I’m guessing that I don’t even have to explain the implications of this simple graphic.  It’s that good. 

Somewhat surprisingly I found it toward the end of a wonderful blog post by Chris Garrett, Claiming Your Independence – 5 Years of Business Lessons.  As he describes the essence of the post,

Five years ago I cut loose from my day job and launched myself into the adventure that is working for oneself. That was the start of my journey towards claiming my independence day, and I think there are lessons for you if you want to do something similar to what I have done.

Chris then takes us along on the five-year journey that led him to his current business model. It’s great reading, particularly for those of us who have followed similar paths.

Essentially, this chart teaches us instantly what it took him five years to discover: That the reward of product creation relative to effort far exceeds that of either freelance blogging, coaching or consulting.

I loved his article. But, I loved his infographic even more because it shows how powerful the right visual can be.

Chris’ simple chart makes it obvious how you can persuade yourself–or your customers–of the merits of a particular course of action.  In his case, it took him many years to conclude that product creation was the right core business model for him. Fortunately, the rest of us can see in a few seconds how smart an idea it can be for any of us creative entrepreneurial types.

Perhaps what I like best about this persuasive infographic is that anybody, no matter how artistically hopeless, could have created this very same chart with a few minutes of effort. Of course, the thinking that went into it took a heck of a lot longer.

When you have a really big and important idea to convey, think about how you can add a visual to make your point quickly and obviously in support of your text explanation.  You may want to put this infographic up on your wall for inspiration.

Do check out: Claiming Your Independence – 5 Years of Business Lessons.
You’ll find plenty of great writing in addition to this wonderfully simple and inspirational infographic.

Even though they spend plenty of money on television advertising, Geico doesn’t need to spend much money at all for this incredibly effective commercial which is one of a series that are similarly effective.

On the other hand, Mayflower has created an elaborate series of giant marionette television commercials which are certainly expensive but almost as certainly ineffective.

Geico Makes a Simple Point and Ties It to a Compelling Story

The commercial begins with an intro asking whether Geico can really save you 15% on automobile insurance and then segues into a little vignette that tells a story that virtually all of us would believe would be intuitively true. The connection is then simply made between the story and the saving of 15% on automobile insurance.

This commercial series is not about some highfalutin branding or image making. Rather, it’s about telling a simple story that is not only easy to remember but is also easy to retell. Even better, most of these Geico ads are also pretty darned funny. That makes them even more memorable.

The best content marketing should include compelling stories to which your customers and prospects can relate easily. This may be hard to do. But it does not have to be expensive.

The Geico drill sergeant commercial proves that point. Although they probably paid a lot of money to the actor playing the role of the brutal therapist, in principle, this commercial could’ve been made for almost nothing. It consists simply of the introductory announcer, two actors and a small, basic set representing a therapist’s office.

That’s the kind of video that you could re-create on your website to tell a compelling story. Perhaps, it wouldn’t be quite so funny, but it might be just as memorable if you make sure that the story is both relevant and compelling for your customers. And, that’s all about your mindset, not about the amount of money you spend.

If you haven’t seen my favorite drill sergeant therapist, here’s the video:

Mayflower movers get it all wrong with their slightly creepy series of giant marionette commercials.

I’m guessing that these were very expensive to produce.The special effects are pretty impressive.  But, the story that Mayflower tries to tell is not impressive at all.

In the long version of the commercial, there is no explanatory introduction about why we’re watching what we’re watching.  Apparently, the agency figured that we would be fascinated enough to follow the path of a giant female marionette as she travels on the highway and is eventually deposited at what we assume to be her new house.

All along the way, a bunch of guys manipulate the progress of this enormous marionette a bit like handlers of balloons at Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade. At the end of the commercial, when they plunk her into a chair, it’s not clear how she’s going to be able to get out of the chair–let alone fit into a house that is much too small for her gargantuan size.

The commercial concludes without explanation except for the insertion of a final tagline that somebody fell in love with: "Every step of the way." This, of course, is when our giant ah ha moment arrives and we are supposed to think: "Oh I get it–’every step of the way’ just like the giant marionette was stepping across the country."

Thus, Mayflower has spent lots of money and too much of our time metaphorically leading us to that final tagline cliché, "every step of the way," which doesn’t really tell us anything. We are simply left with the weird image of a giant marionette sitting in a lawn chair after a long, strange journey cross-country.

