I’m not crazy.

In fact, my instincts have been right all along.

Let me explain. A few months back, Coca Cola announced they were no longer going to rely on the “30-second TV spot” or even traditional ad agencies to build their business moving forward. According to Jonathan Mildenhall, VP Global Advertising Strategy and Creative Excellence, Coke is going to put their efforts (and money) into the web, storytelling and creating excellent content.

The short version?

Content marketing has truly arrived on the big stage.

Think Like a Publisher

As some of you probably know, we’ve been evangelizing this approach for years. In fact, most of our clients have probably been the victim of my “You Need to Start Thinking like a Publisher“ Rant during a strategy session or two.

Today, however, I feel a sense of victory for us digital and content marketing folks.

We weren’t crazy after all.

Think about it. If Coke is willing to bet the farm (and their entire marketing efforts for the next 8 years) on the idea of using the web for content marketing, shouldn’t you at least consider doing it for your business?

Please Watch these Videos

I’ve spent some time reviewing the two videos below. It’s outlines Coke’s strategy and plan for implementing their marketing vision. I strongly encourage all marketing professionals (both client and agency side), leadership teams and even small business owners to set aside 20 minutes to review these two short videos (video one is 7 minutes, video two is 10 minutes).

It’s that important.

Coca Cola Content 2020 Part One

Click here to view the embedded video.

Coca Cola Content 2020 Part Two

Click here to view the embedded video.

Why Is Content 2020 So Important?

Content 2020 feels more like an internal video prepared specifically for the Coca-Cola team, which lays out the following strategic vision for their future:

• Coca-Cola needs to move from creative excellence (i.e ads) to content excellence (on the web),

• They need to develop content that makes a commitment to making the world a better place, while at the same time, driving business objectives, and…

• Through the stories they tell, provoke conversations and earn a disproportionate share of popular culture (i.e. market share, sales, etc.)

How Coke Defines Content and Storytelling

First, to give some of you a frame of reference, lets define what content means in this scenario. Content is the creation of “stories” that are to be expressed across multiple digital channels of conversation.

Moving from Creative Excellence to Content Excellence

“Liquid and linked” is the phrase Coke is using to describe its developing content strategy.

For Coke, the purpose of content excellence is to create ideas so contagious they cannot be controlled (“liquid”). At the same time, your content must be “linked” to your values and what you offer.

Viral doesn’t do you any good if it’s not linked to your underlying business objectives.

However, you must also realize that the people you want to reach have greater connectivity and individual empowerment than ever before. We live in an on-demand culture and your audience is in control.

People can turn you off and on at will.

Your audience demands liquid content.

Using traditional marketing “solidifies” content too early in the process (i.e. the 30 second TV spot). Static content MUST become your enemy. Your new ally must become real-time content that is organic, free-flowing and conversational.

How to use it: Your content must be remarkable enough to be “liquid” — to be shared outside your own circle of influence. However, your role in content excellence must also be to behave like a ruthless editor, otherwise you risk just creating noise.

Lastly, you need to create partnerships with people who can help you do this, integrating creative content engineers and technologists right into your core team.

Coke’s 70/20/10 Content Development Plan

This is a nice framework for a complex content marketing strategy, but you can also use it directly for a much simpler program.

70% Content

Mildenhall argues 70% of your content should be “low-risk” — what he calls your “bread and butter content.” It pays the rent (so to speak), but it’s ultimately your passport to the 10%.

Because it’s less risky, it should also takes less time. About 50% of your time should be spent creating this type of content. Keep in mind that “bread and butter” doesn’t mean boring or low-quality. It just means that it’s the kind of solid, useful content your audience expects.

[P.S. This blog is Fruition's 20% content, but this topic is closer to what our 20% content looks and feels like]

20% Content

20% of your content “innovates off of what works.” It’s more in-depth, it takes more time to create, and it connects more deeply with a well-defined segment of your audience, but still with broad scale. Ideally, of course, it’s usually the segment that buys your products or services.

