1. toprankblog.com http://www.toprankblog.com/2012/08/secrets-cmw-agent-todd-wheatland/
Online Marketing Blog
Secrets of Content Marketing World: Agent Todd Wheatland, Kelly Services
In order for Content Marketing Secret Agents to work
effectively, they need more than tactical skills. They
need to see the bigger picture and the context for how
and why things need to happen. Industry trends come
and go but the need for brands to connect with
customers will never go away. Special operatives are
necessary for the kinds of activities necessary for
specific missions, like those requiring certain kinds of
content like video for better engagement.
Today we are fortunate to have Content Marketing
Secret Agent Todd Wheatland, Vice President of
Marketing and Thought Leadership at Kelly Services,
help us navigate the strategic to the tactical and goals
to measurement of content marketing.
With experience in the HR and the workforce
consulting space and your current role as the VP
of Thought Leadership at Kelly Services, how has
your work with content marketing evolved? What
do you think about all the buzz?
I’ve focused a lot of my time in the workforce consulting space, but basically I’m a professional services
marketer. And even in the old days, professional services firms needed to produce great content to
establish credibility – so it’s easy to see why I was an ‘early adopter’ of what we now call content
marketing techniques. On the other hand, I’ve also won awards for creative interests like writing fiction,
journalism, photography, short-film making. So I’ve always been around production and publishing in
some form.
There’s a lot of people like me who’ve been doing ‘content marketing’ for a long time – in my case
close to 15 years. At one level all that’s changed is now there’s a sexy term we can all coalesce around
and say ‘Yeah! That’s what we do – content marketing.’
But at another level, things have changed a lot. Google’s renewed focus on quality content means that
the SEO industry is piling into content, because it’s the key element of search results. Similarly, it’s the
fuel for any social strategy. And of course you can say the same for public relations and advertising. It
really is a unique point in time that’s bringing about focus on content marketing right now. I think Lee’s
book (Optimize) captures that perfectly – it really has been a convergence of what were previously
disparate parts of marketing.
So – if we’ve had the SEO wave, and the Social wave, and now the Content Marketing wave, it would

2. suggest there’ll be something else coming along down the track. A couple of years ago Joe Pulizzi said
to me he didn’t know whether it was a long-term trend or just a huge bubble. I think since then, Google’s
continued algorithm changes have ensured it’s a trend with staying power. Something will replace it – I
know what it is, but I can’t tell you yet.
By the way – an important point – a lot of the people who are kicking it in content marketing are
not trained marketers. One of my biggest professional inspirations has been observing the success of
people like Marcus Sheridan who had the good fortune of not having been to marketing school when he
really needed to dig himself out of a hole. He built an incredible business by just getting in, doing and
learning. All over the world, people like that are eating highly educated marketers’ lunches. It’s an
amazing time.
Your session “Get Video LIVE: Everything a Content Marketer Needs to Know About
Succeeding with Video” is focused on increasing engagement by integrating video into
marketing strategy. What are 3 of the primary takeaways from your Content Marketing World
presentation that you think are most important?
Everyone knows video is an increasingly important part of the mix for content marketers. But it’s also
the type of content that’s most likely to be outsourced because people either don’t know how to do it, or
feel they don’t have the internal resources to pull it off. Well, increasing numbers of companies are
finding that actually they can drive a video strategy themselves.
Everything about video content is changing. It’s hugely consumed on mobile devices. The platform
ecosystem has become more diverse. New players are helping companies use video assets in a more
programmed way against buyer stages. Video advertising is regularly reinventing itself. And despite all
the technological advances – at its core, a successful video is still what it’s always been – a great story.
This session is for everyone, but primarily for B2B marketers wanting to understand what other
companies are doing right now with video, where the space is headed, and what resources they can
tap into to build a coherent video strategy of their own.
Content is both art and science with high demands on coordinating necessary planning, time
and resources. This seems especially true for large, complex organizations with multiple
players and diverse needs. What tools, software or services can you recommend for large
enterprise companies that want to be more efficient and effective at using content to drive
new business and engage their customers?
People are always astonished when I talk about how we’re set up at Kelly for the amount of content we
produce. We are very very lean. I’m a big believer in outsourcing, and our core internal skills are around
communication – for interfacing with internal units and clients – production, scheduling and analytics.
If I just had people like me, then I’d be grasping at every piece of technology out there trying to be better
organized. But I have an amazing team who are so detail- and process-oriented that we manage with
existing technologies. I love technology, and I’m very familiar with the tools in this space, some of which
are great. But there’s also a reason things like spreadsheets and email still exist – they work.
On the actual lead management side, obviously you need a good CRM and a lead-nurturing platform.
On the front-end we have a common CMS (for the hundreds of websites that our ebusiness team
administer), and a common site registration form that feeds into our lead nurturing process. For larger
entities like ours, one of the hardest things is trying to retain commonality and simplicity in approach
across all platforms.
Goals can vary of course, but what are some of the essential “must have” measurements for
content marketing success?

