Tom Critchlow's presentation at The Inbounder New York, May 22 2017.

3. Hi there, I’ve been working in digital marketing
for 10 years with a deep focus on SEO, content
marketing & digital strategy.
I’ve helped media clients like The New York
Times & Complex Media, startups like Olapic &
Fundera and enterprise clients like Gartner.
Currently I’m running a boutique digital strategy
consulting practice. If you work with content
let’s chat.
@tomcritchlow
tjcritchlow@gmail.com
About Me

4. 1. Context

5. In 2012 I realized content marketing was
about to take off

6. “
Tom Critchlow - The Time for Content Marketing is Now
As some are lamenting the death
of the publishing industry,
publishing for brands is
undergoing a revolution.

7. But, I forgot to ask what kind of
publishers brands would become?
Would it look more like
The New York Times or more like
Buzzfeed ?

8. “
The Atlantic - What the Death of Homepages Means For The Future of News
The New York Times lost 80
million homepage visitors—half
the traffic to the nytimes.com
page—in two years

9. “
NiemanLab - A wave of distributed content is coming — will publishers sink or swim?
BuzzFeed Distributed, which it described as a
team of 20 staffers who would “make original
content solely for platforms like Tumblr, Imgur,
Instagram, Snapchat, Vine and messaging
apps.” In other words, a team of people
producing content that will never even
appear on buzzfeed.com.

10. Of which 94% are on Facebook - looks like
the Buzzfeed distributed strategy is
scaling well. Buzzfeed Tasty, launched in
2015 received 1.6 billion video views in
January 2017.
Each video averaged 15mm views 30 days
after publishing.
Source: Tubular Labs
Buzzfeed Tasty generated 1.6 billion video
views… in January 2017

11. And the New York Times acquired The
Wirecutter in 2016...

12. In short, whatever we thought
content marketing was going to
look like in 2012 I’m not sure we
could have predicted this...

13. 2. A look at content-first businesses

14. Example Org Chart
GM
Editor in Chief
Senior Editor
Editor
Freelance
Writers
Monetization &
Compliance
Head of PR
PR Manager
PR Coordinator
/ Researcher
Head of
Marketing
Outreach
Content
Marketing
Head of
Product
Design Development
Email MarketingAnalytics / BI

15. Nerdwallet
From 39 - 473 Employees in 3 years
HeadcountRevenue
Valued at $520m with an estimated
revenue of $100m in 2016.
$100m

16. The Penny Hoarder

17. Student Loan Hero
30 employees currently registered on
LinkedIn, likely with a large pool of
freelance writers
Headcount
With an SEMrush traffic cost of $2mm
and a strong email list we’d estimate
$10 - $20m annual revenues.
Revenue

18. 3. Hiring content marketers

19. Digital Experimentation

20. Content & Communities

21. Curiosity

22. ⇝ CEO (x2) of content businesses
⇝ Content marketers
⇝ Editor in chief
⇝ Head of outreach for a large media organization
Some open roles...

23. 4. Editor in Chief to set the vision

24. Hire for editorial experience

25. Hire for editorial experience

26. Hire for editorial experience

27. ⇝ A unified vision & mission for your content
⇝ Differentiated content with a point of view
⇝ A consistent tone of voice & attention to detail
⇝ Engagement with communities of interest
⇝ Recruiting & managing A+ writers
Why an Editor in Chief?

28. The NYT agrees!
Our most successful forays into digital
journalism [...] have depended on distinct
visions established by their leaders —
visions supported and shaped by the
masthead, and enthusiastically shared by the
members of the department. [...] These
departments with clear, widely understood
missions remain unusual. Most Times
journalists cannot describe the vision or
mission of their desks.
Journalism That Stands Apart

29. And believe it or not, super engaged communities
often want to hear from the brands who serve them.
And super engaged brands want to provide
communities with things other than just “content”. So if
you find yourself writing pablum, narrow the
audience to a core group of smart people who care
about what the brand has to say. And then convince
the brand to say something meaningful to that
small, smart audience. Godspeed.
“
Tweetstorm from @kylemonson

30. Thanks!
Twitter
@tomcritchlow
Web
tomcritchlow.com
Coffee
Brooklyn, NY