S1, E3: Why CTAs Are a Big Deal

Category: Content

  • S1, E3: Why CTAs Are a Big Deal

    Season 1, Episode 3

    Mariah and Stu discuss the call-to-action, which is the gold-standard element of successful digital marketing.

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    Show Notes
    Transcript

    So it’s like a spider webby pyramid, if you will, you have the initial touch at the beginning, which is that ad campaign and the landing page. And then you have to think about this web of conversation that happens after.

    Welcome to Did I Say That Out Loud?, a podcast where Stu Eddins and Mariah Tang reflect on agency life and answer questions from our higher ed and healthcare clients about the latest in digital marketing, content and SEO.

    Well, here we are. All right now we’re coming up. And we’re talking about calls to action. My favorite topic? Yeah. This may be this may be the first time we’ve encountered a topic where we have to limit our commentary. Yeah.

    It’s a huge topic, there’s so much going on with it.

    Quite frankly, we see a lot of opportunity for improvement in a lot of different places.

    The one thing about call to action that I guess we should get out in the open right now, a call to action is something that you want your visitor to do, you have to get in front of them. We can have calls to action that are a Learn More button, it’s a it’s a click here to apply. It can be anything out there, that is a direction to do the next step.

    It’s a primary objective it is it is. And by the way, a call to action may not be a final step to if you know that you’ve talked to somebody or you reach somebody at the top of the of their decision tree, the very beginning of their path.

    The next call to action is probably learn more or probably to talk to us or something like that. It’s not going to be okay. Hey, glad to meet you by stuff. Yeah, we always call it the next natural step. Yes, exactly. No progression. Exactly. But we do need to make sure for example, we’ll get into this later that you understand the times we may need to have two different calls to action. Because I think we may limit ourselves sometimes.

    But a call to action a CTA? Well, I can’t tell you how many dollars I felt people spending in campaigns that did not have a clear call to action no matter how much we pushed to get one. Yeah.

    The way I tend to summon up in my, in my brain and my mind.

    People feel like it’s rude to tell somebody what to do next. Well, yeah, I mean, here I go. Don’t let me get too crazy here. When you are writing your own content or creating your own page. However, whatever your role is designing your own page. There’s two objectives, there’s what you want someone to do. And there’s what they want to do. What you want them to do should match what they want to do. It’s not Yes, of course, you want them to enroll in your college or make an appointment or buy the thing they want to figure out is this the place that I should be doing that action, once they’ve established that, then they take the next step for them that may be I need to read another blog about this, I need to talk to somebody on the phone about this, I need to read a testimonial, I need to download this white paper, or it could very well be the final action, you have to think about all of those different ideas and paths that person is going through, select the one that you feel is the most important at that moment. And really drive them towards that. And the one thing is not always what you ultimately want. It’s what they need to be doing where they are in that moment. Yeah. And that really kind of kind of makes sense, particularly when we feel that move when we remember, people will have multiple touches with everything before they make a decision, multiple touches with your website with your competitors websites, a touch from the billboard on the highway on the way home from the airport, something they have multiple inputs along the same path to a completion.

    Understanding that also helps us understand that at some point there is going to be a last question asked in the last answer given. So yeah, we do need to meet them in the moment. That’s something that Google loves bringing up I feel like they believe they invented those words meet in the moment. But it is well phrased and very descriptive.

    If you if you create your content in such a way that it does meet somebody in the moment, you probably have a very good idea of what they need to do next. Now when it comes to call to action, that’s the reason they came to the page. I’m going to revert back to a marketing standpoint or a paid advertising standpoint.

    It’s great that you’re here from more the the purely content standpoint. But we may have two different ways of approaching it. I just paid for this person to show up to my website to my landing page. I paid on average, let’s say in higher education right now, which is what I’m focusing on today from from those clients. The average cost per click is is in

    A neighborhood of $4.50 to $6. In that range, I just paid to get you to come here. The other part of the bargain is, you know, you clicked an ad, you’re expecting me, you’re giving it back giving me 10 seconds to validate why I showed why you showed up on the page. You click my ad, you asked a question in search. My ad was served to that question in search. You clicked on it, because I promised to have your answer. That’s what’s at the top of the page, I should not land on a page that says, hey,

    let’s stick with higher education. Again, for a moment. I’m looking for an accounting degree. And beyond. I clicked on Maria’s ad that said, I offer accounting degrees, and I show up to the page. And the very first thing I see is sign up to get an accounting degree.

    To me, that’s always been something like and this is an appropriate comparison. It’s like showing up for the first moment of a blind date and going in for a kiss instead of a handshake. Yeah, absolutely. It’s something that that is, you got in front of yourself just a little bit there. Okay, you’re at least acknowledging you need to have that call to action on the page. The other side of this and more commonly, I see landing pages with with the call to action buried, difficult to find, maybe even just text hyperlink in the middle of the paragraph. You know, you don’t need to have a red flashing button that says do this next. But you got to make it easy. Yeah. Yeah. If you’re going to have a call to action, you also have to make it easy for me to answer that call.

    So don’t make me jump through too many hoops. Don’t make me scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page to find a 53 field form that I got to fill out. Yeah, do something that gets me to my to my objective soon. But do it after you’ve assured me I’m at the right competent page, I think we need to paint a visual picture here for the listener. So you have this very specific ad, speaking to a very specific moment in which you’re going to meet this person, that person puts in a question and Google essentially raised it or Bing or whatever, essentially raises their hand and says, I have this question. This looks like an answer for me. They land on your campaign landing page or your website page, whatever your goal is, their instant validation is what they need, exactly have landed in the right place. This feels like a good fit for me and the tone in the voice and the message, here is an action step towards the top, if I’m ready to do that. And that’s perfect. If I’m not quite there yet, or I’m not quite convinced, that’s when we start layering in the benefit statements, though, what’s in it for me that, here’s how this will help you, if you come here, here’s how we’ll support you.

    Putting that validation right up at the top is the most important thing, making it short and sweet, making it full of benefits and then giving a really easy step. Are we asking them to call a phone triage where they’re just gonna get lost, and then the operator doesn’t have any idea what we’re talking about, because marketing doesn’t communicate with others? Are we giving them a button to email directly to the person who can help them, we’re having them fill out a form, whatever it is, it’s got to be super simple on there. And don’t make them give you their social security number and blood type and mother’s maiden name and all that crap, just to get the simple thing that they want. I do think shoe size may be important substance would be okay. The other part about this that’s interesting is making the call to action appropriate for the level. Yeah. Oh, I do want to go backward here for just a second. You said something very, very interesting at the top, where you were talking about validating their rival. I had mentioned that that something similar just a few moments before that. Here are the metrics. Here’s the measurable thing that happens. I search for something your ad promised an answer, I land on your page, I’m going to give you 10 seconds or less. To assure me I’ve landed on the right page that isn’t talking about you up front that isn’t talking about what you need to do up front. It’s answering the question in the first part of the page, the headline, the imagery that supports that headline, and maybe the first short paragraph that’s less than 10 seconds of content. And it has to hold my attention relative to the question I asked him search.

    So if we have all those things aligned, we all know we’re here because in my case, I clicked an ad. Then tell me why your best next, why you solve my problems better, what benefit I get from you, and now asked me am I ready to commit? And what’s the level of commitment? Because a request for more information is a very good mid funnel type of a question. And a sign up for an application or register for an event or a class is a very bottom of the funnel commitment.

    Making sure that the question asked the answer given and the call to action. All follow a logical flow is very important now from your side of the world, which is more about the organic or the the link built traffic coming in? You probably run into some situations where we have to have institutional voice first, where you have to Yes. And air quotes Yeah. Where we have to talk about why we’re the best choice and why we’re the best provider of x in the region.

