING TIPS FROM THE NFL Jay’s hiring advice? Make it a project-driven process, instead of lip service to creative skills.

The NFL doesn’t sit down with a prospect and ask, “Are you a good quarterback?” They ask the candidate to work out for them. Same with content creators. Ask them to do a quick workout for you.

It’s a production-oriented job, so ask for several samples and see what they put out.

“Show me you can create; don’t just check skills off a list of what a marketer is supposed to look like,” he explains. “I still do the phone calls, but I give candidates a writing project and a deadline.” Have the content creator explain what they want the audience to get out of the piece. Ask them to give you several different headlines and explain why they would choose their favorite.

CREATIVE ENERGY: A RECRUITING ADVANTAGE It’s important that creators get better at crafting content for your company, but it’s not happening. One of the biggest issues is brands are underequipped to train content creators.

Companies drop them into a role and expect them to be good instantly.

In a recent survey, 1,500 members of a Boston content marketing group were asked to look at their jobs in terms of strategy, production, distribution, and measurement, and then rank how their employer provided infrastructure and support for each aspect. Distribution ranked first for support. Production was last.

CAN YOU SPOT THE RECRUITING OPPORTUNITY? Businesses tout their great marketing teams, but that won’t resonate with content talent.

Brands should instead promote how great their environment is for nurturing content creators.

Content creators’ biggest hiring fear is bait and switch. Companies give lip service to creativity, but, when creators arrive, they feel like a cog in a machine. Creators are looking for an oasis where they can apply their craft and be treated not like a commodity or short-order cooks, but as unique and valued contributors.

HIRE AN IN-HOUSE TEAM OR OUTSOURCE CONTENT? Good content needs lots of input—hallway conversations, C-level town halls, meeting someone outside your department. Jay believes that’s why an

FOCUS ON FINDING CREATIVITY Marketers already devote a lot of time to strategy, but it’s time to put energy into making content really good, too, because great things happen when you do. Jay pushes hard on that. “I spend a bizarre amount of time telling marketers to do that.

You need people with creative tastes.”

Hire creative people and let them create.

Ultimately, what they do benefits your customers and your business. Consider hiring a writer and teaching them marketing, instead of the other way around. Hire for intrinsic skills rather than end results.

Jay makes the apt analogy of a company building a product and knowingly using cheap parts. It’s the same with content. Good products and good content require the right ingredients to be

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Marketers already devote a lot of time to strategy, but it’s time to put energy into making content really good, too, because great things happen when you do.

good, not cheap parts. That’s shortsighted, and the substandard result won’t get you the attention you need. Yet, brands still end up with tone-deaf pieces, chronic sameness, or another “ultimate guide” to whatever. Use content craftsmen and quality materials for the best results.

It’s wise to think about the talent crunch now.

Jay, along with other notable industry experts, believe we’ll be facing this hiring challenge for unique content creators for years to come. “We get excited and talk about transformation, yet we don’t change a thing, because that’s the way it’s always been done. My challenge to brands is to prove me wrong. I’d love to be wrong on this!” n

SPOT CONTENT ROCK STARS WITH THESE 4 QUESTIONS

These questions help Jay Acunzo separate content creators from content clones.

1 Side projects – What are you creating for you?

I love sourcing candidates by looking at their side projects. This work hovers below the surface. Getting paid for it is exciting, but not necessary.

Jay Acunzo VP NextView Ventures Host of Unthinkable podcast Keynote speaker on creativity in business.

2 Ira Glass – If we were producing a podcast, would you want to host, produce, or distribute it?

The answer reveals what role that person values and what kind of content marketer they would be. If they want to be a host like NPR’s Ira Glass, that candidate values ownership, byline, and creative freedom. You can also tell what wouldn’t please them.

3 Lottery winner – If I handed you a bag of money and you didn’t need to work for two years, but you had to write a blog, what would you write about?

I don’t want pandering with an answer like, “I would write about this job.” Look for a biological reaction. What makes their eyes light up? A prolific creator instantly knows what passion they would love to write about.

4 Mad scientist – Tell me something atypical or clever you’ve done to create or distribute content.

A face value answer is less important than what it reveals. Are they pure creator, or do they bring a digital-native mentality? Can they take advantage of emerging media? The answer might show risk-taking and willingness to toss the playbook, demonstrating duality of content and marketing.

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Fall 2016

MY WORKING DAY

My Working Day

Q: What is the best part of your day?

JS: Apart from hugging my husband and daughter—I love it when I finish a strong direct mail pack. I love it when the client tells me we’ve exceeded target or a major donor has given $200,000.