Bottom line: Effective content marketing should include storytelling that creates a clear, concise, and compelling narrative that your customers will both remember and repeat. If you tell a great story, as Geico does, you’ll be happy with the meme that you have created on TV or on the Web. On the other hand, if you tell a terrible story, as Mayflower has done, prospective customers may be talking about you, but you’re not likely to benefit from what they have to say.

I think we can all agree that the health insurance reform legislation of 2010 will touch each and every one of us. It will impact both businesses and individuals.

If you are a business owner, it is vital that you understand how it will affect you and your employees.  Why? Because, unless you are a very small business, you will either have to provide healthcare insurance or pay a penalty for failing to do so. You will have to make some tough decisions in the years to come about how to handle your employees’ health insurance needs.

Because of the dramatic impact of this legislation, there is an urgent need for comprehensive and understandable information so that business owners can plan intelligently.

This creates a uniquely powerful opportunity to provide relevant and compelling content for your current and prospective customers. You can demonstrate thought leadership at a time when business owners are desperate to find an information source they can trust.

One local agency is doing exactly that.  Gulfshore Insurance in Naples, Florida is doing a superb job of content marketing at the exact moment that the health insurance paradigm shift looms large for everyone in the United States.

When you go to their website, you can find a broad range of information about the kinds of insurance coverage they provide, how they help you manage risk, and exactly who they are. That is always important.

But, what is urgent right now–and for years to come–is trustworthy content about healthcare reform. Gulfshore Insurance brings that information front and center on their homepage with their Health Reform Tools and Resources link. 

That link leads you to a wealth of information that is both comprehensive and timely. In the case of health reform, timeliness is vital because so much is undecided, in process, and apparently changeable.

The timeline chart below is a great example of the hard work they have done to help their clients understand what’s in store.

In short, Gulfshore Insurance is executing a content marketing strategy that genuinely benefits their customers and will therefore benefit to them well into the future.

Billion-Dollar Bank/Insurance Agency Completely Misses the Same Once-In-A-Lifetime Content Marketing Opportunity

BB&T is a huge regional bank which has in recent years acquired numerous local insurance agencies. In Southwest Florida, they bought an excellent local firm whose management team and employees continue to provide great products and services.

Unfortunately,  they are missing an unprecedented opportunity to show authentic thought leadership. During this turbulent time in American history when healthcare and healthcare insurance is changing forever, they are missing in action online.

If you go to the old local web address or the parent company insurance agency address, you will find absolutely nothing about healthcare reform. Moreover, they have eliminated any kind of local information on the website to tell you about the kinds of professionals that you would deal with in Southwest Florida.  If you drill down several layers, you can find telephone numbers to call but no e-mail or individual contact information. Even worse, they tell you absolutely nothing about the local company.   If I were not already familiar with that company, I would be at a complete loss to know why I should become a client.

The bottom line:

The Good–

• Gulfshore Insurance is showing authentic thought leadership that will resonate with clients and prospects for years to come.
• By providing lots of relevant, localized information, Gulfshore Insurance enables search engines to rank them highly and prospective clients to find them easily .
• Gulfshore Insurance shows up high on the first page of local search results for terms such as health insurance, business insurance, and personal insurance. Great content has a lot to do with that.

The Bad–

• BB&T has lost that same once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to show thought leadership and engender trust.
• They provide almost no information about their local presence in Southwest Florida.
• Their search engine performance is abysmal. Neither their current website address nor the predecessor local website shows up at all when you search for health insurance in Fort Myers or Naples–our two largest local markets.

[Updated Version]

If any self-described search engine expert tells you that comments like the following actual example will get you SEO-friendly links back to your blog or website, I suggest you neither pay for nor follow their advice:

"Great site you have here and great insight. No wonder so many people flock on it with comments. Keep it going. Cheers!"

I must get 10 or more of these junk comments each day on my site and countless more on client sites.  Of course, they never make it live on the web.  Finding ways to build back links is important.  But, these are a complete waste of everyone’s time.

On the other hand,  on my site, I always welcome and always approve genuine, thoughtful, amusing, and even intelligently argued negative comments.

