Content Marketing Today

Stephanie Diamond lays bare mysteries of online marketing for small business executives.

Hyperbole?  Maybe.  But, this is a terrific book.

Marketing is probably the biggest challenge for small business owners and executives.  We typically spend so much time running the business day to day that establishing and maintaining a marketing focus just doesn't happen.  The accelerating pace of Internet marketing change makes it all that much more challenging. 

Happily, Stephanie Diamond has written that rare book which both forces us to think in new and different ways about marketing issues--and simultaneously provides a detailed roadmap so that we can put those thoughts into action. Once you have finished the book, you will be ready to develop and deploy a successful Web marketing strategy. 

Her new book, Web Marketing for Small Businesses, is a much-needed addition to the literature of online marketing.  This book enables us first to grasp complex concepts and then to put them into practice with easy to follow steps.  Even solopreneurs will find significant value in Stephanie's book.  I know that I have already begun to implement several of the strategies about which she writes so knowledgeably.

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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.

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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."

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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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We have written a lot about Mindjet and their extensive use of content marketing. In fact, we feature their online marketing efforts in our upcoming book, Get Content. Get Customers. I'm impressed that they keep improving what they do--particularly in the area of design and visual content. I just received their latest eNewsletter. It has changed dramatically from previous versions. It's now even better than before--and that's saying something. Even if you lack their budget, you can emulate what they do. Read More

Trendspottings does it right. By emulating their approach you can improve your eNewsletter results.

We've written about the great work that Noise Inc. did for the 'Tween Waters Inn on Sanibel Island, Florida. They took a website with a minimal visuals and transformed it by using evocative imagery to create the portrait of a fantastical getaway in a tropical paradise. They take an equally powerful visual approach in their newsletter, Trendspottings. Here are the elements that make their March 2008 eNewsletter so successful: Read More

Learn what some of the smartest people in the business had to say about 21st-century marketing.

When you invite leading edge content, marketing, and technology pros to address 150 professionals who spend all their time thinking about content, you are at risk of sensory overload. Particularly when it takes place in New Orleans. So, we will cover the highlights today. In the days to come we will add detailed articles to provide in-depth coverage of individual presentations. If you're not familiar with custom publishing, what's important to know is that it provides targeted and relevant content to carefully selected customers. Content marketing flows directly from custom publishing roots.

Here are the essential 11 content marketing insights to guide your thinking, strategy, and tactics in the months and years to come:

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Regular readers know that I'm a big fan of mind mapping. I've written frequently about the concept, but applications and about Mindjet, the company that sells MindManager software. Both the product and the concept are growing in a viral way over the Internet.

Chuck Frey has a lot to do with spreading the mind mapping  virus through his mind mapping blog and his Innovation Tools website.  Not only is Chuck a great thinker he's also a great marketer.  His mind mapping software update eNewsletter is a superb example of content marketing.

Basically, he manages to compress a huge chunk of his blog content into an eNewsletter.  For those of us who subscribe and who are mind mapping fanatics, this ' blog in your inbox' eNewsletter is welcome whenever it arrives.

Here's what makes it so powerful:

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Receiving an eNewsletter that takes a personal approach is the perfect touch from Simple Solutions Concierge.

The eNewsletter and the company behind it is the creation of self-described 'Irish lasses', Kelly O'Brien-Pastore & Lynne McCarty-Pietrzyk. This business tag team provides a much needed service for Southwest Floridians with much too much to do.

Their business revolves around easing the burdens of overburdened businesspeople to whom time has become the most precious commodity of all. They understand that their target clients may have plenty of money but not nearly enough personal and professional time.

Their eNewsletter does a great job of delivering engaging content that connects with their target audience--and which humanizes Kelly and Lynne.

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