Content Marketing Today

We were delighted to learn that we had achieved the number four spot in Junta42's second top 42 content marketing blog list. 

Even better, we have moved up two places from our number six ranking in the first research study.  This is particularly gratifying because we've only been blogging since October 2007. 

Even more surprising, perhaps, is that I was not even using the term "content marketing" until about this time in 2007.

Best of all, we are honored to be in such great company with so many well-known and highly respected bloggers.

Junta42 made the announcement on May 6, 2008 noting that they had selected from more than 100 blogs specialize in the field of content marketing.  The list was reviewed by their team of custom-content experts who made their choice from some of the best-known marketing blogs as well as many lesser-known blogs that are just beginning to stake a claim to marketing authority.

Whether you have already developed and deployed a content marketing strategy or whether you are still in the planning stage, you should seriously consider how to extend the reach of your core content product.

For example, let's suppose you have decided to create a quarterly print magazine that targets an important audience segment.  You will need to spend a significant amount of time and effort in generating the content that will make this magazine relevant and valuable to its readers.  That is obviously critical.  But you can do even more.

After all, the print magazine has a finite reach.  Think beyond print.  Think beyond the magazine.  You can dramatically increase the impact of your content marketing by thoughtful repurposing of the information and resources you developed in order to create the magazine itself.

Here are 15 great ways to extend the reach of your content far beyond the circulation of that print publication.  Many of these involve little or no incremental expense while offering dramatically improved incremental impact.

That is either terrific news or horrendous news for your company.

It really depends on your approach to online marketing.  I was alerted to this somewhat counterintuitive idea by a great eNewsletter from Stephanie Miller.  While she writes about e-mail marketing, the implications apply across the board in terms of how you connect with your customers online.

She quotes a study from Sirius Decisions: "Selling now takes more time and resources than ever before.  The sales cycle has become 22% longer as buyers are taking longer to consider their decisions.  Plus, buying is being managed more professionally."

Here's a quick three question quiz.

Give the home page of this website a 10 second review (no cheating--you can't look at any interior pages). Then answer the following questions:

1. Who are their target customers?
2. What product or service are they selling?
3. How can those products or services solve customer problems?

Here's the best I could do:

1. Somebody in public transit
2. Some kind of technology relating to transit operations management
3. I have no idea.

Actually, I was probably cheating because I spent more time looking at the site before I decided to write this post.  So I might not have picked up both one and two in a quick look at the site. 

The 5 Most Important Lessons He Learned about Blogging Success

My pal, content marketing mentor, and book-writing partner, Joe Pulizzi is celebrating his 1st year in the blogging business with his Junta42.com blog.  I would wish him many happy returns, but that might be superfluous since he is already getting plenty of happy returns from his devotion to quality content that he delivers with regular frequency.

In fact, I can thank Joe for introducing me to the world of blogging--and to the joys of book authorship as well. I can also attest that my blog has been a source of new colleagues, new friends, and new business.  It doesn't happen overnight, that's for sure. But, if you are consistent, quality-focused, and patient, you will achieve tangible benefits from your blog.

How can you replicate Joe's success? 

Here are quick takes on the top 5 lessons he learned after 100 posts--and has relearned and expanded upon in subsequent months that led up to the 1st Blogiversary:

The problem: A great Southwest Florida company with a mediocre website.

The solution: Use a content marketing approach that pulls visitors in and offers them solutions to their insurance challenges.

Many of us rant and rave about big insurance companies, their irritating bureaucracies, their frustrating approach to claims payment, and their frequent unwillingness to insure us when we really need insurance.  But, I'm willing to bet that however we feel about the insurance giants, most of us also count on our local insurance agents to give us reliable advice and assistance whenever we need it.

GulfShore Insurance is one such reliable company.  This Naples-based firm has an excellent reputation and has grown steadily over the past 38 years.  Gulfshore could be even more effective by making some basic but important changes to its website. 

Here is a list of opportunities for significant content marketing improvement:

A typical professional services website will explain what services the professional provides, offer a brief bio of the principal or principals, provide basic contact information, and perhaps show a list of clients.  That information is necessary but sadly insufficient.

By adding two simple but powerful content marketing elements, any professional can stand out from his or her peers. 

1. Provide a basic primer on the subject area in which the professional is an expert.  For example, an accountant could do basic articles on the importance of cash flow, how to minimize tax exposure, and what to look for in a business loan.
2. Provide regular news about topics that would be important to clients.  For our hypothetical accountant this might be the impact of new tax laws, health insurance changes or new withholding requirements.

Check out a live PR website prototype to see what's not just possible--but easy

In the next few weeks, you'll have the opportunity to read our new book, Get Content. Get Customers., hot off the proverbial presses. We're pretty sure that you will find it relevant, valuable, and compelling in just the way that content marketing is supposed to be. But, in case you can't wait for the book itself, here is a MindMap that lays out the entire tome on a virtual or actual page.

Throughout the creation of the book, I have used MindManager MindMap's for numerous book related tasks.

Read on to learn ho mind mappingoptimize the book collaboration and creation process with Joe Pulizzi-- and how it's now helping us with the process of marketing of the book.

Among the ways that mind mapping simplified the creation of the book:

Imagine for a moment that every person surfing the web is wearing an identical baseball cap.  On the front of that baseball camp is not a New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox insignia but 5 capital letters: WIIFM

Those five letters enable you to do a bit of mind reading and may keep you from making a very serious mistake.  They stand for: "What's in it for me ?"

You can bet your business life that unless your website quickly and obviously answers that question, your odds of converting those visitors into customers fall famously between slim--and none.  The rest of your content marketing strategy may be lost unless you can answer that universal question. That's why you must include the too often missing ingredient.

What's the missing ingredient?

A brand-new book explains why this is essential and how to make it happen.

Boring is bad in person.  Boring is worse in the traditional media.  And, boring may be worst of all in in the new social media universe.  That's a critical content marketing message in the new book, Personality Not Included, written by Ogilvy public relations executive, Rohit Bhargava.

Rohit has the double responsibility of explaining why boring is bad and personality is essential while simultaneously proving that he has a personality.  In fact, you have a pretty good idea that his personality is just a bit out there by his choice of book cover, which spotlights garishly colored plastic chickens.

Goofiness aside, at the very top of the website, he explains exactly and succinctly why the book is important, "Personality Not Included is a new marketing book for entrepreneurs, marketers and all businesses about the importance of personality and a guide on how to use it."