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David Spark is a new media consultant and producer with more than
fifteen years knowledge and experience as a journalist reporting on the tech
industry in print, radio, TV, and online. His articles and advice have appeared in
more than 30 publications including eWEEK, Wired News, PC Computing, PC
World, and Smart Computing.
1. Brand journalism is the process of creating and consistently delivering
inexpensive and relevant information that walks people through a system
of getting to know, like, and trust you.
2. Tripwire used brand journalism to “own” the popular term of compliance in
their industry.
3. The health & beauty industry is a wide open opportunity for a physician
practice to differentiate and dominate a particular specialty using
compelling brand journalism.
The Idea in Brief:
FEED The Agency: David, what’s brand journalism
and why is it relevant in marketing today?
David: In its simplest sense, brand journalism is
just communicating to your audience via traditional
media editorial content, not marketing content but
media and editorial-based content. It may be just
sort of branding oriented stuff like, you know, how
much information do you really need to sell a can
of Coke? But you do need to create content that
creates the image on the brand of Coke.
If you can keep providing information to people that
essentially walks them through that sales cycle,
you are essentially capturing potential customers.
They’re not customers first. What they are, they’re
readers, their consumers. They are fans of your
brand. They are fans of your media. Then the
next step is to convert them to customers and it
becomes very easy. If your only communication is
marketing then they have to go somewhere else to
find that information, and that information may be
drawing traffic to you or away from you. You don’t
know. But the reason it’s really popular now is the
cost to actually produce your own media, publish
it, and look equal to another media outlet, is little to
nothing.
FEED The Agency: Would you draw a distinction
with the term brand journalism versus say
content development?
David: You should be perfectly happy, giving what I
call noncustomer customer support, meaning there
are people that are going to come to you that will
never ever become your customers, and you need
to provide them support by providing information,
by writing articles that they read, by letting them
sign up for your newsletter, read stuff. By answering
questions they have via e-mail or via comments
on your blog, or wherever. Why is this important?
Because if you support your noncustomers with
relevant brand information-they will remember and
appreciate it. And being that they did not make a
financial transaction with you they will feel obliged
and although this is very sort of under the radar,
they will feel obliged to repay the favor and, usually,
the way they repay the favor is they talk about you
a lot. They become your word of mouth marketing
force and there are great examples of people who
never became customers that go on to become a
phenomenal word of mouth marketing force. And
that’s why it’s super, super important to supply
those people. Going back to your original question,
I don’t think there is really a big difference between
content marketing, brand journalism, and custom
publishing. These are just new names for the same
darn thing, but I personally detest the term content
marketing.
FEED The Agency: What’s your favorite example of
an organization or event that’s really taken the
principles that you teach in brand journalism
and what were the results?
David: One of my clients, Tripwire is a great
example. Two years ago, they realized that in the
security industry--and, again, we’re talking digital
security information, not physical security. They
realized that the influence that the traditional
analysts had like the Gartners and the Forresters
of the world were starting to kind of fade away or
was not as strong as it was, and who was starting
to get a lot of influence in sort of way people
make decisions are bloggers and Podcasters, and
Twitters, actually. The security industry has really
accepted Twitter as a platform for communications.
And they didn’t have the world’s greatest relations
with a lot of these people. So what they did is we
sat down, which is we’re going to list a bunch
of influencers that were going to be at this big
conference and they said, “David, go find an
interview about whatever that they want to talk
about.” And that’s what they did and I interviewed
well over 35 people in a three-day conference and
we produced a ton of videos.
David: So there’s just simple ways to help, but to
sort of fast forward, all I did was interview these
people and just found out what was important on
their minds here at the security conference and
just to sort of hone this even more with regards
to Tripwire. At that time, their big issue that they
solved with their product was an issue of what was
known as compliance. A big issue in the security
industry is you have to be state compliant under a
series of regulatory issues depending on what your
industry is. And the whole issue with compliance
was a very, very big issue in security.