10% Content

The final 10% is what Mildenhall calls “high risk” content. These are brand new ideas — the crazy stuff that might work, but might fail. Mildenhall makes the point that it’s this risky 10% where your future 20% and 70% content will come from.

Today’s crazy idea is tomorrow’s cornerstone content. This is also the content that will keep you from burning out creatively.

For you large public companies out there, keep in mind this what Coke intends to do and they are probably bigger and have more corporate governance and “red tape” in place then you.

How to use it: Too many content marketers don’t actually know what their 70% content is. What topics and keywords are most important to your readers? What are your audience’s key desires and problems, and how can you speak to them? 20% content takes the 70% and goes deeper. Maybe it’s a white paper or a video series.

Your 10% content keeps you excited about what you’re doing. It’s content that reaches out to the edges, or comes at your topic in an entirely new way. Your audience might not be there yet or they might be right there with you.

You don’t know until you put it out there.

A Case for Change

Creating excellent content is a priority at Fruition Interactive.  We’d like to do more, but there are only so many hours in a day.

Without striving to be excellent, the time you spend on content marketing will be a waste. The first thing you need to do is to be honest with yourself. If you can’t create content that’s remarkable, you need to either get better or you need to partner with someone who’s got the talent to create content that’s worth your audience’s attention.

On the flip side, for those of you who still think content marketing is a fad, take another look at the thinking (and dollars) going into Coke’s marketing strategy, aimed at doubling their business by the year 2020.

If Coca-Cola’s commitment to digital marketing and content creation doesn’t inspire you to get you back in the “content marketing game” I really don’t know what will.

Ultimately, though, these are Coca-Cola’s ideas about where the future of marketing is heading. How about you?

Did you get inspired by watching the videos? If so, what crazy (10% percent) ideas did you come up with?

Photo credit: The Coca-Cola company

We’re hoping to have the problem cleared up soon. Updates will be posted here.

Update (3:15 p.m.): Everything appears to be up, running and stable again.

How about your laptop, cell phone, or business card?

If you’re like most people, you probably don’t know, and really don’t care. But not having email in your business could do more harm than good. Its “benefit” is not so much a measurement of return but an implicit cost of doing business (and cheap I might add).

Moreover, depending on your role, it also represents “potential.”

Like email, social media also represents potential.  Unfortunately, this view is not shared by people who use the term ROI when talking about social media. Ever since social media came into existence, marketing professionals and business leaders have been asking the “ROI question.”

It’s easy to understand why.  If a business is going to put the time, effort, and attention into social media, it would be nice to think they’d actually get some sales out of it.

In other words, they want to see a return on our investment.

Calculating ROI

A very basic way to calculate ROI is:

(Net Profits / Total Investment) x 100

For example, if you invested $1,000 and received $100 in profits, that’s a 10 percent return on your investment: ($100 / $1000) x 100) = 10, or 10 percent. For marketers, knowing ROI helps you decide between competing alternatives in order to know where to focus your future marketing dollars or resources.

Measuring ROI (a quick example)

In some cases, online marketing can easily be measured for ROI.  For example, take pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.

Keeping things simple, let’s say you pay $0.50 cents for each click from just one keyword using Google AdWords, which generates 200 clicks to your website.

That means, you’ve paid Google $100 in advertising cost ($0.50 x 200 = $100).

Let’s also assume you have an e-commerce website that does a decent job converting traffic into sales.

In this case, from the 200 clicks to your website (via AdWords), 4 people purchased your product resulting in $500 of “make-believe” profit ($150 product price – $25 cost of goods = $125 profit per sale x 4 = $500).

This means your actual post-advertising profit would be $400 ($500 in profit – $100 in PPC advertising = $400).

Still with me?

At first glance, this seems like a small profit. The ROI, however, is great: You’re making $500 in pre-ad profit from just $100 in PPC advertising, a beautiful 500% ROI.

