Walt Disney's approach to content marketing

Marketing Powerup #42: Ronnie Higgins, Director of Content at OpenPhone, shares how Walt Disney's Synergy Growth Map has influenced his content strategy.

Ramli John

Aug 06, 2023

Hello, and welcome to Marketing Powerups! ⭐️

Today's powerups include:

Summarize your emails in a snap.
Why “high-quality” content isn’t real.
Ronnie Higgins’ content synergy strategy.

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⭐️ Ronnie Higgins’ Content Synergy Strategy

In 1957, Walt Disney mapped out how Disney was going to continue growing and increasing revenue for decades to come!

At the center of the map are Disney's movies, which connect to various other areas such as theme parks, music records, TV commercials, merchandise, and books. This approach ensures that Disney's content reaches as many people as possible in as many ways as possible.

Ronnie Higgins, Director of Content at OpenPhone, sees this as a mental model for creating, repurposing, and distributing content.

"The way I make it a hit is not by publishing just this one piece, but thinking about how that one piece will be repurposed and remixed and then eventually refreshed into multiple pieces."

Here's how Ronnie applies the Disney Synergy Map to content marketing:

Step 1: Create a pillar piece. 🗿

Ronnie begins his content marketing strategy by creating a pillar piece. This is a substantial piece of content that serves as the foundation for his marketing efforts.

It could be an in-depth eBook, a comprehensive guide, or a detailed report. This pillar piece is akin to a Disney movie in the Disney Synergy Map, serving as the central point from which all other content is derived.

"I have this piece of content and I'm going to make it a hit. And the way I make it a hit is not by publishing just this one piece."

Step 2: Atomize the content. ⚛️

After creating the pillar piece, Ronnie then atomizes the content. This involves breaking down the main piece into smaller, more digestible chunks.

For instance, a lengthy eBook could be transformed into a series of blog posts, social media updates, email content, and even webinars. This strategy, which Ronnie refers to as "content atomization," allows for maximum exposure and reach.

"I think about it before I go into production. The same way Disney does is like, all right, I have this piece of content and I'm going to make it a hit. And the way I make it a hit is not by publishing just this one piece, but thinking about how that one piece will be repurposed and remixed and then eventually refreshed into multiple pieces."

Step 3: Distributing natively to multiple platforms. 📣

Finally, Ronnie distributes the atomized content natively to multiple platforms. This means that he tailors the content to suit the specific platform where it will be published.

For example, a blog post might be shortened and made more visual for Instagram or transformed into a video for YouTube. This approach ensures that the content reaches as many people as possible in a format that is most suitable for them.

"As a marketer, the most powerful tool in your toolkit is exposure. How do you find more ways to hammer in the message and just constantly get someone's attention and you just need to be in multiple places at once."

Free powerups cheatsheet 🔖

I’ve created a powerups cheatsheet exclusively for Marketing Powerups subscribers to apply Ronnie Higgins' Content Synergy Strategy.

You can download and make a copy of it here (a direct link with no email required).

In the latest Marketing Powerups episode, Ronnie further explains his content synergy strategy.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcast and Spotify now, or watch it on YouTube.

✨ Mini powerups

Fun-sized tools, links, and blurbs to boost your marketing.

💌 Rizemail (tool): Get precise summaries of your emails. All you have to do is forward your email to Rizemail, and you’ll get a succinct summary of your emails.

🔎 Ahrefs Webmaster Tool (sponsored): This is the only free SEO tool that can go through up to 5,000 web pages and find 140 common SEO issues that could cost you valuable traffic. I currently use it for Marketing Powerups, and I’ve already found some issues!

🤝 How to find your community wedge (article): There are more online communities than ever before. If you're thinking about creating one of your own, David Spinks (author of The Business of Belonging) shares five “community wedges" to help you differentiate your community and offer something unique.

😱 “High-quality” content isn’t real (podcast): I love this take from Margaret Kelsey (Fromer VP of Marketing at OpenView) and Devin Bramhall (Former CEO of Animalz). TL;DR: Quality, as it relates to content and marketing, is relative because it isn't just about the perfection of what you are creating in your marketing strategy.

If you enjoyed this, you’d love this Marketing Powerups issue from the archives about Ryan McCready’s active content repurposing strategy.