News360 Blog Content Marketing All-Stars Q&A: Anton Rius of 10,000ft

Content from companies that tackle complex problems can still be engaging and accessible for audiences.A great example of this is 10,000ft. The resource and management platform excels at creating fun, smart, useful, and easy-to-consume pieces for its target customers.Recently we chatted with Anton Rius, Content Strategist at 10,000ft, to find out how the company approaches its content strategy and development.Check out the full Q&A below:Q: For our audience members who might not know, what is 10,000ft? A: 10,000ft is a high-level resource management and resource scheduling software platform.We're focused on helping creative agencies and other service businesses that do project-based work to manage their people, projects, and budget more effectively, and be more profitable.Q: What is your background and what is your role at 10,000ft?A: My background is in art and design but I actually started my working career in tech support.I wasn't happy with my career track at that time and then one day several years ago I discovered social media marketing. That was my gateway into content marketing and more recently, content strategy.My official role at 10,000ft is Content Marketing Manager, but we are a flat organization, so our internal roles flex as we see needs and opportunities for the company. It's a very collaborative work environment.Q: What role does digital content play for 10,000ft? Why are you creating it?A: I was actually brought in this summer to help build the next content model, so the role of content at 10,000ft is changing.Broadly, I believe digital content is one of the best ways for businesses to build and nurture long-lasting relationships with people.Fundamentally, it's about those relationships. There's a lot of noise out there in terms of content and a lot of companies approach it as another sales channel. But I believe they're missing the point. I've always approached content strategy as the opportunity to improve every stage of the customer's journey, from awareness to interest to purchase to support and advocacy.And that effort shouldn't just start and stop with Marketing. As I mentioned, at 10,000ft we work very collaboratively; everyone wants to help our community so most of my colleagues have an interest and a role in supporting our content efforts.In terms of a broad goal, we use digital content to help people and companies be more successful with their project resource management. We know our customers are already successful. The goal of the digital content we produce is to help them get to the next level.Q: We're big fans of the blog. Can you talk a bit about the sorts of pieces you're creating for that platform?A: My colleague Natalie has been running the blog long before I arrived, and she's responsible for a lot of the great content on there.One thing I really love is the Two Beers series. We basically sit down with interesting people, share a couple beers, and get to hear about the topics and trends that are happening in their world. We get a lot of great insights from those interviews.I also like the format of our case studies. Natalie doesn't position them as the typical sales pitch collateral that you're used to seeing. They're focused instead on trying to dig into our customers' stories and to understand how they found success overall. We talk about how our product helps them, but there's a bigger story in each one. Our blog is a continual work in progress. We're always trying to improve the kind of content we're putting out and are really trying to figure out what's going to resonate most with our audience. There's a lot more in the works, so stay tuned for that.Q: Beyond the blog, what other sorts of content do you guys create?A: We've done some video and we're looking into more of that.We also do some unexpected things, like physical content. For example, we created do not disturb cards for people who work in open office spaces. They were fun pieces of content intended reinforce the idea that people want to be less distracted and more productive at work.We don't want to restrict our content to blogging; we're thinking about what's going to be a great experience for our customers and for the people we're trying to reach. Q: How do you measure the success of your content? Which metrics do you pay attention to?A: We're tracking several different KPIs. It's probably no surprise that we look at metrics like traffic, shares, and lead generation. We also look more broadly at things like the SEO value, sales value, and customer support value of each piece of content.Anything we're creating must have a reason why we're making it. That said, the exact metrics depend on the type of content and where it fits into our customer journey. Every piece won't serve the same purpose, but every piece should have a specific purpose in our strategy.Q: Final question: do you have a favorite piece of 10,000ft content? What showcases what you guys do well?A: A recent favorite of mine is our Essential 2018 Project Manager Report.It was a collaborative research paper with our friends at the Bureau of Digital. The report helps project managers understand how they can thrive in their roles.I don't think project managers get nearly enough credit for the work they do. They keep everyone on track and on budget, but the role is often overlooked. It can feel like a thankless job and the goal of the report was to empower them with data and advice so that they can lighten their workloads, be more strategic, and get a better seat at the table at their companies. It's had a great response so far.