3. We use the ‘big three’ groups of metrics that most people seem to focus on, plus some others that for
one reason or another we think are meaningful.
If I was to summarize the metrics that have been most useful for us, it would be:
Content Distribution – # of Views, # of Downloads, Potential Reach
Content Promotion – # of Social Shares, # Comments, Potential Reach
Lead Capture – # of Site Registrations, # of Group Memberships
Lead Nurture –Relationship between Content Assets & Funnel Activity
Sales – Meetings, RFPs, Closed Deals, Projected & Actual Rev / Profit
SEO – Own pages, Partner pages, # and Relative % of MQLs
Tip: Measure absolutes, for sure, but don’t get hung up on them. More more useful and important is the
trend, the growth in activity over time.
What are 3 “secret” predictions that you have for the future and importance of brands and
content marketing?
Form: Jay Baer said something along the lines of that in the future his written-word blog will be
considered quaint, and thought about in the same way we think of the Amish today. I’ve come to think
that day is coming much sooner than probably any of us feel prepared for. It’s anyone’s guess exactly
what it looks like, but it’s going to be a lot more visual, mobile, entertaining and pithy.
Brand: Online, I feel we’ve pretty much reached The Singularity. My email inbox looks like Justin
Beiber’s Twitter stream. When five times more people are tweeting ‘Awesome Video!’ than are
actually watching the video, something’s got to give. We’ve seen how publications like Time,
Newsweek, Fortune have raced downstream with sensationalist content to try capture eyeballs. Their
one competitor who didn’t, The Economist, is cleaning up and has never been more popular. Brands
will be more important than ever, but will rise and fall faster than ever. If you want your brand to thrive –
be yourself, be consistent, stand for something, and give value. Don’t cheapen yourself posting cat
videos on your company Facebook page.
Credibility: Marketers will need another 2 years to completely destroy the value of a published book.
Until then, having a published book will continue to be seen as some form of credibility. A lot more
people and companies are going to be pumping out books to burnish their credentials as experts in
their niche. A lot of them will be terrible, but that will be OK because not many people will really read
them.
The concepts of personal branding, platforms, influence, etc – we’re just amoeba in the puddle right
now. The Expertise Industry still has a long way to grow because people’s economic viability as an
employee is coming to depend on it.
Debrief complete. Well done Agent Wheatland.
To get an ever deeper brief on the value of content marketing and video in particular, initiate your own
mission to attend Content Marketing World on September 5th at 11:25am for Todd’s presentation: “Get
Video LIVE: Everything a Content Marketer Needs to Know About Succeeding with Video“.
Also be sure to check out the TopRank session on the future of optimization: “Optimize and
Socialize for Better Content Marketing” – Sept 6 – 3:00 pm (Content Creation & Optimization Track).

4. What’s your best content marketing secret?
Share your best in the comments and we’ll pick 3 winners this week to receive a free copy of “Optimize:
How to Attract and Engage More Customers by Integrating SEO, Social Media and Content
Marketing”.
Our Content Marketing Secret Agent series is coming to a close and we have just two more interview
left. Who will they be?
SUBSCRIBE TO TOPRANK’S TIPS NEWSLETTER
Rate this Post: (1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading ...
Related Posts You May Enjoy Reading:
Secrets of Content Marketing World: Agent Jason Falls, Social Media Explorer
Secrets of Content Marketing World: Agent Julie Fleischer, Kraft Foods
Secrets of Content Marketing World: Agent Curt Porritt, MasterControl
Secrets of Content Marketing World: Agent Pam Didner, Intel
Secrets of Content Marketing World: Agent Michael Brenner, SAP