It’s not that much extra work to find blogs and bloggers you enjoy. That’s where your comments can begin real dialogue. If you can add value to the original blog post, your blog or website will almost certainly get a look from the blogger. After that, you may get a comment back and perhaps an inclusion in their blogroll.

Like everything else in life, the only comments worth doing are worth doing well.

P.S.  Great update: A big thank you to a junk commenter (who is apparently in the SEO biz) on this very post who makes my point beautifully, albeit unintentionally with the following ‘comment’:

Search engine optimization that is process of promote site on the search engine like Google. Yahoo. MSN. Thank You .

Danger, danger, Will Robinson!!  Car salesmen approaching!! 

I’m guessing that I didn’t even need an evocative photo for each of you to conjure up your own happy showroom memory.

My own recollection is fresh since I’m considering (ugh!) a new car purchase. At a local car dealer, no less than 5 sales guys tried to foist themselves on me.  I was just one salesperson away from hightailing it out of there.

Car dealers and manufacturers spend a fortune getting you in the showroom door. Imagine if they invested equally in delivering a valuable, in-person content marketing experience.  One can dream.

But, because we can learn from the awful as well as the awesome, here are some content marketing lessons to take away from the typically painful automobile showroom encounter.

5 Lessons to Learn from the Agony of Anti-Content Marketing Car Showroom Visits

1. Don’t make it blindingly obvious that you are desperate to sell a walk-in—read web visitor—prospect anything you can manage to squeeze them into.  Your web visitors want you to make them smarter about possible solutions to their problems so they can make smart buying decisions.
2. Find a fun, unique way to offer helpful info from the get go.  Don’t replicate the same old, same old kind of greeting that you get in a showroom.  I can’t remember a car salesman ever beginning with a useful offer of information, research, fun factoids that might bring me out of my protective shell. Your website can find a zillion different ways to invite and inform your visitors.
3. Provide useful, non-salesy takeaway information that isn’t all about you or your company.  Wouldn’t it be great to get some tangible product information in a showroom without having to survive a gauntlet of desperate-seeming sales guys?  Make it easy for your visitors to take away great content via eBooks or whitepapers without an obtrusive request for buying intention or detailed contact information.
4. Display in-depth knowledge of your products and services in the context of your customers’ concerns. I’ve been astonished by how often a car salesperson is clueless about car information that the dealer or manufacturers should know is top of mind among customers.  Your website is the perfect venue to provide easily accessible, but ultimately in-depth content that answers your visitors most urgent and important questions.
5. Don’t have a pop-up as your web visitors are about to move on that says the non-automotive equivalent of: “What will it take to put you in a car today?”  Apparently, car sales reps are instilled with the assumed truism that if you let a prospect leave the showroom leave without getting them to make an offer, you’ll never see them again. 
   I’m pretty sure that’s because they hated dealing with you so much that they would rather have root canal without anesthetic than relive the showroom assault. 
   On the other hand, offering your web visitors relevant and compelling content that leads them naturally closer to trusting you will encourage them to return.

I”m probably naive about this but I really believe that smart car dealers could deliver a positive–and mutually rewarding–content marketing experience if they made the buying process all about the customer and his needs.

But, there is one thing I am sure about. When you show that you genuinely care about your online customers by benefiting them from the time they first land on your site, a significant percentage will come back to spend time on your site and to buy.  

Sailing is a wonderful, exhilarating sport for those who have the training and experience to enjoy the ever-changing interplay of wind and water on a boat driven by its sails.

First, you have to learn how to sail.  Happily, like 100,000+ students before you, you can do just that at Fort Myers-based Offshore Sailing School.  Once, you have learned from their skilled instructors, sailing becomes a lifelong pleasure.

But, you can learn even more from the Offshore Sailing School  folks. You can learn a lot about content marketing online.

Bringing Modern Marketing to a Traditional Business

Steve and Doris have been running a sailing school for more than 40 years, building a successful business with multiple locations and a world-class repetition. Although they have been doing this for a long time,  there is nothing dated or old-fashioned about their approach to content marketing. They are fully engaged online with a website, a YouTube channel, a blog, a Facebook page, and a Twitter account. 

I particularly like what they are doing on their website and on YouTube as examples of how to take a traditional business and bring it successfully into the 21st century content marketing world–with a strong visual approach to everything that they do.

