by Todd Hyten

Content marketing in a war zone: a true story

The idea behind content marketing is really nothing new, but it is very powerful. The idea comes in many forms, but the basic principal is the same: providing something of value helps to build trust, and trust forms the basis of any relationship.

I certainly didn’t expect to find an example of content marketing when reading about a battle zone. In Iraq.

I’d just finished Thomas E. Ricks’ book The Generals, a survey of recent American generals and their leadership styles, when I decided to read another of Ricks’ books, The Gamble, about “the surge” in Iraq.

In The Gamble, Ricks lays out the events that led to the change in strategy of the US military in Iraq that prevented Iraq from turning into a never-ending cauldron of civil war (think of Syria now). As Ricks recounts, just three years after the ousting of Saddam Hussein, the Bush administration, the Pentagon and even the generals leading the occupation in Iraq were completely rudderless an enmeshed in a fiasco.

They didn’t understand the conflict they were in (a toxic cocktail of homegrown and foreign insurgencies) and they had no strategy to “win” (much less define what “winning” meant).

Luckily, a few commanders on the ground knew they had to fight insurgency with a counterinsurgency. This meant protecting the safety of the Iraqi people first and foremost, and living among them. By forging connections with the populace, insurgents lose the “sea” they swim in. The lessons of these (very few) commanders paved the way to stability and drawdown/exit from Iraq.

Ricks recounted one of the stories, and in it I found the surprising example of content marketing. In 2006 in the Iraqi city of Ramadi, in Anbar Province, then US-Army Col. Sean McFarland’s 1st Brigade (1st Armored Division) took over military operations. He had seen counterinsurgency succeed elsewhere, and put that strategy in place in Ramadi.

At this point a new insurgency had moved in to the province, and it was making war on the local sheikhs: al Qaeda.

McFarland offered the Ramadi sheikhs the protection of US forces. And he meant it. When an allied sheikh was attacked, McFarland stormed the area. Invariably they routed al Qaeda insurgents, and soon after McFarland would work to build trust with the local community.

But how do you build trust with an entire community that isn’t going to read your newspapers, listen to radio, or even has access to electricity? Ricks recounts how one bright soldier noticed that what people did listen to were loudspeaker announcements from the local mosque.

So, a special team set up a loudspeaker post (broadcasting every day but Friday). They “broadcast” news from Al Jezeera, sports and other information — and information on local attacks by al Qaeda. The messages reinforced the goal: the American forces were saying “we can relate to you — and we have a common enemy.” Eventually, the US forces began to be seen as an allied tribe. A very, very well-armed tribe of allies.

But think of that strategy of the unit with the loudspeakers. It’s the essence of content marketing: by giving something of value (news and information), it allowed a relationship to form. It made a key connection.

And all without Twitter, or blogs, or Facebook or SEO.

03.25.13

by Todd Hyten

B2B Marketing Noir: The missing value proposition

It was barely 10 a.m. in the big city that I call home, West Squeegie, when I got my first client call of the day. I was still savoring my second cup of coffee, that black boiling-hot lifeblood of tired marketers everywhere.

I swung my cheap knock-off wingtips off the desk and picked up the receiver. On the other end was a certain Ms. Tiubie. I could tell she was a pro in the marketing biz from the smooth patter of her delivery, but I could also sense that something was wrong. I asked her to cut to the chase — why was she calling me?

“Well, it seems we … we’ve lost our value proposition. We’re not sure where it is or what it’s doing,” she said.

“Hm. When was the last time you saw your value proposition?”

“Honestly, the last time was after our company launched and our sales chief was training our sales staff. Now they don’t even know where it is. We keep growing and changing our , but every time we look for our value proposition … it’s not there.”

I’d heard this story before. So many times I couldn’t count.

“OK, I think I can help you,” I said. I filled out my “All Points Bulletin” or “Be on the lookout” form. It goes something like this.

Description of Value Proposition of high importance: Clearly and concisely describe a company’s unique traits in its market by relying on credible, fact-based information. Should be able to speak to the company’s target client/customer and answer the questions “Why should I consider you instead of your competitors?”

Location: Usually lives on home page as a prominent headline or text and is underscored by supporting information.

I then gathered Ms. Tiubie (Beatrice) and her colleagues into a room and started the process. It goes like this:

Write a detailed description of your ideal client focusing on 10 traits of their position and authority.Then write 5 core NEEDS of that client.

List 15 traits of your company’s services or products: they must include at least 5 traits that are UNIQUE and fact-based, supported by data.

Do any of your UNIQUE traits address the NEEDS of your client in any way? If not … start over with the UNIQUE traits again or the NEEDS. Redo both lists if necessary.

