As part of our preparation for the upcoming Content Marketing World International conference, Mike and I had the opportunity to travel to Cleveland, Ohio and meet with content marketing evangelist and conference founder Joe Pulizzi.  In addition to finding out all about Content Marketing World International, a great event we will be attending in Cleveland September 6th-8^th (jump to register), we spoke with Joe on a variety of topics including the state of content marketing, where things are going, and some of the biggest mistakes companies make when it comes to content marketing.  Here are some of the highlights.

On Content Marketing As “New”

John Deere did The Furrow magazine in 1895 because farmers had problems and they needed to solve those problems.  Were you going to do an ad for that?  No – so they produced the magazine which by the way they still do to this day.   So content marketing isn’t anything new, what’s changed is the fact that technology is new and we can create content virtually for free from a technology standpoint and get it on the web so people can find it.  And with technology, it is going to change even more – if this is a 9 inning game we’re still in the dugout.

The second part that has changed is the buying process – customers can get information how and where they want to anywhere in the world.  We as companies aren’t competing just with our competitors anymore, we’re competing with media companies, we’re competing with Google.

On Marketing Departments as Publishers

So at Content Marketing World we will learn from the experts and practitioners — Here’s what we are doing well which, when you think about it is publishing.  So marketing departments are becoming publishing, which is a big change. Read the rest of this entry »

As college students across the country graduate, seek jobs, or plan for the next academic year, I thought I would share the strategies I learned while an undergrad at Duke that have served me well in my career.

While this post strays from our normal digital marketing fare, the below tactics apply to anyone who needs to secure buy-in from a group of people, whether you’re a Chief Marketing Officer trying to sell the company on content marketing, an entry level employee with great ideas, or the president of the college climbing club who wants more members.

Every student group I was involved in faced two major challenges: how do we get new members, and how do we increase the participation of our current members? Replace “new members” with “new business,” and “current members” with “employees,” and you can boil those challenges down to the same marketing and leadership challenges most companies face.  Right Source Marketing, where I work now, specializes in solving these challenges for companies: in my experience, if you have solved problems for a college group, you can learn to solve them for companies.

Here are some ways to start:

1. Give out pizza.

On the quad: Offer free food at all club events, and advertise the food as much as you advertise the content of the event. Though college students live surrounded by a cornucopia of prepaid food, it seems as if the separation anxiety from Ma and Pa’s fridge makes the phrase “free pizza” just as compelling as “free beer,” though providing both might get you in trouble.

In the cube: The magnetic effect of “free pizza” is just as strong in the office environment. No matter what budget you’re working with, find money for pizza. And free beer might not get you in as much trouble here, especially for initiatives you’re pushing after hours.

Read the rest of this entry »

It should come as no surprise to the regular readers of this blog that we’re about to propose that you spend some time planning. Don’t worry – we’re not talking about the 25 people on a corporate retreat in the Bahamas, hire a professional meeting facilitator, boondoogle-esque planning session (although that does sound like a good time).

In step 5, you took a content inventory. You’re now familiar with the weapons at your disposal. You know what you have, don’t have, and what needs to be revised and optimized. Step 6 is all about creating a content roadmap that will guide you throughout the year.

The content roadmap doesn’t have to be a complicated piece. There are dozens of ways to attack this step, with thousands of slight variations to be made specific to each organization. That being said, don’t touch this step unless your core message has been refined and you know the target audience you’re trying to reach (and influence) with your content.

So let’s lay out a simple way to build this content roadmap. Start with a table. It doesn’t matter how or where you build it – use Word, use Excel, create an HTML table in a web page – whatever works for you.

Read the rest of this entry »

For those of you reading this as an isolated post, fear not. Let’s get you caught up. This is the 5th in a series of posts designed to help B2B marketers design an effective B2B lead generation strategy. Here’s what we’ve covered thusfar:

B2B Lead Generation Step #1: Start with the Right Mindset
B2B Lead Generation Step #2: Build a Strong Roster of Stakeholders
B2B Lead Generation Step #3: Identify the Metrics that Matter
B2B Lead Generation Step #4: Revisit, Refine and Simplify Your Core Message

If you followed step 4 and your messaging is now in good shape, the next step should seem very natural. Regardless of the type of lead generation programs you are going to execute, you will inevitably need content. If you are running a content-free lead generation program, you’re likely an advertiser – not a marketer. That’s ok, but this series may not provide a lot of value for you.

While taking a content inventory and prioritizing content holes may seem like a daunting task, it doesn’t have to be. I am going to give you a very simple method of attacking this step.

Read the rest of this entry »

Whether you live in the Baltimore/Washington area like we do, or have only heard about it on the news, everyone knows we’ve been hit here by record snowfalls.  I saw yesterday that Baltimore just passed Syracuse NY for first place as the snowiest city in the U.S. this winter.

While technology has allowed me to continue working on just about everything I would in a normal day, some of the down time “snowed in” got me thinking about how people might use some of that down time to address items on the “marketing list” (you know, that list some people never quite get to).

With that mind, I went back through some of our posts to highlight 5 pretty tangible and actionable items you can think about, evaluate and improve right away.  And while I tried to avoid the “clip show” format — Didn’t you always hate when sitcoms did those episodes that were just recycled material? – It did seem to work best in this format.

So here you go – 5 Marketing Fixes for a Snowy Week.

1). Fix Your Core Messaging:

We all know how important it is to have a clear and consistent message – But do you have a messaging problem?

Your Marketing Message in 30 Seconds

2). Diversify Lead Generation:

In an ideal world, you are managing multiple buckets of leads, each bringing a different volume, a different quality, and a different set of metrics.  But are you putting all your eggs in one basket?

Buckets of Leads

3). Convert More Visitors to Leads:

Make sure you are getting the most from your online visitors.  Tune up your contact forms and landing pages by looking at 5 common problems.

Better Contact Forms = More Prospects

4). Improve Your Search Marketing:

Writing ad copy for pay-per-click ads, particularly for Google AdWords, is an extremely challenging task.  Are you getting the most from your paid search campaigns?

The Most Challenging Copywriting Job in the World

5). Update Your Website:

Your company may have all kinds of exciting things going on – new customers, partners, upcoming events, etc.  But if from the viewpoint of the random website visitor, you’re not doing much lately it may not be worth taking the next step to get in touch.

Keeping the Newsroom Fresh

Implementing these 5 fixes will help you to upgrade your marketing — And give you a reason to avoid that snow shovel.

Will Davis is Managing Partner of Right Source Marketing.  Don’t hesitate to drop Will a comment on this post.  If you liked this post, follow@willdavis on Twitter for more commentary like this.