An Inside Look at Intel iQ’s Global Content Marketing Strategy. Kintigh says it’s a combination of translating and tweaking stories across all the sites, and creating some localized content for each region. “We produce a lot of stories in our North America versions because we have full-time editors and 12 to 15 contributors,” he says. There are also instances when a non-US site will generate a piece of content that ends up doing really well in North America. The US version generated more than 193K views. One example of how iQ customizes its content by region is evident in a piece that published in both the UK and the US. Raise Your iQ: When leading a global content team, don’t be afraid to trust your local editors, says Kintigh. “The local teams know their regions really well, so we lean on them to make those calls,” Kintigh says. To this end, we’ve increased traffic about 25 percent year over year with the same number of iQ sites.” However, traffic data alone doesn’t tell the whole story. Luke Kintigh, Global Content and Media Strategist at Intel Corporation Achieving content marketing success on a global scale is not without its growing pains, but the overall strategy is pretty much the same no matter where you publish.
When most people think of Intel, they probably think about the chip that powers PCs, but the brand is so much more.
Its content marketing initiative, the online publication iQ, has been working to reconfigure Intel’s image by covering general interest topics through a technology lens. From how to make city cycling safer to wine technology to pet prosthetics, Intel is telling unique stories that reveal how the company powers various aspects of our digital lives.
Thus far, the tech culture magazine has made great strides in not only generating traffic (nearly 3 million uniques a month), but in achieving brand lift by balancing creative content with smart data science and a strategic distribution plan.
Launched in the US back in 2012 as an Intel employee-curated site, iQ has since grown into 18 distinct geo-targeted sites across the globe. We caught up with Luke Kintigh, Global Content and Media Strategist at Intel Corporation, to learn how iQ is taking the brand’s message worldwide while staying focused on a cohesive content strategy – and the challenges therein.
When you’re dealing with language barriers, cultural nuances, and time zone differences, a brand mission can easily get lost in translation. That’s why Kintigh swears by what he calls iQ’s editorial bible.
“We have a document that’s about 35 pages that covers everything from tone and voice to detailed instructions on how to write article ledes and nut graphs, the things we do and don’t do, and more,” he says. “This gets handed over to anyone involved in the sites.”
This foundational strategy document is used by everyone from writers and editors, to designers, to anyone who produces, publishes, or distributes iQ content.
Of course, there has to be accountability and follow through, not to mention brainstorming sessions to continually improve. Although managing the day-to-day on a global scale is tough, it can be done, says Kintigh.
“It is challenging to stay in touch in terms of the time zone perspective, but we break up into a couple of calls so that we can do individual editor calls with every region, as well as combine them into small groups,” he explains.
What works best is handling the daily communication through a workflow tool and editorial calendar system, so that the phone calls can focus on ideation and brainstorming. Kintigh explains that the teams send updates every Thursday to highlight the week and take a look at what’s coming up.
“We try to channel as much as we can through our workflow tool,” he says. “The more we can streamline different types of things, the more we can carve out time on the phone to have a constructive dialogue.”
Raise Your iQ: Whether you’re scaling content across the globe or working with teams in another US office, be sure you have a foundational document that includes comprehensive information about your editorial identity, tone, voice, and how you communicate your values. If you’re looking to get started, here’s NewsCred’s guide on how to create a documented content marketing strategy.
“Once you start to scale, you have to get everyone on the same page,” says Kintigh. “It can be done in a presentation or a video, if you want, but you need something to rally the troops around your mission and who you’re writing for.”
So how do you maximize resources when you’re generating content for 18 distinct markets, but at the same time, ensure that the content is relevant in each locality? Kintigh says it’s a combination of translating and tweaking stories across all the sites, and creating some localized content for each region.
“We produce a lot of stories in our North America versions because we have full-time editors and 12 to 15 contributors,” he says. “It’s up to our local editors to translate…
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