Junta42 blog

The Accessible CEO - Myth or Today's Marketing Reality

"Perhaps the biggest change the new marketing brings is the easiest to overlook, mostly because it's so obvious. Every organization now has the ability (and probably the responsibility) to deal directly with the world. With customers, with prospects and with those impacted by their actions. No middlemen."

- Seth Godin from Meatball Sundae

Are You Accessible?

Some of the most important things about marketing today are the small, minute details. You know, those ones you don't think about all that often. One of those "little" issues is accessibility and openness with customers.

I received an email today from TypePad's new CEO about some changes he wanted to bring to my attention (I use TypePad for this blog). It was a nice letter, but it was the end that received my full attention:

"Tell Us What You Need 

We’d love to hear what you think is most important for TypePad’s future...

• Email me personally at chris.alden[at]sixapart.com.
• Share your feedback in the comments to our...

Keep an eye on the TypePad team’s efforts this year — we’ll have a lot of big news to share with you!

Best regards,

Chris

Christopher J. Alden

Chairman & CEO
Six Apart, Ltd."

(Note that I didn't include the whole ending.)  The takeaway...here is the most powerful person at this business insisting that he be emailed directly with feedback about the company.  I don't know about you, but this makes a profound impact on me. How many times have you tried to get in touch with ANYBODY at an organization you do business with, especially the CEO.

The Key for Your Business

• How available are you to your customers?
• Can your customers email you and your key officers directly?
• If they can, do your officers actually respond or do they have someone else reply?

Customer expectations have shot through the roof with increases in technology. Can your business live up to the expectations?  If you can, you have a significant competitive advantage. Why? Because as we all know, most of the companies we deal with are shielded in layers, hierarchy, processes and the "that's the way it's always been done" vision statement. I here opportunity knocking.

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How a Small Business Can Market Like the Big Boys: 5 Steps to Success

I've just started doing some guest blogging over at my friends from Small Business Edge. In this first blog post I talk about what small businesses can do to even the playing field against companies with larger budgets. Here is an excerpt:

"1 - Start a Blog - There is no better way to consistently get valuable content out to customers as easily than through a blog. Look to wordpress or Typepad for starter accounts.  Both can be integrated within your current websites.

2 - If you’ve started a blog (or once you do)…get active in the community. Find the top 20 blog sites in your industry or local area and start commenting. Every time you comment, a link is created back to your site. This generates traffic to your site, builds on your Google Page Rank, and increases your reputation in the community.

3 - Create a regular opt-in communication piece. For many, this will be an eNewsletter, where you can highlight content from around the web and your own original content that is relevant to your customers.

4 - Develop your keyword list. I always recommend spending about 5 hours with a search engine optimization (SEO) expert to help you define your keywords.

5 - Utilize NEWS releases - Send them not to get coverage, but to expand your link building and web presence. Make sure the releases focus on the customer, not how great you are. Services like PRWeb are great."

Check out the Small Business Edge site when you get a chance. Although not content marketing, here's a good article on creating a print ad that works.

Fisher Investments: Writing the Book on How to Drive a Business with Content

I've been familiar with Fisher Investments for about three years...ever since one of my close friends decided to transfer all his investments over to their management. Since that time, I've been watching very closely, and have been able to watch how they market their services, which I can sum up in one word, content.

Fisher manages over $45 billion in assets for high net worth individuals and institutional investors. If you are not familiar with them, they are similar to a JP Morgan Asset Management. Over the past few years, they have been able to create a significant brand in the affluent asset management arena by investing in content-driven marketing strategies.

Here are some key points behind Fisher's content marketing plan:

Leverage Traditional Media to Drive Free Content Giveaways
In reading the Money section of Friday's USA Today, Fisher took out a full-page ad promoting their free "must-read" report called "The 15-Minute Retirement Plan: How to Avoid Running Out of Money When You Need It Most" (see picture for ad). The ad is very specific about what is in the report, how a customer might benefit from the report, and is also specific about the audience. At the bottom of the ad, Fisher states that they cater to those with portfolios greater than $500k.