    And that doesn’t tend to answer the question I asked. How do you overcome that deep? Do you find that that’s a stumbling block to getting to that call to action? Or do you think you get better results up at the top? If you dive into the topic first, and then describe us toward the bottom? Did you see nobody in the audience can see that painful look that I just gave you. It’s, you know, it’s if you’re a good strategist, and you really have a good handle on what the objective is of the campaign, and you really understand your audience. Sometimes it’s really easy to turn those statements into a benefit statement for the audience. Like, just I’ll pull this out of the air, the best Lung Cancer Center in, you know, Michigan or whatever. If I am a person saying, Where should I take my dad to get lung cancer treatment? That answers my question, you’re the best, I’m going to read the rest of your page. If I am looking for, you know, something about what type of research does this hospital do? That’s not necessarily going to answer that question. But it does a statement like that, at the top of the page, if you really think about who you’re trying to reach, what their questions are, what their pain points are, you can phrase it in such a way that it’s mutually beneficial for both of you. And as you were talking earlier about the, you know, the mid funnel, the bottom of the funnel, the top of the funnel, I’m going to say something that will probably because a lot of people will laugh. But when you go in to starting a campaign, you say we need to get more students for this program. These are some questions they’re asking, let’s launch some ads. And all you’ve come up with is the landing page and the ad and the creative and the budget.

    That’s the tip of the iceberg friends, like you have to anticipate if you’re doing this strategically, if you really want this to be successful over time and not just for the course of your campaign, you have to anticipate what are the next set of questions for each level? What content can we give them for each level?

    Does that answer those questions, specifically? And what are the end points there? So it’s like a spiderweb, a pyramid? If you will, you had the initial touch at the beginning, which is that ad campaign and the landing page. And then you have to think about this web of conversation that happens after So in an ideal world, you have that whole web set up already. And you can tailor it using the data that you find through your ads. I’m gonna say right now, nobody does that. Most organizations freak out in the moment, we need to do the thing. And then you end up with that situation that you talked about before. Like, we’re spending your money on this thing. But it’s not set up, right, even though we told you to set it up, right? Yeah.

    The other thing I found is that a full funnel approach, either through content ads, or a blend of both generates a lot of pages, a lot of maintenance. And that’s kind of scary, too, because it has its own overhead of costs through effort. if not outright cost, if you’re paying somebody else to do it for you.

    That’s often why people who were doing the marketing side of the world will concentrate on the bottom part of the funnel, it’s cleaner, it’s more efficient, you’ve already made your decision that you are going to commit to an accounting class. Now we just got to convince you to do ours.

    But a full funnel approach is going to say, you know, Hey, are you interested in business? How about accounting? Accounting? Here’s some things about accounting that are good, that are going to answer questions you might have about it. And it all keeps raining down toward that pointy end of the funnel.

    I think that that takes a lot of development. And it takes a lot of anticipation. And quite frankly, probably more labor than most of the marketing web departments have. I think it depends, okay, if you have to go. If you have a smart strategy about it, you don’t have to create 20 pieces of content to answer 20 questions, you can create four or five. If you set them up appropriately, you can answer multiple questions in one piece. It doesn’t have to just be focused on that one thing. So you maybe have, let’s say, our end game is to get accounting students. Okay. They have maybe three top questions that we’ve identified. Right, one piece for each of those things. What are the next set of three questions? Right, one piece that answers those three questions. It doesn’t have to be like this magnitude overwhelming pile of content. And I see still giving me the goofy. What the heck are you talking about lady? Oh, yes. I mean, then, like you said it all goes down to the pointy end and you’re all linking back to one major CTA which is applied, but throughout your career.

    Writing different levels of answers different levels of questions. Oh, go look at this resource. Oh, hey, here’s some information about your potential job future here. This whole web, we call it career focused storytelling leads up to what you’re saying. answer those questions along the way. It doesn’t have to be 10, deep dive 3000 Word of content articles to get there, right. And the beauty of digital is you can update them frequently. So if those questions change, and you’re finding that one of them bombed, and it didn’t work out, like you got swapped the questions out, change the text, the strange look I was giving you was because I was very happy that you just backed in to the discussion of why you have to have an understanding and a good understanding of the personas you service and the journey they have to take. Yes, if you don’t know who you’re talking to, how are you supposed to phrase it? Right. Yeah. So yeah, it does go back to a more fundamental discussion of that. Who is our target audience? Let’s just talk about who they are. Let’s define them. What is their likely decision path? We may not address every step along it.

    But we must know what it is. Because folks in higher education, the very top of the funnel question is, Should I go to school?

    It’s not, the top of the funnel is not who’s whose accounting class should I take? If you really want to go to the top? So should I even go to school? And the after I answer that, it’s what’s the best type of school, he could construct this all the way down. And there’s content that can serve as every every step of the way? And only at some point does marketing step in? Excuse me, advertising, it’s all some sort of marketing should I shouldn’t be clear.

    But there comes a point where you can apply advertising to the process, okay, really goes back into calls to action. There’s many different call to action at every single level. If the question is, Should I even go to school, the call to action has to be something unique to that, and it’s not going to be the same as Should I take accounting from you? Right? Right. So get the call to action balanced and appropriate for the step you’re in. And if we follow what you just said Mariah and grouping similar questions together, they’re gonna have similar call to action.

    Absolutely. There’s, there’s was a fairly recent construct that Google put forward. In an article called the messy middle, you can look it up. I think we have a blog article out there, I will put it in the show notes. Yeah. And their concept gets rid of the the concept of a funnel with a broad top and a pointy bottom. Fact of the matter is, it’s not really a funnel. Anyway, it’s a sieve, people leak out left, right and sideways throughout the model. Yeah. But they’re not really leaking out. What’s happening is something triggers them to want something, an education, a doctor’s or put something. And then they go through, they drop into this, if you consider to be a infinity symbol, and eight on its side, this loop of exploration and evaluation, they keep going back and forth through this. An RFI form is part of that it is part of that exploration, I have a question, you’re gonna give me the answer, I’m going to evaluate it which feeds back into my exploration. That’s a that’s assigning a call to action to the appropriate level of what they’re doing.

    Now, the next step we want them to do is either sign up for an application or sign up for an appointment or something. That is because the last question they had was answered, and now they’re proceeding forward to commitment.

    And let’s all agree, if I apply to a college, or if I sign up for doctor visit, it doesn’t mean I’m actually going to show up. Right? Right. But that is the next thing on our list. It’s getting that indication of commitment. And you’re not going to do that with somebody who says, Hey, do I even need to go to school? Yes, come here, sign up now. Right? Love of God can your school? Yeah, it’s just not going to work. Right. So keeping that that that journey, whether you use a funnel, whether whether you use that messy middle configuration that Google proposes, and editorially, that’s the one I prefer.

    Whatever it is, make sure that your content, your call to action, everything else is based on that person’s assumed journey, you will learn how it shifts over time and learn to shift shift your expectations but on your construct of that journey with the construct of not one but several personas who are going to pursue this

    and realize that what you describe as a persona may not exactly match up with what something like analytics tells you or the actual people doing the the following the path with that messy middle. This brings up something that we were talking about our candidly yesterday’s interlinking This is a whole separate thing. So don’t let me go too far with this. But when you’re when you’re doing that,

    This infinity loop when you’re when you’re answering all these questions, and you have this categorized interlinking in each of those articles, even if they land on that base, should I go to college article? You should have some way for them to jump steps yes be able to get to the Okay, now I’m ready to apply because they might not my they’re gonna go back and forth between all of these levels so many times trying to validate their own experience their own questions like make Grandma happy, because she asked me about this one thing, and I remember it from way back here. Make sure that those bunny tracks are always there that you follow. Right in that brings up what I said at the top, sometimes you have to have two calls to action, you have to have the call to action for the next logical step in their journey. Or you have to have the call to action. That is the final moment because they asked their last question, and they’re now ready. Yeah. You present both. And they may not be the same action. Yeah. And we’ll put some links to some beautiful landing pages that we’ve come across out in the wild in the show notes. Yeah, that’s great. CTAs, we could probably go on about this for another, I don’t know, 3040 minutes, and still not completely cover the topic. But I think that kind of discusses how we’re looking at it. And and when we advise clients, the foundation that we’re operating from, we offer that that help.

