Journalistic Content Marketing: Storytelling has magic and beauty (podcast episode #87)

02/15/24 • 69 min

Think about the last time you read a piece of content that truly resonated with you. It could have been a news article, a blog post, or even a social media update. Now, consider what made that content impactful. Was it the way it was written, the story it told, or how it connected with your experiences? This brings me to a crucial aspect of marketing – the art of storytelling and the responsibility that comes with it.

In my career, I've seen how powerful content can shape perceptions and influence decisions. It's not just about putting words on a page and filling your site with content to hopefully appease Google’s relentless algorithm; it's about crafting narratives that engage, inform, inspire...and truly serve an audience.

And who better to learn this from than someone who has practiced the art of storytelling in both journalism and marketing?

So I sat down with Nohar Zmora, SVP of Brand and Strategic Marketing, Kaltura (https://kaltura.com/).

Kaltura is a public company with 750 employees that trades on NASDAQ and had $168.8 million in revenue in 2022.

Zmora manages a team of 25 in the company’s 40-person marketing department, and works “super, super closely” with her “better half,” Roi Kaufman, VP Growth, Kaltura.

Stories (with lessons) about what she made in marketing

Here are some lessons from Zmora that emerged in our discussion.

Don’t just make ‘content,’ take a journalistic perspective and produce impactful material
Balance long-term brand vision with short-term performance
Learn how a team ‘breathes,’ evolves, and adapts
Storytelling has magic and beauty
Actively listen while collaborating with the business and Sales to create effective marketing strategies
Have continuous and profound dialogues with stakeholders to achieve success

Related content discussed in this episode

MECLABS AI (https://meclabsai.com/) now has expert assistants – copywriter, project planner, marketing professor, and social media pro. It’s totally FREE to use, you don’t even have to register (for now).

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This podcast is not about marketing – it is about the marketer. It draws its inspiration from the Flint McGlaughlin quote, “The key to transformative marketing is a transformed marketer” from the Become a Marketer-Philosopher: Create and optimize high-converting webpages (https://meclabs.com/course/) free digital marketing course.

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And who better to learn this from than someone who has practiced the art of storytelling in both journalism and marketing?

So I sat down with Nohar Zmora, SVP of Brand and Strategic Marketing, Kaltura (https://kaltura.com/).

Kaltura is a public company with 750 employees that trades on NASDAQ and had $168.8 million in revenue in 2022.

Zmora manages a team of 25 in the company’s 40-person marketing department, and works “super, super closely” with her “better half,” Roi Kaufman, VP Growth, Kaltura.

Stories (with lessons) about what she made in marketing

Here are some lessons from Zmora that emerged in our discussion.

Don’t just make ‘content,’ take a journalistic perspective and produce impactful material
Balance long-term brand vision with short-term performance
Learn how a team ‘breathes,’ evolves, and adapts
Storytelling has magic and beauty
Actively listen while collaborating with the business and Sales to create effective marketing strategies
Have continuous and profound dialogues with stakeholders to achieve success

Related content discussed in this episode

Get more episodes

This article is distributed through the MarketingSherpa email newsletter (https://www.marketingsherpa.com/newsletters). Sign up for free if you’d like to get more episodes like this one.

For more insights, check out...

Previous Episode

Social Media Marketing Leadership: Value productivity over perfection (episode #86)

“We can say that. Sure we can say that.”

Oh, I do not like having to utter this phrase in meetings. Because it’s not what you can say, it’s what you should say.

I’ve heard so many times ‘we can say that in an ad.’ Or ‘we can write a press release about this.’ Oh, the hubris in that statement.

Because we get lulled into false confidence in the four walls of our offices, when we think we can make a payment, and put whatever we want into ads or press releases or on websites.

Sure, I guess technically you can. You can write those words down. It’s not illegal. No one will stop you. Media companies and ad networks will glad take your money for that placement. But should you?

Because the ultimate decider is the customer. So no matter what you pay to say, no matter what you can say, the customer will decide whether you should say it.

Which is why I loved this lesson from a podcast guest application – ‘Never underestimate the power of your customer.’ It doesn’t matter if you have a fancy title or massive media budget, the customer has far more power than you.

I talked to Erika Lovegreen, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications, ICUC (https://icuc.social/) (a Dentsu agency), to hear that story behind that lesson, along with many more lesson-filled stories.

ICUC is a Dentsu agency with a team of 450. Dentsu is a public company that reported 1.117 trillion yen in annual revenue in 2022, or about 8.59 billion dollars.

Lovegreen managed a team of 30 when she ran the strategy team. Now, she runs marketing for ICUC and overseas a team of six, along with a variety of partners and contractors.

Stories (with lessons) about what she made in marketing

Here are some lessons from Lovegreen that emerged in our discussion.

Be comfortable stepping into new industries to gain the necessary experience
If leading a team, value being patient and hiring the right people
Never underestimate the power of your customer
You need to quickly serve the customer to create a great experience
Value productivity over perfection
Pay attention and look for trends

Related content discussed in this episode
MeclabsAI.com

Artificial Intelligence Demo: A look at the output from an AI-powered podcast assistant service (https://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/content-marketing-2/ai-demo/)

Value Proposition: Marketing examples for each of the 4 essential levels of value prop (https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/value-proposition-4-essential-levels-of-value-prop)

Social Media Marketing: Can you compete with your customer’s mom? (https://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/social-networking-evangelism-community/social-media-marketing-can-you-compete-with-your-customer%E2%80%99s-mom/)

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Next Episode

B2B Brand Marketing and Culture: The higher up you go, your priority becomes the people (episode #88)

If a podcast plays in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Bit of a cheeky thought experiment, I’ll admit, but here’s one thing I’ve noticed – we marketers don’t always create content for an audience, sometimes the audience is an afterthought.

We’re too focused on an algorithm. Or a lead generation goal. Or a calendar. Or a process.

So I love this lesson from a podcast quest application – ‘there is no content without an audience.’

To hear the story behind that lesson, along with many more lesson-filled stories, I talked to Ashley Levesque, Vice President of Marketing, Banzai (https://www.banzai.io/).

Banzai is a public company traded on NASDAQ and currently valued at $100 million. Levesque is currently a team of one, but she manages five functions in this newly public company.

Stories (with lessons) about what she made in marketing

Here are some lessons from Levesque that emerged in our discussion.

Data is more compelling than anecdote
There is no content without an audience
Overhiring is a real thing
Say ‘yes’ before you’re ready
The higher up you go, your priority becomes the people
There are three things to solve for in times of unmet expectations

Related content discussed in this episode

MeclabsAI.com now has expert assistants – copywriter, project planner, marketing professor, and social media pro. It’s totally FREE to use, you don’t even have to register (for now). MECLABS is the parent organization of MarketingSherpa.
The Last Blog Post: How to succeed in an era of Transparent Marketing (https://marketingexperiments.com/copywriting/last-blogpost-transparent-marketing)

Growth Marketing: Give a choice of "yes" or “yes” (podcast episode #37) (https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/growth)

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This article is distributed through the MarketingSherpa email newsletter (https://www.marketingsherpa.com/newsletters). Sign up for free if you’d like to get more episodes like this one.

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How I Made it in Marketing - Journalistic Content Marketing: Storytelling has magic and beauty (podcast episode #87)

Transcript

Nohar Zmora: As you presented me, Danielle, I'm coming from a rich journalistic background that you fight away from home as well. I was raised up in a family of some book publishers to my family have a loose publishing house, so print, print way before the Internet, but also with them and with them with a background in journalism. So this was always my dream.

I must say I was also a youth reporter, a young reporter in that in a youth magazine that was young, but I was privileged