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2013 Halloween Marketing Methods: The Amazing and the Plain Terrifying

Every holiday of the year essentially opens the floodgates for marketing madness – including the good, the bad and the very ugly. As children anxiously wait for night to fall so they can go door to door to collect their sweet treats, content marketers are gearing up to send out their holiday-inspired messages, which, as we all have witnessed year after year, either hit the nail directly on the head or completely miss the mark. The former is a fulfilling victory while the latter is awkward, unwanted and unrelatable.

Content marketing is all about creating unique, custom-tailored content – not content that stretches things too thin and, in doing so, makes readers question why it was created in the first place. Let’s take a look at some marketing ploys that are fresh off the press as we enjoy Halloween this year (a.k.a. eating way too many munchkins, candy and cookies that are sporadically spread around the office).

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New Content Marketing Study Reveals Astronomical Growth of LinkedIn

social mediaIt’s always a good fight in the content marketing arena; in one corner we have the blog and in the other the eNewsletter; while video is getting prepped for the next round, the infographic is making its way into the boxing ring; meanwhile, whitepapers and case studies have been duking it out to no end. Between all of these messy matches, though, appears to be one consistent winner—one content marketing tactic that remains triumphant over all: social media.

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The Walking Dead: Content Marketing Edition

Horror drama series The Walking Dead transports millions of viewers each week into a post-apocalyptic world seen through the eyes of a group of Southerner survivalists as they deal with flesh-eating “walkers.” The show is widely known and well-received for its portrayal of an exponentially disruptive second world – and how one group of strategic individuals makes it through day-by-day.

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Cinnabon, Breaking Bad and Pure Content Marketing Magic

Full disclosure: I’m only in season three of Breaking Bad.

There are a few times in a company’s existence – if any – where the stars align just so, inviting the pearly gates of content marketing heaven to thrust open and outpour a surge of selling genius upon those who lie in waiting. This doesn’t happen often; however, the rare – and extremely profitable – occurrence came to fruition for one very lucky Omaha, Neb.-based Cinnabon.

That’s right – the sickeningly sweet treat that all of us hate to admit we eat when we stop at the mall (don’t deny it) has hit the content marketing jackpot thanks to an offhand mention on AMC’s critically-acclaimed crime drama series, Breaking Bad.

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The Surprising and Not-So Surprising Demographics of Social Networks

social mediaSome things in life just go better together – for instance, peanut butter and jelly, milk and cookies, Barbie and Ken, Batman and Robin. The same could be said about content marketing and social media. Social media has become an integral part of businesses’ content marketing strategies, helping to amplify customer engagement, boost lead generation and spread brand awareness.

B2B marketers are using a number of social media platforms to distribute content more frequently than they did last year, according to Content Marketing Institute’s “B2B Content Marketing 2014 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends –North America” study. In fact, marketers are now using an average of six social platforms, compared to just five last year. Continue reading “The Surprising and Not-So Surprising Demographics of Social Networks”

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A Tale of Two Companies and How Each Captured My Heart

Hi, my name is Allison Boccamazzo and I’m a Kate Spade addict. I’m a LUSH addict, too. I tried good and hard to give them up, but I just can’t. And so here I am, writing (yet again) about how amazing these companies’ customer service – and content marketing strategies – are. I swear to you that there’s no paid advertising going on here. This is just the simplistic power of content marketing coupled with superior customer service.

My relationship with these two companies escalated quickly and blissfully, like going out to dinner with a complete stranger on a sporadic Saturday night to falling head over heels by the time you reach the front door. In an effort to explain to you how to capture your customers’ hearts, I have to explain how these two companies consistently knock it out of the park for me. And, in turn, why I’m always willing to open my wallet for them.

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Even Horse ebooks Has a Content Strategy

I’m sure by now you’ve heard of the Internet phenomenon that has been the apple of Google Search’s eye over the last 24 hours. Of course, we’re talking about Horse ebooks. In a perplexing occurrence, Horse ebooks went from being barely recognized one day to sole obsession of the mass public the next – with myself included. And if you’re anything like me, you had – or perhaps still have – no clue as to what Horse ebooks even is.

Just so you’re no longer in the dark, Horse ebooks is a widely perceived spam Twitter account which was originally intended to promote ebooks. However, the ways in which the account did this were particularly unconventional and included odd –albeit amusing – non sequiturs. These non sequiturs (see below) were apparently an effort to evade spam detection, which results in the shutdown of an account. The account also tweeted multiple times per day – most of which receive hundreds of re-tweets and favorites.

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From the Prehistoric Age to the Social Media Craze: Marketing Comparisons and Similarities

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.

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LinkedIn: A Goldmine Filled with Quality Leads

Linkedin_ChocolatesWhen LinkedIn first launched in 2002, it was a small but mighty social media platform used by eager job seekers to connect with other like-minded professionals. Fast forward to today, however, and LinkedIn is the go-to social media vehicle for marketing and sales professionals. LinkedIn is no longer seen as Facebook’s “ugly step sister” but as a valuable tool for gathering quality leads and developing strong client relationships.  Continue reading “LinkedIn: A Goldmine Filled with Quality Leads”

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When Content Marketing Needs to Take a Back Seat

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.

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