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In late November Custo organised its fourth annual BOCA Awards. Together with bpost, Cypres once again featured among the winners with Sparkle magazine: the BOCA Craftsmanship Award now holds pride of place in our trophy cabinet. Congratulations to the entire Sparkle team!
Bpost uses EcoVadis to evaluate the sustainability performance of its suppliers. EcoVadis is the world’s leading provider of sustainability assessments for businesses, and has reviewed 75,000 companies around the world since 2007. Using a set methodology, EcoVadis examines how well a business has integrated the principles of sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) into its organisation and management system.
CUSTO organised the BOCA Awards for the third year running. The jury selected the best cases of 2020 from a total of 95 entries from 30 different agencies. Once again Cypres and bpost entered the Sparkle magazine in the competition. Within the topic Trust & Trends the 12th issue of this magazine played with a transparent cover, fake news and accurate information. A good mix of creativity, execution and the clever use of materials made this issue another eye-catcher.
It certainly caught the eye of the jury because Sparkle won the Craftsmanship Award for best print cover. Thank you! We’re sure we’ll find a nice spot for this BOCA as well.
Many companies see content marketing as a complex obstacle course. Those obstacles can often be reduced to four pillars that brands and companies must get a grip on in order to develop a successful strategy. Or how to build an audience in the long term with the aid of content, data and your entire organisation?
Most companies regard their investments in terms of content marketing as operational expenditures (OpEx), whereas content marketing should actually be labelled an investment (Capital Expenditures or CapEx). After all, content generates added value and is one of the most important long-term assets of a business.
Quite a few marketers hardly have an insight into the consumer need they are trying to satisfy and the place of content in that process. All too often, marketers use social media as an amplification tool. And the success of content marketing is preferably measured on the basis of improved sales results, often one month after the start of the action. How can you avoid these common pitfalls?
Successful content marketing is always a mix of data and creativity. The importance of data in this combo is often underestimated. It’s not about the number of views, likes or shares. Content marketing needs to generate conversions to be successful. And efficient data use helps to define and quantify the success of every stage of the customer journey.
How cypres’s content marketing story began
If you’ve been doing content marketing, you'll probably want to clearly identify and evaluate its effects. If you do, this blog post is a must-read. Follow these 5 essential steps for a successful and efficient content audit.
During the BOCA evening on 9 May 2019, Cypres won three prizes: two for bpost (Sparkle) and one for Komosie.
Thank you all!
Many companies that have embraced content marketing engage in public relations, too. The two activities are still often conducted separately, which is unfortunate as public relations can be very important for content marketers.
Cypres won a Pearl Award for the self-promotion campaign ‘Content marketing under the spotlight’, on its renewed offering for clients and prospects. A unique card game was developed to highlight how Cypres has evolved from a print-oriented to an omni-channel-content bureau.
Today, content and content marketing are hot topics in the world of communication, but Belgian content agency Cypres has been operating in this field for over 30 years. It has experience working with major national and international brands including bpost, Brussels Airport, Beaulieu, DEME, Lidl, Thalys, ENGIE and Orange.
Where do the people from your target group live? What are their ambitions? What do they like? What is their opinion on certain issues? This is all interesting input that may help you better gear your content to your audience. One concrete technique to use this information to best advantage involves the creation of personas.
Cypres is a member of Custo, the Belgian association for custom content and content marketing agencies. This year CUSTO moved from ThePress to the ACC, the association of Belgian communication agencies. CUSTO´s blog Content Talk discussed this with Johan Vandepoel, CEO of ACC, and Pieter Vereertbrugghen, CUSTO president and managing partner of Cypres.
CUSTO, the association for custom content and custom publishing agencies, recently joined the ACC, the association of Belgian communication agencies. We discussed this with Johan Vandepoel, CEO of ACC, and Pieter Vereertbrugghen, the president of CUSTO.
Valentina D’Efilippo gave an interview on visual storytelling in The Content Room. This interview will acquaint you with the multidisciplinary designer and co-author of ‘World History in Infographics’.
How can you determine whether or not your content is coming across? Evaluate the impact of your content in the blink of an eye with the 18 concrete questions from our practical checklist.
The new Guide to content audits will take you through the entire content audit process, from preparation to presentation.
What if a robot took care of all your marketing campaigns? Dream, reality or nightmare? Marketing automation is gaining ground in a digital world where Big Data is the ultimate weapon in the quest for a heightened customer experience. Jonas Verhaeghe (HappiFish) gives his view on the matter.
A content audit sounds like a clever plan, but how does it work? We’ll briefly discuss the purpose of a content audit and then look at 4 audit types to give you an idea of where to start.
Platforms such as Airbnb, Kickstarter and Uber have become very popular in recent years and are still gaining traction, even beyond the segment of digital natives. Collaborative economy expert Benjamin Tincq knows why that is. As the founder of OuiShare, a platform that studies and helps spur collaborative initiatives across the globe, he knows exactly what makes communities tick.
Gathering content topics is an indispensable part of your strategy. Which subjects should you use to attract attention and achieve results? That’s the sweet spot you’re aiming for.
The Content Room has published a guide to content governance. You need content governance to make your content strategy work. It is about assigning roles and responsibilities, and defining and documenting work processes.