    Yeah, when it comes to call to action, I guess the one thing to take away, don’t be shy. Everybody showed up to do something in a casual browser who just happened on your page, the odds of them that just deciding to do what you want them to do is slim.

    They came to you with some purpose in mind. And if your content has that purpose, whether that purpose came from an ad or or a embedded link on somebody else’s blog. When they came to your page, they had some intention, some purpose, help them and the call to action is the way you help them do that. It’s the next thing. Well said.

    Thanks for listening to Did I Say That Out Loud? with Stu Eddins and Mariah Tang. Check out the show notes for more information about today’s episode. And if you have any questions, concerns or comments, hit us up anytime at stamats.com.

  • Ban These Words from Your Higher Ed Content

    Ban These Words from Your Higher Ed Content

    In my 30 years of experience in higher ed marketing (Really, can I be that old? Yes…), I’ve noticed certain words that immediately turn potential students off. These words slow the momentum of your copy and can even make you seem untrustworthy. I’ve seen the bounce rate on landing pages improve just because these words were removed. Here are the words and phrases you should never use in your higher ed content.

    Buzzwords

    These are corporate-speak that might feel very in vogue right now but are already outdated even as you’re writing them. Once language reaches the corporate sphere, it’s already considered cliche and overused. Not to mention, your competitors are probably using these exact same words. You don’t want to sound just like the competition. You want to sound straightforward and convincing where no one else is. Here are corporate buzzwords to avoid in 2024:

    • Think outside the box
    • Leverage
    • Disrupter
    • Drill down
    • Low-hanging fruit
    • Synergy
    • New normal
    • Circle back
    • Move the needle
    • Get on the same page
    • Take this offline
    • Lean in
    • Utilize

    These buzzwords from popular culture are also too stale to make fresh content:

    • Hack
    • Life hack
    • Holistic
    • Influencer
    • Ducks in a row

    Words that Claim Too Much

    These words are trying to say a lot, and if you’re using them, there better be evidence to back them up. Otherwise, if a potential student sees “flawless,” they’re immediately going to distrust the copy. After all, there’s no way your program is actually flawless—you’re human! Potential students want to feel that you’re telling them the truth, and these words immediately make you seem dishonest.

    • Revolutionary
    • Unique
    • Groundbreaking
    • Unparalleled
    • Unprecedented
    • Matchless
    • Unrivaled
    • Beyond compare
    • Flawless
    • First of its kind
    • World-class
    • World-renowned
    • Transformative

    Higher Ed-Specific Words

    These words mean something so specific in our industry that they are incomprehensible jargon to someone on the outside—as your website audience is. At best, these are confusing. At worst, they alienate your audience.

    • Matriculate
    • Outcomes
    • Learning outcomes
    • Prospective

    When you remove these words, you start to sound less like an advertising bot and more like a human. These words can be tempting to use, but relying on them is a mistake.

    Let’s look at an example of a sentence made better when the banned words were removed. I’ve bolded the problematic words we want to remove.

    Before: Discover the transformative power of our HVAC program, where we utilize a comprehensive approach to training, resulting in groundbreaking outcomes that prepare you for success in the industry.

    After: Explore our HVAC program. We use a hands-on approach to training that will help you develop the practical skills you need to land your first job in the industry.

    The first sentence uses more words, but it doesn’t say much. What does a comprehensive approach to training mean? And is it really groundbreaking? What exactly are these outcomes? The first sentence gives the reader no reason to trust us with their time and money. In fact, it gives active reasons to distrust—why all the smoke and mirrors, a potential student could ask.

    The second set of sentences is straightforward, to the point, and clarifies exactly what the goals of the program are—to help people get entry-level jobs in the HVAC program. Without all the fluff, the point gets across.

    In higher education marketing, language holds immense power, shaping perceptions and influencing decisions. I’ve noticed that certain words can inadvertently hinder student engagement and trust. By removing these problematic words and phrases, higher ed marketers can boost conversions and sound human, empathetic, and convincing.

    Interested in creating relevant and engaging content? Contact us at [email protected] for a personalized consultation about how you can transform your communications.

    Another content article from Joan: Our Empty Words

  • Triple Advantage: Pro Tips to Leverage SEO, PR, & Content Marketing

    Triple Advantage: Pro Tips to Leverage SEO, PR, & Content Marketing

    Both content marketing and PR center on building relationships with the media and with specific audiences. Both require smart distribution, such as placement in quality publications and media outlets, as well as gaining high-ranking search engine and social media mindshare.

    These teams also have a platform in common—the institution’s blog or website press room—that makes it easy for journalists to pick up stories and general audiences to connect with your content.

    Candace Gwaltney, Associate Director of Communications of Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, and I shared the stage at the NACCDO-PAMN Annual Conference to provide insights into how PR and content teams can successfully make this shift to:

    • Maximize subject matter expert (SME) time with fewer, more focused interviews
    • Avoid brand cannibalization or self-created SEO competition
    • Create a higher volume of content with increasingly fewer staff

    Content—how to do it well and at scale—was a hot topic at NACCDO-PAMN, and every other conference we’ve attended this year. Here are highlights from our presentation and insights from other institutions’ sessions.

    1. Win Earned Media With Relevant Content

    Michael Perchick

    When pitching to reporters, Michael Perchick from ABC-11 in North Carolina says there are three factors to consider before clicking “send”:

    • Is the story new? Does it offer something that hasn’t been seen before?
    • Does it carry impact? Does it change how people think about something or affect multiple people in the area or nationwide?
    • Can reporters get access ASAP? They’ll need interviews today, audio, and/or B-roll. Can they meet with you today, if interested?

    Reporters typically work on same-day stories with tight deadlines. Providing access to timely, impactful content significantly increases the chances that they’ll pick up your story, said former journalist Taylor Lisenby who is now the Digital Communications Manager at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

    For optimal results, Michael suggests that you contact the journalist through their preferred communication channel before their morning editorial meeting and be prepared to respond quickly to any follow-up questions or requests.

    2. Become an SEO Detective

    Dan Cave

    “Doing SEO” well is a long game. It can take search engines a few days or weeks to crawl your site and start the SERP ranking process for new content.

    Dan Cave of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center says SEO is a mix of immediacy, long-term planning, and detective work. You can’t control Google, but you CAN control your website content. Put on your SEO detective hat and check:

    • Page content
    • Page analytics
    • Total site traffic
    • Recent search engine updates

    Dan also notes that search intent matters more than closely matching nonspecific keywords like “cancer” in your content. So, your site might not rank for a single, broad term. But if you do SEO well—by continually optimizing your content—you’ll rank for what really matters: The who, why, where, and how.

    Look for gaps in user experience with search intent as a guidepost to optimize content and/or consider a strategic SEM campaign. For example, if people are searching “ovarian cancer treatment near me” but you haven’t created content to serve that intentional search, that’s a missed opportunity.

    3. Create SEO-Rich Content at Scale

    When content and PR teams collaborate, you can create a main “hub” story once and strategically share it with all your audiences—including journalists—across multiple platforms.

