Content That Works http://www.hammock.com/contentthatworks/ Content marketing tips, ideas, links and news en Copyright 2012 Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:55:35 -0600 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss CCC Research Study: Branded Content Spending Reaches New High Custom Content Council, total spend on branded content went up significantly in 2011—to $1,914,000 per company, the highest level ever. Publication budgets increased by 68 percent.]]> http://www.hammock.com/contentthatworks/2012/01/ccc_research_study_branded_con.php http://www.hammock.com/contentthatworks/2012/01/ccc_research_study_branded_con.php Results from a recent spending study signal good news for content marketers in 2012. According to the 2011 “Spending Study” conducted by the Custom Content Council, total spend on branded content went up significantly in 2011—to $1,914,000 per company, the... Content Marketing Digital Media Research Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:55:35 -0600 Free eBook: The 2012 Content Marketing Budget Guide ebook-content-budget.gif[Also cross-posted in the Hammock.com news blog.] From generating leads to building longer-lasting and closer relationships current customers, marketers are discovering that smart content, deployed strategically, is key to reaching a wide array of business objectives. Yet where in the marketing budget are such content strategies as "thought leadership," or customer-support video how-tos, email newsletters or recurring customer publications? ]]> http://www.hammock.com/contentthatworks/2011/11/free_ebook_the_2012_content_ma.php http://www.hammock.com/contentthatworks/2011/11/free_ebook_the_2012_content_ma.php [Also cross-posted in the Hammock.com news blog.] From generating leads to building longer-lasting and closer relationships current customers, marketers are discovering that smart content, deployed strategically, is key to reaching a wide array of business objectives. Yet where in the... Content Marketing Wed, 16 Nov 2011 05:41:20 -0600 Content Is Still King Custom Content Council* study shows that 84 percent of CMOs strongly/somewhat agree that custom content “represents the future of marketing,” backed by the fact that 59 percent of them have moved marketing money away from traditional advertising methods and put it into custom content. For years, we at Hammock have been tooting the custom content horn: How it drives lead generation, leads to direct sales, and aids in customer retention. So when we see results of studies that illustrate just how important other industry leaders consider it, too, we get excited. The study surveyed CMOs in fields including healthcare, technology, finance, retail, communications and insurance. Eighty-three percent of CMOs surveyed indicated they are "receptive toward using custom content in their marketing plans," which is a 16 point increase since the previous study conducted in 2006. The findings also indicate that nine out of 10 chief marketing officers see value in custom content and recognize its positive effect on customers, and 85 percent believe custom content leads to repeat customers. Other highlights from the study include nine in 10 CMOs reporting their belief that “a majority of consumers find useful information in custom media,” and nearly half strongly agree (91 percent strongly/somewhat agree) that custom content “should be an integral part of the marketing mix for any business.” *Hammock Inc. is one of six founding members of the Custom Content Council. Today, more than 75 companies -- including some of the world's largest media companies -- are members of the leading national association of content marketing and custom media providers.]]> http://www.hammock.com/contentthatworks/2011/04/content_is_still_king.php http://www.hammock.com/contentthatworks/2011/04/content_is_still_king.php A recent Custom Content Council study shows that 84 percent of CMOs strongly/somewhat agree that custom content “represents the future of marketing,” backed by the fact that 59 percent of them have moved marketing money away from traditional advertising methods and put it into custom content. Content Marketing Strategy Fri, 08 Apr 2011 10:00:06 -0600 How to Get Your Content on iPads Without Creating an App hammocklogoipad.jpgOne of the things we've learned from the iPad during its first seven months is this: Content creators won't determine what works on the iPad -- users will. You can lead an iPad user to purchase a first edition of a shiny new magazine app, but you can't make him or her pay for the second one. Over time, content creators will discover which apps, eBooks or services their audience will purchase and use on their smart phones and iPads. However, savvy