June Steward Not-for-Profit Marketing Strategist Specializing in Fundraising, Development, Strategy, and Copywriting june@junesfundraisingletter.com www.junesfundraisingletter.com

Q: You help nonprofit organizations increase income and improve donor retention through direct response channels.

What are the three toughest challenges these organizations face today?

JS: 1. Poor understanding and fear of fundraising from CEOs, boards, and leadership.

2. Poor public perception of fundraising. Donors will complain they receive too much mail and they think a charity is “wasting” their donation. People who work in nonprofit fundraising and communications should be aware that the most effective direct mail can also generate the most complaints. The more compelling and emotional the proposition, the more complaints you may get—but you also raise more money. There are

Besides your list, improving the offer or CTA is the best thing to work on to improve direct mail fundraising results.

2. Corporate communications, marketing communications, and journalism are not the same as fundraising communications.

Direct mail fundraising and writing for donors is a very unique skill set for writers.

3. Plan out the financial needs of the organization over the next five years and set realistic targets for fundraising.

4. Improve the online donation experience for your donors.

5. Yes, longer letters work better than shorter ones, most of the time.

Q: You are a copywriter and journalist with experience in

When I started my own business, I was originally going to do copywriting for both for-profit and nonprofit. I did my first nonprofit job as a freelancer, and the client doubled fundraising income for their appeal! I loved it, and I realized I love helping great causes.

Q: Direct mail vs. digital marketing?

JS: It’s not either–or. It should be both. Many charities are delighted at the idea of getting rid of those expensive donor newsletters and just moving to online. This is the worst possible thing you can do. The nonprofits with the most successful fundraising programs are the ones that are successfully integrating both direct mail and digital channels.

Q: What do you love most about writing?

JS: The most creative part of the writing is actually not the writing.

It’s the thinking before the writing— gathering all the research and the case studies, understanding the donors, and then coming up with the creative idea that will drive a good direct mail appeal.

Q: Marketing to Millennials can be a challenge. What is the best way to appeal to this generation for fundraising?

JS: For most organizations, targeting Millennials for fundraising is not a good use of resources. The traditional charity donor across all sectors (overseas aid, health, environment, animals, arts, etc.) is a 60+ female.

We have found that Millennials make good advocates, e.g., they will sign petitions or participate in peer-to-peer fundraising such as fun runs or cycle challenges. But in

“Direct mail fundraising and writing for donors is a very unique skill set for writers.” great ways to handle complaints and turn the situation around, but to take donors off mailing lists negates the need your organization fulfills—helping homeless children, disabled veterans, abused animals, victims of domestic violence, etc.

3. Short-term thinking around fundraising. I encourage leadership to stop thinking only in terms of immediate ROI on appeals and campaigns. ROI on single appeals can easily be manipulated.

(Reducing the number of donor letters mailed by leaving out lapsed donors results in lower mailing costs and higher response, delivering a higher ROI.) Q: What is the most frequent advice you give your clients about marketing strategy?

JS: 1. Direct mail success is not just about the copy, but also about your specific offer and call to action.

public relations, marketing, and IT. Why specialize in nonprofit marketing?

JS: I couldn’t get excited about marketing gadgets or clothing as a full-time career. I ended up working for a major charity in Australia in communications. I had no idea about fundraising at the time and was horrified to see this charity sending out huge volumes of direct mail each month.

Then I saw the appeal results and was amazed to see how much money they raised—millions! I thought, “Well, these donors are giving, but they must hate all this mail”. Next, I did a stint on the phones in the call center to help out with an appeal and, I kid you not, the majority of donors I spoke to were amazing, and they welcomed our direct mail appeals!

What we’re finding is that, although many donors may be donating online, their gifts were prompted by a direct mail letter, newsletter, or even a small publication they received.

Also, response rates for direct mail are much higher than for email appeals.

Typically, you’re looking at 3–15% response rate for direct mail, depending on the quality of your list and what segmentation you use. Email appeals to the same list can generate response rates below 1–3%, if you’re lucky.

By response rates, I mean people who actually donated, not email open rates or click-throughs.

That doesn’t mean you should not do email appeals. You should do both.

terms of long-term donors giving year after year, Millennials are the wrong cohort to approach. When we do actual donor profiling or surveying of a nonprofit’s donors, typically, the largest group of donors is 60–69, with a reasonable number of donors who are 50–59. After that, there is a big drop in the groups 40–49, 30–39, and 20–29. You have to do donor profiling and know your own data.

Often, senior leaders in charities will say, “Our older donors are dying! We need to attract more Millennials!” My response is: “Yes, you do need younger donors, but the younger donors you need are not in their 20s. You need to be looking for donors who are in their 40s and 50s.”

Read more at June’s blog: junesfundraisingletter.com

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