I found this listing of expert and best business quotes in a presentation from Razorleaf’s Paul Gimbel at SolidWorks World 2008. (Razorleaf is one of the leaders in engineering and manufacturing process management.) There are some gems in here for this must print out page!  Thanks to Paul for sharing his best business quotes of all-time.Continue reading

Well, after nine months of hard labor, I received the pre-press version of my book (with co-author Newt Barrett) delivered UPS yesterday. The book is entitled Get Content. Get Customers. – How to use content marketing to deliver relevant, valuable, and compelling information that turns prospects into buyers (and is pictured here to the right).  Since we have just completed the book and while it was fresh in my mind, I thought I would offer some of the key steps we took to turn this little idea into a publishing reality. The book is now available for sale from the website at www.getcontentgetcustomers.com. So here goes…my ten key steps to writing and publishing a book when you have absolutely no time to write or publish a book. Find a Co-Author. This may not seem like a sound strategy to most, but finding another body takes 50% of the workload from you. When Newt and I first spoke about the book last summer, we were actually both in the process of starting our own individual...

I had the pleasure of guest blogging at the King Fish Media ThinkTank blog the other day. You can check out the complete post here. This was written after I had a brief conversation with a marketer that was taking the angle of content marketing being nice “fluff” to give your clients, but not necessary to the overall marketing strategy for most companies.  Of course, I (as nice as I could) disagreed with the gentleman and cited a number of reasons why he was completely off his rocker. The web has turned most business models completely upside down, and created huge opportunities for others to launch businesses from nothing at all. The delivery of consistent and valuable content may be the most important indicator of financial success for future businesses. If I’m launching a business today, or looking into the overall vision of the company, I’m looking at these three aspects of the business. Customer Service Excellence Valuable, Relevant Content Strategy Helpful/Innovative...

My last post was five days ago.  That has been the longest stretch without blogging since I started this blog almost a year ago.  Doesn’t feel good, but I guess I had good reason. New Orleans for the Custom Content Conference (launch of Junta42 Match as well as organizing the sponsors for the event), and then speaking in NYC for the Publishing Business Conference (thanks to Marcus Grimm from Nxtbook for proving it). Not to mention digging out of 26 inches of snow to get to the Big Easy. I have about five blog posts loaded up and ready to go, but I just saw this article I wrote in DMNews about the importance of consistent content as it relates to direct marketing. This is probably my favorite line: The future of marketing is not about tempting [customers] or conning [customers] into buying more; it’s about communicating a message that says, “Regardless of whether you buy from me or not, you need this information. Enjoy!” To direct marketers, that line might be sacrilegious,...

I was in the doctor’s office last week for a routine checkup. As I entered, the nurse escorted me to the patient room where I waited for the doctor. On the desk in the office sat a computer monitor that was streaming what looked to be a PowerPoint show.  There were about 10 rotating messages targeted to me, the patient. One talked about checkups for colon cancer, another about weight issues, and another one was about moles (fun!).  I learned a lot and paid attention. The one slide on adult shots motivated me to ask the doctor a question, which resulted in me actually buying an additional shot…one that I would not have bought without the computer show. The health care industry always been a trend setter when it comes to educating customers and prospects. They are in the business of healing and education.  Most hospitals either have their own newsletter/magazine, or carry the WebMD magazine. Now they are doing it again by using a computer (which has to be there...

mar·ket·ing [mahr-ki-ting] 1. The act of buying or selling in a market (Dictionary.com) Content marketing, taken at face value, is simple terminology for a complex process.  Content, as in creating information that meets your customers’ needs, and marketing, as in distributing and promoting it to a targeted group of people, inherently makes sense. Go back to the definition of marketing at the top of this page. Marketing is all about behavior. It’s an action. It’s not about generating buzz, or web site traffic, or press mentions – unless those things lead to a profitable customer behavior.Continue reading

Well, after almost six months in “beta” we’ve decided to launch the full version of Junta42. And what better way to do that than with a cool list. This week we are premiering the Top 42 Content Marketing Blogs that features the best blogs from the net focusing on some aspect of content marketing. Some, you’ll find, are very well known, while others are definitely “up-and-comers”. Congrats to Millward Brown’s “Straight Talk with Nigel Hollis” on taking first spot on our premiere listing. I think what I like most is that Junta42 members can vote on the ones they like the best, which generates a user rank. Members can “Hitch!” (or vote – just like Digg) for the blogs they believe are the best. The most popular blogs rise to the top. I believe at the end of the day, that’s the list that will have the most value. Now, we’ve by no means perfected the selection criteria, but we’ve made a good start.  Here’s...