Now, Tripwire is owning the conversation on
compliance. These are the people we’re going out
to talk with about compliance. Now, all these issues
of compliance, compliance, compliance around the
word Tripwire, then becomes the sort of a natural
connection at that point. Also, you’ve got all these
influencers on camera, and that this is kind of an
implied endorsement towards Tripwire even though
they don’t say Tripwire is wonderful. This is how
Tripwire handled things beautifully right afterwards.
After I produced all these videos, made all these
connections with these influencers, they then went
and followed up, and then for the following year,
they just created true relationships with these
influencers throughout the year. And as a result,
they went from, you know, the beginning, that first
year of like, yeah we kind of know Tripwire and we
spoke to influencers. To the following year, people
are saying, “Oh, God. We love Tripwire.”
FEED The Agency: How would you say that
brand journalism could be really relevant and
impactful for physicians or for health and beauty
companies in that environment?
David: Well, I mean, let me ask you a question, how
many people walk into a plastic surgeon’s office or
a doctor’s office and say, “I have no questions, go
right ahead, here’s my money.”
(Laughter)
FEED The Agency: Right.
David: That never happens ever.
David: You just use the questions, there’s a process
of trust that’s there. I would just ask, “What are the
top 10 most frequently asked questions?” And let’s
start creating content around those top 10. And
also, how does your audience want to consume
that content? But if you’re dealing with doctors, you
are now required to produce a much higher level of
quality content. It’s because your brand demands it.
FEED The Agency: Right, very true.
David: Your audience is not going to think highly
of you if they see shoddy video production work.
They just simply aren’t--in my industry in tech, heck
we get over it, nobody really cares, you know? As
long as the information gets through, that’s ok.
But with doctors it’s a different ball of wax and
you kind of have to maintain that certain level of
quality. But going back to the questions, you know,
what are the top 10 questions people are asking
when they come through your door? What is the
way they want to consume that, would it be in a
blog post, would it be a professionally made video
with doctors talking about it, should we have the
customers or the patients talking about this as well?
Here is my problem walking in, they explain this,
this, and this. But also don’t make it so salesy or
pushy.
David: Well, again, I don’t know how much brand
journalism and custom publishing is going on in
your industry right now, but if there isn’t much, if
nobody owns it right now, wow, what a spectacular
opportunity for doctors to jump in and go, “Oh my
God, I’m going to own this.” And that’s the amazing
thing about brand is there’s so many sectors that
nobody owns right now. And it’s only like the
traditional industry media outlets that own them.
And there’s no reason they have to. There are cases
where nontraditional, well I mean, excuse me,
brands are owning the sort of editorial mind space
of a certain subject over whatever the industry trade
publication is, and there’s no reason they can’t be
doing that. Again, it takes time and it takes work
to do it, and the unfortunate situation with your
industry is they’re going to have to spend a little bit
more money if they go into video because they’re
going to have to produce at a higher quality. They
don’t have to produce super high graphic intensive
things but bottom line good quality cameras with
good lighting, that’s it. It doesn’t even have to be
spectacular video editing but just good cameras
with good lighting and that’s it.
FEED The Agency: Thanks so much and we’re grateful
for your time.
David: You’re welcome.
Nicole Shema Nicole Shema has been with CRAVE for over two years
now, and is in charge of managing the sales team in over 30 cities. A social media
addict, she loves connecting and meeting with new people. Other passions include
travel, reading, running and devouring interior design blogs.
CRAVE connects fabulous
women and supports
women entrepreneurship in
more than 30 cities around
the world. CRAVE is known
as experts in connecting
women thru conferences,
chats, and events.
1. Spend time researching what’s hip and most interesting to women as the
topics of discussion by asking questions and engaging with women using
social media.
2. Pamper women. Women will tell their friends about your event if you
pamper them.
3. Asking women “What were your key takeaways?” after each event can
ensure your meeting objectives and provide valuable insight into what your
ideal clients are thinking or desiring.
The Idea in Brief:
FEED The Agency: What is the Crave formula for
consistently organizing and delivering all these
great events that are focused exclusively on
successful women?
