Content marketing supports B2B marketers’ top marketing goals: generating leads, converting qualified leads into paying customers, and building branding, reputation, and awareness. As a result, 45.3 percent of marketers plan to increase their content marketing spend (based on Bizo’s “Strategic Marketing...

A recent post from Joe Pulizzi got me thinking about an important role within marketing teams that too many companies are overlooking these days. Joe calls this role a Chief Listening Officer or the “air traffic controller for your social media and other content channels.” Titles aside, having someone...

Couples with marital troubles are often told to spice things up in the bedroom. Why is that? Well, it turns out that people get bored with even the most fun activities. You see, we as humans are programmed from a biological and emotional perspective to seek out new challenges and experiences in almost...

Very excited about the launch of Content Marketing World On Demand, which was just released this week. For those of you who were not able to attend, Content Marketing World 2011 gathered over 50 of the leading content marketing experts from around the world. All in all, we had more than 600 attendees...

To most consumers, financial services companies are a bit like cars — we want them to work but we don’t want to know too much about what’s happening under the hood. Just as almost no one reads the manual that comes with the car unless something goes wrong, we definitely don’t want to spend a lot of time...

More and more marketers are taking up the challenge of content marketing and they are taking on a brand new function in their organizations: It is that of a publisher. The challenges and the new roles do not end there, however. As media publishers have evolved in the digital era, they have found that...

Several semi-reliable websites credit Leonardo Da Vinci with writing the phrase, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” I love this phrase. Without getting to philosophical, in my opinion DaVinci understood that simplicity doesn’t necessarily dumb things down. On the contrary, simplicity...

I had the pleasure of seeing Million Dollar Quartet over the weekend, a musical about the day that Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis came together on December 4, 1956 at Sun Record Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. Sun Records was the brainchild of Sam Phillips (in many circles...

Believe it or not, we have all been swayed by some almost-invisible forces of content marketing, and we may not even have realized it. But once you do realize how it’s being used all around you, you’ll really see how powerful content marketing really is! Before you think I’m crazy or some kind of conspiracy...

When it comes to content production, you never have to wait too long for the next high-profile gaffe to occur. One that grabbed my attention recently was when the Daily Mail website published the wrong story after the Amanda Knox appeal verdict. It’s very common in the news business for journalists...

It’s no secret that Hollywood is known for telling some of the world’s greatest stories. Of course, it’s easy for Hollywood to tell great stories — it has a “secret storytelling sauce.” But Hollywood doesn’t have to be the only one with the formula for telling great stories. Continue reading

One of the most frequent questions I receive while traveling is about blogging. The questions revolve around how to get started, what to talk about, and even what software to use. My questions back to them usually startle the person, because so many start thinking about what they want to say, other than...