publishers and content marketers are discovering ways to get their content onto mobile devices with approaches that help drive business metrics and meet organizational objectives -- and not by selling 99-cent apps. Here are just a few ways to get your content on your customers' and members' smart phones and pad devices:]]> http://www.hammock.com/contentthatworks/2011/02/how_to_get_your_content_on_ipa.php http://www.hammock.com/contentthatworks/2011/02/how_to_get_your_content_on_ipa.php One of the things we've learned from the iPad during its first seven months is this: Content creators won't determine what works on the iPad -- users will. You can lead an iPad user to purchase a first edition of... Content Marketing Digital Media Technology Wed, 16 Feb 2011 12:46:12 -0600 3 Reasons to Segment Your Content for Different Audiences LivingSocial has helped its members find targeted deals since 2007, but Hammock has been delivering similar kinds of targeted content for far longer. Since 1991 we’ve learned that one of the best ways to help our clients become more relevant to their members is by sending messages that directly speak to their various audiences. In the same way that group buying websites—which send daily emails to members spotlighting their city’s deals—have skyrocketed in popularity in the last year, organizations that target specific members can more clearly build loyalty, better demonstrate their value and even see financial benefits.]]> http://www.hammock.com/contentthatworks/2011/02/3_reasons_to_segment_your_cont_1.php http://www.hammock.com/contentthatworks/2011/02/3_reasons_to_segment_your_cont_1.php LivingSocial has helped its members find targeted deals since 2007, but Hammock has been delivering similar kinds of targeted content for far longer. Since 1991 we’ve learned that one of the best ways to help our clients become more... Content Marketing Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:03:26 -0600 How Content Marketing Leads to Customer Retention customerretention.jpg Almost any marketer can cite some statistic about how efficient and valuable it is to retain a customer versus going out and acquiring a new one. There are a bewildering number of stats, but they all agree: it’s cheaper to retain than to obtain, and your current customers are valuable. We are talking about customer retention in this installment (part three) of a five-part discussion about what business objectives you can expect a well-developed and executed content marketing strategy to accomplish. Installment one: lead generation Installment two: direct sales ]]> http://www.hammock.com/contentthatworks/2011/02/how_content_marketing_leads_to.php http://www.hammock.com/contentthatworks/2011/02/how_content_marketing_leads_to.php Almost any marketer can cite some statistic about how efficient and valuable it is to retain a customer versus going out and acquiring a new one. There are a bewildering number of stats, but they all agree: it’s cheaper... Content Marketing Tue, 15 Feb 2011 10:55:04 -0600 Follow Me: 5 Ways to Get More Twitter Followers You might use a search engine optimization or other content marketing strategy to attract visitors to your website, but how do you get them to join your conversation on Twitter? If you build it, they won’t come -- unless you follow these 5 tips for getting Twitter followers. 1. Provide relevant content: Typical advice from a content marketing company, right? Maybe so, but it’s dead on. Identify your target audience on Twitter (customers, perhaps) and tailor the content towards them. ]]> http://www.hammock.com/contentthatworks/2011/02/follow_me_5_ways_to_get_more_t_1.php http://www.hammock.com/contentthatworks/2011/02/follow_me_5_ways_to_get_more_t_1.php You might use a search engine optimization or other content marketing strategy to attract visitors to your website, but how do you get them to join your conversation on Twitter? If you build it, they won’t come -- unless you... Social Media Fri, 11 Feb 2011 10:56:52 -0600 Custom media: Forever new
New York Life
Insurance Magazine, 1942