How Their Website Makes It Easy to Transform Site Visitors into Sailing Students

• They feature a big, beautiful slideshow at the top of the page that illustrates the beauty of the sailing experience. There is almost no need for words to introduce prospective students to the idea of a lifelong love of sailing. Their own eyes will make the sale about sailing.
• When it comes to home page copy, they get right to the point. In just two opening paragraphs, they make the case for sailing and for the  Offshore Sailing School:

Be Inspired by Sailing!
We know your time is valuable, so we’ll teach you everything you’ve always wanted to learn about sailing, fast. In just three days, our Learn to Sail Course gives you the confidence to sail mid-sized sailboats with ease. In one week you can gain skills to sail and live-aboard big cruising sailboats with our Fast Track to Cruising® course. Like to sail really fast? If you’re new to racing or currently race and would like hard-core hands-on coaching, you’ll benefit greatly from seven days of race training on our Colgate 26 fleet, with seminars and video recaps by North U. in Offshore’s racing courses.
Whichever sailing course you choose, you’ll be inspired, refreshed, amazed at how much you learn. Whether you want to get away for a day or go around the world, sailing is now within your reach. Offshore Sailing School is the leader in sailing lessons and sailing vacations – discover one of our seven locations today!

• They make it very easy to connect with a prominent "Quick Connect" box in the upper right-hand part of the page.
• They display the latest news prominently on the left sidebar, using complementary images as appropriate.
• They combine text and images frequently with sidebar items such as their featured course, their sailing specials, and their newsletter sign-up.
• They highlight their social media connections on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube  to make it easy to continue the connection.
• They integrate a timely and informative blog, which, in turn, includes numerous videos from YouTube as well as their latest Tweets.
• And, it may be a small thing,but the site’s background is an ocean panorama on what looks to be a perfect day for sailing. For many websites the sort of background would be superfluous. But, for Offshore Sailing School, this is perfect.

Offshore Has Their Own YouTube Channel with Plenty of Engaging Videos

The Offshore Sailing School YouTube page has been nicely designed to complement their website.They have 20 videos which provide sailing instruction, testimonials, and some examples of the sailing experience. Their "Learning to Sail" six minute video has had more than 3000 viewings.That’s pretty powerful when you compare towhat they might have expected from traditional magazine advertising in days gone by.

Does their approach to online content marketing work? Well, if you search for  "sailing school" on Google, you might not be totally surprised that they come up #1 in the organic results.

Not bad for a couple of old salts.

I continue to be surprised by the number of marketing and advertising companies who have websites that hide examples of the great work that they do behind a bunch of content clichés that fail to distinguish them from every other similar company. 

I recently stumbled upon the website of such a company who is missing its primary content marketing opportunity. They have great stuff, but it’s really hard to find.

Content marketing is all about providing relevant, compelling, and easily accessible information to your prospective customers.

In this case, what is genuinely relevant and compelling is the work that this agency has done on behalf of of its clients. That  visual content represents potential solutions to the problems that its Web visitors are facing.Unfortunately, the content that counts is lurking behind some same old, same old verbiage.

The copy below is from the actual website that I happened upon  They appear to do some really good work. But,  as a potential client, I would have to be truly driven to find that work. First, I would have to wade through all the generic copy that promises pretty much what any good marketing/advertising company could do for me :

“Fill in the Blank” Advertising Company creates custom marketing solutions from strategy through execution to help build and transform your business needs. Let us get to know you inside and out. Let us become instrumental in helping you develop breakthrough solutions to meet your brand objectives and increase your profits. With smart planning & execution, we strengthen your image and reputation as the world around us changes. Change is reality.

We differentiate your company from the competition……

A genuine irony flows from the website copy that makes the promise: "We differentiate your company from the competition."  Sadly, there is almost nothing in the copy that differentiates this agency from its competition.

Actually,  there is a differentiation to be found on this website–but not easily found. That differentiation consists of the proof behind the copy clichés, that is, the actual work that this agency has done. But, you have to struggle to hard-to-find it.

Making It Too Hard to Get to What Really Matters

To get to the good stuff,  you must click on a small  link called, "The Work,"  that sits at the bottom of the page. There, you will find a wealth of visual examples of excellent marketing and advertising projects done for a broad range of companies from relatively small to very very large.  You can even watch videos of commercials that are memorably amusing and interesting.

