How to Build a Marketing Strategy with Content – In Just 7 Minutes with Robert Rose

Resources/Links:

• To get more FREE content advice and resources, click here: http://www.contentadvisory.net/

Summary

Do you want to implement content strategies that balance the art and science of intelligent content strategy and operations?

An effective strategy outlines how to reach specific goals and objectives, a winning combination for business success.

Robert Rose is ‘the globally sought-after thought leader in Content Operations’ to most Fortune 100 companies.

His company, TCA helps businesses design pragmatic approaches to empowered enterprise content, enabling efficient, consistent, and differentiating customer experiences.

Get an over-the-shoulder experience of how Robert makes a vague content idea into a clear content strategy that brings more business to your brand.

Check out these episode highlights:

• 01:35 – Robert’s ideal client: Our ideal client is truly a marketing leader, and typically a marketing team leader who’s trying to figure out how to operationalize, and that’s a very fancy word for basically saying how to strategize, manage, scale, or measure the content that they’re creating for marketing and communications.
• 02:12 – The problem he helps solve: The primary problem we solve for businesses is that they’re trying to evolve their content strategy from this amorphous idea. We’re transforming this idea from this amorphous business idea into a pragmatic, strategic, and focused business function.
• 04:31 – The symptom of the problem: It is simply just a feeling of disorganization.
• 05:57 – Clients’ common mistakes before consulting Robert: The biggest one is that they think an internal content studio or an internal content team that serves as an internal agency will solve the problem.
• 06:31 – Robert’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): Visit us and look at some of the resources we might have.
• 06:36 – Robert’s Valuable Free Resource (VFR): To get more FREE content advice and resources, click here: http://www.contentadvisory.net/
• 07:17 – Q: When am I getting back to Aus? A: I am trying to get back this year. It is one of my favorite places on the entire planet. I have been all over your beautiful country.

Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:

“The need for content will exponentially increase given the resources allocated to it.” -Robert Rose Click To Tweet

Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)

Tom Poland 00:10
Welcome, everyone, to another edition of Marketing the Invisible. My name is Tom Poland beaming out to you from the Sunshine Coast in Australia, joined today by Robert Rose. Robert, good day, Sir. A very warm welcome from Down Under. Where are you hanging out?

Robert Rose 00:22
Absolutely. And good day. I’m here in Los Angeles, and my home in Los Angeles, which is where I seem to spend most of my time these days in a 16 by nine little window.

Tom Poland 00:30
Rob and I were just referencing back to the last sort of classic quote we knew from Australia to L.A.: ‘ That’s not a knife. This is a knife, Crocodile Dundee.’ So, from Hollywood to the little wave of Downs in Queensland, Australia, welcome everyone. Robert is a consultant. He’s a best-selling author. He’s an in-demand keynote speaker, outside of COVID. He’s also, interestingly, I’m fascinated by this fellow, actually, one of the world’s most recognized experts in digital content, strategy, and marketing. And we all know the power, particularly when you’re marketing professional services, the power of establishing the relationship prior to the proposal. And that’s one of the things that content does better than anything else that establishes your authority, your brand, hopefully, something that’s very trustworthy and desirable in the prospect’s mind prior to you popping the question, so to speak. So, Robert, without further ado, the title is, How to Build a Marketing Strategy with content, keyword, strategy, and content. Our time starts now. So, question number one, who is your ideal client?

Robert Rose 01:35
Well, our ideal client is truly a marketing leader, and typically a marketing team leader who’s trying to figure out how to operationalize, and that’s a very fancy word for basically saying how to strategize, manage, scale, or measure the content that they’re creating for marketing and communications.

Tom Poland 01:52
Perfect, well-articulated, so as I would expect from a content marketer. But the written form is not always as easy as a spoken one, particularly in a…

Robert Rose 02:01
You know, I was told there would be some Math in this. So, I’ve actually thought about it a little bit.

Tom Poland 02:07
This gets better and better. Question two, Sir. Six and a half minutes left; what’s the problem you solve?

Robert Rose 02:12
The primary problem that we solve for businesses is you know they’re trying to evolve their content strategy from this amorphous idea. When we say the idea of content strategy, that’s a very vague thing for most people. You know, you were kind enough to say that I was one of the foremost digital content experts on the planet; there are only three or four of us. So, it’s not actually that big of a claim. But the thing is, we’re transforming this idea from this amorphous business idea into a pragmatic, strategic and focused business function. So, how does content actually function strategically to become coordinated communications for a business?

Tom Poland 02:51
Is there also, so, I mean, you’ve taken us to, I think, more of a science than an art. You know, use the word pragmatic. Is there a part of the problem you solve that it’s like that old quote from Madison Avenue? And, you know, ‘We know half our advertising work, we just don’t know which half,’ and so just keep doing advertising. But is a part of your problem that you solve that people don’t know where the results are coming from, the measurability?