[Cross-posted in RexBlog.com] For some reason, every few months or so, a reporter will discover that a consumer or business product company has launched a magazine or web property designed to communicate directly with its customers -- and will write about it as if this were some newly discovered form of marketing. As launching and managing such media properties is what I have done for much of the past 25 years, I am pleased that such an approach to marketing is continuously treated as something new and fresh and cutting-edged, despite having been around since the 1800s.]]> http://www.hammock.com/contentthatworks/2011/01/custom_media_forever_new.php http://www.hammock.com/contentthatworks/2011/01/custom_media_forever_new.php New York Life Insurance Magazine, 1942[Cross-posted in RexBlog.com] For some reason, every few months or so, a reporter will discover that a consumer or business product company has launched a magazine or web property designed to communicate directly with its... Content Marketing Mon, 17 Jan 2011 11:22:24 -0600 How Content Marketing Can Generate Direct Sales A few weeks ago, we talked about how content marketing can generate leads by getting the doorbell or phone to ring. Now we turn our focus to how content marketing can lead to direct sales. In other words, how can content can get the cash register to ring? If you Google content marketing and direct sales, you will find blog posts and marketing experts who claim that content marketing is not intended for the purpose of direct sales. I disagree, and a few examples from our experience at Hammock and other great marketers might help you see how content marketing can be a direct sales engine. ]]> http://www.hammock.com/contentthatworks/2010/11/how_content_marketing_can_gene.php http://www.hammock.com/contentthatworks/2010/11/how_content_marketing_can_gene.php A few weeks ago, we talked about how content marketing can generate leads by getting the doorbell or phone to ring. Now we turn our focus to how content marketing can lead to direct sales. In other words, how can... Mon, 29 Nov 2010 08:45:17 -0600 Beyond Wikipedia: 4 Ways Wikis Are Way More Than Encyclopedias Until they heard of the controversial website WikiLeaks, many people thought the word "wiki" and the website Wikipedia were synonymous. Today, there are countless wikis, many built using the same approaches and software used by Wikipedia. SmallBusiness.com, a wiki created and managed by Hammock, is one of them. Other wikis use different software, different approaches and are so different looking from Wikipedia, you may not even realize they're wikis. (Ironically, there's nothing about the software or approach used by the website WikiLeaks that is a wiki as popularly defined.)]]> http://www.hammock.com/contentthatworks/2010/11/tets_1.php http://www.hammock.com/contentthatworks/2010/11/tets_1.php Until they heard of the controversial website WikiLeaks, many people thought the word "wiki" and the website Wikipedia were synonymous. Today, there are countless wikis, many built using the same approaches and software used by Wikipedia. SmallBusiness.com, a wiki created... Content Marketing Sun, 28 Nov 2010 13:22:02 -0600 Case Study: How to Use a Company Blog to Generate Leads Earlier this year, Hammock began working with 20|20 Research on a project designed to help boost their organic search results and generate leads for its suite of online research products. Long known for its physical research facilities, the company now boasts impressive online products with a fast-growing user base of research professionals in the United States and Europe. As these new products ramp up, they want to make sure their expanded capabilities and unique online products are receiving the recognition they deserve. When they reached out to us they were already savvy content marketers and a step ahead of most companies. Not only did they have a well-written and authoritative CEO blog, they also had a strong presence on LinkedIn and Twitter. However, like many companies, the full plate of duties already being handled by everyone on staff made it difficult for the company to find the time and focus needed to reach the objectives they had for their online efforts. ]]> http://www.hammock.com/contentthatworks/2010/11/case_study_how_to_use_a_compan.php http://www.hammock.com/contentthatworks/2010/11/case_study_how_to_use_a_compan.php Earlier this year, Hammock began working with 20|20 Research on a project designed to help boost their organic search results and generate leads for its suite of online research products. Long known for its physical research facilities, the company... Case Studies Content Marketing Ideas in action Wed, 24 Nov 2010 09:46:56 -0600 Bringing Smart Content to Vivid Life: Our Recent Publication Work Hammock magazine spreadHammock provides content marketing services, which includes publishing print and digital magazines customized to meet our clients' objectives. We study those objectives and work to ensure each issue of a client's publication meets their specific goals. We accomplish this with expert writing about topics of interest to our clients' target audience—and compelling design that brings to vivid life our writers' stories. In the last month, these stories have included everything from historic re-enactors to the U.S. Marine Corps special ops and from the latest in pharmaceutical innovations to how health-care