    In our presentation, Candace and I shared best practices for collaborating between content marketing and PR teams:

    • Strategic interlinking to related content helps deepen readers’ connection with your organization and subject while strengthening your SEO standing.
    • Include digital brass tacks. Create a strategic meta description, URL, call-to-action, photo captions, and alt text for the stories you produce, regardless of audience.
    • Find and highlight the story. What does your audience want? Shape and distribute your content to meet their wants and needs.

    When you follow these basics, you can use a single story in multiple ways, reducing SME time and resulting in more strategic storytelling and media outreach across your teams. Here’s an example of how IU Simon tells effective, SEO-rich stories at scale:

    • Capture video of an SME sharing their latest research
    • Post that video on your site and on YouTube with a transcript
    • Create a blog story from a niche topic within that research
    • Publish the blog on your site and distribute it:
      • On social media
      • Via email to subscribers
      • Through your PR channels, including emails to the media and press release platforms

    4. Share Department Stories on Owned Media Channels

    Tadd Pullin

    Strategic MarComm efforts can help draw attention to service lines not currently in the spotlight for a full multimedia campaign.

    Tadd Pullin, Senior Vice President of Institutional Affairs and Chief Brand and Communications Officer of UT MD Anderson Cancer Center suggested these owned media tactics to raise brand awareness, attract earned media, and show internal clients attention without overtaxing your MarComm team:

    • Podcasts
    • Articles and blog stories
    • Website content optimization

    These individual strategies are most effective where they overlap, Tad said. If you aren’t at the table, he continued, you’re on the menu. If you take a single story and run it through these channels, you’ll be more likely to reach your marcomm goals and prevent being subsumed by the competition.

    A Few Final Thoughts

    Strategic storytelling combines elements of SEO, PR, and content marketing best practices. One cohesive story can reach journalists, donors, and prospective patients or trainees effectively.

    Content has the most impact when it incorporates a mix of earned, owned, and paid media. It’s at this overlap where the magic happens. When you unite these strategies, you create a powerful blend that boosts your message, enhances your visibility, and captivates your audience.

    Ready to talk strategy? Email Mariah Tang to discuss your content, SEO, and digital storytelling goals.

  • Storytelling: Its Enduring Power in the Age of AI

    Storytelling: Its Enduring Power in the Age of AI

    The truth is, AI can’t tell impactful stories—at least not yet. Storytelling is the secret sauce that makes content a truly valuable part of any robust marketing strategy. But how can tried-and-true human storytelling principles evolve to leverage data and stay relevant in a swelling sea of commodity content?

    Stamats AVP of Content Marketing Mariah Obiedzinski Tang recently sat down with Martynas Fedotovas, Chief Technology Officer of Sirius Media Company, for a wide-ranging conversation about the state of content marketing. We’ve included some highlights of their discussion, and you can listen to the full interview on YouTube.

    Journalism, Storytelling, and The Content Sweet Spot

    Martynas Fedotovas: Can you give any advice for how to leverage journalism skills to create compelling, conversion-focused content?

    Mariah Obiedzinski Tang: Absolutely. If you work in healthcare, you might have one hospital client on the West Coast and another on the East Coast. Chances are they offer very similar services. They can take care of your heart, they can treat your cancer, they can deliver a baby.

    The content you create for the West Coast hospital will always look different from the content you create for that East Coast hospital. That’s because every group has different providers and workflows, different nurses and frontline staff that greet patients when they come in.

    They have different patient audiences, different providers telling their unique stories, and different research projects.

    While you might start by saying “we’re going to tell a story about heart disease for Heart Month, those stories will look very different based on what goes on inside the walls of that institution and how they carry that expertise out into the community.

    – Mariah Obiedzinski Tang

    Martynas: When you’re telling a story, what elements does it need to be compelling for customers?

    Mariah: At first, companies sometimes wonder why they would need to invest in storytelling. But stories are how people learn.

    From the time you’re a child through adulthood, you communicate with stories. You don’t just say “I met this guy and had a bad date.” You’re going to tell your friend about the whole ordeal: He was late, he thought you were going to pay for dinner, he brought his weird dog and it bit you. All those details make the story come alive. The AI language models can’t pull together real stories that inspire customers to act. Only you can do that.

    Martynas: Is there a framework to follow to tell these types of compelling stories?

    Mariah: I always coach teams to follow the Quentin Tarantino model. It’s kind of silly, but it works. You start with the end of the story in mind. Where does the audience want to end up? Help them visualize themselves as a satisfied customer. Start there and then work backward through the details about how to get there. Whether that means taking a class, getting a degree, or working with your company.

    Build these blocks and put the reader in the driver’s seat. Show them what they’re going to end up with first and work back through the details. It’s a modern take on the inverted pyramid.

    Martynas: What advice can you give companies that are just putting together their content creation calendar?

    Mariah: It’s tempting to think “We’ve got to get our CEO on the phone” or “We’ve got to talk to the top surgeon.” Even though they only have five free minutes in their day, we think they’re the only one who can tell the story. But that’s not always true.

    Instead of getting overwhelmed about how you’re going to get every subject matter expert on the phone, whittle down your calendar to the one or two important stories that really require an in-demand expert. For the others, find someone else with expertise who can give their perspective. Oftentimes if you go a couple of levels sideways or even down the chain of command, you can talk to people who are directly connected to the story and have a unique perspective.

    Related reading: Creating Audience-Focused Content

    Leveraging data to make content decisions

    Martynas: How do you tailor content strategies to the specific needs and challenges of an industry?

    Mariah: First, consider the business goals of the institution. Are they looking to attract patients, are they looking to attract trainees or researchers? Second, who are the people in the audience who would be best served by their content?

    So you think about questions like:

    • What is the story we are trying to tell?
    • What is the information the audience needs to receive?
    • What questions is the audience asking?

    The answers to those questions will help you understand what content you need to produce to be an authoritative leader, one that issues the answers to those questions before they’re even asked.

    Martynas: How important is gathering data to understanding the business you’re running?

    Mariah: One thing we see a lot in higher education and healthcare is the massive accumulation of data. It’s just part of being an academic institution. The thing that’s sometimes missing is the next step: What happens with that data once you’ve collected it?

    If you’re gathering all this data, it doesn’t serve your audience until you’ve taken that next step to implement it. If you don’t have a person on your team who’s well-versed in analyzing data and spotting trends, you might consider working with a partner organization that can help you leverage that data into something you can use.

    That teammate or partner could help you identify what people are looking for on your website, for instance. If it’s not there, then you’ve found some missing content you can create to engage with your audience. That’s an opportunity to answer questions they’re asking.

    Martynas: How can small and medium-sized businesses use the data they have to make better quality decisions?

    Mariah: One thing I recommend is a competitor analysis. Obviously, you don’t want to copy what your competitors are doing. What you can do is take that layer of data and overlay it to compare against what you’re offering. That’s a great way to identify potential gaps in your content.

    Another way is to look at your social media to see what’s resonating with people in real-time. Look at the comments they leave and the engagements they offer. If they’re not interacting, it could be that your content isn’t getting seen, or maybe it’s just not resonating with your audience. If they’re leaving comments, sharing, and interacting with your posts, you can get a lot of information just by listening organically on social media.

    Related reading: How to Maximize Website Traffic with a Content Audit—and What to Do Next

    Building content efficiency and earning executive buy-in

    Martynas: How can marketing and public relations teams take proactive steps to streamline the process and enhance collaboration?

    Mariah: Shared calendars are important. Often in a big institution, it can be complicated (to say the least) to combine all your ideas. In small organizations, when you have a one- or two-person marketing team, you don’t always have much opportunity to bounce ideas around.

    However, if you make an effort to have a 10- or 15-minute touch-base meeting, it can make a big difference. What are the top stories you need to cover for your department this week? Discuss your ideas and identify where projects overlap. It’s those overlaps where you can find some powerful additional content that you can spread out all month.

