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Top Takeaways From the Content Boost Crash Course, Part 2: Afternoon Sessions

Looking back on the second half of yesterday’s Content Boost Crash Course, the word that comes immediately to mind is “action.” While the first half of the day was focused on educating attendees about the basics of content marketing—the ins and outs of blogging and the need to engage with customers via social media, for example—the afternoon was all about how to put those strategies into motion and move forward with an integrated, revenue-driven content marketing strategy.

shutterstock_134665622What is the best way to get started with content marketing in your organization? As Content Boost Director Carrie Majewski intimated during a presentation titled “Getting the Boss to Say Yes to Content Marketing,” approaching the boss about investing in content marketing may be intimidating. She advised participants to lay such fears aside, however, as, in truth, most decision makers are ready to move forward with content marketing. Majewski backed up her claim with a study from DNN which shows that the top three priorities for marketing executives are to acquire new customers (87 percent), increase customer retention (86 percent) and increase brand awareness (80 percent).
Continue reading “Top Takeaways From the Content Boost Crash Course, Part 2: Afternoon Sessions”

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Top Takeaways From the Content Boost Crash Course Part One: Morning Sessions

The morning flew by here at Content Boost, as we’re now halfway through our second content marketing Crash Course; that is, our all-day integrated marketing seminar offering the latest tips and tricks for growing your brand online.

Before we head into this afternoon’s additional seminars and group discussions, it’s a great time to reflect on some of the top takeaways from the morning sessions, led by our in-house team of integrated marketing experts.

Here are three key tips that were discussed:

20150421_112544Be bold with your content: After opening remarks from our CEO, Rich Tehrani, our Director Carrie Majewksi kicked things off with a presentation on the basics of content marketing. One of the most important things she spoke about was the need to be bold and take chances with your content. As she explained, you are already disruptive with your product offerings so it’s critical to be innovative with your multimedia. According to Majewski, content marketing is your opportunity to drive emotion, tell stories and create a “WOW” experience that will resonate strongly with your customers. Continue reading “Top Takeaways From the Content Boost Crash Course Part One: Morning Sessions”

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What Can Content Marketing Do For Your Business?

There’s no question that content marketing is increasingly among business leaders. As evidenced in a recent infographic from Smart Insights, 29.6 percent of readers claimed that content marketing is the most commercially important marketing trend in 2015.

That’s more than twice as much as big data, which came in at 14.6 percent. Marketing automation, for that matter, came in even lower at 12.8 percent.

shutterstock_229790977You may be wondering: What exactly can content marketing do for your organization? Stop and think about whether the following needs apply to your business.

Do you need to: Continue reading “What Can Content Marketing Do For Your Business?”

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Three Reasons Why Content Marketing Works

While other businesses have been pumping resources into their content marketing strategies, you’ve been waiting on the sidelines assessing the situation to see if it’s right for your business. You’re still looking for proof of how content marketing can help your business grow.

shutterstock_77165428Recent research from Ascend2 sheds some light on this important issue; according to the research, 89 percent of companies surveyed claim that content marketing has helped them achieve important objectives like improving customer engagement, increasing lead generation and increasing brand awareness, among others.

Here are three reasons why content marketing works, as evidenced by the findings from the report:

There are a variety of options to utilize: You may find that one particular content marketing vehicle does not work for your intended audience. For instance, you may start out producing video and find out that your audience is more interested in reading in-depth case studies and white papers. With content marketing, you can easily switch vehicles without disrupting your budget or even your overall strategy. Continue reading “Three Reasons Why Content Marketing Works”

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Why Google’s Knowledge Vault Should Be On Your Radar

There’s a one buzzword that is gaining an increasing amount of attention in content marketing: accuracy.

