This article from Cleveland’s own Joe Posnanski at Sports Illustrated on Mr. Bob Feller (Rapid Robert) is worth the read. Bob Feller, who died yesterday at the age of 92, will forever be known as the most famous pitcher in Cleveland sports history. He was one of the greatest pitchers of all time. I first met Bob Feller when I was seven years old at a baseball card show at the Sandusky Mall (Sandusky is one hour west of Cleveland, Ohio). On that day I received my first ever signed baseball. The line was long, and Mr. Feller stayed well past the time limit for the autograph session to sign every ball and baseball card from the hundreds of big and small kids around the area. He shook my hand and smiled.  My Dad told me he was the greatest pitcher who ever lived, even though he missed four years in his prime to serve in World War II.Continue reading

I’ve had the pleasure of working with Mitch Rouda on a number of consulting assignments over the years.  Frankly, you’d be hard pressed to find someone more knowledgeable about the publishing industry.  Mitch has worked with over 40 organizations over the past three years and gives the following advice and statistics regarding enewsletter open rates – and – how media and non-media companies can improve their results. Open Rate Ranges From a low of about 8% open rate to a high of 45% open rate. The average open rates for decent enewsletters are mid- to high-teens. Monthly enewsletters average in the low 20% range. Daily enewsletters average in the mid-teens.Continue reading

Thanks to my good friend and “publisher” Mike Azzara for putting together the following thoughts on, of all things, the word “publisher”. Joe’s recent post admonishes non-media brands to believe that they are publishers. In fact, he says, “Believing that you are a publisher is the first rule” (of success in modern marketing, I assume). But I worry whether the word “publisher” can be resurrected. Gene Barry in the 1968-1971 television series The Name of the Game shaped my understanding of the word publisher. Barry played Glenn Howard, publisher of People magazine (long before there was a People magazine), a character who was, for all intents and purposes, a publisher as superhero.Continue reading

On the flight over to Belgium I was reading a combination of Content Rules by Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman, Screw It, Let’s Do It by Sir Richard Branson, and Why We Suck by Denis Leary. Quite a potent combination. As a content marketer, what can we learn from this brew? Continue reading

At the end of last year, I published 30 content marketing truths that I have taped above my desk. This list is something that I am grateful for as it is a constant reminder to stay focused. In the spirit of Thanksgiving in the US, I wanted to share revised commandments with you. I trust they will serve you well. Continue reading

Read an interesting article from MediaPost this morning entitled “Are Media Brands Ready to Be Brands?” The question about whether or not media brands are like real brands has been asked every since I’ve been in the media business. The answers varied, but the consensus from publishers was usually that media brands were different in some way, and didn’t have to follow the same rules. There are a number of areas that most media brands are simply inferior at this point to non-media brands: data capture, lead nurturing, social media, campaign tactics, integrated marketing and more.  Ellen Oppenheim from MediaPost offers a number of helpful solutions for media brands including: Leveraging data outside of content creation Not be so tied to legacy revenue streams and experiment more digitally Reach out to more readers and customers (listen) More content promotion across platforms (market the content, not just through the channel the content is in, i.e., an email newsletter) All...

Listened to an excellent overview from Ann Marie Kelly from Gfk MRI today who talked about consumer research and magazines. One piece of research that stood out was focused on how consumers engage in different media for different reasons.  Television, radio, the Internet, magazines and newspapers were discussed in detail. Each one of these distribution outlets are used by consumers in the following primary ways. Continue reading

I had the opportunity to present at Hubspot this week for the New England Content Strategy meetup. During the presentation (slideshare below), the group of content strategists and marketers spent over 30 minutes discussing the differences and similarities between content strategy, content marketing and inbound marketing. You’ll see how I define each of them in the presentation, but this was offered by Kyle James at Hubspot: “There is a TON of overlap, but each has a slightly specific mandate. Coming from a long line of southern Methodist ministers you could also probably say that Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians make a pretty good analogy. They are all Christians who follow and believe in what the Bible says, but they all ‘interpret’ the exact doctrine a little differently. The biggest difference here is that Christianity is thousands of years old. Content strategy/content marketing/inbound marketing is all of about what 5% that age.” By the end of the...

Don’t get me wrong, content marketing strategy is critical to the success of a content marketing project. Not having a content strategy is like playing baseball without the bases (envision people running everywhere…not a pretty site). That said, I’ve seen a multitude of content strategies die for the following reasons. Continue reading

I’ve had multiple versions of Mark Fletcher’s startup commandments on my wall for years now.  Whenever I get a little lost in our startup model, I review these.  It keeps me sane. I’ve modified a few of these related to content marketing.  If you’re stuck on your content marketing strategy, I hope these new commandments will help. Continue reading

In my presentations lately, I’ve been talking about developing content that stands for something. Basically, content marketing is not about “what you sell” it’s “what you stand for”. This becomes the basis for your content marketing strategy. This is your content mission.  It’s based on the informational needs of your customers and prospects, and also inherently drives your business (interest in you as the expert in your industry). Continue reading

We’ve been working on a web content inventory and ran through a number of oldie-but-goodie content marketing resources. Hope they’re helpful. The Content Marketing Playbook Our most popular eBook…42 different ways to leverage content marketing. Includes over 50 case studies. Here’s the Spanish version. 20 Questions to Ask Before You Launch Your Content Project Before you launch, be sure to read these 20 important questions. 100 Social Media & Content Marketing Predictions for 2010 Almost ready to dig into the 2011 edition.  This one is a classic. Some are even right. 30 Content Marketing Truths One of my favorite posts of all time.  Print and save. 42+ Social Media Marketing Tools Still the 2nd most popular post in Junta42 blog history. 2010 B2B Content Marketing: Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends Incredibly powerful research from MarketingProfs and Junta42. 7 Reasons Print Will Make a Comeback in 2011 I still believe this. One reason why we are launching a magazine. How...