    You can save your teams and subject matter experts a lot of time and effort when you’re creating one robust piece of strategic content instead of three or four less impactful pieces.

    Martynas: How do you communicate the long-term value of storytelling and content marketing to stakeholders inside the company who may be looking for short-term results?

    Mariah: The beauty of content marketing is sometimes you know a piece is going to take off and be impactful, and sometimes you don’t know. If you can show off incremental wins and demonstrate the strategy of leveling up week after week, month after month, it shows you have thought behind your process.

    Bringing data is always important, especially when you’re working with executives. They like to see those numbers, and they like to know what you’re doing with those numbers and how you’re going to continue to grow. Show them the quick wins and show them the long-term strategy. Show them where you are now and demonstrate how that strategy will get the company to where it wants to go.

    AI and the future of content marketing

    Martynas: How do you think the algorithms are shaping the way companies are communicating with audiences?

    Mariah: Over the years, we’ve seen people’s opinions, tactics, and content change. One thing that’s stayed true is that anything created for humans is always going to resonate better in the long term, and it’s going to serve you better than anything you’ve designed to appeal to an algorithm.

    Five or 10 years ago, writing for SEO was the big thing. People were plugging in keywords every other sentence, and the content became unreadable. That worked for a while. Your page might rank first or second on Google, but it would plummet right away when people found it unusable. According to Google, the more you write for human beings the more your content will be viewed as relevant, and the more it will get picked up—in search and by these generative AI products. It’s all about relevance and usefulness. In a world of commodity content that anybody can create, that’s what’s going to help you stand out.

    Martynas: There are so many changes happening in the marketing industry these days, and Stamats has been around for 100 years now. How do you see the future evolving, and where are the opportunities for companies?

    Mariah: As marketers, writers, and designers, it’s tempting to feel threatened by some of these new technological tools like ChatGPT and even Canva. It’s important to remember there’s always a burst of Shiny Object Syndrome.

    New things come out, and we have this collective freakout moment. Then over the next couple of months, people start to realize these things can be used to enhance our work, make us more efficient, and serve our clients and their budgets well.

    We have to be willing to be flexible, to try new things, and not put our eggs all in the same basket. I guarantee that in six months it’s going to look wildly different from what it is now, so the best thing we can do is buckle up, work AI into our processes, and go from there.

    About Mariah Obiedzinski

    Mariah brings training in journalism and decades of experience leading content marketing teams in content strategy, writing, subject matter expert and stakeholder interviews, and content marketing initiatives.

    Catch her at an upcoming speaking engagement: 

    Stamats works with clients to maximize the impact of their content marketing strategy. Schedule a time to talk with an expert about your content.

  • Enterprise Content AI Implementation Success Story

    Enterprise Content AI Implementation Success Story

    Our clients and colleagues are using AI to kickstart their writing, streamline their processes, and back up their hunches. It’s a great support tool, though the consensus is that it can’t provide the all-important authenticity that makes your messages resonate.

    Savvy strategists like Patrick Kelly at Harper College in Palatine, Illinois, use AI to offload some tasks that often bog down projects. Patrick is having great success adopting AI support tools and using the time he’s saving to enhance Harper’s stories and complete more content strategy initiatives.

    Here are three use cases Patrick is sharing with content teams nationwide through conference speaking engagements and workshops. Contact Patrick Kelly on LinkedIn.

    #1 Refresh Certificate Content with Fresh Job Data

    ChatGPT might be the most recognizable AI content platform, but it’s far from the only option. You’ll find AI content generators developed specifically for marketing, SEO, image optimization, language translation, video narration and transcripts, and web analytics.

    Challenge for Harper College: Turn languishing partial-credit program pages into vibrant user- and search-friendly content.

    Harper’s plan: Use Google Gemini, formerly known as Google Bard, to generate copy for job-specific courses and certifications, e.g., truck driving, coding in Python, prepping as a veterinary assistant, or earning a real estate license. Patrick tested and chose Gemini because he had confidence Google’s search expertise would prove valuable.

    AI-supported results: Harper’s web traffic showed significant SEO gains. The site clicks increased 76% overall, with an increase of 170% in unbranded queries. The trucking page was up 28%, the Python coding page was up by 52%, and the top performer was the Real Estate page, gaining an astonishing 331% uptick in clicks.

    What Harper College learned:

    • Start with light writing on general topics. AI content should be brief and straightforward—look for ways to expand on existing content or combine multiple sources.
    • Understand your audience. Specify the optimal reading level for your users. In general, an eighth-grade reading level works for most websites.
    • Help the AI learn exactly what you need. Instead of “two paragraphs about becoming a real estate broker,” use prompts like “search-optimized webpage about training and job outlook for licensed real estate brokers in Illinois.”

    #2 Build Structured Base Content in Half the Time

    Academia and healthcare websites rely on a foundation of structured, list-able content. For example, course descriptions, degree lists, and condition pages. Producing that kind of content starts with objective SEO data gathering and analysis—a perfect task for AI, with a little help from student employees.

    Challenge for Harper College: Humanize the school’s 70+ career pages. Patrick’s team had the bare-bones details but needed to round out the content with meaningful, career-focused context.

    Harper’s plan: Use jasper.ai and thoroughly tested spreadsheet formulas to generate content options for narrative, search-friendly descriptions of career paths and job outlooks.

    AI-supported results: Student workers completed basic content assignments quickly, even though most were not trained web content writers. That efficiency helped the team eliminate about 3.5 hours of foundational work per page, giving Patrick’s professional writing team more space for creative editing. The new content showed an increase of 217% in clicks for overall search, and a 358% increase in unbranded queries! See the Health Information Technology Careers page as an example.

    What Harper College learned:

    • Structured output requires structured input. Identify your specific content needs and the data you need to make it happen before you start using AI.
    • Spreadsheets can guide organization. Content creators can use spreadsheets to house all the key data points they need for AI prompts and as holding places for outputs.
    • Test and streamline the process before handing it off. A bit of trial and error can eliminate confusion and bottlenecks in workflows and processes when everyone is deep in the trenches.
    • AI can be a valuable training tool. Structured content using documented processes is a great way to hand off to student workers or interns who don’t have the time for extensive onboarding or long-winded instructions.
    • Keep your options open. Free AI platforms are a great way to learn, but paid platforms built by subject matter experts might be a better investment of your time.

    #3 Highlight & Name New “8-Week Classes” Initiatives

    The Harper College use case: Create a report highlighting programs where all the classes can be taken in eight-week formats and come up with a name for marketing the new “package” to prospective students.

    Harper’s plan: Use Gemini to assess the data and generate the report. Then use Gemini to analyze those results alongside web traffic data to suggest initiative names that would generate the most traffic.

    The results: In addition to the naming suggestions, Patrick was also able to provide stakeholders from the academic departments with the rationale for each.

    What Harper College learned:

    • Use AI to explain the why. This is a huge plus for stakeholders who look for strong data to drive their decisions.
    • Use the AI results as a starting point. Add your organization’s branding, tone, and voice to make it unique, or use it to guide decision-making discussions.
    • Take advantage of AI to synthesize multiple data sources. Wondering why you’re suddenly getting traffic to a specific page?

    AI can be useful, but strategy and storytelling matter most.

    Colleagues like Patrick Kelly demonstrate that there’s no need to shy away from incorporating AI into your content production. As Sabra Fiala, AVP of Marketing at Stamats, summarizes, there are abundant ways that institutions can use AI to “innovate, empower, and positively impact lives” through content strategy.

    We can quickly deliver highly effective SEO content using streamlined and documented processes, reaching audiences faster and with greater precision than ever before. That said, there’s a difference between content production and content creation. It takes strategic thinking and our deep instincts as communicators to create compelling stories for user journeys.

