Work Hard Play Harder: The Story Of Revcontent

Would you like to use content recommendation but aren’t sure where to start? Or have you used a content recommendation platform but aren’t happy with the results?

RevContent is a leading content marketing and discovery platform that will drive the results you want. CEO of RevContent Richard Marques continues to build on the company’s foundational principles of trust, quality, and people-focused technology.

Find out what sets RevContent apart and how they can help you engage and grow your audience, develop loyal customers, and increase your revenue.

FOUNDING REVCONTENT

When content recommendation networks were first gaining traction, the early players tried to get as many publisher sites as possible. RevContent founder John Lemp decided to focus on quality instead of quantity.

TRUST AND QUALITY

RevContent partnered with premium publisher brands. Lemp believed that better recommendations and user experience would help publishers grow audience engagement and loyalty. This would drive higher long-term revenue.

He was right. Publishers, brand marketers, and advertisers saw success through RevContent’s model. Trust, personal relationships, and a commitment to ad quality drove growth for RevContent and its clients.

EXPANSION

In 2016, the company acquired ContentClick, the largest European content recommendation network. RevContent expanded again in 2017 by acquiring Rover and its machine learning technology.

The focus on trust and quality led RevContent to revise its content policy to exclude all sexually explicit or objectifying content. The company used standards from the National Center on Sexual Exploitation.

RevContent also revised its policy on fake news with a Truth in Media Initiative. They partner with the Poynter Institute’s International Fact-Checking Network.

As RevContent continues to grow, they remain focused on the original goals of trust, quality, and people-driven technology.

THE PATH TO CEO FOR RICHARD MARQUES

John Lemp founded RevContent in 2013. Lemp served as CEO until 2018. Current CEO of RevContent Richard Marques started at the company in marketing and operations.

He moved up to Vice President of marketing and then to CMO. After a little more than a year and a half, he moved into the COO position.

Several months later, Marques became CEO. He credits Lemp with helping him grow into roles with increasing responsibility. He wants to continue that legacy of mentorship and opportunity at RevContent.

STRUCTURING SUCCESS

When CEO of RevContent Richard Marques first came into his role, the company was seven years old and had 60 employees.

They had experienced rapid growth but were still operating more like a startup. For example, the company had never had a formal budget. They didn’t have standardized procedures for things like HR.

Marques first took on structuring company processes. He saw his role as helping Revconent transition from a high-growth startup to a mature company with long-term goals and strategies. He created departmental budgets and implemented standard business processes for areas like staffing and product development.

Marques emphasizes the importance of understanding how each department functions and why. He believes in asking as many questions as necessary to understand what you need.

However, while understanding the inner workings of each department is important, it doesn’t cross the line into micromanaging. Marques encourages his employees to lead and take accountability. Creating a space that allows others to take increased responsibility fosters a healthier, more vibrant environment.

SETTING GOALS

Richard Marques, RevContent CEO, has worked to create goals and strategies for the short-, middle-, and long-term. He hopes to create and sustain steady, sustainable success over the long term. This sustainability will be better for the business and its employees than dramatic, immediate growth.

A CEO needs to be able to explain where they want the business to be in one three, or five years or longer. Then you can establish business processes to help the organization achieve those goals.

FINDING THE BALANCE

Work-life balance is a critical piece of the RevContent philosophy. Richard Marques, RevContent CEO, emphasizes that it’s not a contest for who works the most hours. Productivity and effectiveness suffer when people are burned out from working all day and night.

In the current context of remote work, finding a disciplined schedule is even more important. The Zoom calls don’t end, so you have to know when to stop. Marques believes in setting realistic goals and expectations for himself and his employees.

People work harder for someone who they know cares about their total well being. If the CEO sets an example of hard work, self-care, and care for others, it influences the whole organization.

The RevContent team started an Events and Culture initiative after going fully remote in early 2020. These events help maintain a tight-knit community despite not being able to meet face-to-face. Some of the activities include a book club, recipe club, and a Zoom coffee chat.

THE REVCONTENT MODEL

RevContent defines itself as a content marketing platform. However, they focus on the idea of content discovery.

FOR PUBLISHERS

For publishers, RevContent provides four types of content discovery formats:

• Native sponsored content
• Email and newsletter
• Google AMP
• Video

By focusing on first-party demand, CEO of RevContent Richard Marques gives publishers a higher ROAS.

The first-party demand marketplace gives advertising budgets directly to publishers by cutting out the middle man. First-party data doesn’t rely on cookies. It belongs to the publisher.

Another key element of RevContent’s strategy is widgets that are light, flexible, and customizable. Lighter widgets make them faster, so publishers’ pages load faster.

Native widgets that a publisher can fully customize means that they match the look and feel of the site or app. The publisher can offer ad experiences that are personalized for each user but still unintrusive.

RevContent gives publishers robust brand safety tools. Granular content controls ensure that the audience has a high-quality user experience. Publishers can block unwanted content by keyword, image, category, site, or brand.

FOR ADVERTISERS

For advertisers, RevContent focuses on quality traffic over quantity. RevContent partners with premium publishers to drive traffic from highly-engaged audiences at all stages of the buyer journey. Publishers include Salon, History, Newsweek, and Forbes.

Advertisers can put their content in front of the right user at the right time from awareness to conversion.

RevContent has a strong suite of campaign management tools that give advertisers granular targeting capability. Advertisers can optimize by site and placement, device and operating system, language, and location. Location targeting is possible at levels from country and region to zip code and DMA.

RevContent provides robust brand safety mechanisms. Built-in technology detects and eliminates bot clicks and fraudulent users. Advertisers get domain and placement level transparency, so they know exactly what happens with their content.

Real-time reporting tools provide the data to create programmatic buying engines that drive results. Tools include pageview tracking, fractional bidding, budget pacing, and granular blacklisting.

RevContent CEO Richard Marques is not only focused on providing advertisers with the best functionality and results. He also pushes RevContent to give best-in-class customer service. Advertisers have access to account management and support teams around the clock.

JOIN THE REVCONTENT STORY

RevContent will take your business to the next level. Under the leadership of CEO Richard Marques, RevContent’s content discovery platforms enable publishers and advertisers to engage and grow their audiences, develop loyal customers, and drive revenue.

Sign up today to get started.

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