I was really impressed with David Chapin’s work on comparing content marketing to life sciences. So much so, that I asked him to submit a guest post about it.  Thanks to David for putting this together. Content marketing is a hot trend in marketing circles. This trend may be hot but it is not new. Science has been using a form of content marketing since the 18th century, when peer-reviewed articles first began to be published. Though the titles are different, the mechanism and the benefits are similar. Peer-reviewed publishing works like this: A scientist gives away information (such as the description and results of an experiment) that the audience finds useful and relevant. The audience responds by noticing the information, by paying attention to the source of the information, by seeing the source as differentiated, by trusting them and eventually by “raising their hands” to interact with them (e.g., “Could you please come present your paper at this conference?”). The scientist’s reputation...

Two success factors: 1) Content Marketing Cannot Be About You and 2) Ship Although this Inc. article from Joel Spolksy is geared toward entrepreneurs, it’s worth the read.  While I disagree with Joel’s decision to discontinue his popular blog (the one that helped him launch and grow his business), the key to his commentary is this point: To really work..a blog has to be about something bigger than his or her company and his or her product. This sounds simple, but it isn’t. It takes real discipline to not talk about yourself and your company. Blogging as a medium seems so personal, and often it is. But when you’re using a blog to promote a business, that blog can’t be about you. It has to be about your readers, who will, it’s hoped, become your customers. It has to be about making them awesome. Please go back and read this again.Continue reading

I participated in an amazing social media webinar today from MENG. The expert roundtable included members of the newly formed MENG Social Media Council (Mack Collier, Paul Dunay, Beth Harte, Drew McLellan, Amber Naslund and myself). Here are eight key social media points from the session: Start with a clear strategy, just like any other marketing initiative. Social media is both a concept and a set of tools. Before you can begin using the tools, you need to set clear goals and objectives as to what you hope to accomplish.Continue reading

Interesting interview with Primoz Inkret and Igor Savic from Poslovni Mediji (Business Media) in Slovenia. Some points covered include: The use of the term content marketing in Slovenia, talking about the move from corporate magazines to integrated corporate content. Traditional media usage in Slovenia, and the challenges with content marketing education. Social media in Slovenia. Thanks to both Primoz and Igor for their insights, and for having me at their wonderful event on content marketing.  FYI, below is my presentation, Publishing is the New Marketing. Pomp Forum Joe Pulizzi Publishing Is The New MarketingView more presentations from PM, poslovni mediji.

I just took three flights to get to Slovenia. On each flight and in all the waiting areas, I saw people holding, reading and engaging in print magazines. Then, I spent the day listening to the state of content marketing in Europe at POMP Forum 2010 conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia.  Here’s what I learned from the Julia Hutchison and Patrick Fuller from the APA (the association of branded editorial content in the UK). The average time a reader spends with a custom print magazine is 25 minutes. Custom print magazines get an average 44% response rate. On average, custom print magazines see an 8% increase in sales (as opposed to those who don’t receive the magazine). 18-24 year-old men and women who receive custom magazines from a corporation are the most engaged of any age group (yes, really!). Surprising, huh? Then, I see this Fortune interview where they are investing heavily in the print magazine…including higher quality paper and significant design/font changes. What...

My content marketing friends, Igor Savic and Primoz Inkret from Poslovni Mediji (Business Media) in Slovenia, were nice enough to give me a branded Moleskine notebook on my arrival to their beautiful country. I’ve heard of Moleskine before, but now I know their story. Included inside the legendary notebook is a detailed history of the product (see picture below). “Moleskine is the legendary notebook used by European artists and thinkers for the past two centuries, from Van Gogh to Picasso, from Ernest Hemingway to Bruce Chatwin. This trusty, pocket-size travel companion held sketches, notes, stories and ideas before they were turned into famous images or pages of beloved books.” It means something to write in a Moleskine. To be an owner of a Moleskine says something about who you are. In the video (produced by Moleskine), it says something about who Bruce Chatwin was. Moleskine has endured all these years because they tell stories as well as the people who used their...

Just returned back from Online Marketing Summit 2010 where the statement “brands as publishers” almost seemed overused. Although we’ve been talking about that on this blog for three years now and in more detail in Get Content Get Customers, this is the first time I’ve heard this type of statement in force “out in the real world”. It started with John Batelle from Federated Media.  John might be most well-known for being one of the creators of Wired magazine. In the opening keynote, John stated that for brands to stay relevant and develop a true online experience for their customers, brands must master the art of content creation. Later in my session on content marketing strategy, we talked about the fact that any online marketing, whether social media, email marketing, search engine optimization, landing page conversion, etc., does not work without first having content strategy.Continue reading

Please take one minute and ten seconds to watch this clip from Gary Vaynerchuk. If you think that you are doing all the right things in your content marketing, but you or your brand are still not seeing success, this is probably the reason: You are not looking low enough, niche enough.  Search down to find the gold nuggets, then search a little bit lower.  Just below that, is your niche. Find your niche and find content marketing success. Linchpin: GaryVee from Seth Godin on Vimeo. If you liked this, you'll love this video interview with GaryVee on Content Marketing.

Who knew you could find the latest and greatest fashions at….Goodwill? District of Columbia Goodwill and my friends at Stella Pop teamed up for a three-part video series on DC Goodwill Fashionista (DC Goodwill’s blog). The concept: Redecorate Miss DC 2009’s apartment with only things she could find at Goodwill. The three parts of the video series consist of 1) before Goodwill, 2) shopping at Goodwill and 3) the results. Along with the video storyline, Miss DC sang an original theme song for the series with local Grammy-nominated rapper Kokayi (the song was sold for $2 on iTunes with proceeds going to Goodwill).Continue reading

As Junta42 continues to grow, we’ve started to branch out and hire freelancers and form partnerships. What I’ve learned through this process is that the way I make decisions on who I buy from or partner with has completely changed from just a few years ago. Whether you are an experienced freelance writer, a journalist/editor in a media company or brand, or even a marketing professional, there are things you must be doing now to make sure the work is always there (whether you work for yourself or someone else). It saddens me to find that people who I worked with for years at Penton Media, so full of talent, have been unemployed for long periods of time.  This should have been avoided. How you ask?  Below is a combination of how I make my own buying decisions and how people have found me in order to hire us.  If you follow this religiously, two years down the road you’ll have more work than you know what to do with.Continue reading

As a follow up to our 2010 Junta42 Content Marketing Study, we’ve been doing some comparisons between content marketing product usage in 2010 versus 2008.  The findings are interesting, to say the least. Here are the highlights: Significant Increases in Content Distribution Social Media (i.e., Twitter, Facebook) – distribution of content through those channels has increased over 500% in two years. Blog usage has more than doubled. Online video has jumped nearly 2x. eBooks have nearly doubled.Continue reading

Here’s a content marketing interview with me conducted by J-P de Clerck.  I like the way J-P summed up the key successes and failures in content marketing for me.  Hope they are helpful. The keys to success in content marketing: Understanding the informational needs of your customers Knowing how those informational needs mix with your marketing goals and objectives Developing a content program around those needs Being consistent (content marketing is a marathon, not a sprint) Listen and continually evolve the program Failure in content marketing: Selling, rather than informing Not being consistent with your content promise Not listening, thus not evolving the content program Waiting for perfection to come before you deliver the content.