Here is the clincher: that’s just from one keyword.

There are potentially hundreds of relevant keywords that you can bid on to attract potential customers. What happens if you bid on 100 or 200 keywords that also have a 500% ROI?

On the other hand, if the purpose of your website is to generate leads or sign-ups – not sales – you can calculate a rough ROI if you know your cost per lead, closing ratio and avg. value of a new client or customer.

For example, lets say your website generates 3 leads each month. With a cost per lead of $250 and a closing ratio of 17% (1 out of 6 leads) you’re projected to close one new client every 2 months from PPC advertising.

At first glance, $250 seems like a lot to pay for a new lead, but if your avg. value of a new client was $10,000 (or $5,000 averaged over 2 months), your ROI would be great. You’re projected to make an average of $5,000 in gross revenue per month from $750 in PPC advertising, an amazing 667% ROI

Remember, ROI just helps you decide between competing alternatives in order to make better decisions. In other words, they’re only estimates.

Social media is not something you buy

People who use the term ROI think social media is something “static” they buy, set, and forget – like a media buy.

Yes, Facebook and LinkedIn allow you to advertise on their platforms, but companies ahead of the curve really see social media as a part of doing business — a necessity no less important than using email.

But changing an organization’s attitude toward social media from a measurement of ROI can be difficult.  It requires a fundamental change in how they view marketing in a new age.

So how do businesses go about changing their ways? It won’t be easy, but this list may help you get started.

1. Adopt a new mindset

Again, business leaders need to start seeing social media as an inherent cost of doing business, representing untapped potential (again, a cost-effective way of reaching potential customers I might add).

It must start with the leadership of the company and trickle down from there, embedding itself into the very fiber of the organization.

Apple is a classic example.

Steve Jobs inherently understood that marketing was a fundamental part of their business, getting baked right into their products – from design to packaging.

Marketing isn’t any less important than the products and services you deliver or the people who provide them. In other words, social media should not be the frosting you put on top of your business.

It needs to begin at the core of your business.

2. Focus on building an audience

All companies have clients or customers, but the ones leading the charge into the future have audiences.

These companies know something you don’t. In addition to running targeted online marketing campaigns that closely track ROI, they’re also using blogs and social media to cultivate an audience – becoming likeable and trustworthy.

Think like a publisher (or story-teller) and find your audience.

3. Be patient and realistic

The most common mistake we see, and the one that makes people think they can’t measure social media results, is that businesses try to make an instant sale or conversion on a social media platform, like Twitter or Facebook.

In my humble opinion, social media was really never intended to be a main destination or virtual storefront for your business.  It’s not what they were built for and, in most cases it’s inappropriate.

Instead, use social media as “outposts” to share the human side of your company, tell stories, and perhaps start a conversation with people who may eventually become customers or clients.

Remember, social media is not the destination, but a vehicle.

3. Bring them home

Use social media to get attention, showing people you’re likable or trustworthy.

When people are ready to learn more about you, make it easy for them to find their way to an online asset you control — bring them back to a relevant landing page on either your website or blog.

Everything that happens on a landing page can be measured. So you can know precisely how many people sign up to your email newsletter from Facebook, or downloaded your white paper from Twitter.

Landing pages are the key to measuring the effectiveness of what you do on social media. If you’re having trouble figuring out whether your social media marketing is working, it’s usually because you haven’t figured out where you want people to go and why.

The secret is to spend most of your time and energy building online assets that you control.

Forget about ROI

Thinking about the ROI makes business leaders think that social media is some kind of campaign or media buy, where they put money in and hope more money comes out.

Instead, like the “email” analogy, think about how the absence of social media in your organization might be doing more harm than good. Its “benefit” is not so much a measurement of return but an implicit cost of doing business in today’s world.

The real measurement of return lies in the unrealized potential created from changing your organization’s mindset about social media.

However, looking at channel(s) your audience frequently use will certainly improve your overall results. This might seem like “good old-fashion” common sense, but as we all know, sometimes, common sense is often forgotten.