At last an answer to your questions about Content Marketing. At your place of business and free of charge. Thanks to our 'Content Marketing under the spotlight' campaign.
Having trouble reaching out to customers? Maybe you're not thinking about who's really important in your (business) life. We spoke to content guru Gerry McGovern about putting the customer first.
Blowing your own trumpet about your brand, company or product lacks credibility. It’s much more persuasive to let your customers do the talking. Video testimonials in particular are incredibly effective, as they are hard to fake. However, despite this, they are still relatively uncommon in this country. Let’s take a look at the three most common misconceptions about video testimonials.
“Instead of thought leadership I usually advocate aspiring after trusted authority because it is a much more client-oriented approach.”
This autumn sees publication of the second issue of Sparkle, the magazine that Cypres produces for bpost. ‘Above all, Sparkle has to surprise and inspire,’ says Pascal De Greef, business development mail director at bpost.
Do you ever have the feeling that the content you produce is being under-used during a sale? If you have a sales tool, look at it as a channel and integrate it into your content strategy.
Why use content models when working on a content project? How can they help you optimize your content strategy across various channels? Michael Atherton, UX design instructor at General Assembly in London, tells all.
To ensure a maximum return from your content, you should consider the entire content lifecycle. It’s not just your content strategy and the creative process that matter – where you publish your content and how you evaluate your efforts are also important. To help you with this, we’ve created a guide that clearly shows how to manage and optimise your content lifecycle.
If you're someone who thinks that technology has intruded too far in our lives, here's some bad news: it’s getting turned up another notch. 'Wearable' technology is all the rage, and soon enough you'll be sporting a computer on your wrist – or even your face. The possibilities for compelling content on these devices are endless – and soon you won't even notice you're wearing them.
Are you convinced of the added value video testimonials can create to recommend your product or service to potential clients? These 11 tips will help you get started.
One-way advertising has had its day. In 2014, brands can no longer rely on this type of marketing to sell their products or find customers for their services. Content marketing is the new buzzword in marketing and communication – and for good reasons. CMA Director Clare Hill explains how you can employ content marketing successfully.
Together with her team at the Government Digital Service (GDS), Sarah Richards was responsible for the innovative transformation that the British government’s online content went through, resulting in the award-winning GOV.UK website. In this interview, she provides valuable insight into what lessons can be learnt from the project.
It is not at all surprising that people are projecting a much more positive image of themselves on Facebook, and this even without being aware of it. Media psychologist, Mischa Coster, explains why this is the case and also why social media have become so firmly anchored into our society.
A historic paradigm shift happened in 2013: for the first time, more people accessed the web on a mobile device than on a desktop. There’s now, more than ever, a need for responsive websites, and it’s important to focus on content, not just design, when building one
The dissemination of useful, relevant content has been going on for a long time now. Tractor manufacturer John Deere published the very first customer journal back in 1895. Today The Furrow has a print run of 1.5 million copies and now it’s available in a tablet version as well. Already in 1900 tyre manufacturer Michelin launched its famous series of travel guides with tips on good restaurants and places to stay.
From Pitchfork and Grantland to ACQTASTE, digital publishers are stepping outside of their comfort zones to storm the print market, producing magazines that extend their screen-based endeavours. How come?
Co-creation and crowdsourcing are two technical terms that are frequently confused with one another. Both concern involving a group of users or readers in the creation of a piece of content, but when is it best to use which one?
Journalists, media companies and brands are all feverishly seeking new models for creating content. A magic phrase often encountered in this context is branded journalism. Both established media companies and brands appear interested in this form of ‘journalism at the behest of brands’. But in that case, is it still really journalism?
What your editorial calendar should to do for you depends on the type of content that you publish, the objectives that you have and the media in which your content will appear
Content marketing involves producing useful information for your target audience, which also supports your business goals: blogs, e-books, videos, presentations, tutorials and more.
Kevin Van der Straeten is a full-blooded internet entrepreneur and a specialist in social media. Recently, he discussed the subject in The Content Room. Afterwards, we caught up with him.
The previous post listed a number of content quality criteria. Today, we’re looking at some methods to verify whether quality criteria have been met.
As social media redefines what passes for communication and information today, companies are beginning to question whether they should continue to invest in developing high-quality content. Their thinking goes, “If we’re just tweeting or posting to Facebook and LinkedIn, we don’t need anything longer or more substantive.”
Some years ago, I was asked by an online recruitment agency to write copy for their home page. The job came with strict instructions: I had to make sure that the agency's name was repeated at least eight times. The agency owner was adamant that this was the way he wanted his website to go
Yesterday, Sue Davis and Nancy Duin gave us an inspiring seminar on content strategy at The Content Room (Thank you, Sue and Nancy!). We enjoyed it so much that we asked them to extend it a little bit by sharing their thoughts about user-generated content here.
Marketers and communicators can rely on more content, social and mobile channels than ever before to attract an audience and build a community. To protect and improve brand equity, operational efficiency and content quality amidst this explosion of new possibilities, your company needs content governance.
Content strategy, content marketing, content management: it’s content all over. But there does not seem to exist a common definition of what content is, and how it relates to concepts as ‘information’ and ‘data’.
Content strategy is en vogue, and many copywriters now also call themselves content strategists. One of them is Don Seidenberg. We asked him about his turn to content strategy.