Diane di Costanzo experiences one of the best of two worlds in a novel content material advertising and marketing position.
As chief content material officer, vice chairman/editorial director at Foundry 360, Dotdash Meredith’s branded content material division, she workout routines her brand-content technique muscular tissues by overseeing about 30 conventional client-side packages at any time.
And as editor-in-chief of the editorially unbiased (and single sponsored supported) print and digital publications Millie Journal and PawPrint, she makes use of her journalism expertise every day.
This highly effective mixture of abilities works properly for Foundry 360, which experiences excessive shopper retention – some shopper relationships span 15 years and counting.
And all that success earned Diane the 2022 B2C Content material Marketer of the 12 months title. Right here’s a take a look at what units her work aside.
Combining model #Content material and journalism abilities led to spectacular outcomes for Foundry 360 shoppers – and the B2C Content material Marketer of 12 months title for Diane di Costanzo through @AnnGynn @CMIContent. Click on To Tweet
A content material strategy-forward strategy
“We turn out to be a kind of editorial division connected to shoppers however not embedded,” Diane says of the Foundry 360 enterprise mannequin. Foundry’s work doesn’t contain responding to manufacturers’ requests for proposals. As an alternative, it begins with brainstorming content material methods that would work for manufacturers.
In a break up from her conventional media background, Diane works hand in hand with the gross sales crew. Their mutual purpose is to get the doorways opened for potential shoppers, to allow them to speak content material. Then, they speak about what success seems like and what firm targets the content material ought to assist.
“We create a well-organized understanding of what we need to do and the way we’re going to measure it,” she says. “When you don’t measure it, it’s onerous for the shopper to rationalize, ‘Let’s do it once more,’ as a result of they haven’t been capable of quantify what the content material did.”
When you don’t measure #Content material influence, it’s onerous for shoppers to conform to repeat a program, says Diane Di Costanzo through @AnnGynn and @CMIContent. Click on To Tweet
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Broad abilities and a deep content material bench
That concentrate on success – and understanding that content material isn’t a one-and-done factor – prompts most shoppers to proceed working with Foundry 360.
Although the Foundry 360 crew executes over two dozen content material packages at a time, the crew consists of solely six full-time folks. All of them function govt administrators who head up verticals, equivalent to finance, well being and wellness, and medical science.
The remainder of the work will get finished by freelancers. “We’re capable of rent the precise proper individual with the precise proper editorial skillset for any given venture,” Diane says, including about 50% of her job is discovering these proper folks.
After all, the full-time workers additionally pitches in on different tasks once they have the bandwidth. “We don’t simply put on one hat,” Diane says.
A repeatable mannequin for fulfillment
Whereas the Foundry 360 crew invests time in figuring out what content material tasks would work properly for the manufacturers, it additionally creates tasks from a standard media perspective.
That’s attainable as a result of Foundry 360 operates underneath the Dotdash Meredith umbrella, the most important digital and print writer in america. (The publicly traded firm consists of iconic media manufacturers equivalent to Folks, Higher Houses & Gardens, Actual Easy, Investopedia, and extra.)
Recognizing that the distinctive construction may gain advantage potential model shoppers, Diane expanded Foundry 360’s content material product line in 2020 with the launch of Millie, a print and digital content material program about ladies and cash.
On the time, Meredith – later acquired by Dotdash – had bought the Cash Journal model, leaving the corporate with out a monetary editorial model. However their analysis confirmed many monetary firms nonetheless had cash to spend money on buying audiences.
Ladies continuously have been disregarded of conversations round cash. (Lower than 50 years in the past, it was nonetheless authorized for a corporation to require a person to co-sign for a lady to get a bank card.)
“There may be this cultural, societal, and historic context because it pertains to ladies and cash. Our analysis got here collectively to say if you speak to ladies about cash. It’s a unique dialog than if you speak to males about cash,” Diane explains.
Meredith appreciated the sponsorship mannequin as a result of a shopper’s funding would come from a advertising and marketing price range and never its promoting spend. The latter might have been a menace to its conventional magazines that depend on advertiser assist.
And, in contrast to conventional magazines that should first create an editorial product to draw advertisers, a sponsor-based journal has an funding dedication earlier than it’s created.
Synchrony signed on as the only multi-year sponsor, receiving 4 pages of promoting in every 48-page journal. They’ve a 100% share of voice within the journal. In addition they profit from free distribution to over 1 million focused readers as Millie mailed in the identical bag as Actual Easy journal.
A sole multi-year sponsor will get 100% share of voice underneath the distinctive mannequin behind Millie Journal, led by 2022 B2C Content material Marketer of the 12 months Diane Di Costanzo through @AnnGynn @CMIContent. Click on To Tweet
Repeating the profitable mannequin
Millie’s success led Diane to marvel what different manufacturers could be keen on being the only sponsor for a brand new publication with huge distribution. The reply got here from a goal that had been on the gross sales radar for some time – Mars Petcare.
Mars owns the most important portfolio of particular person pet manufacturers. They wished to focus on the twin pet (cats and canine) viewers – an revolutionary advertising and marketing thought since most giant manufacturers are likely to silo the pet kind.
Mars signed on to sponsor PawPrint journal as shortly as Synchrony got here on board for Millie. Not like with Millie, although, Dotdash Meredith has a digital editorial pet model – Each day Paws. So PawPrint (the journal) and Each day Paws (the web site) act as companion content material retailers. PawPrint, like Millie, will get bagged with and mailed to over 1 million Actual Easy readers.
Whereas Mars shares its content material tips (equivalent to displaying pets in secure and humane settings) with Foundry 360, it doesn’t have a say within the editorial content material. And it might’t if they need the Paw Print journal to be mailed with Actual Easy to over 1 million subscribers.
As an editorial journal, Actual Easy receives the decrease price periodical price from the U.S. Postal Service. If it included a branded content material journal, it could now not qualify for that price.
“It’s been nice for Mars. They’ve coupons and different presents (of their advertisements) in order that they’ll observe what occurs subsequent with the readers as a result of we need to be certain what we’re driving is effective to them,” Diane says.
Surveys are a crucial software to measure viewers response. “It’s about as unvarnished an opinion as you may get as a result of nobody’s paying anyone to say something,” Diane says. And the surveys present that readers suppose PawPrint is nice, too.
“It’s simply been fantastic to listen to that it’s so properly acquired, and it helps to know there’s love for this animal publication Mars Petcare is sponsoring.”
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Cowl picture by Joseph Kalinowski/Content material Advertising and marketing Institute
