Weekly Alert: Kellogg’s, and using Fear as a Business Case for Content Marketing

Learn how UK marketers commit to content marketing by getting their priorities straight. [View Message] in Browser / [Whitelist Instructions] to Safe Sender List This Week - Want to Commit to Content Marketing? Prioritize the Right Things [New UK Research] [This Week in Content Marketing] Connect with CMI [Forward to a Friend] The Content Marketing Institute’s latest research provides insight into how commitment translates into action. Though focused on what the most committed UK marketers do differently, the lessons are useful for marketers worldwide. [Read more]by Joe Pulizzi Some more of this week's best stuff: - [Why Freelance Content Writers Aren’t Getting the Results You Want] by Sarah Rickerd - [10 Ways Content Marketing and Sales Teams Can Work Together] by Jonathan Franchell - [Not Documenting Your Content Marketing Strategy? Here’s What to Do About It] by Joe Pulizzi - [Practical Tips to Calm the Most Extreme Public-Speaking Jitters] by Cathy McPhillips - [One Surprising Way to Inject More Creativity Into Your Marketing] by Kristina Podnar A Note From Joe Pulizzi Kellogg’s, and using Fear as a Business Case for Content Marketing I’m fascinated by business cases, especially for content marketing. I’m fascinated about how many different ways we, in our organizations, can hypothesize about moving forward with a content marketing approach. Many exist already; yet, another one has just presented itself. Last week, Kellogg’s decided to pull its advertising from Breitbart.com. Breitbart has been in the news a lot, since President-elect Donald Trump named its former chairman, Steve Bannon, as a top adviser. Breitbart, which Bannon has proclaimed to be the “platform for the alt-right,” has a very particular point of view – one that Kellogg’s says it does not agree with. Hence Kellogg’s removal of its advertising from the Breitbart site. In response, Breitbart aggressively came after Kellogg’s with a #dumpkelloggs campaign, in which Breitbart News editor-in-chief Alexander Marlow stated that, “Boycotting Breitbart News for presenting mainstream American ideas is an act of discrimination and intense prejudice.” The campaign quickly trended on Twitter and was picked up by all the major news outlets. According to Five-Thirty Eight, Breitbart.com’s traffic increased at a faster rate during the US election process than almost any other media site. Whether you agree with its platform or not, there is undeniable power in its audience and growth. I’m not going to get into the politics behind this; but as I watched this campaign play out, I realized that Kellogg’s simply had no real power to combat the controversy. Sure, it could send out a press release and talk with the press, or it could place an ad in the Wall Street Journal or some other venue. But Breitbart has a huge audience of followers and can basically attack anyone it wants without fear of repercussions. So in the future, how could companies like Kellogg’s combat this? How should any company combat a situation where an organization with a large audience comes after them? The answer is simple: build an audience of its own. Building an audience of loyal subscribers by delivering truly valuable information on a consistent basis is an incredibly powerful asset – the kind of asset that can protect you from online assaults, like the one Breitbart unleashed onto Kellogg’s. Of all the ways there are to convince senior management of the value of a content marketing approach, fear may just be is the strongest. If you are struggling to get buy-in at your organization, perhaps this little fear strategy might work. Good luck! Yours in content, Joe Pulizzi Founder Content Marketing Institute This article from Joe is available only in this newsletter for you, the newsletter subscriber. If you have friends that would see value in Joe's weekly updates, please have them subscribe [here]. Sponsored Content Supporting Your Multilingual Content: Smartling’s End-To-End Localization Solution and Language Services Smartling’s leading localization technology and language services help your company respond to the challenges of scaling content for an international audience. Learn how to transform your website, mobile apps and digital content into revenue centers and forge stronger relationships with your customers. Begin a new phase of global growth in 2017 with your Global-Ready Success Kit. [Get Your Success Kit Now.] A Word from One of Our Benefactors Expert ABM: A Guide to Selling ABM’s Value to Your Organization 2017 is right around the corner and it’s time to get serious about account-based marketing. 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