Content Marketing may sound like the latest marketing trend, but smart marketers have been leveraging value-driven content for decades to generate leads, court consumers and create brand affinity.

Marcus Thomas is an agency with decades of content marketing experience, beginning with creation and production of branded content television programming in the 1950s and evolving to today’s multiplatform, multi-audience content marketing programs.

In fact, during 2014, 2015 and 2016, Marcus Thomas was a finalist for Content Marketing World’s Content Marketing Agency of the Year. And the multichannel content programs we’ve developed for our clients have also been awarded by the Content Marketing Institute, the Word of Mouth Marketing Association and other industry organizations.

Our success comes from a deep understanding of the Value Exchange that exists between customers/consumers and brands. The insights we can derive from this awareness shape customer personas, articulate customer journeys, plus inform content creation and distribution plans. Our knowledge of media and analytics helps us optimize our efforts, whether they’re part of a traditional consumer branding effort or a B2B lead generation and marketing automation effort.

Marcus Thomas: Providing Clarity in a Complicated Marketplace

The explosion of content marketing vendors, platforms and consultants has created an increasingly crowded and confusing marketplace. Adding to this confusion – and to the number of vendors, platforms and consultants – is the fact that content marketing is being used to drive a number of outcomes, from branding to promotional engagement to lead generation. Where does Marcus Thomas fit in?

Time and time again, marketers view “new” strategies (and the technologies that support them) as stand-alone, magic-box solutions, only to learn later that they’re not. We believe content marketing falls into this category. Consequently, our main responsibility is to provide strategic clarity for content marketing and to ensure that our clients focus on outcomes.

But this is just where our work begins. Content Marketing involves myriad skill sets, from strategic services to content development and analytics. And, depending upon its purpose within your organization, Content Marketing can also involve a broad collection of technologies, from content curation and management services to CRM, digital asset management, inbound platforms, marketing automation, media and measurement tools. As an integrated agency with substantial research, planning, content, search, digital and media capabilities, Marcus Thomas is able to deliver end-to-end Content Marketing services, specialized content creation services (for very demanding subject matter), and can also work with clients as a part of their Content Marketing team..

Content Marketing for a Multiplatform World

Content Marketing Should Be Looked Upon in Context with Your Promotional Mix

It’s important to look at Content Marketing within the context of the broader marketing mix. Businesses have objectives for their overall operations, and marketing managers are responsible for developing strategies to drive results. Typically, those marketing strategies are focused on product, price, placement (distribution) and promotion (engagement/branding). Content Marketing is just one of many promotional substrategies, like advertising or public relations, or social or paid media (and many others).

Because no part of this mix exists in a vacuum, it’s also important to apply the same qualitative measures to your Content Marketing efforts as you do to other promotional strategies.

The integrated nature of marketing drives Marcus Thomas’ thinking in regard to all strategies within the promotional mix. We don’t think of advertising, public relations, social, digital and content marketing as services to sell; we think of them as toolsets with which to solve a problem. For us, it’s all about marketing outcomes. Having said this, we do have specific processes that guide how we plan and deliver solutions within these strategic toolsets, and Content Marketing is no exception.

Business Goals and Brand

Marketing Objectives

ProductStrategy

DistributionStrategy

PricingStrategy

PromotionStrategy

ContentMarketingStrategy

ContentStrategy

“Story/Big Idea”

Audience Personas

JourneyMaps

EditorialCalendar Sourcing

Process Platforms & Technologies

Partners

Owned Platforms

EarnedEngagement

PaidMedia

Analytics Reporting Learning &Optimization

ContentOperations & Governance

Content Promotion

ContentOptimization

PublicRelationsStrategy

SocialMedia

StrategyDigital

StrategyAdvertising

Strategy

As you explore how Content Marketing fits into your promotional mix, you’ll see how important it is that Content Marketing is integrated with your other efforts. That’s what we believe, and that’s why our Content Marketing offering isn’t delivered as a package: it gives our clients objectivity, knowing that their Content Marketing Strategy isn’t coming from a vendor looking to sell a specific platform or approach. And it gives them leverage, knowing that the solution will be closely tied to their other promotional strategies and technology platforms.

Every Successful Content Marketing Program Is Steeped in a Process. Here’s Ours.