Have you ever looked at a full-page ad for Ameritrade, Goldman Sachs or Charles Schwab? I don't think I've ever seen one promote a content initiative. Fisher gets it right...if you are going to use traditional media, use it to drive interest and communication (and ultimately a conversation) through valuable and relevant content.

Use Article Marketing to Drive Your Brand
My first interaction with Fisher was through their CEO Ken Fisher and his regular column in Forbes magazine.  I'm certain Mr. Fisher gets paid for this, but he doesn't have to. The column in Forbes positions Mr. Fisher as an authority and expert in the industry. After reading his columns, who wouldn't want to have him or his staff working for you?

Key point: Writing great content, whether on a blog or in an article on another site, magazine or newspaper, works if it's valuable and relevant to the reader. This tactic has certainly been a key to their success.

Write a Book
Mr. Fisher has written many books, with the last one, "The Only Three Questions That Count" being a best seller. There is simply no better business card in the world than a book for you and your company.

Many companies that launch book efforts get lost in the fantasy of having their own book, talking too much about how great they and their products are. Mr. Fisher uses real-world examples and a common-sense philosophy that truly positions him as an investing guru (yes, I read it).

Keep Customers Informed at all Times
Fisher sends out quarterly pdf reports to clients on the state of the market and their current investment outlook. They also send customers a very professional "State of the Market" DVD of Ken Fisher and his experts discussing the market and their investment strategies.

Just recently, as the market went into a downturn, they sent a special report out to customers, telling them to stay calm, and to believe in their overall philosophy. Consistent communication with customers is key to their marketing retention strategy.

Promote Your Services, and Your Content on the Web Site
Although I'm not a big fan of their web site design, it's easy to see that Fisher is a huge believer in content. Four of the six major spots on their home page is dedicated to content, including information on Fisher Investments Press, a free downloadable eBook, Fisher's Forbes column information, and the book.

Key point: If you want to teach people about what you do, teach them what they need to know to succeed first.

Create Your Own Media Portal and Be the Content Expert in Your Industry
Probably most impressive is Fisher's creation of Marketminder.com, a wealth of online information dedicated to financial analysis and research.  If anything positions the 50+ member research team at Fisher experts, it's Market Minder.

Market Minder doesn't push Fisher services at all.  They talk real business with real advice and some of the best research and opinion around.  This is a strategy that ALL companies, big or small, can take from Fisher as a best practice.

It's pretty easy to see how Fisher has created one of the best brands in the affluent investing market. The great news is that (outside the full-page ad from USA Today), any company, even a one-person shop, can take these initiatives and make them their own. Technology has enabled the barriers to entry for content creation and marketing so low that any company can afford these practical and ultra-effective marketing strategies.  Good Luck!

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Related Articles:

• Financials Break Out the Content
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Available at Junta42

• Consumer Case Studies
• Business-to-Business Case Studies
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Online Interruption Marketing and Why I Hate Toaster Strudel

I just finished up the audio version of Meatball Sundae by Seth Godin. Excellent listen. For some reason, this is the statement from Seth that resonated with me the most.

"The web is the single worst medium ever devised for interrupting people who don't want to be interrupted."

Amen brother!

Why do the best brands in the world continue to distract us? Do they not see what is going on...especially in an online environment?

Here is a quick example of why interruption marketing in an online environment is so detrimental to a brand. Over the weekend I was doing some stock research for our investment club. As usual, I was looking through the headlines of the stocks I am responsible for (Ameritrade and JAKKS Pacific, the toy company).

So, on my way to a news story on Forbes I get hit with this full-screen roadblock (a roadblock is an online ad that covers the entire screen, and usually disappears after 10 seconds or you can try skip past). Now, the roadblock has to be the ultimate in online interruption marketing. Why don't you just chain me to a post and make me read this over and over until I cry? I'm already going to Forbes...do I have to read that Forbes has the best political news?

As Dr. Phil would say, "Joe, how did this make you feel?" Can anyone say Huffington Post?

Okay, I finally get to the article and I'm on to more research.  Now I'm at Yahoo! Finance reading up on Ameritrade. All of a sudden, I get karate-chopped by a Pillsbury Toaster Strudel ad. Worst part...I can't read the headlines now because the Doughboy is in the way. As I move the mouse I can't get rid of him. Down doughboy, down!

