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I wrote this case study to highlight the effectiveness of Tippingpoint Labs’ editorial calendar workshop. I have definitely seen how effective using newsroom techniques can be in driving content production in any industry.

Case Study: Editorial Calendar Workshop Improves Efficiency and Doubles Leads

In October of 2009, NJ-based Fusionapps approached Tippingpoint Labs with a business challenge. They were spending a lot of resources trying to figure out the right process for creating and managing marketing content. They were not creating content regularly and were not sure how to approach it, despite having hired a few different people to manage their content.

Structure makes the difference

Fusionapps has smart people who know their disciplines and are motivated to write and produce. But they were struggling with the creation process and with how to broadcast their content to their audience.

According to Jess Pugsley, Fusionapps Managing Director and Chief Strategist, “Structure was absent from our team from a marketing perspective. From how we produce content to how we dealt with it editorially to how we scheduled content to be produced. We wanted to do it in a way that makes sense so it’s part of a deeper strategy.”

The Newsroom Workshop

After consulting with Fusionapps, Tippingpoint Labs recommended a Content Marketing Newsroom Workshop. The structure of an editorial calendar could drive effective pitch meetings and an efficient workflow.

Andrew Davis travelled to Secaucus to conduct the 2-day workshop with all the Fusionapps stakeholders. He worked through much more than web content management. He helped the team define roles and responsibilities and create weekly and monthly routines.

By the end of the workshop, Fusionapps had created Feature formats based on the strengths and skills of each of the content creators. The formats were, by design, easily repeatable to achieve efficiency. The team also knew who would be doing what, and when they would go through the editorial process each month.

Content needs form

Where before they had desire and knowledge, now Fusionapps had a form to drive their content. As they put the Newsroom structure and editorial calendar into practice, they saw immediate results.

“We went through the workshop, developed a number of different formats for our content strategy, and developed a number of features that have worked out quite well,” says Pugsley. “Now we have a 3-month backlog of content that we’re looking forward to pushing out.”

The Blur Test

Fusionapps’ most successful format to date is the Blur Test by Chris Geiger, their Director of User Experience. The Blur Test applies “an old art school technique used to reveal a design’s focal point” by blurring a web page to see where the eye wants to go.

As Jess Pugsley explains, “It’s something we do inherently in our business every day. Drew brought it out as something we could create as content. It’s an easy format to put together. It’s structured, quick, easy to produce, and frankly, he’s been creating his content a lot faster than I’ve been creating mine.”

The Blur Test

A new foundation

The workshop has fundamentally changed Fusionapps’ approach to marketing. Pugsley expounds:

“It’s the cornerstone of everything we’re doing. The workshop increased our efficiency. It’s allowed us to focus on other things that we couldn’t focus on before because our attention was on a broken content strategy that didn’t get us the results we wanted. Instead of devoting a whole month to the process, it’s opened up half the month for us to work on new content ideas and new audiences. We didn’t have that opportunity before.”

Not only is Fusionapps creating content more easily and more efficiently, their leads have already doubled.

“We’ve seen at least twice the number of web leads as a result of the content being produced. If we continue to follow the learnings from the workshop, we’ll continue to see increases in traffic and conversions.”