Junta42 blog

27 Days and 100 Publishers - 5 Startup Tips and Lessons

Today we passed the 100 publisher mark for sign ups for Junta42 Match, our free web service for marketers that matches businesses with the best possible content and custom publishing providers for projects such as custom magazines, newsletters, web content and other custom publishing initiatives. We are pretty excited about hitting this mark so early, especially with 27 days still left until we launch formally to businesses (Junta42 Match is only open for publishers to sign up at this time - launch date is June 24th).

It's a weird feeling now that we are getting close to our formal launch date.  Everything that we've accomplished over the past 12 months has been geared toward this launch, now less than a month away.

Although we are very confident that we have created a valuable service for marketers, we won't know for months truly how effective or valuable it will be. That said, here are few thoughts, lessons and tips that any longstanding business or startup may find valuable. I know I have.

1. Don't forget about "traditional" PR. I'm a huge believer in social media marketing. The blog has been a tremendous resource for new business opportunities, as well as commenting on blogs and being active in social networking sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook, but there is still a place for traditional PR. As much as there is great value in social media, and that it most likely is the most significant form for marketing in the future, many businesses still thrive on engaging in traditional media. That means that getting articles "placed" in traditional media outlets, speaking at key industry events, and forming relationships with certain individuals in the media is a very important part of launching or maintaining a business. Key takeaway - at this point in marketing evolution, there must be a place for both traditional and social media marketing. The marriage of the two can be truly powerful.
2. Beta is extremely powerful.  Use it.  Just the idea of a site or product being in "beta" is that it is a work in progress. It naturally means that the business is actively looking for feedback about the product or service, and that any feedback will be used to make the product better. All products and services should be set up this way, but by proclaiming "beta" customers seem more willing to give you feedback, and want to help shape the product's or service's success. If I had my choice, I'd never come out of beta. This is where Google does it right, with seemingly tens of products continuously in beta. Key Takeaway - If beta means you never stop working on your product or service, you are always in beta.
3. Make love, not war. In the new global economy, I'm finding more and more that competition is a hazy concept at best. Even companies who have directly competitive products can find a way to partner on products, services or industry initiatives. We never look at any company as a competitor, but as an opportunity to expand our reach in a new way. Key Takeaway - Partnerships are the new currency. Any company can be a competitor or a partner...survival is more likely if you have a partnership mindset.
4. It's not the idea, it's the execution. There are great ideas all the time, coming from people much smarter than you or me. The key to success is that you are willing to risk everything to make your product or service successful. As Ram Charam & Larry Bossidy note in their book Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, "most often today the difference between a company and its competitor is the ability to execute." Key Takeaway - Never stop doing. There is way to much talking and thinking going on. Success depends on those that actually stop talking and start doing.
5. Never turn down help...ever. The great thing about startups is that there are so many people out there that want to help you. I must have heard over a hundred times from people that they'd love to start their own business, but can't for any number of reasons. Those people want to see you win and succeed. If they can't do it themselves, let them feel a little bit of what it takes to launch a company by being part of it. Key Takeaway - Most everyone "wants" to start a company, but not everyone can. Those people could be your greatest assets of all.

One thing is for sure...even if the business goes up in flames, I haven't regretted one minute of the ride. From sheer joy to the feeling of utter failure, there are not many things in life that conjure up such emotions. I love it.

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Building a Web Community Is Easier Said than Done

Anyone who tells you that building an online community is easy is smoking something. There are so many aspects involved in creating a living web community that many times it seems overwhelming.

That said, being a part of or creating an online community is at the forefront of many marketing plans today. I was asked by Website magazine to write an article on this subject, from the standpoint of simple takeaways that anyone can deliver on.

Here is a link to the entire article. 

I like these six steps the best, which I believe are mandatory to really create an online community that at least has the opportunity to flourish. 

1. Objectives First. Like any other marketing initiative, starting an online community has to be backed by a corporate goal. Make sure you have one, whether it’s for research purposes, product development or customer service goals. Focus on the end corporate objective and what success truly means. Then, and only then, can you prepare an effectiveness and measurement plan.
2. Control Freaks Not Allowed. If executives in your organization want to keep complete control over employee and customer conversations, an online community effort is not for you. Online community programs of any kind will not be successful without complete corporate openness and transparency.
3. You Either Have it or You Don’t. Some traditional businesses look to create an online community program and have never been involved in significant face-to-face customer relationships. In many ways, your online business persona is a magnification of your off-line persona. If your organization isn’t active in the community now, it’s challenging to enter the online fray.
4. Stop Thinking Like a Marketer. Think Like a Publisher. Traditionally, marketing communications speak is all about selling things. This won’t fly in a community. To drive customer interest, you have to think like a publisher. It’s all about the informational needs of the reader - your customer. If you keep your efforts completely focused on your customers’ informational needs and challenges, customers will have that much more reason to get involved.
5. Spend Time on the Research. Whether it’s an online survey or customer meetings, make sure you have a clear understanding of what makes your target group tick before launching any online community effort. Remember, community building is all about your customers or members, not about you or your company.
6. Find the Preacher. Someone needs to own your community plan. Make sure to give a person in your organization the power to be the evangelist for this effort. It should be someone who truly puts the customer first. Once you decide to advance your online community plan, this person should be the spearhead.