This is like a bad dream.  And tell me, why the heck is there a toaster strudel ad on my Ameritrade headlines page? Do brokers like strudel? Do investor's of online brokerage companies treat themselves to the soft, chewy heaven that is the Toaster Strudel?

Shame on you Pillsbury, and shame on you Yahoo! for sucking Pillsbury into this. 

Dr. Phil..."Joe, what does this make you want to do?" Good question, Phil. It makes me want to go to Google News and then on a diet.

This is old marketing at its best. This is a mass marketing strategy placed into a setting that has no more room for mass marketing. Let's face it, Forbes and Yahoo! will continue to offer these ad placements as long as someone is willing to pay for them. It is up to marketers to stand up and decide that their customers deserve better.

Pillsbury can make the decision to stop distracting to get business. They can decide to be a part of the conversation, a part of the content.

It's only a matter of time before brands like Pillsbury "get" content marketing. Until then, I'm banning Toaster Strudel from the house.

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Related Articles:

• Corporate Content Will Take Over Media As We Know It
• Media Companies Are Waiting to Make You a Publisher
• 42 Content-Building Ways to Attract and Retain Buyers
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Available at Junta42

• Consumer Case Studies
• Business-to-Business Case Studies
• Content Marketing 101

Junta42 Announces Top 42 Content Marketing Blogs

Well, after almost six months in "beta" we've decided to launch the full version of Junta42. And what better way to do that than with a cool list.

This week we are premiering the Top 42 Content Marketing Blogs that features the best blogs from the net focusing on some aspect of content marketing. Some, you'll find, are very well known, while others are definitely "up-and-comers". Congrats to Millward Brown's "Straight Talk with Nigel Hollis" on taking first spot on our premiere listing.

I think what I like most is that Junta42 members can vote on the ones they like the best, which generates a user rank. Members can "Hitch!" (or vote - just like Digg) for the blogs they believe are the best. The most popular blogs rise to the top. I believe at the end of the day, that's the list that will have the most value.

Now, we've by no means perfected the selection criteria, but we've made a good start.  Here's a full description of how we selected and ranked the blogs.  I'm quite certain we've left off many, so if you know of any you'd like to nominate, send us a note at add[at]junta42.com. We'll be adding blogs and refining the process over the next few months.

Other additions to the new Junta42 include:

• Content Marketing Resource Center
• Video Series on the Content Marketing Revolution
• Additional social media components, including profile image and commenting tools/notification
• Easy-to-use "Submit a Story" function (now two steps)
• Latest article RSS feeds and Email updates
• and last but not least, the ability to rank all categories by most recent, most popular...and all listings by most popular weekly, monthly or all-time.

We are also excited about the launch of Junta42 Match, which will take place over the next few months. Junta42 Match will be the "eHarmony of business content", matching businesses who need content expertise with custom publishers or content providers that match specific needs and criteria.

We'll have plenty more to come on Match over the next few months.

Thanks to all of you who have supported us along the way.  Let's enjoy the ride and have some fun.

The formal press release goes out this Wednesday.  Here's a sneak peak...

Using Social Media to Deliver Premium Search Engine Rankings

Search engine and social media experts know this little fact, but surprisingly most people I talk to, including the majority of web developers and marketers, do not. That is:

• The sheer number of available social media sites to promote your content (for a great roundup, Dosh Dosh provides one of the best).
• That the success of social media content placement is NOT dependent on the traffic you receive from that social media site when it comes to search engine results.

Basically, I would argue that placing your content on social media sites may have more value for search engine optimization than direct traffic from a social media site.

Let's prove the point with an example.

I recently posted this article about Seth Godin's book tour and his take on content marketing. I then placed it on the following social media/social bookmarking sites, using the same format and language for each:

• Digg
• Mixx
• Shoutwire
• Reddit
• Junta42
• Small Business Brief
• Propeller

I also used one article marketing strategy, placing the post at Newt Barrett's ContentMarketingToday site.

The Goal
My interest was to evaluate certain keywords in Google and measure their impact, looking at the blog post itself or the placement strategies.

