RootsRated announces launch of content marketing platform, RootsRated Compass

After marking a milestone of four years in business this summer, RootsRated today announces the official launch of RootsRated Compass, the emerging content marketing platform for engaging an active outdoor audience. The product already powers several major brands’ social engagement strategies. Innovative companies such as Marmot, ExOfficio, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama, OrthoCarolina, Toad&Co., and Rock/Creek currently leverage Compass to license and distribute compelling outdoor stories onto their websites. All of these clients also commission custom content written by the company’s network of freelance writers, and edited by their professional editorial team.

Joe Flannery, GM at Marmot, says that through the RootsRated Compass platform, “we’ve increased our publishing frequency 20x, and there are few ways to generate awareness with such turnkey efficiency.”

Content licensing allows any marketer to radically increase publication frequency, meeting a challenge that all modern marketers face. As Mark McKnight, RootsRated CMO and co-founder, explains, “social media algorithms now stand between brands and their customers, and we’ve found that increasing the frequency of publication is one of the most effective ways to regain relevance and earn organic exposure alongside paid distribution on platforms like Facebook.”

RootsRated staff provide paid distribution services, managing Facebook ad campaigns and leveraging their extensive experience and knowledge of the platform. Clients see extremely low CPC’s and much higher than average engagement from continuously distributed content campaigns. “Our most integrated brands also use content across owned media outlets like email and on-site, and even in print catalogs in the case of Yakima,” explains Fynn Glover, CEO and co-founder.

Network syndication offers benefits to other stakeholders as well. Jay Kinghorn from Utah’s Office of Tourism, explains the utility of the product for destination marketing organizations (DMO’s): “The Compass technology enables our outdoor visitation message to be distributed not only through our channels, but also through major outdoor brands.” In one example, Atlanta’s tourism department syndicated content to Marmot and then provided a budget to drive traffic to that article on Marmot’s site.

Nonprofit partners have also used RootsRated to spread their message. “In one of the first live syndication examples earlier this year, Leave No Trace added content that has now been syndicated to the National Forest Foundation,” says Glover.

Companies are also leveraging Compass to manage Co-op programs. “Brands and retailers are both frustrated by co-op; funds go unused or are dumped into old-school newspaper ads because marketers don’t have time to do something more interesting,” says McKnight; “Early co-op experiments have already begun in the Southeast with Osprey, The North Face, and Chaco.”

Interested marketers can learn more about content marketing by visiting https://rootsrated.com/labs or speak with co-founders Fynn Glover and Mark McKnight of RootsRated at Outdoor Retailer in Salt Lake City this week. They, along with COO Jas Garcha, will be available after their panel discussion, “Content to Customers,” taking place Thursday from 4:30-6PM MDT at The Camp at Outdoor Retailer.

About RootsRated
Founded in 2012, RootsRated.com is one of the fastest-growing outdoor lifestyle publications, providing readers interesting stories from the outdoor life, as well as an index of the best places to go outdoors. RootsRated Labs provides brands with marketing insights drawn from the extensive experience gained from producing and promoting over 6,000 articles. RootsRated Compass allows modern marketers to radically increase publication frequency, and syndicate their messages to the places and partners that matter. Current clients include outdoor and travel brands, retailers, nonprofits, destination marketing organizations, and healthcare companies.