Moreover, the agency’s work examples include several very well-known brands that add implicit credibility to their skills and experience.

There is another missed opportunity, however. In an era of quantification, none of the work examples are accompanied by information about the objectives of the work and successful outcomes. I’m sure that there were plenty and that they would provide plenty of trust building content for potential clients.

The simple lesson: When you have great work to show, make sure that it is front and center on your website so that impatient visitors find it immediately. Then, use that work to power the copy that populates your homepage and the rest of your site.  Content marketing fails when you cannot find the content that counts quickly and easily. Only pirates love buried treasure.

In other words, when you can show specific successes, you do not have to rely on generic copy that fails to differentiate you from dozens of other similar companies.

Oh,and be sure to avoid clichés like the plague.

Courtesy of PPCBlog.com

If you’re in business today, you have to be on the Internet.  But, being there is barely a beginning.

Once you are on the Internet, it’s vital that your potential customers can find you and your content by searching on Google and other search engines. That’s what SEO is all about.

Before Fretting about SEO, First Get a Clue About How Google Works from PPCBLOG’s Infographic

There have been lots of books white papers, articles and websites devoted to the whole issue of Google and search engine optimization. But for most of business owners and professionals, a basic understanding of how Google works will suffice so that you won’t be bamboozled when some slick-talking SEO sales rep tries to make getting found by Google and the rest sound more complicated than it actually is.

That’s why I love this infographic that takes you on a virtual walk-through of the Google search process. Take five minutes to go through it, you will have a much better understanding of what Google and search engines are all about.

Perhaps this inspiring infographic will also motivate you to create your own visual to illustrate to your potential customers how your business or service works to their benefit.

Check out the full size “How Google Works” infographic at PPCBlog.com

When it comes to making your way safely through that jungle, who better to turn to than the ultimate content marketing warrior, Amazon.com?  After all, they are not only brilliant e-commerce players but they are just about the best at connecting with their customers.

Arguably, Amazon.com changed the rules for all online retailing but is a certainly changed the rules for bookselling. Since Amazon’s founding in 1995, the brick-and-mortar Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association has dropped from 365 stores to just 188. Even the venerable Seattle-based Elliott Bay was forced to leave its 40 year location in Pioneer Square or cheaper quarters elsewhere.

Amazon.com leverages the long tail phenomenon of selling zillions of product units all the way from best-sellers to books and other products that would never make it into a brick-and-mortar establishment. they do a brilliant job of logistics and supply-chain management, stacking just what they need, organizing print on demand where appropriate, and enabling overnight delivery for the vast majority of the products they sell.

All of that is exceptional and essential, but I believe they really shine by doing a superb job of connecting with their customers so that those customers want to keep doing business with Amazon.com year in and year out.

In fact, Amazon.com is a superb content marketer.  You probably don’t have their size and scale but you can certainly emulate their approach to their customers in the following ways:

Six Ways to Put  Amazon.Com’s Approach to Content Marketing to Work for Your Company