Success #1
I wanted to start out with an obvious keyword selection, so I used "Seth Godin Content Marketing," which was in the title of the post.  Here are the results after exactly three days:

• Overall, dominated the first five results on the page.
• Original blog post was first.
• Article marketing strategy (Content Marketing Today) was second and third.
• Small Business Brief Fourth.
• Shoutwire Fifth.

It should be noted that in the Shoutwire example, it received no positive votes, so placement has nothing to do with popularity. Also note that Digg came up on the first page after 1 hour, but within a day was already gone. That said, this strategy may work in Digg's case for very timely news, but not for more evergreen pieces like I tend to write. (NOTE ADDED: After submitted this post to Digg, it was #1 overall for "premium search engine rankings" after less than 30 minutes. Most likely will be gone tomorrow.)

Success #2
Okay, the first example is hardly ever typed in to Google. So let's use one that is.  How about "Seth Godin Marketing Lessons"? Here are the results:

• #5 placement, first page for original blog post.
• #3 on second page for Content Marketing Today.
• #4 on second page for Shoutwire.
• #5 on second page for Small Business Brief.

Results: Not as dominating as the first example, but four within the top 20 results, two of which were social media sites.

Takeaways

1. Your search engine optimization strategy should integrate the use of social media sites for key pieces of content.
2. This strategy is even more important for timely news (i.e., Digg example).
3. All social bookmarking sites are not created equal when it comes to this strategy (where was Mixx, Reddit, Propeller?). We'd need to test this again to see if there was a pattern.
4. Luckily, the blog itself gets picked up well by Google, but this strategy could really be important for sites that are suffering in the search optimization department. If I had no SEO at all, I would have still had the top 4 of 10 results on the first page of Google.
5. Titles are key: If you are targeting a particular key phrase, get it in the title...and do it in a string if possible (i.e, Seth Godin Content Marketing).
6. Don't mistake this for anything more than another search engine results tactic. Being involved with social media sites as a whole is an important overall marketing strategy. This has nothing to do with the value of being involved in those sites (which is a completely different topic).
7. Individuals and businesses that create regular content through blogs and articles have an overwhelming advantage over competition that do not.

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Related Articles:

• How I Screwed Up My Search Engine Optimization
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Social Content Marketing at Junta42

eMarketer CEO: Turning Ads to Content Most Important Transformation for 2008

Okay...there is really something going on here. If you are a marketing professional, it's time to pay serious attention to content marketing (custom publishing new). From new marketing thought leader Seth Godin, to now eMarketer founder and CEO Geoff Ramsey, marketing has changed for good and there is no turning back to the old model.

Mr. Ramsey includes three hidden trends in his latest post, concluding with the third trend as having the most important transformation on marketing.

What Mr. Ramsey states is a perfect representation of what is going on in today's marketing. It also shows that there is a significant opportunity for businesses to take advantage of this trend. He states:

"...For decades, the ad industry was built on the interruption-disruption model. Consumers understood that if they wanted to experience free content—in the form of television shows, music on the radio and magazine articles—they would have to put up with ads, most of which were perceived as irrelevant, boring, annoying or all three. In this standard construct, ads were seen as a “necessary evil” to support the content consumers really wanted to see.

But the interruption-disruption model is dying out, thanks to shifting consumer trends. Consumers are increasingly in control of their media content and can easily eradicate ads they don’t want to see. They also have less trust in advertisers and their messages."

Key points here:

• The standard interruption model is slowing dying and someday will cease to exist.
• Customers are in complete control of the media they engage in.
• Customers inherently distrust advertisers, regardless of size or brand.

Ramsey goes on to state:

"As a result, advertisers and their agencies who want to engage with today’s consumers will have to start turning their ads into content. Ultimately, they will need to be able to produce content that is so compelling, relevant and entertaining that consumers will seek it out and want to share it with others. The new ad model is about creating great content and finding clever ways to embed it in the fabric of communities and content platforms where consumers are hanging out and actively participating."

Amen brother! Ramsey's last paragraph is essentially what we call content marketing.

Today's buying environment, and into the future, creates a number of opportunities for businesses, as well as threats to those who aren't willing to alter their marketing.

