Four things Fairfax needs to do to succeed at content marketing
Following yesterday’s comments from Fairfax boss Greg Hywood that the company will be pushing into content marketing David Pembroke offers some advice
Could I be presumptive enough to offer Fairfax a very warm welcome to the Australian content marketing industry.
While there are a few of us who have been around a while, it is reassuring to have a giant walk into the room looking for a seat at the table.
And if you were wondering, yes there is plenty of room and no, you are not too late.
The move by businesses, governments and not for profits to leverage the utility of new technology to create and distribute content directly to the audiences they are seeking to engage is only really just starting to take hold.
I know the advertising industry will tell anyone who cares to listen that they cannot do it, but unfortunately, for them, they are and will continue to do so.
The decision isn’t a surprise. It was only last week when I was chatting to an old mate who works for Fairfax and we were discussing the potential of content marketing to play a part in the company’s salvation.
Independent, quality journalism and a keen understanding of the audience has sustained Fairfax for decades.
However, that’s only part of the content marketing story.
Strategy, personas, scheduling, platforms, amplification and measurement are all part of the mix of successful content marketing. One is not much good without the other and it works a whole lot better when they are rolled into together in a single, measurable, repeatable process.
So what do they need to do to succeed?
First, it will be to get the buy in of the journalists and photographers. That will not be easy. Fairfax journalists as a rule loathe commercialisation so they will be hard to bring along to the content marketing party. They should not be worried about “selling out” but they will be and this is a major risk. Most of them will want to be writing news and politics so the content creators could end up being the B team.
Second, Fairfax may confuse content with advertorial. Big potential mistake. Successful content works because it is either useful, entertaining and or valuable to an identified audience. If the audience smells a sales line, they will walk.
Third, move quickly. In the world of content marketing, you have to be shaping, creating, distributing and measuring quickly. Fairfax has done a great job in building its online audiences so they would do well to grab a few of the bright young things in their online teams and bring them into the content marketing teams. Real time content is a reality so a ‘radio newsroom’ mentality drives content marketing.
Fourth, video. High quality online video is increasingly important in content marketing. It is what many audiences want because “Johnny doesn’t read anymore”. Fairfax’s efforts so far in video have been miserable. They will have to lift their game to compete.
David Pembroke is the Founder and Managing Director of Canberra based content marketing firm contentgroup. He was formerly a reporter for ABC radio and communications director of the Wallabies
- The Mumbrella Content Marketing Academy starts next Wednesday night – click here to fund out more
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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“Fairfax may confuse content with advertorial.”
Where’s the confusion? Content produced under a marketing arrangement IS advertorial.
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errm. back in the day there was another name for “content marketing” – PR.
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@Bill
Content talks about topics related to the brand, advertorials talk about the brand.
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Agree with Bill Posters. It’s paid implied endorsement however you package it. The term ‘content marketing’ reeks of oxymoron, so you may as well just call it what it is: advertorial.
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Bill and Blake, thanks for your feeback. content marketing is about reaching beyond self interested advertorial and working out the sorts of content your audience wants/needs etc. For example, a construction firm who builds houses for first home buyers might prepare and publish an article on “The 5 things you should consider when buying a Bar-B- que for your new home”. The content has nothing to do with the builders brand and is all about understanding the sorts of information their buyers are looking for. Over time, trust is built and as you know people do business with people they trust. T
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Targone, Totally agree with you but with the new ability to publish comes a whole new set of opportunities. contentgroup morphed out of PR and t I can tell you it beats pitching stories to disinterested journos.
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Ah, the trolls.
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Construction Firm example explains it well
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Surely content marketing doesn’t work for everyone though?
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How is journalism in this day and age anything but content marketing without the hype?
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@Targone Don’t entirely agree with you in regards to content marketing being the same as PR….they are similar….but PR is the responsibility for the flow of information so that a business, service or organisation is viewed positively by the public; content marketing creates and disseminates content to a clearly defined and understood target audience. The content must be valuable to the audience it is targeting and, if successful, it will engage them.
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Cailen, Do you have an audience? Do you know what they want? Can you create the content in the format they want? Do you know what platforms and channels they prefer to recieve their information/entertainment on?Are you set up to measure the response? I’d argue that everyone and anyone can use the principles of content marketing to achieve their business objectives no matter how big or small. Look at the Commonwealth Bank. Great content marketing. content assets that will pay off for years.
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Fairfax have always been in the content marketing industry. Content on the left hand page, marketing on the right. It’s a system that worked well, in that it clearly separated content and marketing. Furthermore, a newspapers gravitas attracted big spending marketers who spent big money to associate their brand with this quality. It’s a quality that has come under increasing pressure in recent years, but businesses should remember that trust is the most valuable commodity that they have. Lose it at your peril.