Right now, it’s relatively easy for a website loaded with misinformation to rise to the top of Google’s search engine rankings; all it takes is enough people linking to the website in order to inflate it past credible sources. This is a problem for Google, as the company’s goal is to be the most accurate source of knowledge on the Web.

shutterstock_172659857In order to solve this problem, Google is developing a project called Knowledge Vault. For quite some time now, researchers at Google have been collecting vast amounts of information from across the Web and sorting through the data to determine specific truths. For instance, an example one such truth would be “grass is green.” Continue reading “Why Google’s Knowledge Vault Should Be On Your Radar”

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Food For Thought: Why Every Restaurant Should Put Content On The Menu This Weekend

Listen up, restaurant owners: It’s Friday afternoon, which means right now, many of your potential customers are working up an appetite, trying to decide where to head tonight to unwind and grab a bite to eat. Friday is one of the busiest nights of the week for your business, so you’ll want to capitalize on the opportunity and make sure there is a line running out the door in your establishment and not a row of empty seats.

shutterstock_239356252If you want to accomplish this goal of a packed house, don’t wait for customers to come knocking on your door tonight. Restaurant-goers are already browsing their mobile devices, trying to decide whether they want to indulge in Korean, Italian, Mexican, Japanese or American cuisine. If your business does not have a robust digital presence, you could risk losing customers to competitors this evening. Continue reading “Food For Thought: Why Every Restaurant Should Put Content On The Menu This Weekend”

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Chipotle: The Latest Victim of a Social Media Hack

In case you missed it, over the weekend Chipotle Mexican Grill’s official Twitter account (@ChipotleTweets) was overtaken by hackers and used to spread a multitude of racist and hateful tweets across the Web. The hack occurred late Saturday evening, and extended until the early hours of Sunday morning.

shutterstock_229864495The media team at Chipotle was ultimately able to regain control over its account, and responded to the incident in a timely and professional manner.

“We apologize for the very offensive messages sent out from our account earlier tonight,” tweeted Media Manager Joe Stupp. “We were unfortunately hijacked temporarily.”

Suffice to say, it was a rough way to start the week for Chipotle, as the company is now in the process of performing damage control in an effort to restore its squeaky-clean brand image and let customers know that it was not responsible for the attack. Continue reading “Chipotle: The Latest Victim of a Social Media Hack”

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TEKintellect: Proving That Learning Can Be Fun

shutterstock_239408494Recently, there has been a lot of attention in the media about how American students are falling behind in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. In fact, only 16 percent of American high school students are considered to be proficient in mathematics and are interested in pursuing a STEM-related career like biomedical engineering and software development.

TEKintellect is one company that is tackling this problem head-on.

Based out of New York City, TEKintellect provides a hands-on, multisensory training experience for students in grades K-8. Its Robotix Workshops offer students 15minute lessons in robotics, as well as opportunities for students to design original mechanized machines out of Lego components. TEKintellect provides a unique learning environment that encourages students to play with these machines and watch their creations come to life. Continue reading “TEKintellect: Proving That Learning Can Be Fun”

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Key Takeaways From Content Boost’s First Crash Course

We are in the middle of a quiet content marketing war, as organizations are fiercely competing for brand awareness and relevancy online.

This was the critical message delivered by TMC CEO and Group Editor-in-Chief Rich Tehrani during his opening remarks at Content Boost’s first Content Marketing Crash Course, Dec. 4 in Norwalk, Connecticut.

“Online marketing battles are being won and lost constantly,” explained Tehrani, adding that many companies think they are winning the battle for attention when they are actually losing without even realizing it.

IMG_20141204_113151137Tehrani’s remarks set the tone for the riveting Crash Course, in which local business leaders and marketers were invited to participate in full day of hands-on content marketing seminars and group discussions, as well as strategizing and networking activities with key members of the Content Boost team. Attendees were also treated to 30-minute one-on-one brand reviews and consultations, as well as brand video interviews. Continue reading “Key Takeaways From Content Boost’s First Crash Course”

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Content Marketers: Stop What You’re Doing and Go Eat a Sandwich

Once again, Halloween has come and gone. Are you feeling down about having to wait a whole year to dress up as a zombie or Walter White? I don’t blame you. But here’s a consolation: Today is National Sandwich Day in America. In my opinion, this is the most underrated holiday in the world and it’s a cause for celebration.

Here’s what I love about sandwiches, perhaps more than any other food, and how it relates to content marketing:

unnamedThey’re practical: You can eat a sandwich whether you’re on-the-go or at home. Everything you need can be placed neatly in between two pieces of bread (or in a wrap, if you prefer).

Your content should work the same way. Remember that you’re not trying to serve your readers a multi-course “meal” of content. Craft articles that are long enough to keep your readers satisfied, yet concise enough to be read on a mobile device. Your goal is to inform and entertain your readers, above all else. Continue reading “Content Marketers: Stop What You’re Doing and Go Eat a Sandwich”