Bob Chunn sees a big problem in modern marketing, a lack of authoritative content. To him it's one thing to get consumers' attention but its quite another to get their respect for your product. That’s where having expert information comes in, and validated expertise is increasingly fewer and farther between on the Internet.
Solving that problem is at the heart of his new startup,
ContentOro.The Ann Arbor-based company specializes in providing marketeers with access to authoritative content.
"There is a shortage of quality, authoritative content," Chunn says. "We are leveraging 130 million books to solve that problem."
Chunn ran into this problem often when he was the chief marketing officer for Pet Supplies Plus. People would often turn to the website for information. Having so-so information led to a pause in buying. Having a wealth of expertise on hand usually sealed the deal when it came to spending money.
"I was solving a problem I had run into myself as a chief marketing officer," Chunn says. "I was looking for authoritative content for the company I worked for."
What distinguishes authoritative content from the rest of the pack is complex, but Chunn sees a trend in books. While unsigned content written by freelancers can be persuasive, taking information from books written by respected authors goes much farther. However, the rub is there is a digital divide between the written word in books and what’s easily available online.
ContentOro's platform bridges that divide. It links marketing departments with the expert resources. ContentOro's team of five people launched the platform in August and have landed a couple of large customers. Chunn declined to name them, but did say two of the top three firms in the pet space are leveraging ContentOro.
"We're developing the world's first content marketplace," Chunn says.
Source: Bob Chunn, CEO of ContentOro
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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