    With all those hours saved, we’ll have more time to explore, refine, and imagine—and that’s where the magic of content strategy happens.

    Need some direction in using AI?

    We’d love to connect and discuss your unique content strategy challenges. Email us!

    Related reading: 3 Rules for a Better SEO Linking Strategy

  • The ‘Who’ and ‘Why’ Behind Gen Z Employees: What We’ve Learned at Stamats

    The ‘Who’ and ‘Why’ Behind Gen Z Employees: What We’ve Learned at Stamats

    Between the late 1990s and early 2010s came the most diverse generation in history, one that, in 2020, made up just 6.1% of the workforce and is anticipated to constitute approximately 30% of it by 2030.

    But as companies continue to weigh the pros and cons of hiring Gen Z employees, the cons seem to outweigh, as the first wave of qualified Gen Z professionals and recent college grads hoping to enter the workforce hasn’t necessarily had a positive experience in doing so.

    RippleMatch, a recruitment automation platform that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to match users to jobs and internships, recently surveyed more than 3,000 Gen Z students and recent graduates on their job searching experiences. Results show that nearly half of Gen Zers are submitting more than 50 applications during their job searches, 47% of them worry about whether their applications will stand out to recruiters, and 38% ranked being “ghosted” by recruiters during the interview process as one of the most challenging aspects of the process.

    As a recent college graduate and older Gen Zer myself, I can’t say those numbers surprise me.

    My Gen Z Job Search Experience

    A few months before graduating from Ball State University in May 2022, I started my job search in hopes of finding work before the end of my senior year. I knew the process wouldn’t be easy, but I finally felt ready to get it started.

    By no means did I think I would be the best candidate in the bunch for the dozens of jobs I applied to. I didn’t expect to hear back from every single company with a “thanks, but no thanks” type of email, but I also didn’t expect total silence.

    In my opinion, I was a strong applicant. Not only did I have a triple major and one minor, but I was also a student in the honors college. I held leadership roles, including editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, in multiple student media outlets all four years. I worked on-campus jobs starting the first week of my freshman year until the last week of my senior year, completed four journalism industry-relevant internships, freelanced for multiple publications, and worked as an apprentice and editorial assistant for a writer published in top media outlets including The New York Times, ELLE, and The L.A. Times.

    But despite the education and experience on my resume, every single application I submitted led to a dead end.

    Then, Stamats Communications took a chance on me.

    The very last job application I submitted was for a content developer role with Meetings Today magazine, a B2B trade publication and a division of Stamats Communications. Within two days of applying, I heard back from the company, completed an initial introductory call, and scheduled an official follow-up interview with the magazine’s editorial team.

    At the end of my interview, they gave me a timeline for when I could expect to hear back from them. I got a phone call even earlier than I was promised, and the news was good. I got the job.

    I’ve been an employee under Stamats Communications for nearly two years now, and I genuinely mean it when I say there is nowhere else I’d rather be.

    Since my first ever interaction with the company, there’s been a mutual respect that I haven’t experienced anywhere else. My application wasn’t ignored. I wasn’t treated differently because of my age. My skills and experience mattered more to the company than what year I was born.

    Instead of shutting down my ideas as I sat at the bottom of the totem pole, my boss, manager, and colleagues welcomed my creativity and thoughts every time I had something I wanted to share. It’s that kind of mentality and welcoming workplace atmosphere that Gen Z employees are looking for, and it’s what Stamats had that the other companies I applied to lacked.

    Suggestion:

    To begin to develop a workplace that is welcoming and attractive to Gen Z, my biggest piece of advice is to show that level of mutual respect from the very beginning. Don’t assume that every Gen Zer falls into the generation’s negative stereotypes and, instead, be open to learning about who Gen Z really is, both inside and outside the office.

    Who is the Gen Z employee?

    Gen Z is commonly known for being many different things: tech-savvy and entrepreneurial, lazy and sensitive, entitled and demanding. The list goes on. While many of these characteristics are universally assumed about the generation, they aren’t all universally true, and oftentimes, it’s these stereotypes that stand in the way of employers connecting with qualified Gen Z employees.

    To effectively understand and appreciate what Gen Z has to offer as employees, it’s important to take note of any implicit biases you may have and replace them with knowledge about the generation’s workplace values. From there, you will have a better idea of how to address Gen Z job applicants and find an employee with values that align with those of your company.

    The highest-ranking factors of employment across Gen Z are:

    • Compensation and pay transparency
    • Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB)
    • Flexibility and work-life balance
    • Modernized benefits that prioritize mental health
    • Internal mobility and career growth opportunities
    • Consistent, open communication and timely feedback

    Suggestion:

    Be open and willing to hear young applicants out and allow them to share what they are looking for out of a job. Then, be transparent and realistic about how well your company can meet those expectations.

    Allow space for open communication during the interview and hiring processes and continue to make room for that level of communication when you welcome a Gen Z employee to your team.

    To be on the same page, you have to know which page others are on.

    Why should you hire a Gen Z employee?

    As the first generation to grow up with technology at their fingertips, Gen Z brings a new kind of perspective and fresh innovative ideas to the table, introducing employees who may not be as familiar with the technology and capabilities that are out there and keeping the company on its toes. They often think outside of the box and offer creative solutions to problems that may not have been tried in the past, and their entrepreneurial tendencies make them thoughtful risk-takers.

    Now that artificial intelligence is quickly becoming a part of our daily work routines, having a tech-savvy Gen Zer on staff may be the best way to introduce and acclimate other employees to AI software and services they’re unfamiliar and uncomfortable with. Gen Z sees this new software not as a threat but as an opportunity to take their technology skills to a whole new level, and they will help your company do the same.

    Their approach to AI is just one example of how adaptable the generation can be, and the COVID-19 pandemic is another, as many members of Gen Z likely have a story to tell about their remote educational experiences. While some may argue that remote learning made the generation even lazier, the truth is the experience just opened Gen Z’s eyes to what’s possible to achieve working from home. It showed them the benefits of flexible environments and being open to change, and while the generation may have a unique idea of what work-life balance looks like, they’ve also shown older generations what could be possible for them with a little more flexibility.

    Gen Z is also incredibly interconnected as they’ve grown up in the era of social media, making friends online who they may have never even met in person and finding communities of like-minded individuals around the world all through the tap of a button. Their desire to be a part of something bigger makes them open to collaboration and teamwork, and their experiences online have made the generation out to be one full of skilled multitaskers and problem solvers.

    Finally, Gen Z employees may help your company reevaluate itself from the inside out, as they take into consideration an employer’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, as well as a company’s overall social and environmental impact. The most diverse generation to date values being that way and is not afraid to speak up in instances where diversity may be lacking. Determined to make positive change and care about the impact they have on the environment, Gen Z often searches for companies with social and environmental initiatives in place.

    The greatest benefit to hiring a Gen Z employee, though, is that when you find the right fit, one who is truly passionate about the work they do, and make sure they feel valued at your company, they will go above and beyond to show their gratitude and make you proud.

    Suggestion:

    The next time there’s an open position at your company, make sure your mind is open, too. Pull those newer resumes and consider the opportunities that may come alongside hiring a member of this generation. The benefits will almost certainly make taking a risk worthwhile.

    Learn more about Gen Z and Taylor’s exploits with Meetings Today through her monthly column “The Z” which explores how to welcome, work with, understand, and plan for the next wave of professionals.

