Content Marketing World 2011 Diary: Reception and Day 1

Hello from Cleveland! This week, 100s of the most enthusiastic content marketing minds have gathered in the place LeBron James no longer calls home to learn, connect, and basically have a blast at Content Marketing World 2011.

I thought it’d be fun to keep a running diary of the event as it unfolds. Below you’ll find some of my key takeaways, musings, ramblings and more from the show thus far (with more updates on the way).

Note: You can check out my running diary from Day 2 at Content Marketing World here.

Day 1

4:10p.m: Just left my second session of the afternoon. Some awesome information being passed around today for sure.

I sat in on 7 Content Ideas to Blow Up Your Small Business in 12 Months or Less, and in a day of great presentations, this was probably my favorite so far. Marcus Sheridan (@TheSalesLion), CEO of River Pools & Spas, was all about bringing the energy. (My favorite line: “It’s like a darn dreamsicle on steroids in here!” in reference to the copious amounts of orange being touted all over the hotel.)

Are Amanda Maksymiw and I pumped to be at CMW? You betcha

He went through a blistering presentation of out-of-the-box ideas for boosting your visibility in search. What do I mean by out-of-the-box? The dude laid out a number SEO/keyword generation tips that have absolutely nothing to do with using of keyword tools. And judging by his results, they work.

The whole thing really centers on finding the questions your potential customers are asking, and answering them. It sounds simple, but I was really impressed by his strategy.

I probably need to do a full blog post on this session to do it justice, but one point I thought really stood out was the concept of addressing pricing in your content. The point here is that pricing is generally the first question customers have about a product or service, and therefore, one of the first topics they search for. Sheridan pretty much dismissed the concerns over cost transparency, and he had the results to back it up. He even called out content guru Jay Baer (@jaybaer) at one point to ask him why he’s not afraid to talk about price in his blogs. “Because I want to spend my time talking to leads that are qualified,” he responded. Hey, makes sense to me.

So where does SEO come in to play? While Sheridan made efforts to address the question of “What does it cost?” with his content, he also wrote articles on “What is the price?” He noted that while this might seem like the same thing to most people, Google doesn’t see it that way, as “cost” and “price” are two separate keywords. By creating content around both, he had his bases covered for whichever way potential customers chose to pose the question.

Again, this seems simple, but it’s a pretty unique form of SEO that puts common sense ahead of keyword research tools to optimize your content appropriately.

So with that, the session portion of Day 1 at Content Marketing World 2011 is just about over. Now it’s time for an evening of cocktails, networking and Kevin Smith. See you all tomorrow!

3:05 p.m.: The first session I attended was on the B2B track, titled Managing Content Marketing for B2B Brands. Gary Spangler (Marketing Manager with DuPont), Michael Procopio (Social Media Strategist for HP Software), and Arnie Kuenn (CEO of Vertical Measure) offered some tips for overcoming some of the challenges associated with managing a content strategy.

Arnie had some interesting ideas for SEO, stressing the belief that keyword research should be the basis of your content efforts. He naturally ran through some tried and true tools for keyword generation like Google AdWords, but also encouraged folks to make use of some of the question/answer sites out there like Yahoo Answers and Quorum. The idea is to search around your target phrases, find out what people are asking questions about, and create content that addresses those answers.

He also highlighted a cool tool for monitoring backlinks (the holy grail of SEO): OpenSiteExplorer.org. Content marketers can use this tool to see which topics and pages are receiving the most backlinks on their own sites, as well as where the competition is excelling. Some good info to be gathered here, as what’s working for your competitors might work for you as well.

Michael also had had some interesting thoughts on helping with the internal aspect of content marketing (i.e. getting everyone on the same page). His presentation rang true, as businesses really can’t rely on marketers alone to maintain a solid strategy. Without buy-in from other departments, it’s difficult to grow and expand. His recommendations were geared toward getting all the appropriate team members involved (from sales to customer service to IT), clearly defining the responsibilities of each, and setting up regular meetings to keep you efforts on track.

Of course, this was just one session from this afternoon, and I can’t be everywhere at once. Anyone who attended some of the other afternoon sessions, please share your takeaways in the comments!

1:33 p.m.: Five words: Content Marketing Technology DEATH MATCH. Today’s lunch session gave eight companies the opportunity to present their products and services to the masses. Kudos to the Content Marketing World group for putting this one together; it was a really fun way to learn about some of the cool technologies out there.

In part one, a rep from each company took turns giving three-minute rundowns on what they do. In part two, each had the option of explaining their company in only five words or a haiku (with some hilarious results). The names included:

• Skyword: A content creation and search marketing company lead by Tom Gerace (@tomgerace), a very smart guy I’ve met with before and had the pleasure of chatting with again after lunch.
• Outbrain: A business geared toward helping companies (and content marketers) improve the quality of their content and online visibility.
• Servio: Another company aimed at helping businesses deliver better quality content to their audience. VP of Marketing Mark Chatow (@markchatow) gave a fun, deliberately bad presentation that demonstrated how Servio can help others enhance the content they’ve created.
• Divvy HQ: A company created to help ease the content planning process. Some interesting stuff here on simplifying the management of editorial calendars and saying goodbye to Excel spreadsheets.
• thoora: A business focused on helping folks monitor and share the highest-quality content on the ‘Net, and improve their content strategies in the process.
• kapost: A content marketing support company that works to handle the entire publishing process from top to bottom. Basically, taking the grunt work out of content production so companies can focus more on strategy.
• dlvr.it: A service that helps companies manage the broad spectrum of social media marketing. We’ve actually used Dlvr.it at OpenView, and it can definitely save you a lot of time when trying to hit all your different social media audiences.
• Inbound Writer: A young company that provides tools to help writers … well … write. The idea is to simplify all the non-writing-related tasks so bloggers can focus on what they do best.

