Craig J. Heimbuch is a content strategist and associate director of insights and planning at Barefoot Proximity. He can be found on Twitter @cheimbuch.
What are you most excited about in the digital marketing space at the moment?
In a couple of words, convergence and causation. I'm really excited about the melding of art and science, commerce and content, strategy and optimisation. I'm excited about transitioning the way we think about content – from brand publisher to content marketer. There's a big difference. The industry is changing by the day and I like the direction it's headed – toward the highly strategic, highly coordinated execution of marketing across channels that melds quality creative with intuitive and specific measurement. We're moving away from the notion of the 'digital ecosystem' toward something that looks a lot more like a 'digital atom,' where every piece plays a crucial role in defining the whole. Social relates to paid search, e-mail to owned platforms, paid media to inbound linking. In an ecosystem, a species can die. In an atom, every particle is crucial to the next.
What's your favourite example of innovative digital marketing?
Everyone loves the big ones – Red Bull, American Express, P&G. But I think real innovation comes from small. I love Huckberry – a membership supported, CRM program that combines curated commerce and really brilliant daily content – and some of the work that smaller American heritage brands are doing. RedWing boots is doing great storytelling. They did one video with musician Justin Vernon, of Bon Iver, that had me asking Siri where I could buy a pair and he never once mentions the brand. There's small design shop in New York – The Best Made Company – that artfully combines product with storytelling in a way that keeps me coming back. And while it may not seem like digital marketing on the surface, I'm convinced Evernote is in the process of changing the game for all of us.
Where do you go for great content?
I'm a creature of habit, but I try to explore. Fast Company and Medium feed my digital business needs. I'm a YouTube and Mental_Floss junkie. I use Devour.com to discover video content and Flipboard more generally. I spend a good bit of time every day exploring brand content – on owned and social properties and, of course, look for recommendations (from friends, colleagues, Outbrain, blog rolls, etc…).
What's next for digital content?
Measurement and process. Not the most exciting or inspirational things in the world, but so vitally important for content to take the next step. We've seen a lot of great work done around storytelling and creating content that delights and the next evolution is knowing that it works. Right now, there's a bit of confusion, a correlative relationship between page views and social following, etc… and sales. But, there's that old logical fallacy – 'post hoc, ergo propter hoc' – that just because something follows something doesn't mean it was caused by it. Just because you build a bunch of followers, doesn't mean it lead to a spike in sales. Measurement is going to (and has to) become about causation. And the other big opportunity is creating a global CMS that allows for creation, measurement and optimisation at scale in different markets across the globe. Quality content, these days, are table stakes, the basic cost of being in the game. Now, we need to make content nimble and effective. We have a model at Barefoot Proximity called Content Darwinism™ that allows us to constantly experiment with content – sources, subjects, vendors, etc… – and make smart use of marketing-specific measurement to optimize every and all things. It's exciting.
What defines good content?
I have a little note taped to my desk that reads: "Content, even great content, is dead until it is found, consumed, shared and acted upon." This is the definition of good content for me. I tell our clients all the time – you could have Oprah creating content exclusively for your site, resurrect Hemingway and Dickens, but if no one is finding it, consuming it, sharing it or acting upon it, what's the point? Too often we define content qualitatively without looking at the actions it inspires. Content that moves people to do something more than simply consume – that's how I define good content.
What is the biggest myth about content marketing?
That it's just about storytelling. Storytelling is an element and core to the practice, but content marketing is about using content to create a desired effect. There's a lot that goes into that. Storytelling, yes, but also strategy, measurement, UX, channel strategy, etc… So many people think they can create some content and it will solve their business goals. Not true. And it's always silly to me when I hear someone say they want us to create 'viral' content. 'Viral' is a result, not a strategy or an execution. Consistency, tending your content library like a garden, these are the keys to success and tend to fly in the face of conventional misconception.
How are you amplifying and maximising your content?
Obviously Outbrain is a key partner with all the clients I work on. I love it's specificity and simplicity. Let the tool do its work for you so that you don't start back at the drawing board with every new piece. We spend a lot of time, too, thinking through search and coordinating with social, but those are correlative tactics. I like using Outbrain because its function is specific to content and it enables our philosophy of constant testing and learning.
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