This cost of content marketing post was inspired by Kate Headen Waddell’s post entitled Pay Peanuts Get Monkeys. At least one time per day, every day for three years, someone emails us at Junta42 or submits a project looking for a content vendor wondering how much content marketing (both print and web content) should cost them.  And who wouldn’t want to know? Before now, we’ve never put all our thoughts and answers together into one post, but here it is, quite lengthy, but important enough to discuss in detail. The Short Answer Question: How much should I pay for my content? Answer: It depends. Unfortunately, it always depends, but there are ways to determine a fair price for content. Continue reading

Before I launched my business, I read the Bootstrapper’s Bible by Seth Godin.  It was and is invaluable. Every year or so, I dig it out of the file folders and re-read it.  I always find something new…something I didn’t realize the last time through. But every time, this is the statement that resonates the most. Sales is the reason for your business to exist. Nothing more true can be said about running a business.  With sales, all things are possible.Continue reading

My friend Mike Balzano shot me a note this morning that I had to check out what Old Spice was doing on its Twitter account. Then, thirty minutes and about 20 videos later, I started writing this post.   And, I actually feel like buying some Old Spice now (okay, I’m now officially my dad). That’s how amazing Old Spice’s social media is.  Here’s some background. Playing off the popular TV commercials, muscular Old Spice man is responding personally to comments on Facebook, YouTube and mostly those on Twitter.  As of writing this post, the Old Spice YouTube channel is #1 in the US for total views.  Pretty powerful stuff. TechCrunch reported yesterday about Old Spice man’s response to Digg founder Kevin Rose, who tweeted out that he was sick.  Here’s the response:Continue reading

Had an outstanding conversation with Mark Levy yesterday (who among other things is author of Accidental Genius). Mark gave me a crash course in something called free writing.  Free writing, also called stream-of-consciousness writing, is a writing technique where you write for a set period of time without regard for spelling or even topic. Mark uses this technique with his clients to unearth the raw content at the heart of the content creator. From my quick conversation with Mark and a bit of reading on it, free writing is a staple of creative writing programs around the world.  According to Natalie Goldberg, the rules of free writing include: Continue reading

Last month, I participated in Web Content 2010 (here is the presentation on higher purpose content marketing). Someone (who asked not to be named) sent me a number of tweets from that event that they found inspiring from my presentation.  I thought I’d share them here.  Enjoy! Create a brand message that people can rally around. @epublishmedia Good content should have a higher purpose, have a point of view and takes a stand. @SproutContent @Robert_Rose You don’t want everyone to love you. People are loyal to POVs. Take a stand. @epublishmedia How can I be interesting to my customers (content) if we (my competitors) are all talking about the same thing? @LifeFromAbove So, @juntajoe‘s list of clear brands includes @SouthwestAir, @halvorson, @garyvee—as all three would say, CHEERS! @mbloomstein It’s not what you sell it’s what you stand for. @SproutContent @meghscase Content secret sauce – where your expertise & the needs of your customers meet. @SproutContent...

One of the most popular questions we get at the Content Marketing Institute is how to effectively manage the content marketing process.  Although there are many ways to go about resourcing for content marketing projects within an organization, here are six keys to making it happen.Continue reading

It seems everyone is jumping on the content marketing bandwagon these days. Even though we are indeed all publishers today, and that content marketing is now a core and growing part of the marketing toolkit for the majority of brands out there, there are times when brands need to say no. Yeah, I said it. There are quite a few reasons why some brands just shouldn’t be creating content as part of their marketing programs.  Here they are… Continue reading

Below is the presentation I gave at the Web Content 2010 conference, the leading US conference covering the art and discipline of content strategy. First, how do we develop a higher purpose for our company? Our brand purpose should: be elegantly simple be crystal clear be innately inspirational have a point of view and stand for something Continue reading

The recent Business Marketing Association conference in Chicago was focused on engagement.  The leading marketers from around the world came together to talk about it…and how engagement is the key to success for your brand and your customers. The overwhelming takeaway was this…while customer engagement is critical, employee engagement must come first. We always talk about the content that we develop to attract and retain customers. What type of content and platforms are you developing to engage and inspire your employees?Continue reading

There’s a very important line at the beginning of the movie The Godfather II. Just after Michael Corleone, The Godfather (played by Al Pacino) gets shot at, he sits down his brother Tom Hagan and talks about an important lesson from his father. One thing I learned from my father is to try to think as the people around you think…and on that basis, anything is possible. If marketers only lived by just this one lesson. Do you truly understand the pain points of your customers? Do you understand what kind of information they need to solve those pain points? Are you hanging out where you customers are hanging out online, so that you are in a position to help? These things are not easy, but when executed, all things are possible.

I’m really excited to announce the launch of the Content Marketing Institute (CMI). The idea of CMI is simple – while there are a lot of great blogs, books and experts out there in and around content marketing, there are still so many questions. How do I develop a content marketing strategy? How do I create content that my audience will find valuable? What are the best content marketing tactics for my audience and expertise areas? How do I best manage the content marketing process? If I decide to outsource, how do I do that? How do I measure what’s working (and what’s not) to make changes? Frankly, the questions will never stop. The answers…they will continually change.Continue reading

A blog post is like a miniskirt. It has to be short enough to be interesting, but long enough to cover the subject. courtesy of my friend Henry