This Week in Content Marketing: Could Brands Cure Traditional Media’s Run to Eyeballs?. In this episode, Robert and I get together IRL and discuss Airbnb’s new magazine launch with Hearst. We also debate whether or not “content blindness” is a real thing, and consider the possibility that media companies’ drive to run at the speed of news (and eyeballs) might be killing truth in journalism — although it may also be creating an opportunity for brands. Rants and raves include a business model at risk of extinction and FCC regulations that should have been turned into fossils by now; then we wrap up with an example that wrote the book on inbound marketing — literally. If you enjoy our PNR podcasts, we would love if you would rate it, or post a review, on iTunes. Content marketing in the news Airbnb partners with Hearst on new magazine venture (07:53): At its recent Airbnb Open event in Los Angeles, Airbnb launched a new print magazine, filled with content that is entirely sourced from the company’s hosts and guests. Not only did Robert and I have some major concerns with the article’s assertions on this important issue, we also found it to be a bit ironic, as the article itself fails to make the critical distinction between fake or inaccurate news and content that reasonably offers a differing or possibly biased perspective. Considering that practically every media company is a now a multichannel content publisher, I find it very interesting that these outdated laws have even continued to exist up until now, and predict that this will change in the upcoming year. On previous episodes of this podcast, we’ve discussed some of the company’s most impressive content accomplishments, including its annual customer event, Inbound, and its well-known blog; yet surprisingly, we’ve never mentioned what is arguably the key initiative behind the entire inbound marketing movement: Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs, a book that was co-written in 2009 by HubSpot co-founders Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah. For a full list of PNR archives, go to the main This Old Marketing page.
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In this episode, Robert and I get together IRL and discuss Airbnb’s new magazine launch with Hearst. We also debate whether or not “content blindness” is a real thing, and consider the possibility that media companies’ drive to run at the speed of news (and eyeballs) might be killing truth in journalism — although it may also be creating an opportunity for brands. Rants and raves include a business model at risk of extinction and FCC regulations that should have been turned into fossils by now; then we wrap up with an example that wrote the book on inbound marketing — literally.
This week’s show
(Recorded live on November 28, 2016; Length: 1:01:05)
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1. Content marketing in the news
- Airbnb partners with Hearst on new magazine venture (07:53): At its recent Airbnb Open event in Los Angeles, Airbnb launched a new print magazine, filled with content that is entirely sourced from the company’s hosts and guests. Considering that there was no mention made of the company’s 2014 internally-produced predecessor (Pineapple) during the event, as pointed out in an Adweek article covering the event, Robert and I are somewhat confused about the content strategy and purpose behind this new venture — especially in light of Airbnb’s underwhelming commitment to publishing just two additional issues in 2017.
- The editor’s guide to working with brands (13:33): A fantastic older article we rediscovered on Contently discusses the growing realization that having a great editorial leader on staff is no longer a “nice to have” benefit for brands — it’s expected table stakes for playing in the content game. Among the article’s more pertinent points is the question of how to address challenges encountered by editors who may be unused to functioning in a brand environment, where processes like legal and regulatory reviews can often interrupt the typical workflow. In response, we offer some of our own suggestions for navigating this issue, as well as other related concerns.
- Is “content blindness” the new “banner blindness”? (24:55): In a recent op-ed piece published on Forbes Business, Brandpoint President Scott Severson addresses the idea that content marketing is likely to suffer a decline in impact due to the increasingly overwhelming volume of low-quality content being produced online. While I concede Scott’s main points, I don’t see “content blindness” as being a recent phenomenon: There has always been…
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