People still use search engines to find things

In many cases, search engines still have influence in how people make their buying decisions. Companies, therefore, should also focus on content creation that can help boost their organic search relevancy and results, not just engagement and referral traffic from social media.

Despite, however, the importance search might play in your overall strategy, many decision-makers are still mystified by “how SEO works” – or worst – have been burned by so-called SEO experts who’ve taken their money without producing results.  At Fruition, these “SEO snake oil salesman” have plagued us because we pride ourselves in using best-practices.

That’s why we’ve come up with a virtually risk-free Pay-for-Performance SEO solution that, we feel, will truly benefit your business.  In fact, we’ve done everything we can to make this service a no-brainer for clients, including our “4 unmatched guarantees”:

Pay-for-Performance SEO Guarantee #1:

Clients don’t pay the monthly fee until 90% of their keywords rank their website on the 1st page of Google.

Pay-for-Performance SEO Guarantee #2:

In any given month, if a client’s keyword performance drops below 90%, the client doesn’t pay (This is our most valuable guarantee, which nobody else dares to match).

Pay-for-Performance SEO Guarantee #3:

We only use white-hat (legitimate) tactics to improve clients’ organic search ranking. We guarantee this in our statement of work that we do not use any black-hat tactics.

Pay-for-Performance SEO Guarantee #4:

We conduct in-depth keyword research (upfront) that help clients find the best converting keywords for their business.

At Fruition, when it comes to driving and converting traffic, we feel most clients still under utilize organic search in their marketing efforts.  That’s why we want to change the game.  Providing client’s with a Pay-for-Performance SEO solution is a start.

Want to know more?

Watch this simple 3:30 second video on SEO. We didn’t create this, but we wish we had. It’s a fun, easy-to-understand overview of what Search Engine Optimization is and why it matters to your business.

Then contact us with any questions. If you’re old school and prefer the phone, call us at 416.628.4880 x 227 and just say, “I’m interested in knowing more about your Pay-for-Performance SEO service.”

We didn’t create this, but I wish we had. It’s a fun, easy-to-understand overview of what Organic Search Engine Optimization is and why it matters to your business.

What some companies do on a monthly basis with their online advertising budget.

Despite the fact this headline will likely infuriate some industry folk, it must be said.

When people think about online marketing, some still see traffic as the all important success metric. In fact, some still call it “hits.” (As in they want to get more hits to their site, which is not the same as unique visits or traffic).  The logic seemed simple – as long as we get plenty of traffic, we’ll get business.

Yes, traffic is great, but more importantly, your website must have an effective mechanism (or strategy) for capturing and tracking leads and/or sales.  Otherwise, traffic is useless.

For example…

Let’s say we launched a search marketing campaign targeting Google. As a result, we get you on the first page of Google. In fact, you now rank in the top 3 for most of your target keywords, which means you could be getting up to 35% of the first page traffic.  This, however, may or may not get you a high Return on Investment.

If you don’t have a strong call-to-action or a user-friendly website (or ignored our recommendations to improve these areas), chances are these people might simply move on. The traffic, therefore, would be wasted.  In other words, your website needs to convert traffic, not just collect it.

It’s common sense, right?

Maybe, but I still come across situations every day even with large sophisticated organizations who are spending a small fortune every month to drive traffic to their website, but don’t give much thought on how to convert. Worst of all, they haven’t figured out their ROI.

Remember, when it comes to online marketing, it’s not just about getting traffic. What happens on your website when people get there is also important.  Most of all, this activity must be tracked and measured or you’re just throwing your money away.

Traffic, on its own, does not help you make better business decisions.

photo credit: Images_of_Money

This week Google announced that they’re opening up their Google Plus social network to let businesses join the party, through something they’re calling “Pages for Business”.

Businesses need to think carefully about results before they commit to a new social networking platform. If you’re a business owner or marketer, here are the things you should consider before deciding to set up your Page or to give it a pass.