    Related reading: 3 Gen Z Communication Tips for Marketers

  • 1943-1952: Decade of Challenge & Growth

    1943-1952: Decade of Challenge & Growth

    The War Years and Beyond

    Esther Baker
    Esther Baker
    Donna Hahn

    The advent of World War II brought a halt to most homebuilding and decimated the field sales force headed to war. Thankfully, many of Stamats’ syndicated publication sponsors wanted to keep the Perfect Home magazine despite the wartime situation. Obtaining enough paper became a major concern as publishers of “non-essential” periodicals were strictly rationed and the Stamats allotment was woefully small. The purchase of Buildings magazine and National Real Estate Journal from Porter-Langtry in Chicago provided a solution, ensuring Stamats had an adequate paper supply for all its printing projects.

    “With the acquisition of Buildings magazine and the National Real Estate Journal in 1942, the company really began to flourish in the commercial real estate market in addition to its success in residential real estate,” said Stamats President Peter S. Stamats.

    The end of the war and the return of GIs brought renewed interest in home building, the growth of residential syndicated publications, and the move to a 40-hour (down from 44-hour), five-day work week. The company continued to operate as French-Stamats Company until 1944 when the name was changed to Stamats Publishing Company and incorporated as such in January 1947.

    “Our growing success translated into a need for more space,” added Stamats. “In 1947, a new 16,000 square foot addition was completed, extending the plant an entire city block.”

    Originally in the Chicago Board of Trade Building, the Buildings editorial and sales staff relocated to Cedar Rapids with the new addition. A side note: one young member of the Buildings staff was H.G. (Fed) Hedges (married to Herbert and Isabel Stamats’ daughter, Sally), who joined Stamats in 1946 and became the second president of Stamats in 1966.

    By 1948, Stamats Publishing Company was considered one of the leading publishing houses in the Midwest and the largest user of postal services in Cedar Rapids (Cedar Rapids Gazette, February 8, 1948). In addition to their own publications, Stamats also printed several magazines for other organizations including The Railway Conductor, Baker’s Helper, Grocer’s Digest, and Farm Management.

    Learn how we got to this point: 1923-1942: How It All Began

    Women in the Workforce

    World War II also brought a fresh look to the Stamats workforce.

    Though women had been employed in office positions since 1926, the war years and beyond saw more women in editorial, circulation, service, and bindery. Twenty women joined the Stamats workforce between 1943 and 1952, and 11 remained with the company for over 20 years.

    “The 1940s was commonly a male-dominated workforce,” Stamats stated. “But our company was fairly forward-thinking in hiring and utilizing the talents of women in a wide variety of roles.”

    Here are just a few of the many women who began in the 1940s, making Stamats their work home:

    • Donna (Nicholas) Hahn began with French-Stamats in September 1940 and stayed for 42 years, first in Art & Editorial and eventually as the long-time award-winning editor of Perfect Home. Donna married pressman Norbert Hahn after returning to Stamats from his service in WWII.
    • Bernadean Smeltzer began her 36-year career in 1943 in addressing, circulation, billing, and the front office.
    • Esther Anderson Baker served as a WAC Sergeant in World War II, joined Stamats in 1947, married one of the pressmen, and remained with the company for over 25 years.
    • Leola (Lee) Nachtrieb Lange started with Stamats in November 1948. She worked here until her death, 58 years later. Lee served in many capacities from switchboard operator and proofreader to secretary to the president and in accounting. In 1976, Lee was named a Vice President, the first woman to achieve that title at Stamats.

    Related Reading: 1953-1962: The Decade of Expansion

  • 1953-1962: The Decade of Expansion

    1953-1962: The Decade of Expansion

    Syndicated Publication Expansion

    Homeownership and commercial building increased dramatically following World War 2. That escalation created the opportunity for growth in Stamats Publishing Company’s syndicated publications business.

    Syndicated publication services involved a local salesman personally approaching a qualified home builder or real estate agency offering exclusive or limited rights to sponsor a publication within their local community. With their logo imprinted on the front cover, these sponsors would offer each monthly magazine to a carefully selected list of influential people as a gesture of goodwill. In effect, that publication became each sponsor’s own publication in their locality. Each issue of every publication was edited, designed, printed, and distributed from the editorial offices and printing facility of Stamats Publishing Company. At one point, Stamats sent the largest amount of mail of any company in Cedar Rapids.

    The most successful syndicated publication during this decade was Perfect Home, first published in the 1930s. Ownership, a single-sponsored program for realtors, was first introduced in 1953 and became an almost overnight success. Building Progress, a co-sponsored service for general building contractors started in 1959 and showed steady growth with tremendous sponsor loyalty in its first decade.

    There were a few experiments in the syndicated field that did not pan out. However, these calculated risks still served a useful purpose—providing an opportunity for the creativity necessary for any business growth.

    “During the 1950s, Stamats Publishing Company employed as many as 39 local salesmen nationwide,” said Stamats President and CEO Peter S. Stamats. “And it really was only men in those days. The advent of women selling Stamats’ services did not transpire until the mid-1970s.“

    In the 1962 internal publication, Among Ourselves, Stamats Publishing President Herbert Stamats expressed the company’s commitment to and expectation of their sales force. “The greatest possible effort will be put into finding and training productive field representatives. We will continue to expect the best from our highly skilled craftsmen so that our publications will always have unequaled quality.”

    During this decade, Stamats added more sophisticated, high-speed offset presses, expanding the company’s services into providing high-quality printing for business and institutional clients.

    Development of the Educational Market

    In 1958, printing services salesman Larry Zirbel suggested Stamats take advantage of the company’s high-quality print capabilities by approaching colleges and universities, first in Iowa and then nationally. Larry was already successful in Cedar Rapids, selling the high-quality printing services Stamats was known for. His idea to expand into a new business area began with personal visits to local colleges where contracts were finalized with a handshake.

    Larry knew our in-house staff of skilled editors and artists could apply their talents to any of our customers’ needs. Consequently, Stamats began editing, designing, and producing college magazines, viewbooks, brochures, fundraising materials, and catalogs for the higher education market. With the new work came new rewards. Stamats-produced college materials began winning awards in regional and national competitions.

    Related reading: 1963-1973: The Decade of Transition

    From its very beginning, strong writing and skilled teams were an underpinning of Stamats’ success. “Founders French and Stamats wrote their own content,” said Peter Stamats. “They focused on writing meaningful, high-quality pieces, and not ‘fluff,’ which was a Herbert Stamats pet peeve.”

    The Stamats Publishing Company offices were modernized in the late 1950s. The renovation of the company headquarters transformed the offices into “one of the business showplaces of Iowa,” according to a 1957 article in the Cedar Rapids Gazette.

    “At this juncture, we can make no promises or prophecies for the year ahead. We only know that each of us, using our heads, our ingenuity, and continuing to work well together, will make healthy progress inevitable.” Herbert Stamats, December 1962.

  • 1923-1942: How It All Began

    1923-1942: How It All Began

    The Beginning

    The two men had hit upon a relatively new concept—direct mail advertising. The French-Stamats Company grew rapidly and, according to a Des Moines Register article, had become the largest national direct mail service in the U.S. within their first four years. New business meant a greater need for publishing equipment so by 1927, French-Stamats had acquired Rapid Press in Cedar Rapids, and Guthrie Publishing in Chicago.

    Herbert Stamats and Frank French in their first offices, 1924.
    Herbert Stamats and Frank French in their first offices, 1924.

    “Direct mailing was in its infancy and French-Stamats got in on the ground floor,” said Peter S. Stamats, current Stamats president and CEO. “They were successful because of their willingness to try different concepts, accepting both the risk and the reward.”

    Throughout the long length of the Great Depression, the French-Stamats Company found a way to succeed and grow, continuing to maintain their nationwide sales force in more than 35 states. Often finances were tight, and stories persist of payroll occasionally maintained through French and Stamats’ own finances. It was soon obvious that their biggest problem was the location of their offices.

