About Joe
Joe Pulizzi is a leading author, speaker and strategist for content marketing. Joe is founder of the Content Marketing Institute and SocialTract. This blog looks at the trends in content marketing, and how marketers can learn to think and act like publishers.
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Joe’s Books
Get Content Get Customers… the book that started the Content Marketing revolution. Learn how to develop compelling content and seamlessly deliver it to customers— without interrupting their lives.
Managing Content Marketing… how to put content marketing to work. Managing Content Marketing shows you, in detail, how to manage content marketing within your organization, whether you come from a small company or multi-billion dollar brand.
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About CMI
CMI teaches marketers how to own their media channels instead of having to rent them through advertising. We do this through events like Content Marketing World, media properties like Chief Content Officer magazine, and strategic consulting and research for some of the best known brands in the world.
Our Benefactors
Merrill Lynch Leads the Way with Video
I’ve received many comments from my blog post on financial organizations getting into the content marketing space. One of the better recommendations I received was on Merrill Lynch’s content web portal.
The majority of the site is a cross between news-desk commentary and short video diaries. The commentary pieces are simple, yet professional and well done. The content is created in a way that is non-threatening to the user, and explains, in simple terms, what is happening with the market.
The case studies are well-done…something that you might see in a "How did they get here?" piece during the Olympics. Each positions Merrill Lynch as a true partner and adviser that helps these people find their way.
The site also mixes up video with traditional reader content on such topics as retirement, starting a new career, and on being suddenly single.
I am not sure what types of results Merrill is getting from the site, but it is clear that Merrill is positioning themselves more as a "life partner" than a financial institution.
Finally, an often overlooked but extremely important aspect of the site is search engine optimization. By typing in "Starting a Dream Business" into Google, the #1 return was Merrill Lynch, finishing higher than StartupNation and even startyourdreambusinesstoday.com. Very impressive.