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From the Trenches

Why Right Source Marketing is Betting on Content Marketing

Mike Sweeney | March 31, 2011
Content Magnet

I remember it like it was…well, 7 months ago. Everything about that Monday was typical, except that Will Davis, my business partner, requested a sit-down later that evening. The topic? A new idea. The location? The Green Turtle in Columbia, Maryland. The promise? Beer. Oh, and more info on the idea.

Over a couple of drinks and a host of fried delights, Will sermonized. He sold. He motivated. He energized. He analogized.

And then he convinced me to go build it.

“It” is Content Magnet, the new(ish) content marketing service offered by Right Source Marketing. “Build” meant carving time and resources out to conceptualize and create the new service, and all the things that go with that (like this blog post, for instance).

This isn’t a startup story. There are no VCs. No founder’s garage full of developers working for equity and foosball. This isn’t about a product. This is a story about a marketing services firm creating – and delivering – something new and different.

World, meet Content Magnet. Content Magnet, meet world.

We’ve been helping clients with content marketing for years. That being said, we decided a fresh approach was necessary, based on the following observations:

  • The average organization either doesn’t know what content marketing is, or is doing it in a half-hearted, inefficient manner.
  • The average services company in this space delivers on the promise of content, but not on the promise of content marketing.
  • We are passionate about the impact content marketing can have if done right, and we can deliver that type of impact.

There’s another factor at play here, one that has been validated in our initial Content Magnet sales cycles and subsequent engagements. Social media is hot, and just about every organization wants to talk with us about it. They want us to “do social media,” whatever that means. In reality, they are letting the social media tail wag the content marketing dog. These companies require education and a smarter approach to social media initiatives, and we can deliver that through Content Magnet.

I’d love to use this post to elaborate on the Content Magnet, but that’s a lot of information for a blog post. We list a bunch of places to get more information towards the end of this post.

I will, however, use this post to articulate a few viewpoints we feel strongly about, viewpoints that are reflected in the way we deliver Content Magnet.

  • Content marketing not only deserves a slot of greater significance in the spectrum of marketing tactics, but it belongs as a part of all other marketing tactics.
  • While content marketing is best managed by marketing experts, the responsibility for a successful content marketing effort extends into just about every business function, and the impact will be felt by every department.
  • The average content marketing strategy places a heavy emphasis on content creation; that investment should be spread across our five pillars: content planning, content creation, content optimization, content distribution and content reporting and analysis.

As I mentioned earlier, this isn’t a story about a revolutionary product. There are no shortcuts in content marketing – no software that writes white papers, no comprehensive automated distribution system, and no script that builds the perfect title tag. So instead of writing code for the last seven months, here’s what we did to prepare for launch:

  • We dedicated even more time to comprehensively research content marketing, and identify the content marketing leaders and service providers we agree and disagree with.
  • We hired team members with skill sets built for Content Magnet.
  • We built a network of content creators and designers in a wide variety of industries and categories, ready to create content and design blogs, email newsletters, social media profiles, and much more.
  • We redesigned our website and created a section for content marketing with both educational material and information on Content Magnet.
  • We talked to dozens of CEOs, CMOs, Marketing Directors and Marketing Managers to get feedback on the concept.
  • We implemented the service for not only ourselves, but a handful of clients who experienced and provided feedback on all five phases of Content Magnet.

And of course we named the service. Since it will likely be a popular question, here’s the quick background on the name. We started with over 100 name possibilities, and we consistently came back to Content Magnet. The name represents what we think a well-executed content marketing strategy should do – plan, create, optimize, distribute and report on valuable pieces of content, each of which serves as a magnet to attract target audiences to engage with your organization.

As we’d recommend to any organization rolling out a new service, we’re putting an emphasis on – you guessed it – content marketing. Knowing that audiences respond to and interact with different pieces of content, we’ve created the following options:

Or of course, just pick up the phone and give us a ring. After all, isn’t a conversation one of the most critical pieces of content?

Related Resources

About Mike Sweeney:

As Right Source’s co-founder and CEO, Mike Sweeney creates, plans, and implements our vision, mission, culture, and strategic direction as well as serving as an advisor to our clients. Mike received a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a major in marketing from the University of Notre Dame and has more than 20 years of experience in B2B marketing strategy, including digital, content, and marketing technology. You can find Mike on X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn, or read his other posts.