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RoRo,
Can’t agree with you on the journalism call. Australia is well served by many fine journalists (plenty of them at Fairfax) working hard in challenging circumstances. I hope for all of us these traditonal media companies can solve the revenue riddle so quality, indpendant journalism can be funded well into the future. Hopefully for Fairfax their content marketing initiative works. By the way, I’d recommend to anyone who is interested to head along to the Mumbrella Content Marketing Academy. The team at King Content are outstanding and you will get great value from their training.
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You’re right about convincing the journos to “change tack”. It might be easier to convince the uni graduates who are desperate for a job, but not the more experienced one.
Another problem is about respect: Fairfax just no longer respects its journos, least of all (in my expeieince) Hywood. I doubt Mr Hywood really understands journalism anyway, especially the role of sub-editors, who he has systematically got rid of in the past couple of years. Extremely foolish move in my view.
Lastly, you’ll also have to reconfigure the mindset of advertising staff who, almost without exception, try to sell ads with “advertorial”. It’s easier for them to make the sale that way, rather than explain the difference to the client between helping sell their product and “reaching out to the market”.
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Nice one David! A well placed piece of content marketing.
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I, thanks for the reply but I can’t agree with you that Fairfax has always been in the content marketing industry. They have been in the content ‘interuption’ business. Consumers, customers and constituents, armed with their smart phones, tablets, lap tops, desk tops, dvr’s and digital tv’s, don’t want to be interrupted, they want to be informed, educated and entertained. The power shift from the creators of content to the consumers of content is complete. It’s a new world and if the old world thinks they can bend the tooled up consumer to their will, best of luck with that. In terms of getting a handle on just exactly what content marketing is I’d recommend you visit http://www.contentmarketinginstitute.com. Thanks
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Crusty ol journo, thanks for your comment. I think if journalists want to stay in the storytelling business they are going to have to rethink how they do that. The jobs won’t be where they used to be. it’s interesting you raise that issue of respect because I have heard that from a lot of former Fairfax journalists but I’ve often wondered whether that was more because change was uncomfortable and difficult for them and things weren’t like ‘the good ol days’. That ABC doco on Malcolm Brown’s departure was heart breaking for such a proud company. As someone who runs a business, it’s your responsibility to make hard decisions and the Fairfax business model is collapsing. I don’t think you can say Greg Hywood doesn’t understand Journalism. He was a very fine working journalist. I well remember his high quality reporting from Canberra and Washington for the SMH. As to the ad staff, as marketers continue to understand that this caper is not about them but about their customers, they will have to change or find another job.
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Amused, Thanks
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” Could I be presumptive enough to offer Fairfax a very warm welcome to the Australian content marketing industry.”
Presumptive? I think he meant Presumptuous.
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Hi David – nice article. At first I was thinking – why is this guy so happy that Fairfax (a potential competitor) is entering the content marketing field, and why is he giving away free advice to them? Then it clicked – this is content marketing too. Well done.
I can think of another recent example of content marketing: A financial analyst and former investment manager regularly appeared (unpaid) on the Sky business channel and gave out plenty of advice regarding the stock market. He also ran a blog that was regularly updated with company analysis and other useful information. He developed a strong following. He then released a book. He then started up a new investment fund, encouraging his followers to invest. I’m sure the patience he put into building his brand via content marketing has paid off.
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Richard Moss, correct. david pembroke
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Thanks the Facts. And i bet he is creaming it. A Great example of content marketing. it’s through that sort of engagement that you build trust and when people are ready to act, you benefit. If anyone else is interested I’ve written a part two of the blog post at http://www.contentgroup.com.au. All comments welcome. Thanks. david Pembroke
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@David: Hywood never wrote for anyone buy the Fin Review, much of it from overseas . He doesn’t know much about newspapers because he always worked overseas (alone) or in Canberra. I am fairly sure he has never done any actual editing of the kind that involves copy. His views today do not matter because his role today is to play Incitatus to Corbett’s Caligula.
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Dear Oops, Thanks for pointing that out and of course you are right. But my point stands that he was a good journalist. As to what is happening at Fairfax, you would have to agree that its a difficult task. I’m not aware of how they have managed the people side of change but I take it from your literary reference that it hasn’t been kind. No excuses for that. But what are Hywood and Corbett not doing at the moment that could stop the slide? What would you do that they are not? David
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@David: This would take a book. But the basic point is that they are not focused on the product. If there is a transition, it has be about the product and they are crushing them. Just ask any of the very competent people who have left: the theme is always the same. Consultants inventing theories, edicts from Corbett about the next “number”, random acts of mayhem by people appointed because they are mates… it is a reflection of having the wrong people in charge.
Fundamentally, Corbett does not care about the product. And Hywood, contrary to what you say, never had a reputation for anything other than mangled metaphor.
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