Special shout out to Rob Rose (@Robert_Rose) for doing a great job hosting the panel and keeping things loose.

Joe Pulizzi on the big screen at Content Marketing World 2011

11:30 a.m.: Well the show has officially kicked off! We started the day with a grand entrance from Joe Pulizzi, founder of the Content Marketing Institute (and Senior Advisor to OpenView Venture Partners). Sporting an orange astronaut outfit (what else?), he spoke of the growing popularity of content marketing across businesses of all shapes and sizes. “We’re finally moving away from the ‘Why?’ of content marketing and on to the ‘How?’– and that’s why we’re all here,” he said.

He soon handed things off to Sally Hogshead (@SallyHogshead), who I met briefly last night. She entertained the crowd with an excellent presentation geared around the seven ways companies can fascinate their readers and entice visitors through content marketing with social media:

• Power (take command!)
• Passion (Attract w/ emotion)
• Mystique (Arouse curiosity)
• Prestige (Increase respect and credibility)
• Alarm (Create a sense of urgency)
• Rebellion (Change the game – innovate!)
• Trust (Build loyalty over time)

“Rebellion always wins,” she joked. I can’t disagree. The freedom to innovate is critical for content marketers, and her presentation really tackled what Joe highlighted as the biggest content marketing challenge today: creating truly compelling content. (Though there’s no denying that a lack of resources, buy-in, and knowing where to start are still problems that plague young companies as well).

Sally provided some great examples for applying each of these strategies to promote a single piece of content. For example, creating a sense of urgency (“The first 10 people to retweet this will get to check out my exclusive interview with Chris Brogan!”) Some interesting ideas for sure that I will definitely work into my social media strategy.

She also stressed the importance of finding simple ways to build you brand via content. One example she provided was how the W Hotel offers a “Pillow Menu” for guests to choose from. She noted that the company could do lots of things to improve its standing amongst the competition (renovate their rooms, change prices, etc.), but sometimes it’s a simple idea like this that makes the biggest impact. I thought this was great, as it also speaks to the importance of focusing on doing one thing great first with your content strategy before moving on to other areas.

But the real crux of her presentation was the importance of being fascinating and engaging with your content. Or in other words, not boring. “Boring is the kiss of death,” she said. “Don’t create content just for the sake creating content. Stand out or don’t bother.” I kind of wanted to run up and hug her when she said this. Quality over quantity!

Sally was followed by best-selling author David Meerman Scott (@dmscott), author of Real Time Marketing & PR and The New Rules of Marketing & PR. He spoke to the audience about the importance (and opportunity) of real-time publishing for content marketing. The truth is, while some journalists lament the fact that accuracy and long-form reporting seems to be taking a backseat these days to the “be there first at any cost” mentality, there’s no denying the power of getting your message out sooner than the rest.

David Meerman Scott addresses the masses at CMW 2011

I can personally speak to the value of “being there first” when it comes to SEO, but David offered some great examples of how real-time marketing improves revenue as well. In fact, it’s because journalists these days feel so much pressure to be first that marketers and PR specialist have this opportunity. In one example, David noted how a PR rep, as the first publisher to blog about a new acquisition, ended up being quoted in the second paragraph of 100s of news write-ups within a matter of days. Why? Because he was the only one to comment on the news in real time. The result was huge – increased visibility for the brand and skyrocketing revenue.

Of course, the challenge of marketing in real time for most companies is that bureaucracies and procedure too often get in the way. David noted that you can’t market in real time if you have to go through a bunch of different corporate channels for approval first. He encouraged businesses to have guidelines in place to get rid of the red tape and allow marketers and PR reps to do what they do faster.

One example he brought up was of a Nordstrom employee (@NordstromDave), who has free reign from the company to tweet about men’s fashion and promote new clothing lines via Twitter whenever he wants to. These efforts have led to more real-time engagement with customers, and of course, better sales. Hey, if Nordstrom can do it, why not you?

That’s it for now … more updates to come later this evening.

Opening Reception

10:31 p.m.: A nice easy flight to Cleveland? Not so much. We arrived at Boston’s Logan Airport around 10 a.m. EDT and didn’t land in Ohio until just before 6 p.m. Not how we drew it up. (We ran into infographic guru and VP of content marketing for Eloqua Joe Chernovseveral times throughout the day. A great guy who certainly felt our pain.) But the rain that slowed the travel plans of many has done nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the attendees.

Attendees gear up for CMW 2011 at the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame

One thing you can say about the folks here at Content Marketing World 2011 – they are passionate. The opening reception took place at the infamous Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame. This was really a chance for attendees to relax and get to know their fellow content marketing enthusiasts. When I wasn’t drooling over Kurt Cobain’s guitar and the sheet of paper Jimi Hendrix used to pen “Voodoo Child”, I was having great conversations with people who are doing some amazing things with content these days.

One of these people was Sally Hogshead, author of Fascinate: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation, who I had the pleasure of chatting with briefly as the night wore down. She’s set to present one of the opening keynotes at tomorrow’s kickoff, and judging by our conversation, it’s going to be outstanding.

That’s all for now, more to come tomorrow.

P.S. For those wondering, yes, there is orange everywhere. And in that theme, Joe Pulizzi wore a wonderful shirt tonight that defies explanation (I wished I remembered to snap a pic!).

Note: You can check out my running diary from Day 2 at Content Marketing World here.

You can find more information on content marketing and editorial practices at the OpenView Labs website. You can also follow Brendan on Twitter @BrenCournoyer and find more from the OpenView team @OpenViewVenture.