Authors work with publishers to gain access to cash, connections, and blueprints for distribution and marketing. Choose the right publisher, and the chances of commercial success are increased, although not guaranteed. Choose the wrong publisher, and even a brilliant novel or biography may never make the Amazon Best Seller list.

Publishers add tremendous value to the production, packaging and promotion of a book. For decades, publishers have taken original content, put a nice wrapper on it and distribution plan around it, and helped sell more books than an author could ever dream of selling on his or her own. In fact, publishers are our first real example of what we now call “content marketers.”

That’s why it surprised me that I didn’t hear discussion about the heavy details – or really any details – about effective content distribution planning at Content Marketing World. That is, until I stepped into sessions hosted by Todd Wheatland of Kelly Services and Jonathan Byerly of Dell.

It’s people like Todd and Jonathan – not the consultants – who we need to hear more stories from, and that’s coming straight from a consultant. In different ways, both laid out what a corporate content marketing program can and should look like, and in the process included some very concrete examples. Slides are just slides, but Jonathan in particular showed some slides that proved that content distribution at Dell is handled thoroughly and with consideration for whether the prospect is in the awareness, consideration, decision or action phase of the buying cycle. (Content Marketing World attendees can view the presentations here.)

Here’s the only problem. Dell is Dell. The average organization is simply not this far along with its content marketing strategy, and does not possess the resources Dell does.

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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 »

If you’ve ever closely followed a top Twitter trend, or read a thriving Reddit thread, you’ll appreciate this comic strip, which claims that “Only stupid exists on the internet.”

Yesterday, during the Presidential Twitter Town Hall, I saw a good dose of tweets that made me agree with that comic strip—but I was also invigorated by the amount of intelligence I saw (and heard) on the internet.

First, some background about the whole “Twitter Town Hall” deal. Tweeters asked questions using the #askobama hashtag, questions that were retweeted became top tweets, and 8 moderators sifted through the questions.  Twitter Executive Chairman Jack Dorsey posed the selected questions to Obama, who answered them in a live webinar as @whitehouse tweeted brief versions of his responses.

But of course, the questions that made it to the live webinar were only the top of the pile. At the bottom of the pile, on the hashtag at large, tweets rolled in such as:

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A recent article in the Baltimore Sun explained that the social media bandwagon is hitting the Baltimore area hard. The article described how local businesses and non-profits are realizing the importance of a social media strategy and are actually looking for full-time employees to manage these properties. As a recent college graduate, I can attest to the “gold rush” of my generation to social media. While it may seem exciting to many of my peers that companies are hiring full-time social media employees, my experience with Right Source Marketing has taught me that social media can’t stand alone without a solid content marketing strategy.

Most people know by now that social media has several very helpful functions, including:

• Monitoring online reputation
• Responding to customer concerns
• Providing company updates
• Distributing discounts/coupons
• Driving traffic to your website
• Building brand loyalty
• Fostering goodwill

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It’s without a doubt the biggest mistake I see when it comes to any form of content marketing – people spend too much time blowing their own horns.  Whether through social media, blogging, bylined articles, email marketing or any other form of content, you can’t spend the vast majority of the time selling your self-proclaimed greatness.

Think about it – it’s no different than if you are at a networking event or a party.  Nobody wants to spend time cornered by the person who only talks about themself, everything they have been doing, and how wonderful they are.  Typically, the cornered person tries to run from that conversation as quickly as possible (I have a few well-tested escape tactics – email me if you need them).  Yet companies think nothing of sending sales focused email newsletters, blogging about how great their company is, and generally running down the path of self-promotion.

People often ask us to explain why they should invest time or dollars in content marketing, or say they want social media when they really want content marketing. The problem? They just don’t know what content marketing is.  My simple explanation is to ask this question: what would you do if you had the opportunity to be the keynote speaker at the best event in your industry? Wouldn’t that opportunity be great?  And wouldn’t you want to get up there and make a fantastic speech or presentation to that audience?  You certainly wouldn’t get up there and just talk about yourself for an hour, right?  Content marketing provides that same opportunity, but it is ongoing, not once a year, you don’t have to travel – you don’t even have to wear your best pressed suit and sweat too much.

As Mike Sweeney always says “educate, educate, educate” and it’s true. The best content marketing primarily involves sharing knowledge, helping people learn or understand something new, and only then can you write the occasional piece about your own company.  When done right, content marketing absolutely supports your sales efforts –but you can’t use it to make the hard sell or it falls flat on its face.  So stop blowing your own horn.

What do you think? Agree? Disagree? Want to post a whole bunch of great stuff about your company here?  Chime in with your comments below.

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