• Businesses cannot speak "at" customers, but must engage in a dialogue that connects customers with the brand.
• Trust is built through communication (like marriage). Since customers are set up to distrust you, no matter who you are, valuable and relevant content and communications that help them feel better about themselves or perform better in the world will generate the trust you need to sell products and services.
• Content should be the backbone of your entire marketing plan. You should be sending a message to your customers that helps them, even if they don't buy a product from you. You can still disseminate this message through traditional marketing, but lead your customers to the content water.
• There is a clear opportunity for content providers that can help companies communicate better with their customers. As we've discussed many times, businesses are not set up to create consistent and ongoing content, they are set up to sell products and services. That's where partnering with an expert content provider or custom publisher can really make all the difference.

Technology has evened the playing field. It may actually be easier for smaller businesses without historical marketing baggage to take advantage of this opportunity. For example, a small business can launch a blog, a white paper series, an eBook, an eNewsletter and a content-based microsite for literally pennies. The majority of technology used to distribute this content is free. As Seth Godin discussed in his latest book tour call, this revolution may be the biggest revolution the business environment has ever seen. Larger marketing organizations have a more difficult time letting go to old programs, especially since egos are involved, and those egos usually don't like to admit that they are or were wrong.

I actually thought that the content marketing revolution was still a few years off.  After the last few weeks, I'm beginning to think that we are right in the middle of it. What an opportunity!

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• Corporate Content Will Take Over Media as We Know It
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• Small Business-Focused Content Marketing
  
• Content Marketing 101

Seth Godin: "Content Marketing is the Only Marketing Left" and 10 New Marketing Lessons

Just sat through an hour teleseminar (Seth's Meatball Sundae Book Tour) produced by Author Teleseminars and Elizabeth Marshall, that included Seth Godin, Michael Port and David Meerman Scott. I'm a regular reader of Seth's and David's blogs. If you are at all in the marketing game, get their RSS feeds.

The second last question on the call was from me, where I asked about the role of content marketing and its effect on traditional media. Seth was not familiar with the term content marketing, and fortunately David was there to define it as "the creation of valuable and relevant content yourself (instead of using traditional means)."

Okay, here's the big answer by Seth...

"[Content Marketing] is all the marketing that's left."

Seth went on to say (I'm paraphrasing) that teaching your customers and giving your customers the resources to believe you is new marketing. They become a fan of yours because you teach them something that makes them feel better about the world.

For someone like me that lives and breathes content marketing, needless to say I was pretty excited about his response. If you are not creating your own content that gets people talking about you, what are you doing?

Here are a series of 10 other key points from the audio seminar:

1. The old way of marketing is where producers talked at customers with consistent interruption. New marketing is about connecting with customers.
2. Today's new marketing is a bigger opportunity than any revolution that came along before (Factory, Industrial revolution) because people only need access to ideas, not access to large amounts of capital.
3. Instead of spending $5 million on advertising, spend $5 million on a great product that people want to talk about.
4. There is a difference between how many and who. Old marketing was about how many. New marketing is about who. If 12 people are coming to your blog, but they are the right 12 people with large amounts of buying power, that's what matters.
5. Permission transferred is permission lost.
6. Your content: Who is listening? Make something for them. If you make something that solves their problems, they'll talk about it and tell others.
7. The gatekeepers have changed. Today's technology has enabled the destruction of old gatekeepers (have a message to tell and can't get it out... create a blog then) and the creation of new gatekeepers (those that have 1,000 friends on Facebook).
8. Figure out why the target needs to pay attention to you? Find information they desperately need (books, blog, research, surveys, etc.) and give it to them. This is the heart of new marketing.
9. Telling an authentic story means living an authentic life (i.e., Howard Schultz, Starbucks CEO really does love coffee). In the new marketing world, you can't fake it, so you have no choice but to be real.
10. All one has to do to understand new marketing is to start a blog. Write stuff that people want to read instead of dictating to them. You learn the lesson quickly!

Content marketing is not easy because you actually have to listen to your customers and know what their challenges are. You cannot solve your marketing woes through buying advertising space. You must make a connection to your customers, and get new customers, by focusing on their true pain points and healing them with information (okay, a bit over the top, but true none the less).