Execution

Measurement

Optimization

Research

Hypothesis

Analysis

Campaign

Our Journey

Context

Content ConnectionConcept

Prioritize and identify

marketing objectives, align

with business outcomes

Identify a problem that

Content Marketing

can solve

Identify how Content

Marketing will be

evaluated and measured/

establish Key Performance

Indicators

Develop customer/

consumer buyer journeys

Research consumer/

customer contextual

environment

Identify information/

content needs that brand

can provide

Campaign mapping –

aligning content needs

against buyer journey

Develop publishing

strategy (tools, cadence,

landing pages)

Develop connections

strategy (media, search,

social, etc.)

Create and produce

content

Develop measurement

plan and reporting

cadence

Execute plan

Reporting

Optimization

Content Marketing Services

Content Marketing Practice Leads

K I N G H I L L | senior vice president, digital strategist

King is a veteran marketing communicator and digital pioneer, with extensive expertise blending traditional and digital strategies. At Marcus Thomas, he is a lead strategist for a number of clients and also serves on the agency’s business development and promotion teams. His client experience is broad and deep, ranging from Visa to Coors to Goodyear, FirstEnergy and Nestlé. Prior to joining Marcus Thomas, he was president of DigiKnow, a digital marketing and technology company he helped cofound in 1995. In his 17 years in

the digital space, King has lectured extensively to marketing organizations and clients on subjects relating to digital marketing strategy, social media strategy and integration, and content marketing. He is a past president of the American Advertising Federation – Cleveland; former board member of the Cleveland Press Club and PRSA Cleveland; and father of two beautiful daughters. He holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Kent State University.

PAT B U R N H A M | vice president, management supervisor

With more than three decades of experience in public relations, corporate communications, global communications strategy and project management, Pat recently returned to the agency world after almost nine years of “field experience” in various corporate roles, including global reputation and media relations at The Timken Company and director of corporate communications at Swagelok Company. At Marcus Thomas, Pat leads multidisciplinary teams to service various needs of agency clients, including

communications strategy, branding, lead generation and content marketing, public relations, media, measurement and digital services. Pat serves on the board of directors and the marketing committee of The Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park (CVNP) and resides in Stow, Ohio, with her husband and five almost-adult children.

Strategic Services• Strategy development/planning

• Persona development• Buyer journeys• Technographic profiling• Content mapping• Measurement planning

Connection Planning• Media planning and buying• Paid and organic search strategy

and implementation• Social media strategy• Influencer marketing• Media relations• Resource acquisition and orchestration

Content Creation• Digital development (websites, apps)• Creative services• Technical writing• Design• Infographic development• Video and audio production

Measurement• Digital analytics and reporting• Social media analytics and reporting• Social listening • Primary and secondary research services

T I M O T H Y B E N N E T T | vice president, public relations

A public relations counselor, Tim is also versed in marketing communications and prefers to take an integrated approach to communications planning. He is experienced in both traditional and social media approaches. Tim joined Marcus Thomas in 1998 after award-winning journalistic work in Indiana, Ohio and New York. Initially, he focused on writing and media relations and was appointed director of editorial services. Tim has provided strategic counsel and/or executed communications tactics for nonprofits (Fund

for Our Economic Future, Voices & Choices, Recovery Resources), advocacy groups and associations (Ohio Steel Council, Ohio Oil and Gas Association), and business-to-business clients (Swagelok Company, Allied Van Lines, Robinson Industries, Quanex, Lincoln Electric, SIRVA, Caterpillar). He is the recipient of several PRSA awards. Tim earned a Master of Arts. and completed his doctoral coursework at Indiana University, and he holds a Bachelor of Arts from Wittenberg University. Tim teaches in Kent’s master’s program in PR. He serves on the board of directors of Recovery Resources and provides strategic communications counsel to the organization.

R A P H A E L R I V I L L A | partner, media and connections planning

Raf is an integrated media and digital advocate with more than 16 years’ experience driving brand and direct response campaigns for business-to-consumer and business-to-business clients. His expertise runs the gamut from integrated media and marketing, search engine marketing, social and mobile media, to department and staff development. Raf believes in taking informed risks and using data to drive action. He thrives on delivering optimized cross-platform messaging in sync with the customer life cycle

and keeps looking for the next big thing in digital. He has worked with clients such as Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (Atlanta’s top children’s hospital which is nationally ranked), March of Dimes, Sherwin-Williams’ Krylon and Dutch Boy brands, MTD/Troy-Bilt, SafeAuto, SEGA games and Caesars Hotels and Entertainment, which included a global launch of Caesars’ new website and branding for openings in Dubai and Macau. Raf speaks three dialects of Filipino, plus French. He has lived in Manila, Philippines, during some of his early childhood and a couple of years during high school.

P H I L J O H N S T O N | partner, strategic services group

Phil directs the agency’s planning and research groups. Since joining the advertising and public relations firm in 1995, he has led major planning initiatives with a wide range of organizations and brands, including Akron Children’s Hospital, Alcoa Wheels, Caterpillar, Diebold, Hot Pockets, Nestlé and Troy-Bilt, as well as a number of nonprofit organizations. Phil has earned a reputation for consistently delivering focused strategic thinking to his clients and is highly regarded for the creation of the agency’s proprietary planning

model, The Equation. He is a frequent speaker on research, branding and strategic planning, and also teaches advertising at Kent State University. Previously, Phil was with the Toronto-based Wolf Group and a journalist for several daily newspapers and business publications in Indiana and New York.

Work Samples

U.S. COTTON/SWISSPERS®

Billions of dollars are spent every year trying to get women to wear makeup, but no one talks about the people helping us take it off. Cotton rounds – used to remove makeup – are quite possibly the world’s most generic product. In fact, U.S. Cotton makes just about all the store brands, but they make more money if people buy their Swisspers® brand.

So where, specifically, does the brand’s need to sell intersect with the consumer’s need for healthy skin? It starts with research. Turns out, women weren’t removing their makeup before bed – a no-no for skin health. Swisspers can own that solution, but how? Sleep Naked.

From 2012 to 2015, the Sleep Naked effort evolved in format, first with Sleep Naked using influential bloggers, a few celebrities, a charitable component and, oh yeah, the Kardashians (for free, we might add). From tease to final voting – a three-week period – Swisspers jumped from 250 to 21,000 Facebook Likes, our #Swisspers and #SleepNaked hashtags earned national trending status, we earned 40,000 votes and 60,000 visits to the Tab, and we generated more than 74 million impressions.

Then in 2013, we pitted blonde and brunette celebrities for a literal Face-Off (Emily Maynard, blonde, and Danielle Jonas, brunette). Fans pledged via a microsite to Sleep Naked with their favorite celeb, with five influential beauty bloggers amplifying efforts through posts and giveaways. Danielle Jonas was declared the winner on National Sleep Naked Night and conducted an Instagram Q&A with fans. Bloggers hosted the all-night party, offering beauty advice, conducting additional giveaways and continuing to spread the campaign message.

In 2014, we built our YouTube execution and fueled efforts with paid digital, blog content, skin care tips, ongoing chats and an amazing old-to-young devolution video with internet superstar Nikki Phillippi. Then, in 2015, we optimized those approaches to drive a stronger brand connection with sampling, online chats and a major live “Naked Selfie” event with “Vanderpump Rules’” star and beauty expert Scheana Shay.

Each year, Marcus Thomas grew the program, learned from its efforts and improved it, adding more and more content to the Sleep Naked program. But did all of this work? Due entirely to the Sleep Naked effort, Swisspers has seen an annual sales lift of between 6-7% and an amazing four-year lift in sales of 27%. Numbers like that will let you sleep like a baby.

Work Samples

KRYLON®/SHERWIN-WILLIAMS DIVERSIFIED BRANDS

Selling a new spray paint is often more difficult than just communicating the features and functionality of your new nozzle. You need to connect with your consumers on their terms and in ways they find relevant.

For crafters and DIYers, relevance comes in the form of projects and proof comes from demonstration – lots and lots of demonstration. To deliver these demonstrations, Marcus Thomas developed The Krylon® Spraydown: Stories of Real Performance.

The Spraydown featured three video webisodes, nine short-form videos used to conquest through performance recaps and quick hit projects, 29 downloadable product instructions, and over 35 project photos.

Content was distributed using third-party databases to target DIY, crafter and competitor brand shoppers, including an overlay of Walmart shoppers (a large distribution partner). Videos targeting competitor fans and content were distributed on AOL On as native video ads, YouTube and Facebook. We also relied heavily on paid search. For display, we leveraged 300 x 600 native units that showcased the webisode on top of the unit, while distributing the project content through multiple tiles under the video, across thousands of DIY and crafter sites. These tiles allowed you to download the project content and view specific projects within the webisode in-unit. We also partnered with influencers to expand social distribution of content, including Instructables and My Repurposed Life.

Purchase consideration rose 13% at a confidence level of over 90%. Brand attributes for usefulness rose 15% for crafters and 12% for DIYers at a confidence level of over 90%.

We drove 1.9MM minutes of viewed video, with interaction rates 82% higher than the 300 x 600 per-unit benchmark for rich media.

