By now my husband fully understands my interest level in content marketing. So much so that when something content marketing-related appears on television or is covered in a magazine, he will DVR the show or rip out the article (yup, I’m one lucky girl).
So late last week, you can imagine how pleasantly surprised I was when a special segment titled “Content Marketing: The New PR?” found its way into my DVR lineup right alongside “Friends” reruns and the latest episode of “The Biggest Loser.”
I can’t help but have a big smile on my face today. That is because no matter how old I get—or how many years it’s been since I actually asked Santa for a gift—this time of year is truly magical. From the whimsical window displays lining Fifth Avenue to the holiday-adorned cups at Starbucks to the flooding of Christmas carols on the radio, the weeks immediately following Thanksgiving right until New Year’s Day unquestionably bring out the inner five-year-old in all of us.
Continue reading “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas And All Through the Marketing Department…”
Let’s face it… you are swamped. From logging the 9 to 5 grind (uh… more like 9 to 7) to squeezing in parent-teacher meetings to trying to plan something special for the weekend with a loved one, there are simply not enough hours in the day. Well, guess what? Your consumers feel the same way.
In fact, your target market is so inundated with daily tasks that they are in search of pointed, succinct marketing pitches. Just to give you some perspective on the information overload you are currently experiencing, consider the following:
Continue reading “Why Shorter Is Better When it Comes to Your Blog Copy”
There is no disputing the fact that companies across all industries and verticals step it up during the holidays—from holding food drives to volunteering to spearheading charitable campaigns.
One of my favorite campaigns took place two years ago when eBay, in partnership with Toys for Tots, set up two magical window displays in New York City’s Herald Square and San Francisco’s Post Street featuring storybook toys such as teddy bears, trains, and horses. By using the eBay mobile app and zapping the QR code, visitors were able to bring the toys to life and consumers could purchase a virtual toy, which translated to a donation between $2 and $10 for Toys for Tots.
Continue reading “Going the Extra Mile: What We Can Learn from WestJet’s Secret Santa Treat”
The process of getting sick tends to follow a pretty systematic path: you begin to feel unlike yourself; symptoms manifest themselves in the form of clogged noses, sore throats, and fevers; and you know at a certain point that the only cure is to get help.
Your content marketing strategy runs a similar course in that eventually the symptoms and tell-tale signs pop up confirming the fact that your campaign is “sick,” or not giving you the desired results for which it was intended. So how do you know when it’s time to give an extra boost to your content marketing strategy? By considering the following:
Continue reading “Tell-Tale Signs You Need Content Marketing Support”
If you didn’t get a chance yet to check out our latest featured article (click here!), then I’ll leave you with this: “Content marketing has reached a perfect storm. All channels – including print, digital and social are growing.”
So contends Custom Content Council’s Executive Director Lori Rosen in the council’s latest content marketing report titled “Spending Study: A Look at How Corporate America Invests in Branded Content for 2013.” As a marketer, there are some incredibly exciting statistics shared in this latest report that are sure to get you amped to head to your boss’s office to exclaim “Told you so; I knew content marketing would work!” Here’s a teaser of some of the most exciting figures:
Continue reading “Content Marketing No Longer Just a Single Slice of the Marketing Pie”
Confession… I can’t really recall the last time I watched television live. In truth, I have become entirely too dependent on my DVR. I take comfort in the fact that I can truck away at the office without fear that the rush hour commute will preclude me from seeing the first few minutes of “Survivor.” I appreciate the fact that a dinner out with my husband Friday night doesn’t keep me from catching up on the latest episode of “Say Yes to the Dress” (Hey, I’m a newlywed; I can still watch this.).
Continue reading “Making Your Content Marketing Strategy Believable and Relatable”
Everybody loves the holidays. Between the surplus of savory sweets and the extra days off to spend with family, this magical time of year gives everyone that indescribable glow and something to smile about. But it can also leave your workers feeling unmotivated, distracted, and altogether lazy.
And while some facets of work can take a back seat the next few weeks, your blog cannot. Already 65 percent of businesses that have a blog haven’t updated their blog in one year or more. All it takes is a few bad weeks of ignoring your blog and you can quickly be heading down a similar road.
Continue reading “Three Ways to Keep Your Content Team Invigorated This Holiday Season”
I don’t know about you, but I gave up on the whole New Year’s resolution thing awhile ago. It’s not that I wasn’t keeping my resolutions; it was that I found it much more impactful to do a self-reflection at the end of every year and think more thematically about the type of person I want to be as opposed to one or two things to tackle for the upcoming year. After all, it feels silly to say things like “I will eat more spinach in 2014” and more aspiring to say “I will be a more health-conscious.”
The end of the year is not only an opportune time for you to personally reflect on areas you would like to improve upon, but it’s also a critical time to encourage your business to ask those ever-important questions. As a marketer, there are a multitude of strategies and tactics you can implement in 2014, so to help you navigate your best course, here are a couple of key questions to get you started: Continue reading “Three Content Marketing Questions to Ask Yourself Before 2014”
To answer my own question, I don’t like it. Well, let me rephrase that: the consumer in me doesn’t like it. The marketer in me? Well, I think it is gold.
Let’s back track for a moment. Just a few days ago, Twitter announced that it is launching a new initiative to make tweets even more visual. As you will recall, if you previously embedded a video or picture with your tweet, it would show up as a link, teasing a Twitter user to click on the link to figure out what the visual would be. But now, Twitter wants to make it “easier” for everyone to enjoy what the company refers to as “those great moments you share on Twitter.”