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Learn how to create great content that makes a difference to your customers at Junta42.

How I Screwed Up My Search Engine Optimization - SEO Content Mistakes Made by the "Expert"

Although my expertise is in content, online content marketing today is so intertwined with search engine strategies (how content on the web is often found), I also study, practice and teach about search engine marketing best practices. It is with that introduction that I want to tell you how I didn't listen to my own advice, and lost customers and traffic in the process.

As we launched Junta42, we determined that there would be no space between Junta and 42. Through the first three months and into the launch of the beta site, we had so much tunnel vision that I never thought about considering a space when someone searched for Junta42.

In determining our final meta tags for the website, we did all the right things.  I surveyed a group of publishers and marketers to get their keyword terminology that related to Junta42, such as custom publishing, content marketing, custom magazines, customized content, branded content, etc.  Those keywords became a core part of our content strategy, and continues to be.

Yet, one day, about two months after the launch of the site in late July, I received a call from a close colleague of mine.  He couldn't find the site in the search engines. I actually laughed, thinking he was some kind of an idiot. Yet, I found out the finger was pointing right back at me.

At that time, if you typed in Junta42 into Google, about 3,000 related results returned to our company. Only about seven returns had to do with someone else (one user on a discussion form, we believe out of Japan, uses the profile name junta42...go figure). If you typed in Junta <space> 42, you got zippo. (NOTE: One of the reasons we chose Junta42 was a search engine strategy. We knew that we could dominate that term due to its rareness in the search engines.)

The worst part, the majority of references under Junta <space> 42 were for Thomas Junta, a 42-year-old man who was recently charged with manslaughter.  There was no sign of our company anywhere.

We ignored our own advice that you must have a clear understanding of your customers and prospects online behaviors when it comes to a content marketing strategy. How do they get to your site?  What relevant keywords do they type in? If we would have done just a bit of chatting with our users during our beta test, we could have easily found out that many of them might type in Junta <space> 42 into a search engine. (Which, by the way, is a good reason to "watch" customers use your website, not just use an online survey.)

Now this was not the end of the world, but is a good example of the barriers you can put in front of your customers if your content doesn't have the proper meta tags, title tags, and, in our case, company name variations. Is it easy for customers to misspell your company name?  Do they search for your company information by product (product misspellings), company executives (executive misspellings), locations, etc.?

Try this exercise for yourself.  You may be surprised at what you find.  I actually just added a number of my last name misspellings into my meta tags. Why put a barrier between you and your prospects or customers when a five minute fix can take care of that?

Since the initial launch, we've to fix the problem.  If you type in Junta <space> 42 today, the first four results and six out of 10 are for Junta42 (Mr. Thomas Junta receive the rest of the attention). Within the last 3 months, over 100 people have landed at Junta42 through a search engine by typing in Junta <space> 42. Over the next few months, we should have all 10 on the first page of Google.

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Related Articles:

• Content Marketing Strategy Trumps a Search Engine Marketing Strategy
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IBM's "The End of Advertising as We Know it" - A Must Read

Wanted to call you attention to this excellent white paper from IBM Global Business Services entitled "The End of Advertising as We Know it."

Couple of points here:

First, this is an amazing example of world-class content marketing. This white paper clearly shows how a brand can create valuable and relevant content that is as good, or possibly better, than many traditional media pieces in the field.

Second, here is a quote from the conclusion of the white paper:

"There is no question that the future of advertising will look radically different from its past. The struggle for control of attention, creativity, measurements and platforms will reshape the advertising value chain and shift the balance of power. As we have witnessed in previous disruptive cycles, the future cannot be extrapolated from the past."

If we needed another one, this is yet an additional example that there is more confusion than certainty in marketing, and that, ultimately, everything in the future of marketing MUST be measured in some way. Technology will enable that. This white paper depicts some case studies that share a glimpse into how.

Third, content development, both on a corporate and customer basis, will play a huge role in how marketing and advertising decisions are made in the future. Yes, the revolution is at hand!

Enjoy Reading!

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