reform will affect supply chain managers. No matter the topic, our storytelling is tailored to the interests and passions of our clients' customers and members. But we don't just tell you that's what we do—we're always eager to show you. View our latest work for some of the publications we publish for our clients, including American Spirit, Semper Fi, The Source and Pharmaceutical Commerce. ]]> http://www.hammock.com/contentthatworks/2010/11/bringing_content_to_life_our_r.php http://www.hammock.com/contentthatworks/2010/11/bringing_content_to_life_our_r.php Hammock provides content marketing services, which includes publishing print and digital magazines customized to meet our clients' objectives. Content Marketing Tue, 23 Nov 2010 11:47:28 -0600 Strong Content Strategy Boosts Expo Sales This year Hammock once again hit the events trail for our client, the Marine Corps League, making 2010 a record year in event-related advertising and expo sales. The old saying “you can’t tell the players without a program” holds for trade shows where strapped-for-time attendees want to know what’s on display and where. Since 2006, in addition to relaunching its member magazine, Semper Fi, Hammock has produced directories for each of the three annual Marine Military Expos sponsored by our client, The Marine Corps League. In that time, both Semper Fi and the Expo directories have experienced significant growth in advertising sales and print quantity. Managed by Nielsen Expositions, a part of the Nielsen Company, these shows bring defense industry suppliers together with the Marines for frank discussions and critiques of the products and services. The Expos are held at the Marine Corps bases at Camp Pendleton, CA, Camp Lejeune, NC, and Quantico, VA, outside Washington, DC. The latter is by far the biggest, drawing as many as 450 vendors and thousands of attendees. In 2006, the guide for the Quantico event was 24 pages long, contained only two paid ads and was printed as part of the magazine. Since then it has doubled in size to 48 pages this year, with more than 19 pages of paid advertising that generated significant revenue for our client. The other two guides have seen similar growth. Robust ad sales efforts and opportunities for vendor listings to be highlighted have helped fuel this growth, but advertisers say a redesign of both magazine and guides in 2006 plus a strong—and very Marine—content strategy make them increasingly desirable media buys. ]]> http://www.hammock.com/contentthatworks/2010/10/strong_content_strategy_boosts.php http://www.hammock.com/contentthatworks/2010/10/strong_content_strategy_boosts.php Hammock once again hit the events trail for our client, the Marine Corps League, making 2010 a record year in event-related advertising and expo sales. Strategy Tue, 19 Oct 2010 11:09:58 -0600 More Americans Are Researching Products and Services Online Pew Research, almost 60 percent of U.S. adults say they conduct research online about products and services they are considering purchasing or using. Don’t miss your opportunity to connect with this group of existing customers and prospects by having an online content marketing strategy in place that ensures your site is easy to find and is rich with the type of content researchers are looking for.]]> http://www.hammock.com/contentthatworks/2010/10/more_americans_research_produc.php http://www.hammock.com/contentthatworks/2010/10/more_americans_research_produc.php According to a recent survey from Pew Research, almost 60 percent of U.S. adults say they conduct research online about products and services they are considering purchasing or using. Research Fri, 15 Oct 2010 11:32:26 -0600 What Is Content Marketing? Savvy marketers no longer depend solely on traditional advertising in traditional media to reach their audience. Creating and managing their own branded media -- from e-media to print magazines and from video to iPad apps --marketers now are learning that content is the glue holding their marketplaces together. Since our own Rex Hammock helped to create what is now the largest content marketing trade group in the United States, the Custom Content Council, we asked him to answer one simple question that we get asked a lot these days: “What exactly is content marketing?”]]> http://www.hammock.com/contentthatworks/2010/10/what_is_content_marketing.php http://www.hammock.com/contentthatworks/2010/10/what_is_content_marketing.php Since our own Rex Hammock helped to create what is now the largest content marketing trade group in the United States, the Custom Content Council, we asked him to answer one simple question that we get asked a lot these days: “What exactly is content marketing?” Content Marketing Thu, 07 Oct 2010 11:02:20 -0600