Robert Rose 03:17
Yeah, well, that’s probably the first and foremost question on most CMOs or CEOs’ minds, right? How do I measure? You know, we have a similar saying in content strategy: content strategy is kind of everybody’s job and no one’s strategy. And you know, it’s the sort of thing, we’re all hired to create, communicate and use content in business, but we never actually go to the trouble of thinking through how is it an actual function, right? So, like accounting, can you imagine the accounting function in business being something where we just all make it up as we go along, you know, you use GAAP accounting, you use cash, accrual-based accounting. We all just sort of figure it all out, not come up with a centralized approach to creating this function in the business. And content, one of the most, if not the most important thing we do in the business, needs that strategic approach as well.

Tom Poland 04:09
It’s like holding the numbers on a spreadsheet. So, there you go, you got some numbers, our accountant, we’re doing some accounting as the main thing. So, I’ll stop talking so much and ask you some more questions. Three and four minutes left. Real briefly, what are some of the typical symptoms that this content marketer or this person is in charge of a content team? What’s going on in their business where they would get a heads up and go, ‘I need to speak to Robert Ross?’

Robert Rose 04:31
Most of the time, it is simply just a feeling of disorganization, you know, I was actually having this conversation with someone today, which is, very often what happens is that a boss, whether it’s a CEO or a CMO, will come in and say, we need more content. And the answer to that is usually, ‘Okay, great. Let’s start producing more instead of why. Why do we need more content?’ And by the way, what does that even mean? Right? What is ‘more’ mean? And we walk into a business, and we hear things like, you know, everybody’s got their own idea about the blog that they want to launch, or everybody doesn’t have any time or resources enough to create enough web content for SEO or we don’t know how to do video because we don’t have the skills in-house to be able to do it. Or we hear, sales won’t let us actually take subscribers to our blog because they think that takes away from their lead generation, or should we gate content or ungate content? We don’t know, should we actually make people register to see the white paper that we have? Or do we have all of this demand for content, but we can’t keep up with the scale? How do we actually keep up? We’ve hired more and more writers, but we can’t keep up. Anytime we hear all of those sorts of overwhelmingly big complaints surround, how do we get our arms around this? That’s when we know that there’s a content strategy at play.

Tom Poland 05:49
Right. Thank you for that. Question four, two and a half minutes left, give us a couple of common mistakes these folks are making before finding your solution?

Robert Rose 05:57
Yeah, the biggest one is that they think that an internal content studio or some sort of internal content team that serves like an internal agency will solve the problem. You know, I have this little saying that I call Roberts content law, which is the need for content will exponentially increase given the resources allocated to it. You will never scale; if that’s all you think about is, “How do we create more and add more people to the equation?”

Tom Poland 06:20
Right. You have a lot more to it than that, I’m sure. So, valuable free action, like a top tip. We’ve got one minute, 45 seconds left, what’s one thing someone could do to take them a step in the right direction?

Robert Rose 06:31
Well, they can, of course, visit us and look at some of the resources we might have. We have our little hub on the internet at contentadvisory.net. And we’ve got a lot of advice there and resources, all ungated, you know, so you don’t have to register for it. But there are some job descriptions, white papers, and frameworks will really get you off on the right foot.

Tom Poland 06:49
There is a wealth of resources there, folks; whether you’re a solopreneur looking at content or running a large team, go to contentadvisory.net. This is not a sponsored podcast; we don’t get any kickback or commissions. We’re promoting Robert because his stuff is solid, and it works. So, go there, contentadvisory.net. That also answers question number six, which has just evolved because we’ve got 55 seconds left. Question number seven. Robert, what’s the one question I should have asked you but didn’t?

Robert Rose 07:16
You didn’t ask me when I’m getting back to Aus.

Tom Poland 07:19
And when are you getting back to Aus?

Robert Rose 07:22
I am trying to get back this year. It is one of my favorite places on the entire planet. I have been all over your beautiful country. And it’s absolutely, you know, one of the things that I look most forward to getting out of this whole COVID thing is getting back to, well, Sydney is my favorite place on the entire planet. And I just absolutely love that city.

Tom Poland 07:40
No, you haven’t been to my place?

Robert Rose 07:42
I have not been to Queensland if that’s what you mean, right?

Tom Poland 07:46
Well, yeah, but while in the Down, you’d come and have a cup of coffee, we’ll sit in the rain forest next to the swimming pool, and I’ll make you an espresso.

Robert Rose 07:52
I love that.

Tom Poland 07:53
Let’s make it happen. Robert Rose, thank you so much for your time, your expertise, and your insights.

Robert Rose 07:58
Thank you so much.

Tom Poland 07:56
Thanks for checking out our Marketing The Invisible podcast. If you like what we’re doing here please head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave us a review. It’s very much appreciated. And if you want to generate five fresh leads in just five hours then check out www.fivehourchallenge.com.