Nicole: Our formula is really centered around
creating personal relationships with all the local
female business owners in whatever city we may
be in. So whether we meet a business owner over
coffee or we just chat on the phone or via email,
we really try to make all of our connections really
authentic. So that when it does come time to throw
a party together, whether it’s a large scale shopping
and spa service party or it’s one of our business
chats, we really have a particular vision for that
event.
So if we have a personal relationship and we’re
looking for a speaker for a panel, we’re going to
hand select someone that we know would be a
really great rockstar talking about branding for your
business; or having a spa party, etc. So I think for
us, it’s really the fact that we do have that personal
relationship with all the women that we work with.
When we hand select them to be a part of one of
our events, they feel special and we get that much
closer to our original vision of what the event is
supposed to be.
FEED The Agency: When you have that many
unique women that are attending these events
and they come from different specialties, how
do you choose what’s most relevant to such a
diverse yet successful group of women?
Nicole Shema: We spend a lot of time doing research
just about what’s new and what’s hip and the
“it” thing right now. We do a lot of just trying to
talk to people in our networks. We really really
are huge on social media. We have a Twitter and
Facebook account for every one of our cities. We
really try to just ask people questions and engage
and say, “Who would you not want to miss at this
party? Where’s your favorite place to go with your
girlfriends? What’s the type of businesses like
you’re looking most for? What’s your favorite social
media platform right now?” Those sorts of things.
I think the fact that we’re trying all the time to just
engage and create personal relationships with the
business owners and with people in our networks
that follow Crave as a company, really just trying
to be transparent and ask questions and be open
and say, “We want to hear from you and try to do
our best to serve what your actual interests and
questions are.”
FEED The Agency: Complete this question.
Women will tell their friends about your event
if you ______?
Nicole Shema: I’d say if you pamper them.
Nicole Shema: That was the first thing that came to
my mind. I think that women want to feel special. I
think that different networking, usually networking
events and that kind of thing that women go to are
very business attire and here’s my business card, let
me see yours. We’re a lot more about just like being
relaxed, introducing everybody, sitting in a circle if
it’s a business chat, or just being casual at a party,
and getting your nails done, getting your hair done
while you’re surrounded by all these like minded
women. I think it just creates this really relaxing
environment. I think people do feel pampered and
they’ll feel special. That’s what makes them talk to
their friends about it.
FEED The Agency: Does it matter to a woman if
she’s coming to, let’s say, a formal office versus
maybe a more neutral site in your opinion?
Nicole Shema: Yes. I think it definitely matters.
Coffee shops, or boutiques, or salons are perfect.
Sometimes we’ll go to a Pilates studio and sit on a
floor on yoga mats. I think it’s about feeling intimate
and really feeling… What we like to say that we’re
focused on connecting not networking. So I think it
is important to feel relaxed and feel like you’re in a
safe environment. Maybe you are having a glass of
wine, or a cup of coffee, or a cupcake, or what not.
But I do think the venue definitely does matter.
I know for us too, we always try to pick super
central locations. We try to keep in mind, give
someone a half hour to 45 mins after we think
they’re getting off of work, so they feel like they
have time to unwind. You don’t want someone to
just walk out the door right into your event because
I think you need that kind of time to decompress.
Parking too is huge for women, well I shouldn’t say
women, I personally and I think a lot of other people
get stressed about parking. So we make sure that
we tell them where there’s going to be parking.
We try to get free parking. We usually won’t even
hold an event if there’s not good access of parking
because we don’t want to add any extra stress to
getting to the event.
FEED The Agency: What would you say is the
blueprint for what Crave does to create
compelling online and offline event invitations
that are irresistible? The reason why I included
both online and offline is because in today’s
day and age, I do think that it’s a mixture of
word of mouth, digital online. So I’m curious to
see how you kind of reconcile or differentiate
online versus offline event invitations that are
compelling.
Nicole Shema: Yeah, definitely. Well I would say,
to start with the online event section, I’d start by
saying that we have an amazing design team here
at headquarters that designs every one of our
events for all of our parties in all of our cities. So I
think that’s really important. We’ve been doing this
for ten years now. So I think we have the basics
of putting together an email invitation. We always
make sure to use enticing language of what you’ll
actually expect if you come to an event. So you’ll
always want to mention the different services or
treatments that’ll be available, any treats, or foods,
or drinks, any prizes. We always include pictures
from last year’s events, so you can see people
having fun last time and see all the fun you’ll be
having this time.
