By now, your boss is all over you to craft your company’s blog. After all, 76 percent of B2B and 72 percent of B2C marketers leverage blogs as a chief content marketing vehicle, according to the Content Marketing Institute’s 2014 benchmark studies. And here’s why:
There are specific moments in time in which it’s evident that we are on the brink of a massive transformation—and that the best is really yet to come. It came over a century ago when the Wright brothers developed the first flying machine, a fundamental breakthrough that made overseas travel a reality. It came again late in the 20th century with the unveiling of the IBM 5100, the first commercially available portable computer that gave way to the surge of laptops, tablets and smart devices. And it is happening now with the proliferation of content marketing: traditional marketing practices are becoming obsolete as avant-garde content marketing strategies become ubiquitous.
Continue reading “Three Ways to Stay Current with Content Marketing”
Ironically enough, I have written about virtual events and conferences for years. Yet up until yesterday, I had never actually participated in such a gathering—a poorly cut corner by me as a marketer—because, let’s face it, demoing the products you will be writing about before putting pen to paper is critical. But, hey… the day slips away from all of us from time to time, right?
So you can imagine how incredibly excited I was to attend my very first virtual conference yesterday, ContentTECH, which was sponsored by the Content Marketing Institute. So excited in fact that I ran a test on my computer two hours in advance to make sure everything would run flawlessly, created a schedule of every session I wanted to attend, and had a little too much fun—OK a lot of fun—letting my coworkers know that I was “heading into a session” and “making my way to the keynote room.”
Continue reading “Why Discomfort in Marketing is a Good Thing”
Are you having an inner debate right now? Is the entrepreneur in you telling you to steal 30-minutes with your boss to delineate the reasons content marketing has to make it into the budget for 2014? Meanwhile, is your inner three-year-old cowering in your boots afraid that your boss does not want to hear from you and will immediately squash your content marketing dreams?
Though it sounds scary, now is the time to silence the latter voice and trust the first one.
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”
I’ve definitely caught the Content Marketing World bug. 10,000 miles above ground on the way to Cleveland for the content marketing event of the year, I can’t help but smile and think about all the awe-inspiring speeches I will hear later today—from actor and author William Shatner to Coca-Cola’s Global Creative Vision Manager Jonathan Mildenhall (you all know how I feel about Coke!) to the Hershey Company’s Senior Manager Martin Baker.
There’s nothing worse than hitting traffic on your way home, following a chaotic, nightmarish-type of day. After all, you are tired and hungry, debating whether you have any sort of energy left to head to the gym and all you can do is stare at the bumper in front of you.
Well yesterday, the traffic got to me. I may only live 6.1 miles from work but even I had had enough of staring at “Baby on Board” and “If You Can Read This, You are Following Too Close” stickers. So I did what any true New Yorker does and made friends with the shoulder lane until I found the exit.
Continue reading “What Inspires You? Memorial Day Traffic Lines?”
Content Marketing Institute Founder Joe Pulizzi explores a really interesting question in one of his more recent blog posts: Once all brands have started embracing content marketing, what happens next?
Ah, the great old question of what comes next.
We certainly all asked it a few decades ago when the world was first introduced to the mobile phone. And while bulky and hefty, we quickly watched as it paved the way for the dominance of smartphones, apps and the BYOD revolution. Fast forward to today and the competition for your consumer-ready hands is fierce.
Continue reading “The Imminent Ubiquity of Content Marketing: What Happens Next?”
