An interview with Steel Media COO Dave Bradley
Dave Bradley has over 20 years of publishing, promoting and presenting experience and is the Chief Operations Officer for Steel Media Ltd, a B2B technology publisher and events company serving the gaming industry.
“The best pieces of content are an argument; they build a narrative that leads you down a particular path – it may just be to make you laugh or cry.”
Dave has worked on some of the biggest consumer brands such as Total Film, SFX Magazine and the website Pocket Gamer, creating compelling content that engages and entertains audiences. With such a strong and varied background in editorial, Dave spoke to us about his thoughts on content marketing, the tools he uses and the work he’s most proud of.
1. What sparked your interest in marketing?
I love sharing things I’m excited about. When I’m passionate about something, I want to explore it and tell stories about it. That’s how I found my way into specialist journalism and that same drive transfers to marketing.
A reader can tell when people understand and care about a topic; that’s what good content marketing is. It’s evangelistic, sure, but it can also be useful, informative and uplifting. When you’re the editor of a magazine, some of your attention is always focused on ‘how can I tell more people about this? I think they’d love it!’
In the last few years, I’ve been working to create b2b events and conferences; a lot of my day-to-day now is focused on delegate ticket sales. The best way to invite people to come to an event is to create compelling editorial and social content around the content of the show.
That’s where I’ve realised the power of content marketing. You don’t need to “persuade” people to buy a ticket, if you can reveal the value of what you’re creating and let the audience discover the delight of it themselves, through the articles, social media and emails you’re sharing.
2. What was your first role within the marketing industry?
Although I’d always worked closely with the marketing teams during my time in editorial at Future Publishing, and I’ve dabbled with content marketing for Amazon through some client work at Dialect, my first opportunity to fully engage with campaigns in a day-to-day role was when I became COO at Steel Media.
Its b2b conferences here have grown to be a massive part of that business; by necessity, I became heavily involved in the promotion of Steel Media’s Pocket Gamer Connects conferences and a significant proportion of that is achieved through storytelling by MailChimp and on sites like PocketGamer.biz. So you might say I’m a late bloomer when it comes to the strategic side of marketing! It’s only been the last few years that I’ve dived into the regular marketing meetings, but I love it, and I am very close to that side of the business now.
3. What have been some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced during your career i.e. with a campaign, project or piece of content?
It’s always a challenge to keep content fresh when you revisit a topic. With luck, you’ll work on something for an extended period, and finding ways to tell new stories about it is always tough – especially if the client is unable to give you all the information you need. The other challenge is avoiding making it sound like a sales pitch.
4. Do you have a favourite campaign, project or piece of content you’ve created or contributed to, which you’re most proud of?
I’m proud of the team’s work on Pocket Gamer Connects Digital this year. Steel Media pivoted very quickly in response to the global COVID-19 lockdown and moved to an online-only model for its conferences.
“Not everybody is a natural when it comes to networking, but it’s an essential part of business.”
In the space of just a few weeks, the team cancelled its Seattle event, planned a virtual conference with hundreds of speakers and guests to take place on Zoom, and explained all this in a series of articles and MailChimp communications. We outlined the benefits, the new tools, the reasoning and the process, as well as foregrounding speakers in a series of spotlight articles. It’s been the model of many conferences that have followed.
5. Do you follow any influencers within the marketing industry? If so, who and why? If not why is that?
I have some great friends who excel in marketing. It’s probably not correct to call them ‘influencers’ as such, because that implies a certain kind of social media star. There are a couple of people I’m thinking of who are very influential: Chris James – the godfather of the mobile games industry and CEO of Steel Media – has a natural marketing instinct and knows how to “sell the sizzle of the sausage” when promoting something.
Andy Smillie at Games Workshop is more famous for his novel writing, but behind the scenes, he’s the captain of Games Workshop’s marketing starship, and under his stewardship, that company’s gone from strength to strength. Check out the Warhammer TV stuff they’re doing at the moment for a great example of how they create immensely engaging content for their fans.
6. Can you name three tools you use that help you with campaigns, projects or creating content?
MailChimp is the gold standard when it comes to running outreach campaigns by email. Internally, we track our marketing plan with Google Sheets and plan our content output work with Trello.
7. What advice would you give a young person looking to start a career for themselves in marketing?
There’s a lot to say! I could start with the classic ‘under promise and over deliver’, although that’s true of most professions. So here are a few specific things.
Firstly, it’s useful to know people. Build that contact book. Not everybody is a natural when it comes to networking, but it’s an essential part of business, so practice getting out there and introducing yourself. Build a list of LinkedIn people you can turn to, go to conferences (when we can again) and shake hands (with copious amounts of hand sanitiser).
“If you’re a writer, words are your magic spells.”
Secondly, be organised. Have a calendar, a to-do list, a timeline, a Trello. Keep track. Make notes. It’s a mistake to think that ‘creative’ means ‘anarchic’. This is a business, so plan, execute, report.
Thirdly, remember that language is your tool, so use it precisely and powerfully. A single word can tell a story or change an emotion. Never say this ‘allows you to do XYZ’ when you mean this ‘enables you to do XYZ’. Sounds small, but if you’re a writer, words are your magic spells.
8. What does the term “content with purpose” mean to you?
All stories – whether that’s an explainer video, or an interview article, or a joke on social media – have a purpose, even if it’s just to entertain (although usually there is a subtext as well). The best pieces of content are an argument; they build a narrative that leads you down a particular path – it may just be to make you laugh or cry, or it might be to inform you how to fix a broken tap.
With content marketing, the path may be to ultimately lead you to a purchase or to sway your loyalty to a brand. That’s the purpose behind the message. It doesn’t mean that the content can’t be informative, funny or meaningful.
Need help creating strategic content that has purpose? Email [email protected] today to find out how our experts can add something extra to boost your customer engagement.
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