Tim Thorpe, Director of Digital Content, Global Marketing & Communications, Black & Veatch, at the Business Marketing Association regional even in Kansas City on 10/28/14.
Content Marketing: The Journey of a Global Enterprise by Tim Thorpe #bmakc
1. 28 October 2014
CONTENT MARKETING
THE JOURNEY OF A GLOBAL ENTERPRISE
TIM THORPE
@timnthorpe
DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL CONTENT, GLOBAL MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS
2. WE’RE BUILDING A WORLD OF
DIFFERENCE. TOGETHER.
• Founded in 1915.
• Global workforce of more than 10,000.
• Employee-owned corporation.
• $3.6 billion in annual revenues in 2013.
• More than 110 offices worldwide.
• Projects completed in more than 100 countries
Black & Veatch conducts 7,000+ active projects globally
at any one time. 2
3. SOLVING THE WORLD’S COMPLEX CHALLENGES IN
EACH OF OUR MARKETS
Energy Water Telecommunications
Indonesia Hong Kong SAR California, USA
Security Management Consulting Environmental
Armenia Oklahoma, USA Scotland, UK
Using teamwork and collaboration, we provide sustainable
and reliable solutions. 3
4. BLACK & VEATCH
DIGITAL CONTENT TEAM
• Websites (bv.com).
• SEO/SEM.
• Marketing automation.
• Surveys.
• Social media.
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM (SFA).
• Microsoft SharePoint intranet.
• Mobile marketing apps (iPad).
@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe 4
6. WHAT IS CONTENT MARKETING?
• Creating perception.
• A content strategy that focuses marketing efforts
on what your desired clients are interested in
consuming – strategy to address their needs.
• Developing content that educates your desired
clients about their business needs or goals, the
services you provide in that market and why they
should pick you.
• Distributing content into channels where your
desired clients are consuming information.
@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe 6
7. WHAT CONTENT MARKETING IS NOT
Wang Noi Combined Cycle Power Plant
Thailand
@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe
7
• Pumping out more and more content (focus
should be on quality, not just quantity).
• Specific channels.
• Advertising.
• Your business.
• POINT: It is about your consumers and how you
support their needs!
8. CULTURE
• Any change in how content is produced and distributed
within a large organization starts with culture.
• Implementing a content marketing strategy is likely
about transforming your organization, its internal
processes and how people think.
• What is leadership’s opinion of how marketing should
be done?
• Push the organization to move forward more quickly,
but don’t get out ahead of the organization.
• Do you have a good understanding of your company’s
current culture?
@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe 8
9. TRANSFORMING CULTURE
Water Supplies Department
of the Hong Kong SAR
@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe
9
• Evaluate where you are, the destination and in
the process, how things would change.
• Has to be done objectively and in a constructive
way.
• Must show the business a compelling vision for
how the change will provide lasting benefits.
• Executive leadership support is critical.
• Technology strategies, plans and budgets.
10. MOVING TO DIGITAL
• Significant mind shift for many traditional
content producers.
• Part of cultural view of marketing and content.
• If producing more content for digital spaces,
need to evaluate if it’s the right material. Is it
produced for the right reasons?
• Does the content address client business
objectives?
@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe 10
11. WEB STRATEGY/CMS
• Relaunch of BV.com based on Sitefinity CMS.
• CMS helps to automate and template content.
• Improves ability to create content requirements.
• Can move quickly to apply changes.
• The foundation for many content amplification
efforts.
• “Homebase” for all digital, external marketing
efforts (we strive to direct people to bv.com in
everything we do).
@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe 11
12. SEO/SEM FOCUS
• Content marketing + SEO (not versus).
• Focus on relevant “hilltops.”
• Not just content…also technical framework.
• SEO/SEM needs to become a core part of how
teams think.
• Cultural or career shift for many.
• Can be valuable to bring SEO skillset in-house to
make it a central component of content strategy.
@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe 12
13. ALIGNMENT WITH BUSINESS
STRATEGY/GOALS
• Produce four industry reports that focus on our
primary markets – Strategic Directions.
• Research the topics that are important to our
clients and our businesses.
• Analyze the results of our surveys and
collaborate with internal thought leaders to
make recommendations and forecasts.
• Promote reports and supplemental content via
owned, earned and bought media channels.
• http://bv.com/reports
@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe 13
14. CONTENT PILLARS - STRATEGIC
DIRECTIONS REPORTS
• Our reports are examples of content pillars that
are used extensively to educate clients, promote
our brand and sell our services.
• Report messaging is broken down into videos,
social media messages, newsletters and articles
that offer snippets of research and
recommendations from each report.
• PR/media team leverages existing relationships
to amplify the messages.
@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe 14
15. AMPLIFYING WITH CONTENT
DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY
• Social media.
• Prime/trade media partnerships.
• Industry outreach through influencers, bloggers
and associations.
• Paid media channels (SEM, advertorials).
• Tradeshows, conferences and other industry
events.
@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe 15
16. CONTENT CALENDAR
• Designed to help synchronize “siloed” groups of
content editors/contributors, externally and
internally.
• Built-in workflows and processes to ensure all
aspects of content development are addressed.
• Provides a process-oriented approach for helping
overcome cultural resistance to new approaches
of content creation.
• Could simply be a spreadsheet to start.
@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe 16
17. SALES ENABLEMENT
Lopburi 55 MW Solar Farm
Thailand
@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe
17
• Ultimate goal is to connect marketing activity
with business development.
• Knowing your core clients and creating a single
view of them is very important.
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM provides the single
view business development activity.
• Marketo is being implemented to provide
sophisticated tools for marketing automation.
19. PARTNERSHIPS
• You can’t do it all.
• Many elements of implementing a content
marketing strategy may exceed the experience of
your teams or available resources.
• Leverage partners to assist with selecting tools,
developing content and implementing solutions.
• Evaluate what should be an internal employee
vs. an external resource.
@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe 19
20. TEAMS
• Executive leadership support.
• Right people in right roles (may need a different
skillset in some roles).
• Refining the marketing and communications
structure internal to your organization.
• Hiring people with digital experience, systems
backgrounds, database understanding, project
management skills and other technical abilities.
• Recruiting team members with an agency
background can be valuable.
@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe 20
21. FUTURE OF CONTENT MARKETING
• Employee engagement as internal brand advocates.
• Expert blogging.
• Automation.
• Dynamic content (real-time personalization).
• More and more video.
• Micro-content.
@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe 21
22. KEY TAKEAWAYS
• “Adapt or die” - Content marketing is a test of the
organization’s mettle to accept change and adapt.
• Integrations.
• Tools and automation (free and paid).
• Partnerships and expertise – what is done in-house
vs. outsourced based on need, importance, ability
to hire, etc.
• Leadership buy-in.
• Internal structure, process, workflow is critical.
@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe 22
23. CONNECT WITH US
• TimThorpe.org
• slideshare.net/TimThorpe
• @TimNThorpe
• BV.com
• @Black_Veatch
• facebook.com/BlackVeatch
@BMA_KC @TimNThorpe 23
