How To Generate ROI (Return On Interesting) With Content Marketing
Lately I have been having some very passionate discussions about the best place to start in Content Marketing. Do you start with products, personas or topics?
You have heard me rant before about the biggest marketing mistake when we use our website and too much outbound promotion to just talk about ourselves. So you can eliminate product as the starting point.
This brings us to the question of whether to start with personas or topics?
Recently one of my colleagues discussed the concept of “Return On Interesting” with Content Strategy. And he talked about how to use “Audience Marketing” to get started. I think it’s brilliant, and so I thought I should explain the basic concepts he presented to all of you here…
4 Steps to Mobile Marketing Success
First came digital, then social and now the mobile revolution is taking the world by storm.
In many countries, there are more mobile phones than people, homes with electricity, even toilets. There are more mobile users than all the TVs, PCs and landlines in the whole world combined! And everyone knows that mobile search will surpass desktop sometime in the next 2 years.
Despite these figures, many marketers are still struggling to figure out what to do and how best to address this emerging channel.
But you do not need to be overwhelmed. There are 4 simple steps you can take right now to take advantage of the amazing potential of the mobile marketing trend.
2012 B2B Marketing Predictions – Will Marketers Leave Sales Behind?
One of the reasons I was thrilled to be asked to join the Focus B2B Marketing Year In Review round table was that it would allow me an opportunity to discuss my annual predictions for the coming year.
First, I did some research and identified some of the top 2012 marketing predictions posts, listed below. Then I reviewed my own thoughts on 2011.
In case you missed it, I made 13 predictions for B2B Marketing in 2011 and last week outlined my 2011 B2B Marketing Year In Review. I think I did pretty well in predicting 2011 trends, as far as predictions go.
So here I will update my list of predictions for B2B Marketing in 2012 and ask that marketers not forget about our important link to the business and our sales colleagues…
B2B Marketing 2011 Year In Review
Hey B2B marketers! What did you learn in 2011? And what was the biggest surprise?
Next week I will be joining my good friends Adam Needles (@abneedles), Ardath Albee (@ardath421) and Craig Rosenberg (@funnelholic) for a round table discussion on #B2B Marketing – 2011 Year in Review and predictions for 2012. Please join us on December 13th at 4pm ET.
But for those of you who cannot make it, here is my list of the biggest 2011 B2B Marketing lessons and what I thought was the biggest surprise…
Email Ain’t Dead! 5 Steps To Building Stronger Email Relationships [REPORT]
Despite what you may think, email ain’t dead. In fact, it is tied with search engines as the most popular online activity according to the latest Pew Internet survey.
And it is still the number one way people share information according to AOL/Nielsen.
No, email isn’t dead. It is still very much a thriving aspect of the marketing mix and a key activity in building customer relationships.
The challenge with email is not whether to use it, but how to use it effectively to build on the relationships so important to the success of your business.
Marketing IS Business: The Wisdom of Peter Drucker
I have been using a lot of Peter Drucker quotes since I entered marketing over 18 years ago. And I have been using them a lot lately in this blog here and here, and in many of the presentations I’ve been giving.
But recently someone asked me when and where Drucker said some of these things, particularly:
The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself… The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous.
So I did some research and found this great paper by Frederick E. Webster Jr., published in the Academy of Marketing Science in 2008.
I found the paper really fascinating and would like to summarize it here for all of you to read and consider as you add those finishing touches to your 2012 marketing plans. And I hope you will come to the same conclusion I did: It’s a good time to be in Marketing!
5 Steps To Get Your Social Media Game On
Are you thinking about getting started in social media personally? Don’t worry, you are not alone. You are not the last one to drag your feet a bit and jump on the social bandwagon!
But if you are still holding on to some of the common excuses such as “I’m too old,” (bullsh*t) “I don’t have time,” (bullsh*t) “I don’t see the value,” (bullsh*t) or “I don’t know how…” (why I wrote this post) then let me tell you that those excuses are just defense mechanisms stopping you from one of the greatest journeys you will take in your professional career.
In this post, I will tell you about my own journey, documented for all to see, as well as some new tips and tricks to help you get started…
How To Become A Social Business
I have been giving this presentation on “Integrating Social Media Into Your Marketing Mix” for over a year now. And recently I was honored to deliver an updated version of it at two local universities in Philadelphia, PA.
The first was my very own St. Joseph’s University where I addressed future marketers who have yet to graduate. The second was an MBA class at Villanova University.
I modified the presentation a bit due to the different levels of experience of both audiences. But what I realized in updating the deck, was that “how to integrate social media into your marketing mix?” is the wrong question…
When Content Strategy Meets Social Activation – A #ProfsChat Review
People often ask, “which comes first the channel or the content?” And the answer is that both content and channel are important.
Why have a social channel or a website or a paid media program with no clear content strategy to support your objectives? And what is the point of having great content, if no one can find it?
Last Friday, I was honored to be the guest for @MarketingProfs #Profschat. And although we were competing with a webinar by the amazing Nancy Duarte, we still had a strong showing by some super smart people who shared their thoughts on the subject.
So with a big thanks to Megan Leap for having me on the tweetchat, here is a transcript of the 112 best quotes and tweets from the event…
78 Tweetable Moments From Social Media Plus #SMPlus
Returning from a conference I always have that crazy buzzing going on in my head. You hear so many great stories, meet so many great people and then I always try to spend some time processing it all and deciding what actions I am going to take.
This week I attended the Social Media Plus conference in downtown Philadelphia, PA and for the second year in a row, the organizers of the event did an amazing job bringing together some of the best minds in social media in both the speakers and the attendees.
As I have done in the past, I like to summarize my top picks for the most “tweetable moments” that sum up the main takeaways or “notes” for the show so that even if you couldn’t attend, you can gain from the insights we all heard.
In my mind the show was best summarized by Joel Cheesman @joelcheesman and Elizabeth Miller @elizabethnow in these quotes:
- Help People
- Serve. Don’t Sell
But read on and hear the 78 Most Tweetable moments from over 40 social media rock stars…
