Newscred CEO Talks Content Marketing: Double Down on What's Working

This is a Q&A between Newscred CEO Shafqat Islam and Jason Chupick, co-founder of PRNewser. Newscred CEO on Content Marketing: Double Down On What’s Working Content marketing software company Newscred kicked off its annual #ThinkContent conference this morning with a very high-minded keynote on the shifting nature of creativity itself from Andrew Essex from Droga5. While that might sound highfalutin for the PR pro, it’s clear the bleed continues between our industry’s disciplines as more brands move to content-first, social media-delivered marketing. We caught up with Newscred CEO Shafqat Islam to talk about the conference, and get answers on how to deal with this continual shift from the PR perspective. What inspired you to begin hosting conferences? Very simply, our goal is education. NewsCred’s mission is to help brands educate and inform their customers through content in order to cultivate a long-term relationship with them. With #ThinkContent we are practicing what we preach and hosting a conference to educate marketers and other business leaders on the power of content to transform their businesses and the customer experience they provide. What advice do you have for the PR professional as they adapt to the new marketing landscape? While experimentation is always going to be a huge part of the PR and marketing professions, we think it’s important to double down on what’s working. The last few years have proven that content is the connective thread of all marketing. It’s important to identify the best tools for you and your brand to capitalize on this new reality. It’s time for brands and agencies to invest in the people, process and technologies that will help you win. You have people from very big brands speaking at #ThinkContent. What can people from SMBs, startups, B2B companies take away the day that will help them evolve their marketing? Everyone is going to walk away from #ThinkContent inspired. Regardless of the size of your business or who you sell to, you need to be absorbing best practices surrounding content marketing. Even if your budget looks smaller on paper, you’re still capable of reaching incredible content marketing highs as an organization. Scarcity and resource constraints usually result in incredible bursts of creativity, and we want folks to leave the conference energized. B2B brands can be creative too, and we have great speakers from IBM, Intel and others to share ideas. How do you see real-time video streaming fitting into the content marketing mix as it takes hold? I love the idea of “shared experiences.” With Meerkat and Periscope, not only can brands engage customers through by showcasing events, product tours, etc. but brands can also watch as their customers engage with their brand and products and glean insights from those use cases. It blends the best of Twitter and YouTube in many ways. Do you have advice for marketers on how to mitigate risk as they increase the amount of published/owned content? We’ve spent a lot of time in the last year building out tools for workflows, compliance and governance. These are powerful tools for the global brands we serve, but they’re truly vital for everyone publishing content. As I said before, experimentation will never end, but as budgets increase, you will have to balance it with processes and permissioning. They key is to invest in tools that provide the required governance while allow marketers to be agile. In most cases, automated emails and alerts for workflow approvals can be faster than waiting for paper approvals of yesteryear. What's your favorite classic ad or PR campaign from the past and how did it inspire you to get into content marketing? Merck has a medical textbook that they call the Merck Manual that came out in 1899. It’s the world’s best selling medical textbook, and it still exists today. They don’t talk about their drugs -- its purely educational and a standard reference book for doctors and medical professionals. They give away the whole thing for free online today. It’s content marketing from over a hundred years ago. If you could have anyone--alive, dead, or fictitious character-- speak at #ThinkContent, who would it be? I just watched Selma, and I think Martin Luther King is the greatest orator of our century and I would love to have him speak -- about anything!

Social Pro Daily

Newscred CEO Talks Content Marketing: Double Down on What's Working

Q&A with Shafqat Islam and Jason Chupick.

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!