Content Marketing Today

A Compelling  and Affordable Video Did the Trick

Normally in Hollywood, when you're trying to get someone to join the cast of a picture, it involves actors and their agents, directors, studios, sending scripts back and forth, and lots of other rigmarole.

When you're trying to attract a big star like Amy Adams, at best, this process is inefficient. At worst, it is completely ineffective.

The producer of the new Muppets movie, Jason Segel, decided to use content marketing to appeal to Amy Adams, who had lately been appearing in pretty serious dramas such as, The Fighter. Although he probably had no idea that his approach involved content marketing, his perfectly targeted video illustrates all the best of what content marketing can be—and can accomplish.

Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet will dramatically accelerate the move to e-books

The shift from print business-to-business books to digital versions, whether Kindle, Nook or iBook has been nothing short of astonishing.

Symptomatic of the change is the increasing amount of floor space that Barnes & Noble is devoting to its Nook e-readers. In our Naples store, the Nook retail area takes up almost a quarter of the ground floor book related space, excluding the café and the music section.

Apple's iPad, as the pioneer in the tablet space, has captured the vast majority of the tablet market so far. But, its price point at $500 and up makes it a bit expensive for what may be a secondary computing device for most people.

Nonetheless, more and more business book readers are using the iPad not just as an e-reader, but as a comprehensive content consumption and creation device. Although, a tablet like the iPad is limited in terms of its virtual keyboard, for example, many of us business users have found extraordinary productivity applications in addition to standard e-mail and calendaring.

Sure They’re on the Web, But They’re Also Out and About on the Streets of Naples, Florida

Imagine my surprise when I pulled up behind this small van on a Naples street.

I started to get hungry just looking at the back of the van. This is mobile marketing that quite literally whets my appetite.

It’s all about Newsjacking:  The Science of Latching onto a Hot News Story in Near Real-Time, and Making It All about You.

David Meerman Scott is once again the thought leader in helping us get more news coverage than we ever thought possible, whether we are Solopreneur or billion-dollar multinational.

His new book, perfectly titled, Newsjacking: How to Inject your Ideas into a Breaking News Story and Generate Tons of Media Coverage, teaches us how to make as much news as the biggest newsmakers in our individual arenas.

David opens his book with the example of Rick Perry's surprise announcement of his run for the presidency simultaneous with the Iowa straw polls. He became the top news story and eclipsed coverage of any of the other candidates who had worked so hard to do well in Iowa. It was a perfect Newsjacking that took full advantage of our 24 hour a day news cycle and the never-ending demand for hot news stories.  Iowa was suddenly boring. Rick Perry was suddenly hot.

David teaches all of us how to become successful Newsjackers whatever our organization’s size or situation.

A number of current realities make Newsjacking possible and powerful: