Content Marketing Today

For business blogging skeptics, the idea that a roofing company would bother with a blog might seem ludicrous.  But that kind of thinking betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the power of the new generation of business blogs.

An effective business blog is likely to become the most powerful content marketing tool of the 21st century. With a minimum investment, you can count on a tangible and accelerating return.  Roof Life of Oregon shows exactly why this is true.

Roof Life of Oregon is using WordPress blogging software to power their primary web presence--as well as a blog that is integrated with the primary site.  This means that is easy for them to update their website.  Their website is just fine, but what's more interesting is the fact that they have a blog.  In fact, their blog illustrates why many traditional marketing pundits are wrong when they minimize the importance of a business blog. 

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In a great post from PlanWebs.com the vital nature of content comes through once again. The author, Brent Csutoras, emphasizes that, for both social media and search engine optimization, the easy ways of bringing your site to the top have largely evaporated.

As we have written frequently and at length, the only long-term marketing strategies that will survive revolve around content.  That's true whether your marketing efforts are in person, in print, or online.

Brent heartily concurs that it's all about the content. 

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We all have had our share of positive and negative experiences with real estate agents.  This certainly applies to their various attempts at marketing.  We may welcome the note from a favorite agent, but toss stuff that we get from agents that we have never met and wouldn't want to meet.

Traditionally, the very best agents have done a great job of keeping in touch by phone, by postcard or by newsletter. This requires a lot of organization and persistence from the agent because their customers will use them infrequently.  After all, it might be five or 10 years between transactions.

As the Real Estate Snippets blog illustrates, there is now a much more effective way to market yourself.  Bonnie Erickson, who writes the blog, effectively blows all those traditional ways of keeping in touch out of the water. 

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Too many people--and I used to be one of them--think of a blog as an out-of-control rant by a fanatic about some topic or other. Sure there's plenty of that. However, today, business blogs are pervasive. They provide enormous value by delivering relevant content on a myriad of topics. But, more importantly, an increasing number of what have been termed 'blogs' in the past are really websites. They are full-featured websites with as much capability is anything that could be built from scratch by talented programmers. I'm indebted to my new friends at ContentRobot.com for the new term, ' blog-powered website' that I will use from now on. They're doing some great stuff. Be sure to check out their website ,which is the featured graphic to the right. The secret sauce behind the ContentRobot.com site, ContentMarketingToday.com, and thousands of others is the powerful and often free software that will enable you to establish a content rich website. I happen to be a fan of WordPress which is an open-source content management system whose roots are in blogging. But, whatever tool you choose, you now have the ability to create a full-featured website with a minimal expense in a short period of time. You no longer have an excuse to stick with the brochureware website that your sister's cousin's nephew built for you in some kind of JavaScript that nobody knows how to modify. Since your excuses for change are gone, here's why you need to launch a blog-based website right now: Read More

Check out Notes from the Digital Frontier, a blog by millennials

There is a lot of great content from the Media Post people.  One of their blogs, Notes from the Digital Frontier, is especially valuable because it captures the thinking of twenty-somethings about the media world that we all inhabit. 

They tackle a broad range of topics from out of home television to billboards.  So they are definitely not hooked simply on new media stuff. If you try to get a handle on how young people think, this is a great place to go.

The blog works the way blogs are supposed to work. A dozen rotating bloggers share their opinions and generate literate feedback from a diverse set of respondents. This makes for some lively online conversations.

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Don't waste money going after influentials.  Get your idea to the masses.

I loved Malcolm Gladwell's, The Tipping Point.  His core thesis is that a small number of influential people can influence a trend that will impact millions. But, if you're still thinking like Gladwell does, you'd better read the February 2008 issue of Fast Company.

In a powerful article, the magazine explains that a Yahoo research scientist, Duncan Watts, begs to differ, based on extensive and persuasive research. He concludes that the power and timeliness of the idea carries the day.

Gladwell and the mighty few

Gladwell offered a classic example of the power of 'influentials' in the reemergence of Hush Puppies--which had been relics of the 1950s and 60s until their rebound from near death in the mid-1990s. According to Gladwell, it was a few forward thinking fashionistas who sparked a retro trend that ultimately resulted in a 5000% increase in Hush Puppies' sales.

It turns out that this 'influentials' theory just doesn't hold water.  Billions of marketing dollars may have been wasted in attempt to get a few cool people to spread an idea virus.

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You don't have to take sides in the current presidential race to notice fundamental differences between many of the candidates. Whether you plan to vote for John McCain or whether you disagree with most of his positions, research suggests that most Americans believe him to be authentic. One could argue that reason he has survived the political rough-and-tumble so far is that so many Americans hunger for authenticity from their candidates--just as they do from the companies that they are doing business with. So, when I stumbled upon a blog that Senator McCain's daughter, Meghan, is writing on the campaign trail, I was intrigued. Why? It all has to do with the contrast between the freedom that Senator McCain and his wife have allowed Meghan and the muzzle that has been placed on Chelsea Clinton during the campaign. Read More

Believe it or not, it is all about the Meatball Sundae: marketers can't add brand-new marketing methods that are a complete mismatch with all of the products and processes that have worked in a very different world.  That is, if they really want to achieve measurable results, they will need to completely rethink what they are selling and how they sell it.

I was inspired to go out and buy Meatball Sundae because of Joe Palazzi's post from last week that reported on a conference call that Seth Godin gave about the new book.  Joe reported on 10 very important insights that he gleaned on the call.  Happily, he noted that Seth embraced the concept of content marketing once Joe via a question related it to Godin's own 'new marketing.'

But, I believe the most important lesson you can learn relates to the title of the book and to the laughably inappropriate combination of whipped cream, a cherry, and a meatball.  Godin's point is that you can't simply bolt on new marketing to an organization that is operating as if nothing has changed in the past 10 years and that traditional marketing still works the way it always has.

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In January 2006 the concept of content marketing hadn't been given a name. In January 2007 42 bloggers have been singled out as content marketing power players.  That signals the accelerating acceptance of an important trend. 

We are thrilled to be part of it--and grateful to have been named #6 out of 42 on the Junta42 website.

A year ago, neither Junta42.com nor ContentMarketingToday.com existed.  It's not that nobody was doing content marketing.  On the contrary. Quite a few smart marketers were pursuing a strategy that had yet to be named.  Most hip marketers would probably have said that they were trying to connect with their customers by providing relevant content. They might well have thought of it as a logical extension of customer-centric selling.

In fact, I learned in the interviews for our book, Get Content. Get Customers., that most of our case study companies were pursuing sophisticated content marketing strategies.  These strategies simply seemed to interviewees as the most logical approach to customers in the 21st century. 

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Business Week apparently has absolutely no affinity for small business marketing.  At least that's what a recent column by regular contributor, Gene Mark, would lead me to believe.  Entitled, "Tech ' Solutions' Your Small Biz Can't Use," the article shows an appalling lack of understanding of some very important content marketing enablers.

The author made a lame attempt to critique numerous online marketing components including blogs, RSS feeds, online video, and search engine marketing tools. The Blue Chip Marketing Tips blog did a wonderful job of eviscerating his article from the January 4, 2008 issue of Business Week. Blogger, Caroline Melberg, critiqued each of his points, by pointing out how wrong he was. You can learn both from what she had to say--and by doing the opposite of what Gene Mark suggests you do.

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