Just sat through an hour teleseminar (Seth’s Meatball Sundae Book Tour) produced by Author Teleseminars and Elizabeth Marshall, that included Seth Godin, Michael Port and David Meerman Scott. I’m a regular reader of Seth’s and David’s blogs. If you are at all in the marketing game, get their RSS feeds. The second last question on the call was from me, where I asked about the role of content marketing and its effect on traditional media. Seth was not familiar with the term content marketing, and fortunately David was there to define it as “the creation of valuable and relevant content yourself (instead of using traditional means).” Okay, here’s the big answer by Seth… “[Content Marketing] is all the marketing that’s left.” Seth went on to say (I’m paraphrasing) that teaching your customers and giving your customers the resources to believe you is new marketing. They become a fan of yours because you teach them something...

Many of our consulting clients are small businesses. For some reason, even though budgets aren’t what they are in the larger companies we work with, I love the potential that exists with small businesses. When we make recommendations to larger companies, it takes sometimes many months to get them going, working through multiple chains of command and different budget buckets. With small companies, sometimes we execute projects the same day. Also, there is a smaller decision-making base, which helps make decisions faster and more focused. Ultimately, that’s why small companies rule. This is the first page of Seth Godin’s book Small is the New Big: “Small is the new big. Recent changes in the way that things are made and talked about mean that big is no longer an advantage. In fact, it’s the opposite. If you want to be big, act small. Consumers have more power than ever before. Treating them like they don’t matter doesn’t work. Multiple channels of...

Came across this simple, but excellent post by Dave Navarro at Freelance Folder. The three questions that Dave discusses are: #1 – Why Do You Enjoy Being My Customer? #2 – What Else Do You Wish My Business Did? #3 – Who Should You Tell About My Business? According to Dave, these are questions we never ask, but need to ask our customers. Strategy Tip: If we consistently deliver valuable information to our customers, they will be more open to answering these questions. This should make sense, since we are giving them something of value, and they will give something of value in return.

LEGO pieces are literally all over our house. We have the traditional sets, like the airport and fire station, the Star Wars series, LEGO Creators, and just about all the Bionicles. If you have boys (or girls) of any age up to 14, you probably know what I am talking about. LEGOs are small building toys for kids anywhere from four years old on up. If you are asking how they relate to content marketing, read no further. LEGO is perhaps one of the elite companies in the world at attracting and retaining customers through the use of valuable and relevant content. But, before I mention any specifics, I need to tell you a quick story. My son, Joshua, recently celebrated his sixth birthday.  At the party, he received a card from his Aunt welcoming him to the LEGO Brickmaster Club. With his new club membership he receives LEGO Builder sets and an issue of Brickmaster every two months. This is over and above what he already receives as a member of LEGO club. It goes without saying that Joshua was...

The marketing function in a business often develops and evolves in a silo. Sales messaging becomes the predominant communications to customers, and overall communications initiatives become tactical and short-term in nature. After a while, management begins to forget if they ever had a marketing strategy in the first place. In order to market effectively, and focus on the ongoing communication needs of the customer, the entire marketing organization must be aware of the organization’s critical success factors (CSFs). By defining these CSFs, the marketing team has much of the information it needs to create an effective long-term marketing strategy. Below are a list of key questions that must be communicated within your management team. Best case scenario is if the answers to these questions come directly from the CEO. What are the organization’s top priority business goals, both short and long term? Critical Success Factors (CSFs) are the key elements that must go right for...