Just presented 20 Actionable Techniques to Enhance Your Blog’s Content at the Blogging Success Summit, an amazing series of virtual presentations put on by Social Media Examiner. During the presentation, I shared these 10 blogging tips for beginners and experts alike that I believe are imperative for all content marketers  Here they are. 1. Use Killer Titles Your blog title is like the cover of a magazine.  There is one purpose for a magazine cover…to get you to open the magazine.  The same holds true for a blog post.  The greatest blog post in the world might not be read unless you have a compelling title.Continue reading

We started our latest press release on the launch of Chief Content Officer magazine (view issue here, subscribe here) with: “Print is Dead. Long live Print.“ Darn right. When we first announced the launch of CCO in print, a number of my colleagues literally thought I had gone mad. After all, you will not find a bigger proponent of digital content marketing than yours truly. And print is, well, print. It’s dead trees. It’s not 2.0…it’s more like .02. But let me explain the method to the madness. Over the last year I’ve been pounding on the virtual table about the importance of integrating print into the overall content marketing strategy. During that same time, many pundits, including content genius Jeff Jarvis, have called for the end of print magazines and the dead-tree ending move to digital. And why not?  Print is more expensive. It requires a number of specialized skills that many companies don’t have (magazine design, circulation development,...

I sat on a panel yesterday with best-selling author and speaker David Meerman Scott, where David talked at length on the concept of Real-Time Marketing and PR (check out his book here and see him speak at Content Marketing World here). Two points resonated with me: That all websites in the future will look like news sites, similar to msnbc.com and the Wall Street Journal online. That the idea of creating content marketing in the form of a news service is public relations. It’s also marketing.  It’s also social media. What does it mean to start a news service? Simply put, it means that you become the media company for your industry niche and your customers. For example, if you were a manufacturer that targeted plant managers, you would be covering issues like: The latest research on plant quality issues What plant managers around the world are doing to enhance productivity Companies that are expanding, contracting and why this is important to the plant manager Every day,...

Happy Anniversary to the Junta42 Top 42 Content Marketing Blogs. This is our 10th installment of the popular list since we started just over three short years ago. We originally reviewed 81 blogs back in 2007. We are now up to an astonishing 433 blogs (adding over 50 since last quarter). Congratulations goes to Lee Odden (one of our Content Marketing World speakers) and the team at TopRank for again finishing in first place (this is their third time topping the content marketing charts). Included in the top five (in this order) are last quarter’s leader Brian Solis, followed by David Meerman Scott, and former winners Jay Baer and Brian Clark from Copyblogger (David and Brian are also speaking at Content Marketing World). The Top 42 scores are calculated using a combination of 1) Relevance to Content Marketing, 2) How much the blog adds to the Content Marketing conversation, 3) Google Page Rank, 4) blog consistency and 5) previous ranking. Thanks to our lead researcher Janet Robbins...

It’s great, right? We are all publishers and mini-media companies today. We all have the opportunity to create relevant and compelling content to attract and retain customers (content marketing). There are no barriers. Well, it’s usually not so great. Now that we are all content creators, there is more bad content out there than ever before.  To top that, although we are all doing the activities of a publisher (good), marketers actually feel they are less effective at some pretty important content marketing tactics than they should be (not so good). For example, take the Content Marketing Confidence Gap below (full content marketing research here): 69% of marketers feel they are ineffective at delivering content through social media outlets. 60% feel they are ineffective at blogging. 55% videos. You get the point. 10 Reasons Your Content Stinks and How to Fix It Although your content probably doesn’t stick for all of the reasons below, a couple of these surely ring...

Great overview of content marketing in this MarketingSherpa article.  In it, I discuss the only difference between a media company and a non-media company. “The only difference,” Pulizzi says, “is that a media company leverages content in order to sell paid content and sponsorships … A non-media company needs to create that same type of content, but they do not get paid content or sponsorships — they do it to sell products and services.” I talk with marketers all the time that just don’t get the idea that they need to think and act like publishers. Being a publisher means that all day long you think about the needs of the readers, how to engage those direct needs, and monetize that engagement. That is today’s marketing.  That is content marketing. Instead of making money from ads or sponsorships like a publisher would, you sell more products and services. But everything else is the same. Geoff Ramsey, eMarketer’s CEO, puts it like this. Marketers...

A few months ago I wrote a post on why print would come back in 2011.  Truth is, it never left. Case in point. A few weeks ago my two boys received their LEGO Club magazines in the mail. The feature this month was a new series called Ninjago (which they had never heard of before reading the issue). Since that time, the following has occurred: My kids know the full story of Ninjago, including the wise Sensei Wu and sleek Cole (yes, I know the characters). Lobbied to use their Holiday gift certificates at Toys R Us buying a Ninjago spinning game (Spinjitzu) and a limited-edition Ninjago LEGO set (which they found out about from the magazine). Dad has yet to win at Spinjitzu, but I’m coming on strong. The boys fought over using the computer before school so that they could play the Ninjago online game on LEGO.com.Continue reading

A popular way to present content is through a microsite. As described in the Content Marketing Playbook, a microsite “concentrates on a narrow topic or issue, featuring rich content developed by the sponsoring brand itself. Correctly executed, the microsite creates a gathering place that positions the brand as a contributing member of the community.” So, the main difference between a microsite and just content on your website is that the microsite actually has its own brand. Think of it like a magazine.  For example, our magazine is produced by CMI, but the magazine title is Chief Content Officer. If you are thinking about developing a microsite as part of your content marketing program, check out these examples. Continue reading

Our 2011 content marketing and social media predictions roundup was pretty amazing this year.  Well over 150 predictions from more than 100 of the leading marketing thought leaders in the business. [Download the Entire Predictions eBook here.] As I reviewed the predictions from this year, I pulled out some of my favorites.  Hope you enjoy. See all 100+ predictions here. Russ Henneberry Unfortunately I think most brand marketers will attempt to replicate viral content like the (admittedly hilarious) Old Spice campaign.  Of course the value provided with the Old Spice content is humor. My prediction is that in 2011 and beyond it will be those that create content that educates, protects, makes people money or saves people time that will build the most loyal communities around their brands. Communities are difficult to form and sustain around humorous content.  For brands wanting more than a “flash in the pan” success story, humorous content should take a back seat to content that...

What started as something small has grown into a rather large predictions party. We saw about 50 content marketing and social media predictions for 2009. For 2010, there were over 100 predictions from 70 of the leading marketing experts. This year over 100 of the industry’s thought leaders have come together to collectively throw down the magic eight ball on what 2011 will bring for content marketing and social media.Continue reading

Kristina Halvorson (one of our upcoming Content Marketing World speakers) asked me the difference between custom publishing and content marketing. It’s a good question…and I soon realized that there has never been a really good post or article on it.  So, here goes. What is Custom Publishing? Custom publishing has been the traditional US-based term for what is now known as content marketing. The definition, as stated by the Custom Content Council (the US association for custom publishers), custom publishing: “… marries the marketing ambitions of a company with the information needs of its target audience. This occurs through the delivery of editorial content – via print, Internet, and other media – so intrinsically valuable that it moves the recipient’s behavior in a desired direction.” Long-story short, custom publishing is selling your product or service by not selling, but educating or entertaining your customers through things they like or need to do.  It’s...

As you read this piece, think of Jerry McGuire and his mission statement. I have something important to say, but I’m not really sure of the direction (yet). I’m a regular reader of Jason Calicanis’ enewsletter on technology and new product development. It’s a must read for any web entrepreneur (Calicanis was the co-founder of Weblogs and is founder of Mahalo – a Top 150 website).Continue reading