    Located within an old YMCA building, the offices were small, and the basement pressroom was damp and subject to flooding. In March 1929, more than six feet of water flooded the stock room, destroying over $20,000 of equipment and paper stock.

    But it took another six years, in July 1935, before the company could move into its own new building on Sixth Avenue SE. Though only a small portion of our present headquarters, this new building’s design and construction fit the company’s specialized needs for offices and publishing.

    In 1934, Frank French moved to New York City to handle eastern activities for the growing company. Tragically, only 18 months later, French died suddenly, and Herbert Stamats took over as sole proprietor. The company continued to operate as French-Stamats Company until 1944 when the name changed to Stamats Publishing Company.

    Birth of Syndication

    Table Talk Magazine
    French and Stamats’ modestly successful syndication plan included a variety of small store programs, such as Table Talk used by voluntary chains of retail grocers, and Birthday Listing Service for jewelers, florists, and hotels to use for direct mail campaigns. The bulk of these programs were strictly advertising, but some also held the germ of another idea—syndicated publications to help build goodwill for their sponsors.

    In October 1934, the company developed Perfect Home, its first magazine-type public relations program in the home ownership field. Designed to provide an attractive, informative, and effective PR publication, Perfect Home had the simple purpose of building goodwill through background selling and word-of-mouth referrals rather than product advertising.

    Sponsors with sterling reputations were selected in cities across the country. Each sponsor received personalization on the magazine’s cover, which involved control of the imprinting process. By 1938, growth in the company’s business volume made expansion essential, and a second addition was added to their publishing plant. In 1939 came the installation of their first two-color letterpress, and another expansion became necessary, completed in 1947.

    Perfect Home magazineIn 1942, French-Stamats purchased two monthly trade magazines: the National Real Estate Journal established in 1909, circulating nationally to real estate organizations, and Buildings and Building Management, established in 1906, which circulated nationally to owners and managers of office buildings. Published in the Cedar Rapids plant, both publications maintained offices in the Chicago Board of Trade building.

    “Successful businesses are the result of a multitude of right, little decisions, of handling properly time after time the little crises.”

    -Herbert Stamats in a speech to the National Association of Real Estate Boards in New Orleans, January 1941

    Related reading: 2013-2023: The Digital Shift

  • AI, Oh My! How Content Marketers Grapple with the Robot Invasion and More Lessons from CMWorld

    AI, Oh My! How Content Marketers Grapple with the Robot Invasion and More Lessons from CMWorld

    Instead, Content Marketing World, the largest content marketing conference in the world, showed that they’re embracing the emergence of AI and making content that’s even more relevant. Content marketers work to stay ahead of change and ensure audiences have the information they need to keep web traffic flowing and conversions converting.

    If you couldn’t make it to our nation’s capital for CMWorld, well, you missed out. But here’s the next best thing: three themes that emerged throughout the conference that can help you keep your work at the forefront of the content marketing evolution.

    1. AI: Your New Robot Overlords?

    If there was one topic that was on everyone’s mind at CMWorld, it was artificial intelligence. The rise of AI tools such as ChatGPTMidjourneyCopy.aiJasper, and dozens of others led to a lot of conversation about what these products mean for the future of content marketing.

    The consensus was far from “the sky is falling.” While there’s plenty of chatter in the press about AI taking over roles filled by human content creators, the reality is more nuanced.

    When it comes to search engine optimization, Fire&Spark’s Dale Bertrand reminded workshop attendees that the latest update to Google Analytics 4 means that rules-based SEO practices are a thing of the past. Instead, Google’s AI-powered, human-rated search results monitor audience behavior and reward the most compelling content with higher search rankings.

    DemandJump’s Ryan Brock echoed this sentiment in a mock funeral for SEO practices that have passed away. He included the sales funnel (check out Stamats AVP of Digital Strategy Stu Eddins’ take on the new customer journey in higher ed enrollment for more), domain authority, and keyword struggles on his memorial list. These and more have gone the way of the dodo, Brock said, thanks to the rise of AI-powered semantic search.

    AI presents opportunities, too. As Croud’s Avinash Kaushik noted, and dozens of Expo Hall vendors reinforced, AI has the power to help marketers “deliver customer delight and business success at a scale that is extraordinary.”

    Speaker after speaker agreed: GA4 has changed the game. But how can content marketers compete with a flood of AI-generated content?

    2. Avoid Commodity Content with a Human Touch.

    The term “commodity content” was on everyone’s lips at CMWorld, and it’s key to understanding why human content marketers aren’t too worried about AI taking away our jobs (yet).

    Commodity content is everywhere these days. AI can generate thousands of words of generic copy in almost an instant, but this noisy content has little value for consumers. It is a restating of authoritative sources found elsewhere on the web, provides little insight, and does a poor job of helping audiences answer the questions that motivate them.

    That’s why GA4 deprioritizes commodity content in search results, and it’s why humans still have something to say.

    To differentiate your content from what the robot can write, keep these tips from CMWorld experts like Ann HandleyAndrew Davis, and Melanie Deziel in mind:

    • Create original, insightful content. AI can’t create new knowledge, and it can’t provide your audiences with the insights they need. Insightful content shows deep understanding of the topic at hand, provides a new perspective, and simplifies complex concepts.
    • Develop your voice. Your writing is influenced by your human experiences. Leverage your unique perspective and special talents to craft a relatable voice that speaks to your audience where they are. When writing for clients, understand their perspectives deeply and craft a unique voice that helps them stand out from the crowd authentically.
    • Be audience-centric. Google’s not buying your product. Focus on empathizing with the customer’s pain points and answering their questions. Google will reward you with rankings that surpass the robots.
    • Lead with the story: Stamats’ AVP of Content Marketing, Mariah Obiedinski Tang and Allison Kapson, Assistant Vice President, Research Communications, Marketing & Public Relations at MedStar Health Research Institute, presented a Quentin Tarantino-based workshop on the inverted pyramid. They reminded writers to prioritize the most important information to answer audience (and search engine) questions right away.
    • Tell compelling customer stories. First-person narratives about how a product or service impacted your customer are powerful, insightful, non-commodity content that builds trust and encourages conversions.
    • Write like it matters. Being a writer means making people feel something. Whether you’re crafting content for the corner coffee shop or a global non-profit, the content marketer’s job is to move people to action.

    Far from a niche corner of the marketing world, the rise of semantic search and changing customer expectations for relevant, on-demand answers mean people are still crucial to creating content for brands and businesses that need authentic connections to consumers.

    3. Content Marketing is Marketing.

    Robert Rose (Content Marketing Institute), Bennie Johnson (American Marketing Association), Beverly Jackson (Zillow), and even headlining actress/director/producer Elizabeth Banks made it clear in their presentations: content marketing is all grown up.

    No longer just “blogging,” content marketing has evolved to become the spine, the center, and often the sum total of marketing itself. From data analytics and lead generation through list management, sales, social media, and yes, blogs, content marketing is modern marketing.

    Nimble organizations ensure that marketing leaders are at the table for important product development conversations, and those marketing leaders will have content strategy at the top of their to-do lists. Branding and visual development, voice and tone, data analytics, ad spend and so much more are, at their core, content processes.

    Content marketers study, analyze, and answer audience questions. We drive traffic through all phases of the sales funnel, craft content that’s optimized for search, speak to the audience in their voice, and advance organizational goals through people-focused content that robots just can’t match.

    Content marketers aren’t worried about AI taking our jobs, at least not yet. For now, the global community is focused on honing our craft and leveraging actionable data, because this is what will continue to insulate our organizations from the robot invasion and keep insightful, optimized content flowing to the audiences who need it most.

    Want to stay at the forefront of content marketing? Schedule a time with Mariah Obiedzinski Tang to learn how Stamats can help your content work smarter.