The secret to getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking down your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one. – Mark Twain I presented a content marketing workshop for associations and non-profits this week (sponsored by Drake, see below for the full slide deck) and, afterward, heard this question from three people: “It seems like so much. How do I get started?” The answer is to start with the first step. Then move on to step 2. So many organizations want to go directly into developing content, which in our model is step seven of nine. Creating content is the fun part, and marketers always want to jump ahead to that step. Save yourself the agony and don’t. The Nine Steps to Content Marketing Although there is no silver bullet when it comes to content marketing, I’ve found that it’s best to look at content marketing in these nine steps. The Marketing Goal – What are...

After more than three years producing 11 comprehensive Top Content Marketing Blogs lists, we’ve decided to hang it up. Today’s release of the Top 42 Content Marketing Blogs (as we know it) will be our last. Why you ask? When we began the Junta42 Top 42 Content Marketing List back in late 2007, content marketing as we know it was just being born. Frankly, most marketing professionals didn’t know what content marketing was or how to use it. Marketers didn’t understand the impact that content marketing would make on the practice of marketing. The reason we developed the Top 42 list was to bring attention to some amazing thought leaders around the content marketing practice area and bring awareness to this thriving and important practice. Our first list in January of 2008 featured 81 blogs. Our current list features over 450 (we could easily have more). This was a tough decision, but in our minds, the goal of the Top 42 list has been accomplished. Now it’s time...

As hard as it may be for most guys, falling in love with a woman means… Listening first.  Always listen first. You have to tell the same story in different ways to get and keep attention. Consistency is the true sign of love.  Little notes. Opening the door for another. You need to remind her constantly that you love her. Shake things up. Every once in a while, you have to throw in a surprise to keep things fresh. The little things often turn out to be the biggest things. Which leads to… You never mention old girlfriends.  There is no need to. You stop noticing other women (in that way!). You accept her faults as no big deal. You can definitely live with them.  Actually, some of them are kind of cute. Whenever you have problems or need advice, you go to her. When you visualize your future, she’s always in the picture. Now let’s relate this to content marketing… You must first understand your customer’s pain points before creating or distributing...

Listened to a fantastic presentation from my friend and CMI consultant Jason Falls last week on social media measurement. Much of what Jason reviewed is applicable to content marketing measurement and ROI, especially when communicating content creation and distribution to the C-Level. What the C-Level Wants to Know about Content Marketing Please don’t show an analytics report to your CXO.  They don’t care, and probably will end up asking questions that will simply waste your time.  Your CXO only cares about three things when it comes to your content marketing measurement and ROI: Is the content driving sales for us? Is the content saving costs for us? Is the content making our customers happier, thus helping with retention? The reports you show to your CXO need to answer these types of questions, or why show them anything at all?  Content marketing is all about developing content that maintains or changes a behavior, so that is the focus. Return on Objective All content initiatives...

Here is a short video we put together for Content Marketing World that covers five content marketing case studies from brands that are doing content marketing right. American Express Open Forum – Focusing on solutions for small businesses. Conditioned Air – Covers home comfort solutions for the Naples, Florida region through their home comfort blog. OpenView Venture Partners – Solutions for expansion-stage technology companies through Openview Labs and their blog. Kinaxis – Reports on supply-chain challenges through their blog, expert answer community, Kinaxis TV and more (Here is a case study feature on Kinaxis from Chief Content Officer magazine). Blendtec – Interesting and humorous video shorts through WillitBlend.com. Please share and enjoy!

Google has one company as its main competition: Facebook. That’s right, Facebook is working to become the web platform for literally all communication.  It’s latest move is into email and texting.  For Google, this is a problem. Get Your Own Personal Facebook Email Address If you haven’t already done so, be sure to go to your message center within Facebook to activate your personal Facebook email address (see image below). This move positions Facebook as becoming the all-in-one communication platform.  As Google has worked to dominate search with the help of providing free emails to the planet, this add-on by Facebook is another step toward them being the dominant web platform. Not a believer.  How about Texting? Now, you can even route your texts from whatever carrier you have directly into Facebook.  Very powerful stuff. What Does Facebook Email and Texting Mean for Your Business? In my opinion, Facebook moves up a few notches in importance in your marketing plan....

A big part of a content marketing strategy is acquiring an audience. The majority of media companies spend thousands, even millions on audience development strategies in order to qualify and distribute to their target audience.  Tactics used include post cards, direct mail, telemarketing, email solicitation, social media, etc. Most non-media brands generally send their publications, such as a print magazine or email newsletter, to their current customers. That’s great if you have their print or email addresses, but what if you don’t? Enter the “Rent-to-Own” content marketing strategy. The idea is this: buy advertising or promotional space in targeted websites and publications to create attention to your content marketing product. Most companies do this for lead generation, or simply to promote their own products and services. Companies like Red Bull use it to get people to subscribe to their magazine Red Bulletin. In the example above, Red Bull advertises Red Bulletin...

I love infographics.  I especially like this one from Marketo because they use our own B2B Content Marketing stats in it, combined with some of their own research on content marketing. Now, all kidding aside, the rise of content marketing has nothing to do with stopping anything with traditional marketing.  Actually, we need both. The home runs occur when content marketing and traditional marketing work together to help tell the same story. Enjoy!

I had the opportunity to attend a fantastic Confab session yesterday featuring Brandon Copple, the managing editor for Groupon. For those of you not familiar with Groupon, it’s a deal-of-the-day website launched in November of 2008 that now serves over 175 markets in North America.  Most recently, the founder turned down a billion dollar deal from Google. So, in less than three years, Groupon has a multi-billion dollar valuation, turned its nose up at Google, has over 7,000 employees and over 70 million subscribers, and does more than 500 deals per day around the country. And their competitive advantage is their content. As the great Don Schultz says, competitors can copy anything and everything you have, except the way you communicate with your customers.  Groupon takes this to heart.  Let me tell you how they do it.Continue reading

I was asked this same question in three consecutive days this week. So, how many blog posts make the correct frequency for corporate bloggers? When I asked the question back to those people, I received the following answers: Two times per month Once per week At least once per month The correct answer is this…as long as the blog post serves these two goals it’s worth doing a post: Is a compelling and interesting story to your target audience (the reader), and Serves the objective for your blog If that means five posts per week, great.  If it’s one per week, that’s fine to.  Focus on whether or not you have a story worth telling. This, combined with consistency, is the key.  Any content marketing initiative is a promise to your customers.  Once you find a frequency, such as two times per week, you need to stay with that frequency to keep your content promise. Remember, like it or not, you are a publisher.  The best publishers in the world develop compelling stories...

Editor’s note: Because the content marketing industry continues to evolve, we thought it would be a good time to revisit this essential position in an updated post. In my research, there was no current template available for a Chief Content Officer job description.  Now there is! Thanks to our call out to the content marketing community a few weeks ago, we’ve put together a Chief Content Officer job description that can serve as a template for the lead storyteller within a brand. The full text job description is below, but here is a link to a PDF version of the CCO  job description, as well as a MS Word document of the job description that you can use within your organization. As you’ll read through this, it’s clear that this is an extremely challenging but necessary position in any company today, as brands continually evolve into media companies. Special thanks to the following individuals for helping to make this happen: Katie McCaskey, Peggy Dorf, Don Hoffman,...

Are you looking for a really good way to engage your prospects and customers? I’m a big fan of branded content tools, also called interactive marketing tools and value selling tools. What is a branded content tool? Essentially it’s an electronically-enabled service that gathers information from prospects and customers then produces, in return, a customized analysis, assessment, report or plan.Continue reading