25 Journalists in Content Marketing: Part 4

Kim Caviness

Senior vice president of content, TMG Custom Media
Twitter: @kimcaviness

Her journalism chops: "I slaved on the news and features copy desk of a Murdoch tabloid, the Boston Herald, and then moved into magazines—Outbound Traveler, American Movie Classics—landing in special-sections land at Condé Nast Traveler, which opened the custom-content door."

Her gig: "Pitch, launch, create, hire, say 'no,' say 'yes,' manage a really smart and talented content/editorial team, find church-and-state solutions, nurture good ideas and good people."

Her info diet: New York magazine, Mediabistro, Folio, min, Paid Content, All Things D, The New York Times, Food52, W, HBR.org, People.com, TMG’s Engage blog.

Her pride: "Launching WebMD the Magazine for the leading health website WebMD.com in 2004—a counterintuitive, adventurous move that connected with one-million-plus readers and the marketplace, and did powerful things for the brand. And then, two years ago, relaunching a completely reimagined 142-year-old jewelry B2B magazine, JCK (think Women's Wear Daily meets W for the baubles biz), website, e-newsletter, video series, and sourcing site—and watching the traffic, readership, and sales go through the roof and the program get a slew of awards. That still feels good."

Her fave tech tools: Professionally, "it sounds boring and is definitely old-school, but email is my go-to, can’t-live-without-it app." Personally, "Open Table app. How amazing to be in my office in D.C. and book the last 7 p.m. reservation at a hard-to-get place in Austin, Texas, the next night?"

Her creative inspiration: "Movies. Netflicking at home or sitting in a dark theater, a great movie inspires me like nothing else about a content approach, design, challenge, or just a vibe. I also like to wander around online or hit the newsstand and buy armfuls of magazines and then check out all their apps to see how and why they shifted their design. And, honestly, I get inspired by the 'idea-machine' people I’m lucky enough to work with here. My mentor and boss, Jane Ottenberg, was the first person to teach me about content marketing when I was just out of college, before I went to work at the Herald."

Her content marketing advice: "When launching something new, don’t even move a muscle until you deeply understand or become your audience. What do they secretly want you to do for them? Come at it inside out. Ask yourself what they want to have experienced when they finish your content. It’s like building a house: First you imagine room by room, thinking of what readers will do in each area, no matter their mood or time of day. Then you build it."

Michelle Rafter

Freelance editor and editorial content manager, WordCount Editorial Services
Twitter: @michellerafter

Her journalism chops: Daily newspaper reporter; long-time business freelancer.

Her gig: "I work as a contract editor for digital media companies, such as Federated Media and BlogHer. I help shape strategy for content marketing websites or campaigns. That includes analyzing competitors, mapping out content categories and story ideas, managing freelancers, editing copy, managing content-management systems, assisting with website design, and collaborating on design of collateral materials such as reports and white papers."

Her info diet: "I use Twitter as a news feed and to broadcast links to my work; Twitter and LinkedIn to track sources; and am dabbling with Pinterest for a variety of purposes."

Her pride: "I'm pretty proud of a BlogHer series that ran in early 2012 called 'Reinvent Yourself,' sponsored by Kaplan. I commissioned posts from bloggers who were career coaches or who had changed careers to share posts, and packaged them in BlogHer's CMS. I also worked on some sponsored posts from Kaplan. The series was well received—lots of positive feedback from the community and BlogHer management."

Her fave tech tool: "Twitter. I couldn't work without it."

Her content marketing advice: "If you're creating a website as part of a content marketing campaign, commit to it for the long haul, use social media tools to promote it, and figure out before you launch anything how you'll measure success. Too many companies start sites then change how frequently they add content or shut sites down because they didn't perform to benchmarks that were never clear to begin with. And they hamstrung their staff by not maximizing their ability to use social sharing tools to promote their efforts."

Thomas Scott

CEO, Brand Journalists
Twitter: @brandjournalist

His journalism chops: "Majored in Photojournalism and Journalism at Loyola University New Orleans. Worked for four years as a contract photographer for Agence France-Press, then as a staff photographer for The Times-Picayune in New Orleans for 13 years. Twice nominated for Pulitzer Prizes. Shared the John B. Oakes Award for environmental reporting in 2000. Featured in the Poynter Institute’s Best Newspaper Writing 2001."

His gig: "Leader and corporate storyteller. We help companies become more human by producing and curating streams of stories for brands. The stories we create and publish on company websites, blogs, social media, and in press releases help customers better relate to and make sense of a brand."

