Content Marketing Today

Content + Design are Inextricably Intertwined in this Clean and Colorful Website.

Successful branding depends equally on content and design.

Joe Duffy, head of the firm, kicked off the 2008 Custom Content Conference. He had plenty to say, but he made two related points that stood out.  First, marketers must provide more meaningful content that makes lives better.  Second, design makes the world makes sense.  As an example, he used the iPhone, noting that it's design and functionality had forced everyone else to get better and that it had "improved your ability to manage your life."

But, when it comes to a successful blend of design and content he could just as well have been pointing to his own website, Duffy.com.

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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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Greater Naples Chamber Embraces Print Content Marketing to Serve Business Community

All associations and chambers of commerce succeed based on their ability to deliver measurable value to their membership. Because many of their efforts are intangible and therefore hard to measure, there is always a significant percentage of the member population that wonders whether they’re getting their money’s worth.

One of the best ways to transform the intangible benefits that a membership organization provides is to create information products that communicate effectively with members—and with targeted members of the business community in which the organization operates.

Although it’s relatively easy to generate a print publication, it’s much more difficult to make it relevant and compelling. That was a challenge that the Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce faced in the spring of 2006. In addition, as with most membership organizations, generating non-dues related income is essential to the viability of the organization. That means that sponsorships and advertising can make a significant difference—and with high-quality events and publications generating this non-dues related revenue is much easier.

Read on to learn how a Chamber with a lean staff and a lean budget can produce an outstanding--and profitable--monthly magazine.

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The website perfectly reflects the David Lawrence Center mission: "restoring and rebuilding lives."

The David Lawrence Center is a nonprofit mental health and substance abuse facility that provides affordable services for anyone in need.  Located in Naples Florida, the 40-year-old center serves all of Collier County. Each year, 16,000 individuals take advantage of more than 50 prevention, intervention, and treatment services.

The brand-new website proves how powerful online content marketing can be.  What's even more impressive is that a new website was driven by a very small team: Communications Director, Trista Meister, in partnership with a local web development firm, Exploritech.

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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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You don't necessarily need a big budget to tell a great story that your customers will remember.

Once again the Anheuser-Busch Clydesdale ad was the favorite ad in the 2008 Super Bowl. It outscored all the rest of their ads that were trying to strengthen the Bud Light brand against Miller Lite. In fact, only three Anheuser-Busch ads scored in the top 10. It's not clear that they accomplished much with their hodgepodge of Bud Light ads, most of which scored poorly. What is it about Hank the Clydesdale and all of the preceding Clydesdale commercials that put them at the top of the pack? And, what lessons can you apply to your own marketing, whatever the size of your budget? Read More

Dramatic and tangible return delivered on relatively small content marketing investment

If you thought all British law firms were stodgy and old-fashioned, you haven't yet encountered Pinsent Masons.  Their name might be old-fashioned but their marketing sure isn't. In fact, they have been doing online and print content marketing for eight years.  And, it has paid off measurably.

Their content rich website, Out-Law.com, provides a wealth of timely and useful content for its current and prospective clients. In addition, they produce a semi annual print publication also called Out-Law.  Neither information product is the kind of very traditional marketing you would expect from a venerable global law firm. But that's because they understood from the beginning that great content was fundamental to building a great brand.

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Solopreneur Mitch York reaches out with relevant business content.

Although Mitch spent many years in the corporate world, he's now happily ensconced as an entrepreneur.  He has two separate but somewhat interrelated businesses.  We have already written about the great blog he does for one of them, Maui Wowi. He has recently launched a newsletter for his other executive coaching business, Better Way Coaching.

Because it's new, Mitch has relatively few tangible results to point to in terms of its success.  So we will follow it with interest in the months and years to come. Even as a new product, however, I believe it's an excellent example of what an eNewsletter should be.

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Leading-edge media content from Muncie Indiana attracts big-city marketers. 

In the header of its website Ball State University ties the name of the school to "education redefined."  You might think that's simply a meaningless slogan.  But in the case of Ball State, they really walk the walk, particularly with their Center for Media Design.  A recent study in teenage media use illustrates the really cool stuff they're doing. In fact, taken as a whole, Ball State's website rocks when it comes to content marketing

Decades ago, when I went to college in Indiana, one would have associated schools in the state with either football (Notre Dame) or basketball (University of Indiana).  You certainly would not have associated Ball State University, which used to be a teacher's College, with leading-edge research into media usage.

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