1. Offer free samples. Even before the advent of the Kindle, you could sample books online before you actually ordered. Whether you’re selling products are offering services, you can certainly take advantage of this time-tested approach to getting customers to begin using you on a regular basis. Your free samples will prove the quality of your merchandise or the value of your services. Afterward, it becomes a no-brainer for your prospects to begin buying from you.
2. Know your customers.  Amazon.com tracks your browsing and buying behavior. They know what you like and are delighted to help you get more of it. If you are a regular user of Amazon.com, you have your own individual page with lots of recommendations that become more relevant as you buy more products over time. they are now even recommending MP3 music which you can sample, of course.
   It is vital to have the same kind of understanding of your customers so that you know what they really value. Armed with that knowledge, you can position your products and services perfectly for their needs.
3. Stay in touch with relevant information. Amazon doesn’t just wait for you to show up at their website. With your permission, they send out regular e-mails informing you of what’s hot and happening within the product areas that are of interest to you. They don’t waste your time sharing the latest hip-hop selections, if you are a classical music lover.
   In the same way, it’s critical for you to maintain a targeted outreach to your customers sending them information that you know to be relevant to their information needs.
4. Make it easy to buy…more.  Amazon is a genius at exposing you to more relevant choices once you have made a purchasing decision. They know that once we are in a buying mode, it will be easy to sell us more as long as they can provide an easy path to purchasing products that they know we will like.
   Similarly, on your website, you can make suggestions for related products and services once it’s clear that your visitors a right to make their initial positive buying decision.
5. Create communities of interest to energize and engage users. When you browse the pages of Amazon.com, you will find a wealth of user participation with product ratings, reviews, and Listmania. This last item consists of book or other product lists created by enthusiasts who love a subject or product area and are willing to share their knowledgeable enthusiasm with other Amazon customers.
   You can easily open your site or your blog to participation by your prospects and customers. And, any air of social media, you can certainly establish groups of enthusiasts on Facebook or twitter who’ll pay careful attention to the goings-on of your organization , your products and your services.  This is a great way to keep your customers engagedso that they are much more likely to remain loyal and long term buyers of your products.
6. Help your vendors connect with your customers.  Amazon makes it very easy for authors to establish a presence on the Amazon site or blog posts and other timely information can be added easily.
   If you are selling other people’s products and services as part of your business, make it easy for your customers to connect with those vendors. For example, you could pull in RSS feeds from vendor blogs that are relevant to your customers. In tough times, maintaining close vendor relationships may make the difference over time in your survival. So it only makes sense to help them look good in the eyes of your customers.

As it is so often with content marketing, you can emulate the best practices of the really big players with a fraction of their budget. Most of the time, big ideas don’t require big budgets. 

In the case of Amazon.com, they began in 1994 with a tiny initial investment of $250,000.  In the end, it was big ideas not big bucks that put them over the top. Many of those ideas are all about brilliant content marketing. And so it can be with your company, too.

Here’s a great example of an effective infographic that illustrates social media behavior by age group, based on a Forrester Research study.  With few words and relevant graphics, it enables us to absorb lots of information in a hurry.

That’s what effective infographics are all about.

I fully understand the importance of the visual component of content, but I’m not very good at conceptualizing or creating great visuals to illustrate the points that I’m trying to make.

So, I was delighted to find a wonderfully helpful—and visual—site that is putting me on the right track: CoolInfographics.com from Randy Krum. As he indicates, it’s all about getting your point across. Which, in turn, is essential to effective content marketing. You must make it obvious to your target customers why your content is relevant and important to them. On the web, you have only a few seconds to make that happen. Effective infographics can make that all-important instant connection.

If you need as much visual help as I do, you’ll love Randy’s site and his recent post with practical advice—illustrated with infographic examples, of course– for us verbal types.

Here are 5 practical infographic tips from Randy’s recent blog post, 10 Tips for (Journalists) Designing Infographics:

1. Be Concise: Design your infographic to convey one idea really well. That is, keep it simple for the viewer so they can really absorb your point.
2. Be Visual:  Design your infographic with your final for viewing size in mind.  Don’t allude to a chart they need to click on to view. Keep them involved with your text while they look at the infographic.
3. Be Different:  If you can avoid it, don’t use a bar chart, a line chart or a pie chart.  Grab readers attention by doing something that is unique while still making your point effectively.
4. Be Accurate: Remember your geometry and visualize differences using area. Thus, if you are using circles to represent relative size, make sure that illustrating 3X larger, you use a circle that is 3X bigger, not 9X bigger.
5. Be Varied:  Find a good visual style that’s right for the data you’re trying to share.  If your data is about countries, plot it on a world map not a bar chart that lists countries. To illustrate this point, Randy showed the infographic below from Emily Schwartzman about the aftermath of the hurricane that devastated Haiti in 2009

Words work well. But pictures in the form of infographics can make all the difference in getting your point across in an instant. Once you have captured readers with your picture, you can then wow them with your words.

Here are some links that Randy offered to visual tools available on the Internet to help and inspire you in building your own infographics:

• Tableau Public
• Many Eyes
• Swivel
• Google Public Data Explorer
• Gapminder
• Wordle
• WorldMapper
• GunnMap
• StatPlanet Map Maker

If you are in the business of trying to communicate complex information in a simple and compelling way, you will want to become a regular visitor of CoolInfographics.com.