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Your Content Inspiration of the Week: The Brash, a Bash, and Your Cash

This week, we’re talking about a twist to B2B event marketing, a pivot from the traditional business anniversary celebration, and a content marketing salary report from Managing Editor.

Brash marketing promises a new take on an old tactic

Tired of sitting through virtual event after same-old virtual event? Isn’t everyone? That’s why an invite from B2B marketing software company Terminus caught our eye. The intriguing name – Break Sh!t – piqued our interest and the smartly written invitation held it:

Preparing your go-to-market teams for the future means you’re going to have to break 20 years of bad habits, breaking expectations, breaking out of the box – pretty much just breaking a lot of things.

Break Sh!t shakes up the standard online event format, too, adding in the elements of speed and competition. In just three hours, 10 marketing leaders will share their big, bold ideas with the audience, who get to choose the best presentation. The winning speaker’s designated charity gets a $10,000 donation.

Even the video on the landing page subverts expectations. It’s a cleverly produced piece that feels like an off-the-cuff conversation.

WHY IT MATTERS: Online events have been a boon for marketers during the pandemic. But in the absence of any other option, digital fatigue is setting in. Terminus identified the need to do something different to convince people to spend time on what could be just another virtual event. From the title to the invitation to the landing page to the celebrity guest (a saxophone-playing sasquatch named Saxsquatch), the marketing convinces viewers that this event will be different.

Carrying that promise through to the format is also a clever move. Transforming the program into a competition will keep the audience’s interest longer. And it might even push the speakers to bring something new to the game.

.@Terminus aims to break through #VirtualEvent fatigue to market its Break Sh!t event (yes, it’s virtual). We think they nailed it. Agree? Via @CMIContent. #ContentMarketing #WeeklyWrap Share on X

An anniversary bash that’s all about the customers

Fitness software company TeamUp took an anniversary celebration to a personal level. At the one-year mark y of its integration with Zoom, the company dug into its data to find out how many online fitness classes each of its customers delivered over Zoom last year. Then it emailed a celebration package with a badge and social media post personalized with the customer’s company name and the number of fitness classes delivered.

As TeamUp’s Jessica Armstrong says: “Everyone loves an award and badge. By focusing these rewards on community efforts, it becomes more shareable.”

Over 100 customers shared their badges and social post to Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. An added benefit? Many customers started following TeamUp’s social channels for the first time.

“We didn’t ask anything from them by providing this information,” Jessica shared in an email, except to be tagged in the posts so their social team could reshare them. The company gathered as many posts as they could into this online class highlight.

WHY IT MATTERS: Brands seem to love marking their milestones in social media and blog posts. Yet, too many businesses make that content about themselves. TeamUp avoided that misstep by highlighting what their customers achieved in a challenging year. By taking the time to craft personalized content for each customer based on its internal data, TeamUp made the badges easily shareable. And customers responded positively, helping TeamUp expand awareness and its social media presence.

.@TeamUp sent social media-ready badges and pre-written posts to help its customers celebrate the fitness classes they’d delivered over @Zoom in the past year. A smart way to grow social following, says @JessArmstrongPR. @CMIContent #WeeklyWrap Share on X

Cashing in on content marketing careers (hint: learn to love data)

The newly released Managing Editor Career Survey Report 2021 finds data analytics is among the least favorite job responsibilities. And it’s one of the skills most correlated with higher earnings.

This year’s survey is based on 387 content marketers working in B2C, B2B, nonprofit, and government roles. Among the other highlights in the 20-page gated report:

  • B2B marketers reported higher earnings than their B2C peers and were more likely to be eligible for a bonus.
  • A majority reported working over 41 hours a week. Many of those who work over 51 hours were the top earners.
  • 77% of respondents say they work remotely full time, almost triple the number last year.

WHY IT MATTERS: Content marketing salary data is an important tool to help employers and content marketers understand their position in the market. Dig into the details via the interactive tool on site to reveal a series of world clouds that help you understand the results quickly. You might find areas where it makes sense to advance your skills. (Data analytics, anyone?)

A clever interactive tool makes it easy to understand the results of @ManagingEdMag 2021 #ContentMarketing career survey at a glance. One finding: It pays to get comfortable with data via @CMIContent. #WeeklyWrap Share on X
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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute