MarTech Interview with Anda Gansca, Co-Founder and CEO of Knotch

Hi Anda, you are one of the top MarTech CEOs in the industry. Tell us about your journey and how you arrived at Knotch.

The seed for Knotch was planted during my experience as a young immigrant in America, when much of what I experienced through targeted ads, read in publications, and watched in media/tv was not impactful or relevant to me. That led to my interest in helping brands improve their content marketing efforts and to building the Knotch Content Intelligence Platform to help them do that.  We started by creating a simple feedback mechanism to gauge consumers’ reaction to a given piece of content and then quickly expanded to offer analytics and other tools for helping content teams plan, measure and optimize their content investments.  Until we created the content intelligence space, every content campaign was essentially guesswork because there was no effective way to determine how it was performing. Knotch’s contribution has been to eliminate the guesswork and equip content leaders with actionable information that can help increase brand awareness, user engagement and lead generation.

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How has your role evolved through the pandemic months? What unique challenges did you face?

 Content boomed during the pandemic. More than ever, people are relying on content to be informed, whether through financial planning blogs, information about the job market, or other topics. We saw demand increase for more content transparency in data. My role has also shifted. I used to spend 3-4 days a week traveling to meet with clients, investors and advisors. Now I am anchored and use technology to do that job, which has allowed me to optimize my time and spend more time strategizing and innovating our internal processes and planning. 

Marketing teams are overwhelmed by the perennial issues of content chaos and negative tones. How does Knotch help in eliminating content chaos?

Content chaos is something we hear about from every client or prospect we talk to. They say that content works, but they don’t know how or why. Knotch helps eliminate that chaos by housing all content in one place, closing the feedback loop between consumers and brands, and tying content to business outcomes, including enhancing brand, increasing ROI, and building audience. 

Do you agree that content chaos results in information overload and this dilutes brand messaging? How can brands optimize their website content and align their marketing goals with social media promotions? 

Content chaos is like having all engines burning without any way of determining which engine is getting you to your destination.  With efforts happening in silos and without data on past performance or outcomes to guide you, brand messaging constantly changes based on the content or channel, and that’s where the dilution comes in. The solution is analytics showing how each channel and piece of content moves customers or prospects along on their journey – or not. With those insights in hand, brands can tailor their content across channels to meet their marketing goals. Companies use data to make business decisions every day. Content teams should be doing the same thing. 

Website content versus social media content: Where should CMOs invest more? And, why?

The simple answer is both.  Prospects will determine how they consume content, the most important part is to make sure you know what is and is not working and make your investment appropriately.  The other point to consider is one type drives the other, so a single media strategy will most likely not have the impact of an integrated approach. Website content is easily reusable and repurposed. The evergreen content can then be promoted through additional channels such as social media and email. That said, social media is a great way to reach consumers in real time. So it’s not a matter of investing more in one or the other, but rather streamlining your messaging and content across channels.

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How do Content Intelligence platforms help in brand building and audience engagement? Could you tell us how your customers leverage Knotch’s Content Intelligence platform to justify ROI from their content marketing strategies?

Our technology builds brands by measuring engagement and brand impact at the content and aggregate level and helps brands identify content characteristics that contribute to brand impact, both positive and negative. This leads to content leaders being able to understand the cause and effect of content engagement and brand impact. In terms of ROI, we help identify content that keeps audiences engaged and viewing more content, track content’s contribution to high value actions that lead to buying activity, and visualize audience journeys to confirm the ideal content experience. Lastly, in terms of audience growth, we help content leaders understand which content acquires the largest and most engaged audience, identify content characteristics that keep the audience engaged and viewing more assets, and analyze the SEO and publisher landscape to uncover breakout content opportunities . 

Tell us more about your upcoming event “Insight 2021”. What is the key theme of this event and why did you choose it?

Insight 2021 is the first conference focusing on the three areas of Content Intelligence: content creation, content strategy, and content data and innovation. The theme of the conference is about the rising need for insights and data for content leaders and brands. This is not only relevant due to the urgent conversation around cookies and first-party data, but also as brands require more real-time creation, strategy and data. 

Why should CMOs and Marketing professionals attend the event? What outcomes can attendees expect from the discussions planned at the Insight 2021?

Anyone who works in content should attend the conference. It’s a great opportunity for creators to learn more about data, strategists to learn more about creative and AI, and marketing technologists to learn about the rising capabilities of new content technologies. We will be discussing everything from cookies to content machine learning to AI-written content. We will also be sharing case studies from brands like Mastercard, T-Mobile and Zillow. 

Your prediction on the role of Content Intelligence in delivering better customer experience and personalization in omnichannel marketing campaigns:

Content Intelligence will become the trusted method that brands use to measure their content against business outcomes and use those insights to personalize content across channels, intended audiences, and more.

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 A piece of advice to every CMO who is stuck in content chaos

 It doesn’t matter if you are B2C or B2B. You are developing content for real human beings with real thoughts, feelings, emotions, and life experiences and values. Keep it simple and keep it human-first.