Then like I said before with social media, I think
we’ve definitely stepped up our game in the last
two to three years. We will, for each one of our
parties, create a marketing calendar and really
figure out how many times a day we’re going to be
pushing out this event but make sure the content is
unique, and we’re promoting each of our sponsors
and hosts, and just enticing people in different ways
to show up.
Then I think the other thing that is both an online
and offline way that we really promote our event
is through kind of the rockstar lineup that we try
to come up with for either speakers at a business
chat or vendors at a party. We really try to pick
women to be a part of our events that already have
their own large network. I think that if part of us
spreading the word, and we mainly do online sort
of promotion for our events, but I think a lot of in
person or the offline invitations are the women who
are going to be a part of the event. Just talking to
their networks, talking to their clients, talking to
their friends about it. That’s why it’s really important
for us to pick women that have strong networks,
they’re interested in cross-promoting, and we make
it really easy for them to talk about the event with
everyone that they know as well.
FEED The Agency: I think so often follow-up is just
neglected. It’s something that a lot of people
really don’t realize how important proper follow-
up is. So after you do a Crave event, what
follow-up actions do you take?
Nicole Shema: Yeah, so it’s kind of different. If it’s
on larger scale events, typically the main form of
follow-up that we do is just to again go back to
our social media kind of tool bag and thank all of
our sponsors, thank all of our hosts, make sure
everyone that was involved in the event feels really
special. Then we always will post pictures from
the event on our blog and on our Facebook. It’s
fun for everyone that was at the event to be able
to reminisce about it. People that didn’t make it,
might be enticed to come next time. So larger scale
events like that that are several hundred people, we
don’t necessarily do a direct email follow-up. We
obviously again will thank people on social media
for coming and we’ll add them to our list to kind of
keep in the know for the upcoming events.
But for our smaller scale events, I would
recommend any event that’s 40 or less people.
Our monthly business chats typically are 20 to 30
people. For those events we usually do send out an
email to each of the women that came and we ask
them for their top takeaways, and we thank them
for coming. Then what we try to do is put together a
blog post about the event since this is the business
chats or supposed to be educational about a
different topic every month. It’s fun to actually
quote the women that were at the event, so they
can see themselves on the blogs for Crave for the
next week just for coming to an event. And that we
share the top takeaways that everybody learns. So
I think that’s kind of a fun way for a smaller group
that you really can engage people. I mean women,
I think, really do feel special if they get a shout-out
on our blog. That sort of thing is usually exciting for
people. So we try to do that.
FEED The Agency: Yeah, I think that’s huge. I
mean just the take away that I received about
something as simple but powerful as, “Hey, what
were your takeaways?” Then with the forum
of Facebook, and blogs, and the ability for… I
think people underestimate the power of using
Facebook or blogs from an acknowledgement
standpoint.
Nicole Shema: Yes.
Nicole Shema: Exactly and I think it’s fun for them
because sometimes we’ll have takeaways from
the panel and with the audience just mixed in all
together like you just said. So I think that’s kind of
nice to be considered up there with the guru of the
night as well.
FEED The Agency: I want to thank you for your
time. I really really appreciate it.
Nicole Shema: Thanks Matthew for inviting me.
Pastor Mark Driscoll is the founding pastor of Mars Hill Church
in Seattle, Washington. His words of inspiration and leadership are consistently
#1 on iTunes each week. Mark, regarded as one of the 25 most influential pastors
in the past 25 years, is a gifted communicator and has written several best-seller
books including his latest NY Times #1 Best Seller, Real Marriage: The Truth About
Sex, Friendship, and Life Together.
1. Mark shares with Matthew Scott, Creative Director at FEED The Agency his
experience in growing one of the fastest growing ministries and utilizing
creative communication tools such as social media, video, blogging,
seminars, and writing books to share his inspirational message.
