Just when you thought you finally understood today’s SEO best practices, Google unleashes another animal from its cage and totally flips what you thought you knew upside down. While you can curse the Google Gods and swear never to use the search engine again, it won’t do you any good. Face it; in a world in which 93 percent of online experiences begin with a search engine, you need Google and Google needs you.
Continue reading “Want Better SEO Rankings? Create Better Content”
Imagine for a moment being a caveman in the prehistoric times. You’re creating cave paintings and sending out drum and smoke signals to effectively communicate or relay messages to your community or those around you. It could take days or weeks for your message to be properly relayed – if it gets relayed at all.
It’s almost unfathomable to think that at the time, these were the most sophisticated methods of communication available. Believe it or not, but today’s modern marketing methods still cling close to these prehistoric roots in some pretty notable ways. Of course, they can differ just the same, as depicted by an infographic from Optimal Targeting released today.
I was recently walking through a pet store, when I happened to stop to look at a tank of rare Japanese Snapping Shrimp. Noticing my perplexed expression, an attendant walked over and asked if I had any questions about the rare bottom-dwelling specimen.
It was while the attendant was explaining how the Japanese Snapping Shrimp could easily be confused with a Mantis Shrimp due to the sound it makes when its pincher opens and closes that it hit me: I had a ton of questions. In fact, I could not tell you anything about shrimp. And in the process, I realized a critical thing: content marketing can be used in absolutely every industry.
Continue reading “Why Every Industry Needs Content Marketing”
It might have just been minutes before Content Marketing World keynoter William Shatner took the stage to round out the three-day event, but one overarching message that Cisco’s Senior Marketing Manager Tim Washer shared with a packed room during his breakout really stuck. He advised marketers to make sure you have the right people in the room during creative meetings—and to keep naysayers out of initial brainstorming sessions. Continue reading “Are the Right People in the Room for Your Content Marketing Pitch?”
It’s what we’ve always wanted to hear: we may have more in common with the world’s smartest people than we think.
I was surfing the Web this morning when I stumbled upon an infographic from NowSourcing showing the good and bad habits of the world’s smartest people and it got me thinking, “This has a lot to do with content marketing.”
Sure, these guys may be well above your IQ level (the average IQ is 100, while this group is above “Genius” and “Extraordinary Genius”), but the positive habits and behavioral traits they display could show us a lot about how we should be mapping out our content marketing strategies. Some of these are a bit more evident than others, yet they are nonetheless important to remember.
Continue reading “Content Marketing Lessons Learned from the World’s Smartest People”
It’s no small feat to deliver the keynote presentation at a convention at 8:30 am, especially when participants have attended a bopping House of Blues party just hours before. But Don E. Schultz, professor emeritus-in-service at Northwestern University, certainly knew what he was up against when he took the microphone at Content Marketing World this morning.
“I’ve been doing this for a long time, and one of the things I’ve learned is that if you are the speaker on day two, there are three things you have to be careful of: talk softly as many people have some kind of chemical imbalance in their system; avoid any loud noises; and don’t wake them up. If you accomplish this then they will think you have done a hell of a job,” he explained, eliciting a round of laughter from the packed room.
Continue reading “Content Marketing World Keynoter Warns, ‘Brands are in Trouble’”
It still baffles me that today, companies are capitalizing on the tragic 9/11 attacks that took thousands of lives, injured thousands of victims and subjected innocent people to an endless grieving process for content branding. Today – the 12th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States – victims are being remembered, and those who fought for their lives are being commemorated. I speak for many when I say that it truly does feel like it happened just yesterday.
Continue reading “When Content Marketing Needs to Take a Back Seat”
It might have been one of the last breakout sessions of the day at Content Marketing World, but Vice President of Strategy and Marketing for Edison Research Tom Webster certainly knew how to get a crowd going—even with a cocktail-laden happy hour just minutes away.
That’s because Webster started his session, titled “What’s Wrong with My Content Creation Strategy” by asking a really simple question to audience members.
“Is your content audience focused?”
Continue reading “Are You the Best in Your Field at Content Marketing?”
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.
I don’t know about you, but I’m enjoying the cooler weather this year. As a lover of the summer, I’m all about the warmth, and so I was shocked when I happily threw on a couple of extra layers this morning before running out the door. As any New Englander knows, when the weather begins to change, so must our lifestyles; the clothes we wear, the things we do and when we do them.
This got me thinking; the same principle can be applied to content marketers. When something begins to change, evolve or sophisticate, a marketer’s approach must change as well. Take, for example, Facebook’s two new search tools being released today.
Continue reading “Facebook’s New Search Tools could be the Extra Layer Content Marketers Need”
