Harland Clarke’s first content marketing strategy shifted focus to ‘high-value’ assets

Harland Clarke—a provider of payments and marketing solutions for financial institutions—was adept at marketing its business. The firm’s approach, though, was old school: Throw a lot of content at the wall and hope some would stick. In mid-2017, the company hired content managers and content marketing strategists tasked with overhauling the company’s marketing approach. Their success has earned Harland Clarke first place in the “Content Marketing Strategy” category of PR Daily’s 2018 Content Marketing Awards.

The strategy Harland Clarke adopted was simple: Abandon the “high-volume” approach in favor of “high-value” assets, resulting in better content for prospects, better leads for sales and a better workflow for the marketing team. Mapping the buyer’s journey helped focus the team on the right kind of content, including repurposing existing assets.

The team underwent a reorganization that eliminated silos and encouraged greater collaboration. A new content management tool was adopted, all of which has resulted in a nearly 50 percent increase in leads generated from Harland Clarke’s content initiatives.

At the same time, the company has reduced its need for external contractors and freelancers, which contributed to a boost in the team’s ROI. Since the realignment, the team has created 4 percent more content assets than the previous year, including 35 repurposed pieces from the previous year along with new types of content like a webcast workbook and a video blog series. The 50 percent increase in leads continues to trend upwards.

The Insight Center on the company’s website experienced a 27 percent increase in page views and a nearly 30 percent boost in time spent on the site. The company’s social media follower count grew by 2,500.

Congratulations Lauren Bowling, Scott Handy, Meredith Grant and Brandy Morton for their stellar work.