The Idea in Brief:
FEED The Agency: Pastor Mark, you have a degree
and success in communications. What advice
would you give local small business owners or
professional service firms today who want to
use creative communication tools to reach and
engage with their ideal clients?
Pastor Mark: The best thing is to control your own
message and present yourself. The mistake some
people make is they hire someone else to define
and present them. Rarely are they happy with the
message that is sent out or the cost that it entails.
The best person to tell the story of what you do is
you. The most passionate person to tell the story of
what you do is you. And, the cheapest person to tell
the story of what you do is you.
FEED The Agency: What can entrepreneurs today
who are starting or growing a business learn
from your experience of planting a church and
the eventual decision to expand to other cities?
Pastor Mark: People want to be part of something
bigger than themselves and make their life count.
Anytime you can connect what you are doing to
that kind of hope-filled vision, people want to be a
part of it. This is how you get brand ambassadors
who want to help expand what you do to other
areas. It’s the same principle that has kept people
giving to and volunteering for the cause of Jesus for
2,000 years.
FEED The Agency: You conduct seminars around
the country—what are the three keys to success
in developing and replicating a seminar that
applies stewardship in making a profit as well as
providing people with the principles to change
their life?
Pastor Mark: Event attendees generally don’t mind
paying or having products presented to them to
cover costs and make a profit. What they do resent
is feeling that the are being used and not served.
This is an issue of integrity and authenticity. So, 1)
don’t do anything that you do not truly believe will
help those who attend. And 2) always be thinking
both of how to really help those who come and be
financially prudent—it must be a both/and. 3) The
senior leaders and event organizers need to be
walking the floor, greeting the people who came,
gauging the response, and humbly learning how to
improve what they do without being defensive or
just glad-handing. Information filtered up from the
average attendee through staff to a leader is often
not the right information because the leader sees
and combines information no one else does and
the staff is often trying to hide the problems to save
face. So, get your own unmediated information so
you can lead better and make needed changes
while also telling the good stories of what is working
and who is being served at your event.
FEED The Agency: What can local business
owners or professional service firms learn from
evangelism?
Pastor Mark: If people experience something that
benefits or changes them, they want to share that
information or experience with others. And, they do
so through photos and storytelling. For a company,
the brand is set by those who are unpaid and
voluntarily tell the stories and show the photos.
Right now, in the age of social networking, photos
are accessed more than status updates on places
such as Facebook. Also, things like Instagram are
exploding because people are now about “show
me” more than “tell me.” Leaders have to learn
to tell stories and they have to learn how to share
photos so that their is a human face and dimension
to what they are doing. Curiously, even companies
are trying to present themselves as people with
stories and feelings so as to connect with others.
As a pastor, I’m blessed to work for Jesus, the
greatest storyteller who ever lived, and share the
photos of people whose lives are changed by him.
Jesus makes my job way easier than most jobs.
FEED The Agency: Who are three people in ministry
or in business that change the way you think in
designing and delivering a service experience
that authentically complements the delivering
and receiving of the gospel?
Pastor Mark: Honestly, I don’t read a lot of business
books or subscribe to a lot of business blogs. I
spend time with filmmakers, musicians, designers,
and content creators. And, I am a constant student.
Last night I got to a huge mall an hour earlier than I
needed to be there so I could walk around looking
at marketing, lighting, which words were used
and why to make an emotional connection with
shoppers, meandered in and out of stores, and
took a lot of photos. In the past, I found Joseph
Pine and James Gilmore’s book The Experience
Economy very helpful. I watch a lot of reality TV
(Storage Wars, American Pickers, Moonshiners,
Pawn Stars, etc.) as that genre now has over 400
shows trying to figure out the fascination people
have with seemingly odd but normal characters.
I’m very sensory-dependent so I always have to
go somewhere, see something, or experience
something, so getting out helps me learn. I try to
always be early at places so I can stop along the
way to get out and look around to see what I can
learn and whom I can meet at stores, construction
projects, protests, etc. I’m curious all the time. I
find people fascinating, and if you can get them to
talk they can teach you a lot—especially those who
work with the public and get taken for granted like
bank tellers, retailers, and baristas. The world is a
classroom, and school is always in session.