Content Marketing Today

Big bucks squandered to insert content free DVD in magazine

You can be sure that an advertising sales rep did a great job convincing the Harding Poorman Group to insert a DVD in the October 2008 issue of Book Business.

While conceding that they do show off their packaging technology, they blew the opportunity to demonstrate to their prospects the kind of rich content that DVD could and should contain.  In other words, it all boils down to a missed content marketing opportunity.  Prospects are likely to say, "I loved your packaging, but you don't show me why I should invest big bucks to put a DVD in a magazine."

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First-generation website in desperate need of an essential but easy overhaul.

Based on copyright information displayed on their website, this law firm was probably an online pioneer back in the mid-1990s. Moreover, it's obvious that they understood the need to put meaningful content on the site that would be relevant to prospective clients. It even has a short and cool website address, WWLaw.com.

The bad news is that the site is as dated as a flower power Volkswagen minibus.  The good news is that it would be very easy to fix so that it reinforces the strengths and skills of the law firm in question. 

Here's my advice on what they need to do:

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Ironically, Morris Rosenthal's website led me to the content-challenged online home of an intellectual property lawyer who specializes in publishing issues.  It's ironic because Morris is a genuine king of content.  [this is a correction; I initially made the wrong attribution to Aaron Shepard who is also a fabulous content marketer.]

He has written extensively on the nuts and bolts issue that neophyte publishers like me need to know to succeed.  He has written an excellent book on self-publishing: Print-on-Demand Book Publishing. In addition, he provides a wealth of articles on his site about specific issues such as how to deal with a big-time publisher if you are an author. At the conclusion of that particular article he refers his readers to zickrubin.com.  Based on Morris' ability to deliver so much great content, I expected to find something similar on the website of the law firm he recommended.

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Websitegrader.com from HubSpot might make you humble, but it will also make you a lot smarter about how you present yourself on the web.

Since I'm in the content marketing business, I spent a lot of time looking at websites to assess what kind of job they do in presenting content that is relevant and valuable for their likely target customers.  Of course, the success of a website depends both on the quality of content and on the quality of its visitor friendly design.  Moreover, it's important that visitors can find it in the first place. 

Now, a great new tool, websitegrader.com, delivers a meaningful score from zero to 100 --with 100 being perfect--for the marketing effectiveness any website on the net.

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New website stalls out completely and provokes unfortunate puns!

Microsoft just launched what might technically be called a website but is more properly a lame product promotion page with a gimmick that is far from unique.  You have the chance to win 5000 gallons of gas.  Wow!  Nobody ever thought of that before. The new site, bumptheslump.com, targets small business owners with the nominal mission of helping them get through the current economic slowdown. Actually, calling it a website is giving it too much credit.  It's really a webpage with links to five different Microsoft products.  Although these links are disguised as business tips, their disguises would not have fooled little red riding hood.  Don't try this with your content marketing campaigns. Read More

The venerable San Jose Mercury News is about to launch an e-Edition as I learned from a recent e-mail from their marketing folks.  It seems to me that this is a desperate, last-ditch attempt to salvage their brand and their business.

As the Silicon Valley grew with the explosion of PCs and the Internet, this newspaper grew along with it... until recently.  Clearly, it is now suffering from the same malaise as the vast majority of newspapers around the country. 

All over the US advertising and circulation revenues are falling significantly.  With very few exceptions--the Wall Street Journal being the most successful--online versions of daily newspapers have been giving away their content.  They have tried to support their online versions with advertising revenues alone.  This has been problematic because the amount that newspapers can charge for online advertising is a fraction of what they have gotten for print in years past.  Moreover, circulation revenues typically would cover the cost of newspaper production.  This meant that a much higher percentage of advertising revenues could go to the bottom line.

So I understand why The Mercury News is attempting to charge for subscriptions.  But their rationale for changing their model seems to be all about them and not at all about me.

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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. 

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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:

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Bring your most compelling content front and center and make it easy to search in order to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise at solving customer problems.

Jet Advisors provides a set of essential services for a carefully targeted group of wealthy customers: buyers of private jets.  I learned about the company from an old friend and colleague who, believe it or not, has actually bought two private jets.  This same colleague has shared that Jet Advisors is an excellent organization.

Their website, JetAdvisors.com, does a very good job of describing exactly what they do.  It is clean, well organized, and easy to navigate.  According to CEO, Kevin O'Leary, the website has also become an important source of new clients. They also do a monthly eNewsletter which reaches thousands of current and prospective clients.

Unlike the vast majority of business websites, JetAdvisors.com, provides a rich set of articles (originally in their eNewsletter) designed to help visitors and prospective customers to make intelligent decisions about purchasing private jets--and a whole host of related issues.

The two simple changes that would create a dramatic content marketing difference

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HK construction, LLC. Is a Fort Myers Florida based construction company with a website that could be dramatically better with a modest level of investment in money, time, thinking, and design.

The site provides some good basic information about the company that is combined with visuals that appear to represent the kind of construction work it does.

This is a very basic site with just six main pages. Making meaningful content improvements would be simple, fast, and inexpensive.  If they were my client, this is what I would tell them to do:

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