marketing at the speed of content: keeping pace in a content-driven world

© 2016 Upwork Inc. Proprietary and confidential. Do not distribute.

Marketing at the Speed of ContentHow to keep pace in a content-driven world

Rich Pearson · SVP, Marketing & Categories · @pearsonisms


Winning by changing the rules

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Content marketing has reached a tipping point

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Because content marketing works!

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60%Of people are inspired

to seek out content after reading content

about it

Of B2B buyers increasingly rely on

content for purchasing decisions

Content marketing produces 3x more

leads per dollar than paid search marketing

~70% 3X


Content is being created at record speed

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● Email users send 204,000,000 messages

● Blog writers post 1400 new blog posts

● Facebook users share 2,460,000 pieces of content

● Twitter users tweet 277,000 times

● WhatsApp users share 347,222 photos

● Instagram users post 216,000 new photos

● Vine users share 8,333 videos

● Pinterest users pin 3,472 images

● Youtube users upload 72 hours of new video

Every minute...


But only 42% say it’s effective

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Why is that?


How can a marketer keep up with the pace of content?

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Create your strategic content plan

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WHO CONTENT DECISION MAKING PURPOSE OF CONTENT

END GOAL

● Manager or executive

● Operates based on needs of the corporation

● White paper

● Case study

● Thought leadershiparticle

● Long-form article

● Blog

● Direct response

● Longer sales cycle

● More layers for approval before the final sale is reached

● Builds brand identity

● Establishes trust, value

● Drives leads

● Client or consumer

● Operates based on needs of the individual

● Promotional

● Entertaining

● Engaging

● Direct response

● Social media

● Faster sales cycle

● Usually sole decision maker

● Sparks emotion

● Builds awareness

● Increases trust

● Aims to entertain

● Increase sales and engagement

B2B

B2C


Define your content structure

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CONTENT HUB

B2CEmail

SEO

e-books

How-to’s


Creating great content takes great people

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Unfortunately, great people are hard to find...

320% More marketers report trouble finding content marketing professionals over last year


Marketing skills on the rise

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● Print design — 99%

● Content writing — 43%

● Lead generation — 36%

● Graphic design — 35%

● B2B marketing — 22%

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CostSpeed

Quality

PICK TWO

The dilemma we all face

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Job openings unfilled after three months

Build your own team...in 4+ months

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You could hire an agency...

By 2020, nearly half of the U.S. workforce will be freelancing

The Freelance talent pool is exploding

53MFreelancers in the U.S. now


Tracy G.Content Strategist

Danila V.Content Manager

Druv A.Content Producer

Firmo S.Writer

Leverage a distributed content team


AmyBelleville, Ontario

CareyRichmond, VA

BrendaSparks, NV

PeterSlovakia

BlakeLos Angeles

StanislavKiev, Ukraine

Upwork’s own distributed content team


The Situation:A global e-commerce marketplace had a major initiative to boost SEO traffic to their site. To create the content, the marketing team had to source dozens of writers across a wide range of categories and topics—and engage them quickly to meet their ambitious goals.

The Solution:Their content marketing team source a team of more than 30 writers to develop in-depth and well-researched, long form content for the site.

Results:Developed more than 10,000 articles | 300 articles per quarter7 days to source more than 30 writersScaled content created by 5x with freelance writers

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In just 7 days, I was able to source a team of more than 30 writers to develop long-form content for our site.

Content writers: high quality content at scale


The Situation:Global CPG firm was spending over $8MM for an annual program where each division needed to produce a rich media video.

The Solution:Formed a team of video production specialists from around the globe with careful consideration to time to results, quality, and cost savings.

Results:Delivered equal or better quality on resultsCost of $800k (10% of baseline cost)70%+ savings and 50% reduction in cycle time on 90 videosTurnaround time decreased dramatically

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It’s amazing, not only did we save money, but the platform’s freelancers raised the bar on the actual quality of the videos as well.


Video Production: Delivering quality at the right cost

© 2016 Upwork Inc. Proprietary and confidential. Do not distribute. 2020

Copywriters

Designers

Photographers

Video

Popular SkillsAvg. Hourly Rates

(Avg & Top 1%)

Articles & BlogseBook Writing

Graphic DesignInfographics

IllustrationsWeb & Print Design

Social MediaSEO Writing

Digital PhotographyPhoto Retouching

Image EditingAdobe Photoshop

VideographyVideo Editing

$16 | $88

$13 | $64

$12 | $42

$11 | $62

Audio $23 | $76Voice TalentAudio Production

Voice Over

Video Production

Who is available online?

1 Just get started. You’ll lose months waiting for the perfect plan.

2 Map your content to each stage of your funnel.

3 Be prolific (within reason) and see where you get traction.

4 It takes 60 days to build your content marketing muscle.

5 Once you hit ~100 posts, spend 30% of your time optimizing old posts.

6 Don’t measure your content marketing team solely on conversion.

7 Your tip here . . .

7 Content Marketing Tips


Thanks!

Ask me anything

Rich Pearson · SVP, Marketing & Categories · @pearsonisms

marketing at the speed of content: keeping pace in a content-driven world

Presentations & Public Speaking