Read the rest on Technorati.com…

The music industry is well known, now, for riding the short bus to the digital future. But where the major labels have been failing, some independent artists have been excelling at online marketing, and often even seasoned digital marketers can learn a thing or two from them.

Case in point: Trout Fishing in America.

Trout Fishing in America — let’s just call them TFIA — are a Texas-based, folky duo who do a couple of small things online very well that have helped them to build a small army of loyal fans who will go the extra mile to help promote the band (disclosure: I’m a casual listener; my wife would probably count herself among that small army — it was her experience that made me curious about how TFIA fosters loyalty):

1. Provide a value-added experience when people opt-in

When you opt-in to get updates from TFIA, you don’t just get their email blasts. You get free downloads of the band’s music and a discount for the band’s online store. The downloads are a great perk that creates terrific goodwill among fans, creates an opportunity for fans to share the music and make new fans and costs the band next to nothing to offer. The discount, again, feels like special treatment but it also gives subscribers a nudge to take the next step in the acquisition funnel and become customers.

2. Offer surprise and delight

TFIA’s site doesn’t make a big deal about about the free offer for signing up. So if you’re not paying close attention, you may not be expecting to get them at all. And if there’s one thing better than getting something for free, it’s getting something for free that you weren’t expecting at all.

I’d almost like to see the free stuff taken out of the call-to-action to subscribe altogether — let the email’s value proposition stand on its own, and let the freebies be a pure moment of surprise and delight once people subscribe. I’d wager that the upside in customer loyalty would outweigh any hypothetical subscriber drop-off.

3. Make a connection and keep the conversation going

Like most email newsletters, when you sign up for TFIA’s blasts, you get 2 transactional emails back: the opt-in confirmation message and the final welcome message. What’s different about TFIA’s is that these emails have a human face — they invite you to email them with questions, they’re signed by the band’s label manager, Karen, and when you reply to one, you actually get a reply back from Karen. The process is human and it creates a real sense of being part of what the band is doing.

This sort of loyalty-building isn’t limited to the music industry. What would the impact be on your business if you used these simple techniques to turn an ordinary transaction into an opportunity to create a loyal, inspired advocate for your business? What does your business have that you can give away to add value to the opt-in process? And how can you use that to create surprise and delight and to initiate a loyalty-building conversation?

The Business of the Year award honours Toronto businesses that have demonstrated outstanding leadership, growth and innovation in business.

Fruition is nominated in the “Transition” category, which recognizes a business that has successfully experienced a transformation from a traditional business value or process.

The nomination is a big deal to us because… …it reflects and validates the tremendous changes that we’ve made here at Fruition in the past couple of years. It’s happened gradually, so many of our clients haven’t noticed, but looking back it’s quite a change.

In our early days, we were positioned primarily as a technology services company. It took a while, but it finally dawned on us that most of our clients were coming to us not because they felt they needed technology but because they had goals for their business that were going un-met. And 9 times out of 10, that business goal was to generate new leads and sales to grow their businesses.

So, on top of changing how we communicated about  our already-successful Web design and development practice, we added some new capabilities towards becoming a full-service Internet marketing company.

We added world-beating Pay-per-Click (PPC) advertising services, fine-tuning and increasing ROI from clients’ Google Adwords, LinkedIn and Facebook advertising campaigns.

We added an innovative package of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services that help to rocket our clients’ sites to the top of relevant search results and generate business-building traffic to their sites.

And we added social media strategy consulting to help retain and engage the leads that clients have worked so hard to get.

But most of all, we’ve taken our own advice. We launched our blog in 2009, and layered on a social media strategy not long afterwords. And we also launched PPC and SEO campaigns to reach new audiences with our message.

And, while we’re content just to see our clients’ satisfaction as they use our help to generate new leads and create new business for themselves, it sure feels great that someone — the Toronto Board of Trade, no less — noticed what we’ve been up to behind the scenes.