Helicopter to Work

I was treated to a preview copy of Rebecca Lieb’s latest research for Altimeter Group. The final report, “Organizing for Content: Models to Incorporate Content Strategy and Content Marketing in the Enterprise,” was published today. It is filled with sensible organizational models, colorful quotes and plenty of “wow” stats. Below I’ve included some of the data and quotes that jumped out at me.

Quality research and writing aside, what is most valuable about this report is that it’s actionable. It’s short on theory (which is a good thing), and long on utility. If you are looking to organize around content – that is, figure out how to staff a marketing department to operationalize the production, distribution and measurement of content – then this is the report for you.

One nitpick: Missing is the notion of demand generation. Of the many functions with which content marketing needs to align, demand generation is arguably foremost. A few months back, I asked prominent demand / content / inbound marketer Maria Pergolino (then of Marketo, now at Apttus), “Why are so many marketers with your skill set being snatched up to run marketing at growth companies?” She answered, “Because we know how to make them more money.” In the Venn diagram of marketing, content and demand intersect, and that intersection might just be the lushest terrain in today’s marketing landscape.

Other than the absence of demand generation, the report, like everything Rebecca produces, is right-on. Insightful, well articulated, and, most of all, useful. Give it a spin.

Oh and here are the stats and quotes that made me take notice:

• Red Bull tweets 200x/day
• Of the 27 brands interviewed by Altimeter Group, only nine have made explicit content hires (e.g., “content” or “editor” in title)
• The average organization manages 178 social media properties
• Hire a journalist,” a tactic many organizations adopted with the rise of blogging, now is in no way sufficient to address more technical requirements involving higher knowledge of technology, production, design, and user experience. (Rebecca Lieb, Altimeter)
• “Over half of my organization is responsible for content.” (Marissa Tarleton, Executive Director, Marketing, Dell)
• “We’re putting more resources into branded content marketing than into any other area of marketing communications.” (Linda Boff, Executive Director, Global Digital Marketing at General Electric)

Last year I was part of the small team at Eloqua that developed the “modern marketing” positioning. The thinking is self-evident: emerging terms like “inbound marketing” and “content marketing” were gaining in popularity, and modern marketing could be a concept for the company to own. But “owning” a concept has two components: (1) is it “ownable,” and (2) is it worth owning.

Given the significant volume of content the company has produced on the subject, it’s reasonable to conclude that Eloqua succeeded in owning the modern marketing position (and, to be fair, the more approachable term and playful logo have added the desired element of levity to the brand). But the larger question remains: is there sufficient organic interest in “modern marketing” for it to be considered a trend, a category, a … thing?

I used Google Trends to look at search volume for three terms: modern marketing (blue), inbound marketing (red), content marketing (yellow). I also marked the blue line with the approximate date of the launch of Eloqua’s logo and positioning at Dreamforce.

So?