Let me tell you a story A journey

Let me tell you a story … A journey in content marketing Michael Curran, Ottawa Business Journal michael@greatriver. ca 613. 238. 1818

Prologue … the story begins ● OBJ is 23 years old ● Revenue breakdown … ○ OBJ Core: $600 K (monthly newsmagazine, digital) ○ ○ Special Projects: $720 K Events: $850 K Agency: $350 K Other Non-OBJ: $300 K ● Strength: Strong editorial culture (both company owners are journalists, great journalism school for young talent) ● Weakness: Traditional display advertising

Setting: A small city north of the border ● Bit of a weird market ○ ○ ○ Market population is 1. 1 to 1. 2 million, but. . . Canada’s capital city (third of economy is government) By far, largest sector is technology (40 -year history of R&D in telecommunications -- led by North, JDS Uniphase -and now Saa. S companies -- led by Shopify) Tourism thanks to capital city / G 7 Capital Major growth sector … marijuana (led by Canopy Growth) ● The point … most sectors are focused globally with little to no need for local advertising, except recruiting … and that went to job boards

Setting: A small city north of the border

The plot thickens ● About five years ago, we experienced an overwhelming shift away from display advertising, both print and digital ● Clients were outright rejecting any discussion of display ● The larger regional / national firms (such as professional services) said they had zero authority to place display ● those decisions often controlled from Toronto head offices that don’t recognize Ottawa as a business centre (it’s a freakin’ government town) ● Print and display advertising experienced a nosedive ● And it wasn’t only us … closures, downsizing and shrinking

Chapter 1: Re-defining our mission ● ● Faced some critical questions about our future Needed to align ourselves with digital and social Met with clients to understand their future marketing needs Clients said their future marketing would include … ○ ○ ○ web content social content lead generation online video custom content projects (mags, catalogues, books etc. ) and also search, website development etc. ● OK, what are we better at than anybody else in the market?

Embracing our strengths ● Specialize in B 2 B content … no one better! ● Content is clearly engaging … look at our audience! ● Journalistic approach separates from other content producers / agencies ● Journalistic approach is also perfectly on trend ○ ○ ○ Authentic Relevant Compelling ● Tremendous amount of trust and integrity … people love us! ● And, let’s not forget our audience size / quality

Our mantra became. . . Every company is a media company

2014 2018

A very simple pitch connects with clients OUR STRENGTHS You know us? You like what we do? You read our publications? You see hourly website updates? ● You get our emails? ● You follow us on social media? ● ● YOUR NEEDS ● Website content created on a regular basis? Informative blogs, thought leadership, customer stories ● Social media ● Lead generation ● Custom projects

Our question is. . . So what if we used our quarter century of experience to help you create content like a media company? Would that be of interest?

Their question. . Where do we sign?

The genesis of OBJ 360 native advertising OBJ newsmagazine OBJ. ca website OBJ social media OBJ email

Details of OBJ 360 content offering ● A journalist will meet with you (freelancer not on news team) ● They will create a piece of content each month (3, 6, 9 or 12 months) ● Illustrate that content (photos, design etc. ) ● That sponsored article will be published in newsmagazine (full page) ● That sponsored content will be published to our website ● That sponsored content will be promoted on our social channels ● That sponsored content will be promoted on our email newsletter ● You own all copyright so you can repurpose the content ● You pay us $2500 -$3500 per month based on contract length

Where we succeeded in native ● More than 20 clients said yes! ● Did more than $350 K in revenue ● Went from “sellers of rectangles” to deep inside our clients’ businesses, with a perspective on their challenges and opportunities ● Went from an advertising business with a lot of $5000 clients to a media company with a lot more $25 K-$50 K clients ● Given our work ethic, efficiency and commitment, we delivered on time with exception -- internally we say “We get #$!@#!@ done” ● Clients almost always renewed

Where we failed ● Workload was fairly massive; “Holy @#$!@#! this is a lot of work” ● We became consultants, but were free consultants ○ ○ ○ We were not paid for discovery process We were not paid for content plan We were not paid when clients wanted long content meetings ● Everyone wanted everything measured ○ Spending hours on analytics / reports with no compensation ● Complexity caused sales team to become project managers ● Sponsored content was starting to dominate in print / web ● And almost no one was repurposing the content

So next came another question. . Was this really just another way of selling a bunch of full page ads? Did we just massively complicate our lives?

What we learned ● Need to put systems in place (campaign coordinator) ● Need to fairly compensated for our time ○ ○ ○ If they’re not paying, there is no value Discovery process / content plan is now $1250 Campaign management and reports are now $500 ● More content isn’t always better ○ ○ Create content every single month for 12 months? Move to 3 -4 month flights and pause to measure / adjust ● Content format ● Let’s unbundle this, make it more tailored to client ○ Want more social? Want video? Want landing page?

Traditional Listicle Embed video

Native advertising on OBJ. ca ● Yes, it’s freakin’ cold in Ottawa … 17 C on Friday ● Sponsored content integrated into the news stream

Chapter Two: Content marketing projects ● OK, we have a bunch of clients and we’re managing them all independently ● Is there not an opportunity to cluster clients around special niche projects? ● Is there not another revenue model around projects besides ROP? ● If we were smart, could we not create special projects that not only brought on board new clients, but strengthened our editorial mission? ● Client came knocking with a question and the Ottawa Business Growth Survey was born

Ottawa Business Growth Survey ● Large regional accounting firm recognized a niche for an annual survey of business leaders on growth, barriers and local issues ● Signed them up … $25 K for five years (term was a first) ● Got another $20 K to $25 K from their partners (bank, legal, real estate) ● Got down to business ○ ○ ○ Hired national polling firm / designed a survey Promoted the hell out of it / 800 reponses Unveiled results at event with 350+ business leaders Simultaneously launched magazine product with limited copies Launched online campaign to download digital edition of magazine Got 800 downloads by very exclusive demographic

Ottawa Business Growth Survey SIDE BENEFITS 1. 2. 3. Community leaders embraced the data (mayor / city started quoting it) CEOs used it for planning Reinforced our position as experts in local economy

Sidebar: Lights, camera, action! ● Spinoff tech brand called Techopia ● Realized that video-on-demand was best platform for this demographic ● But how do we monetize this? ● Logos? Commercials? ● Let’s integrate sponsors *** ● 128 episodes and videos ● Click for sample episode ; click for sponsor teaser ● 125+ videos, 158 K views, $125 K annual (not just video)

Chapter Three: Content marketing agency OBJ 360 native advertising working … check OBJ special content projects … check Video content / sponsorship … check But what about those companies that know us, but really need something beyond B 2 B … a true agency type client ● Enter “Great River Media: Content and Digital Agency” ● First client … main street business association for Little Italy, aka Preston Street BIA ● Spent $252, 358 with us over 4 -5 years ● ●

Agency Client: Preston Street BIA ● ● ● ● Business association run by old school restaurant owners Most of their marketing budget was going to six o’clock news Don’t rent an audience, create your own audience through content Year 1: Get to know you … #People. On. Preston Year 2: Broaden value proposition … 101 Things to do on Preston Year 3: Give specific reasons to come … Meet Me on Preston Year 4: Try to transact more business … Presdelicious Year 5: Let’s go video now … https: //youtu. be/Cm. CJT 5 mmp 2 M

Lessons from the agency ● If the agency depends on resources (editorial direction, writing, design etc. ) from the core business, it will create chaos ○ ○ ○ there is only so much time in the day priorities at business journal can get very muddled agency should have its own resources / expertise ● Agency should operate arm’s length from business journal ○ ○ ○ shouldn’t be (or perceived to be) a means of selling advertising in core it needs to find its own customers it needs to find its own solutions NOT everything should be fully custom To scale, we need a common offering; click here for MAAS

Cast of characters (content & editorial) ● Re-organized the editorial structure to maintain church & state, but also someone who straddles content marketing / editorial ● Head of Content: Leads content marketing and special projects; oversees editors ● Digital Editor: Website, email, social media (unencumbered) ● Print Editor: Monthly newsmagazine (unencumbered) ● Two content creators ○ ○ One seasoned freelancer with MBA / law degree One promising new journalism grad

Conclusion: Of course, a listicle TOP FIVE TIPS IF YOU PLAN TO PURSUE CONTENT MARKETING 1. Be wary of complexity of creating, managing, measuring 2. You should want to be as good at content marketing as you are good at news gathering / editorial 3. You might want to consider independent team / agency 4. Consider shifting to a time-based business model 5. Make #$@#$#@! up as you go; we are communications pros a. Content analysis through GA, media training, consultations, video profiles