Did we plant the seed of doubt? Even with high brand-awareness baselines, we made a mark by exposing consumers to project information and drove significantly higher levels of purchase consideration by +5 points overall, and +13 points for the content directly aimed at DIY and maintenance audiences.

Did we create engaging content? Consumers were highly engaged with the video content of which they watched more than 2MM total videos and spent more than 1.8MM minutes viewing; additionally, they interacted with projects nearly 23,000 times.

Did we reach the audience and change perceptions? The campaign delivered 47MM+ impressions and exposed more than 6.2MM Rust-Oleum® shoppers to content that they were highly engaged with – leading to the progressive impact across all product usage attributes.

Work Samples

BUITONI® Pasta and Sauces/Nestlé® USA

BUITONI® makes refrigerated pasta. Consumers call it fresh pasta – when they think about it, which isn’t often since it’s a tiny percentage of pasta sales. Say pasta, and most people default to dry pasta. In order to develop our digital media and content strategy, we needed to understand where fresh pasta fit into the consumer’s life.

We worked in partnership with BUITONI to deep dive into the consumer persona, to understand her shopping and meal planning habits; her media, digital and social habits; her perspectives on food and how BUITONI fit into her life. We mapped that journey via digital and social touchpoints, aligning distinct content needs and platforms against three distinct connection opportunities: preempting meal planning the week ahead, intercepting the shopping trip and responding to her search for meal inspiration. Content strategy included a recipe-driven website, social platforms, paid search and digital display, and video distribution. Our program focused on one goal – getting on her shopping list today.

From a content perspective, our research told us that our audience is driven by fresh foods. Not organic. Our customer’s not a foodie or a snob, but she seeks out fresh. And she’s always looking for inspiration and simple, fresh recipes.

Because we decided to reposition against dry pasta, our content needed to showcase that freshness. We needed to present gorgeous photography of our fresh pasta. So we shot lots of stills and video footage, and created platforms to showcase this beautiful ingredient.

Our content primarily lived on a central recipe site and through social platforms such as Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube; and through native advertising and pre-roll – each playing a unique role in her weekly meal planning process.

Our work has helped the brand create relevance for the fresh pasta category and reverse a downward sales trend.

B2B Client

LIBBY’S® Pumpkin/Nestlé USA

Pumpkin: the quintessential fall ingredient, typically relegated to the last four months of the year. We set out to change that. In a content campaign for LIBBY’S® 100% Pure Pumpkin (Nestlé USA), we pitted the beloved seasonal favorite against other superfoods to show all the things #PumpkinCan do beyond the pie. Kale can’t stand in as a replacement

for butter in baked goods. We wouldn’t recommend stirring a banana into your favorite chili recipe. You get the point. We created a content hub (pumpkincan.com) featuring dozens of snackable and shareable recipes, nutritional information, substitution tips and entertaining content. We also partnered with 56 health, food and lifestyle bloggers to help rethink what #PumpkinCan do, create new recipes and spread the word. A celebrity partnership with chef and author Lo Bosworth helped spread the message even further among a new young audience with a live Twitter chat, Instagram posts, media tours and interviews. The campaign helped raise purchase intent during the off-season by 24%.

B2B: Client undisclosed

In the B2B environment, a Content Marketing strategy can reenergize lead generation – but B2B companies don’t often like to reveal their strategies. This is a story of how we helped an unidentified global brand create the tools and process it needed to flip the switch on qualified leads; drive influencers and decision makers through the funnel more effectively and efficiently; improve conversion rate of top-tier strategic account prospects; and amplify the brand’s narrative through thought leadership.

We developed personas for key influencers and decision makers, and identified information and content needs for each stop along the buyer journey that would move them to the next step. We completed a deep content audit to identify and make best use of existing content resources – why reinvent the wheel? We also provided strategies to incorporate the program into its existing content automation system.

The result was a go-to-market lead generation strategy that could be institutionalized within the brand’s sales organization.

Digital Display

Media Relations

Video Seeding

SEO/SEM

Email

Multichannel Service

Trade Publication

Webinar

Social

Event

Landing Page(s)

Prospect

NURTURE

Permission- BasedContent

MarketingAutomation

Sales

Content

Prospect Gains Access to Content

Ongoing MultipleChannels

Company GetsContact Info

For more information about Marcus Thomas and its Content Marketing offerings, contact: King Hill, Senior Vice President • khill@marcusthomasllc.com • 216-285-2849