Once you have matched at least 2 pairs of UNIQUE traits and NEEDS, finalize the value proposition process by asking this question: What are the top 5 ANXIETIES that would prevent my ideal client buying our product? Be honest. Put yourself in the shoes of your client or customer.

Next: Write a headline with at least 1 pair of matched UNIQUE traits that address an ideal clients’ NEEDS. Then ask yourself how you can address the top anxieties.

Addressing needs without addressing anxieties is pointless in Web marketing. Your Website and company, to any new prospect or client, needs to overcome a very high hurdle of distrust specifically because it is on the Web and therefore NOT personal and tangible.

I’ll give you a great example of a value proposition that works. Here’s the home page of the web hosting company Bluehost.

Do you see the value proposition? It’s “Over 20,000 New Customers a Month & Hosting Millions of Domains!” Why is this a great value proposition? Think of the need of the ideal customer for a web hosting company — it’s actually almost the same as the top anxiety: “I need something stable and reliable — Is this hosting company stable and reliable?”

Because a hosting company that’s not stable and reliable isn’t worth it at any price. So the headline does contain two main pieces of credible, fact-based information: “20,000 new customers a month” and “hosting millions of domains.” So where’s the UNIQUE aspect? It’s the number 20,000 … it’s very specific. It also, I think, unconsciously speaks to steady growth.

Now look at the supporting text supporting the Call to Action (Sign Up Now). It is a mixture of points addressing NEEDS while also addressing ANXIETIES. Words like “unlimited” are also powerful and better than words like “free.”

After a million cups of bitter, hot, depraved coffee, Ms. Tiubie and her team had come up with their own set of unique traits that addressed needs and anxieties. Suddenly, as if by magic, their value proposition appeared. There were lots of hugs and “hail fellow-well-met” back slapping.

I said goodbye to Ms. Tiubie and went back to my office. I threw my knock-off wingtips on the desk and started to make out my invoice. Somewhere down in an alley I could hear a street musician sawing away on a violin doing a half-decent job of playing “We’ll Meet Again”… The other sounds of West Squeegie drifted up to my open window melding into an urban coda at sunset — traffic sounds, heels on pavement, sirens in the distance and the half-forgotten lyrics of the song drifting over all …

We’ll meet again
Don’t know where
Don’t know when
But I know we’ll meet again
Some sunny day
Keep smiling through
Just like you always do
‘Till the blue skies
Drive the dark clouds far away

I filled out the invoice, closing out the day.

Subject: Lost Value Proposition

Client: B. Tiubie

Status: Case solved.

03.19.13

by Todd Hyten

Most Top 20 public companies in Mass. invisible on social media

Are marketers like myself in a bubble when it comes to social media? I think so. We read and research so much about the topic that we naturally think every company is involved in some way.

I just tried a little experiment that says that’s not true — not by a long shot.

I took the Boston Business Journal’s 2013 Book of Lists and looked at the home pages of the top 20 largest public companies and the top 20 largest private companies in Massachusetts (measured by revenue). I looked for social media icons on the home pages, and only the home pages. I understand some of these companies are “parent” companies of well-known brands, but still, I wanted to see what their home pages presented to the world. After all, if you’re not promoting your social media accounts on your home page … where would you?

The results: 65% of the 20 largest public companies had no social media presence at all on their home page.

Do you find that astounding? I do. And these are companies with 2011 revenues between $1.85 billion (Waters Corp.) and $25 billion (Staples).

Private companies fared much better: 30% had no social presence on their home pages (which I still find fairly high).

Almost universal to both public and private company home pages, too, was the hidden nature of social media icons and links. In almost all cases, the social media account links or icons were located at the very bottom of home pages — and very nearly invisible (low contrast icons).

After looking at a few of these accounts, I understood why: a large number (I didn’t tally specific results) showed very poor sharing habits. They might have many followers, but in turn followed precious few other Twitter accounts in return. This screams to me they are using Twitter as a broadcast platform only — and don’t seem much interested in sharing content or listening to others.

I will look deeper into the top lists and report more later when I’ve tallied results, but I think this cursory look says a lot: Big companies, private, and especially public are prone to ineffective and superficial use of social media.

A good counter argument is that these successful companies are not engaging social media much because they effectively engage in customer feedback in more traditional ways. That’s fair enough.But these days, I’m surprised at the very cold, impersonal “front face” these companies show to the public.

Look at Nstar’s Twitter account in this image above. Do you think — especially to younger customers — that this says anything about their responsiveness to their customers? Yes, I understand they are a regulated utility. Does that really prevent them from “Following” others? Really?

Even if it’s a holding company, doesn’t it say something when a company uses social media only for its brand properties only? Doesn’t it seem to communicate a kind of “facelessness” that seems cold, impersonal — not really human?

At least that’s my impression. I’ll report more data when I’ve looked at more companies, so stay tuned.