His info diet: "I’m a voracious reader of blogs and a heavy LinkedIn and Facebook user. I like to read SEO and web-design articles to stay ahead in our industry since 'writing' has become merged with web design, PR, and SEO. Since we work within the franchise industry, I read franchise-industry books and blogs as well as many LinkedIn groups and discussions. LinkedIn group discussions are becoming more and more useful for small groups with a singular focus."

His pride: "We are most proud of the brand stories we create for franchise brands. Our clients use these 50-to-60-page documents as an incentive for website visitors to download. These brand stories are journalistically written and have transformed growth for several brands. We like to say the story is the essence of human communication; we’re finding out that when the story is both interesting and gives a transparent view into the culture and workings of a company, potential customers can better understand what a company is really about rather than just tune out the marketing messages. This means not only more people opt into the sales process; they are much more educated and engaged.

"We like to tell clients that the first conversation a salesperson has with a client is now lost to the Internet. Brand journalism is the vehicle that ensures people can get the full story in its most powerful format."

His fave tech tools: "We are large WordPress users. We require WordPress websites for our clients because they make the job of publishing streams of content much easier to manage and optimize."

His creative inspiration: "I’m from the deep South, and my childhood was full of the Southern literature tradition. Eudora Welty, Flannery O’Connor, and just about any other Southern writer are where I look for inspiration. Southern writers had to make sense of great tragedy and did so with amazing, descriptive writing styles that really challenged readers to look at the world in different ways.

"Brand journalism, at its best, follows in this great tradition. We work hard to write simply and descriptively so a brand’s readers are not aware of the language or grammar; they just get swept away by the story itself. If the story is strong enough and stands on its own, it will earn reads and the brand will earn more awareness."

His content marketing advice: "Read blogs. Tune in to social media. Begin blogging on a personal level so you can appreciate the craft. We often start client engagements with a field visit lasting one or two days. Part of this process is getting a handle on all of the common questions customers and potential customers ask. When we know this, we can better get at what the real story is.

"It isn’t what a company wants to say that is important; it is how well the brand understands how to make meaningful, human connections to its customer base. For every company, there are people who are truly interested in what it does, what it has to sell, and the role it plays in their lives. Brand journalism is the missing link companies can use to make much better connections."

Suzanne McDonald

Chief content and social strategist, Designated Editor
Twitter: @Sue_DesigEditor

Her journalism chops: Fifteen years at daily newspapers, including The Boston Globe.

Her gig: "I'm the editorial director of content and social strategy for Designated Editor, Newport Interactive Marketers networking group, and for Designated Editor clients. I scour conferences, books, blogs, and feeds for what's working and what's coming so clients can continue the conversation with their target audiences. I also create, edit, and oversee multimedia content: blogs, newsletters, video, social, mobile, etc."

Her info diet: "I'm an omnivore, but here are a few top selections."

Conferences: SXSW Interactive, MediaPost's OMMA conferences, and Link Love."

Podcasts: "'CEO Coach' with Gillian Muessig, on which I was featured for the episode Secrets to a Successful Transition; 'Internet Marketing' by Site Visibility; 'Duct Tape Marketing' by John Jantsch; 'Landing Page Optimization' with Tim Ash; and 'Ideasicle' with Will Burns."

Blogs: "I subscribe to a number of digests that arrive in my email, including Search Engine Land, Content Marketing Institute, and B2B Marketer."

Books: Content Strategy for the Web by Kristina Halvorson and Clout by Colleen Jones. "I have a series of three-minute social-media book reviews on The Designated Editor YouTube channel as well as my blog."

Her pride: "I'm particularly proud of my work with Newport Interactive Marketers networking group, which I launched in May 2010. Two years later, NIM has more than 600 members. From a content perspective, I'm thrilled to program the free, high-quality speakers and information. It's a challenge to serve a diverse audience—from social media pros to local shopkeepers—but the growth speaks for the success. I really anticipated we'd be a handful of folks talking shop every month. But we have members who have landed jobs and contracts as a result, not to mention free information-sharing, even among competitors."

Her fave tech tools: "HootSuite on my smartphone. It's the only way to manage (nearly) everything."

Her creative inspiration: "Everywhere and everyone. I especially love case studies that showcase creative that's worked. The OMMA Social conference does a great job with this and feeds my creative as well."

Her content marketing advice: "First, consider your audience and their interests. Forget about you, because you and your brand don't really mean all that much to prospects especially. There's information everywhere, so yours has to provide value. This is where being a journalist really helps. I think about what my readers would want to see on their front page: something interesting, relevant, entertaining, help them do their jobs better, etc. If you can hold their attention, they'll be a lot more likely to interact with you, and thus care about you and your brand."