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10 Keys to Writing a Book when You Have Absolutely No Time to Write a Book

Well, after nine months of hard labor, I received the pre-press version of my book (with co-author Newt Barrett) delivered UPS yesterday. The book is entitled Get Content. Get Customers. - How to use content marketing to deliver relevant, valuable, and compelling information that turns prospects into buyers (and is pictured here to the right).  Since we have just completed the book and while it was fresh in my mind, I thought I would offer some of the key steps we took to turn this little idea into a publishing reality. The book is now available for sale from the website at www.getcontentgetcustomers.com.

So here goes...my ten key steps to writing and publishing a book when you have absolutely no time to write or publish a book.

1. Find a Co-Author. This may not seem like a sound strategy to most, but finding another body takes 50% of the workload from you. When Newt and I first spoke about the book last summer, we were actually both in the process of starting our own individual books. As our conversation continued, it seemed obvious that our topics were so similar that it might make sense to team up.
   
   A couple notes if you decide to go this direction. First, pick someone who has a vested interest in your customer base or industry, but is not competitive. Newt and I are both entrepreneurs and own marketing consultancies, but the type of work we do is different enough that there were no competitive issues. Second, make sure you trust that person with your life. Newt and I worked together at Penton Media, Inc. for years and were friends, so no issue there. But, even with that, we created a thorough partnership agreement through my attorney. Even family members split sometimes, so we wanted to make sure that if some issue arose that we differed on, the agreement spelled out a solution.
   
   The final point to the co-author arrangement is that we both had expertise in different areas, which really helped.  Newt was much better than I at interviewing and case studies, while I was a bit more proficient on the industry and research behind branded content and custom publishing (which we call content marketing). Once we completed the table of contents, we could both work on our areas independently, hit key dates, and continue to always more forward.
2. Keep and Adhere to a Production Schedule. To be honest, our goal was to release the book in March of 2008. Didn't happen. But we were always true to our production schedule. Even though we kept moving the dates back, the important part was that we kept dates. As you may be aware, most people that start writing a book never finish it.  Part of the reason may be that there are no hard dates to keep their eye on. I have a big white board in my office with the key book dates written in blue marker. Every morning I would see those dates.  Makes a difference.
3. Before You Start, Create the Table of Contents. Creating the table of contents for your book is like your business plan.  Understand full well that the original table of contents you create will look nothing like what you end up with, but you need the TOC in order to start and finish the book. I believe we had four or five significantly different TOCs by the time we finished. We even reworked the entire order of the book after our initial reviewers gave their feedback.
   
   Here's the real importance of the table of contents: if you just start writing, how will you know if you are making progress.  If you write 100 pages, is that almost all of the book or 25% of the book? How do you know when to stop and move to the next section? Seems obvious, but I know quite a few people that just started to write with no idea where they were going.  Needless to say, those people still have not completed their book, and they most likely never will.
4. Work the Financials and Publishing Plan from the Beginning. Newt and I had the budget complete, and were well into finalizing the self-publishing details with our partner, Lightning Source, within the first month. We received quotes for the design, the copy writing, knew what our break even point would be, and both agreed to the financial terms. But more than anything, it made the process real and manageable. Writing a book is such a labor-intensive project, that you need as many tangible things as possible to keep you going.
5. Find a Review Team and a Great Copywriter.  The book draft was sent to two people, Mike Azzara and David Drickhamer. They were simply fantastic.  Their feedback uncovered some key gaps in our methodology.  We were able to develop a much better book with their honest expert opinion. Also, our copy writer, Lisa Murton Beets, is one of the best. She really brought it all together. So don't think that you can write a book completely sheltered from the outside world. Find a team of reviewers and a copy writer that you can trust. Makes all the difference in the world.
6. Expert reviewers help you qualify and pitch the book...use them. We approached a number of marketing and publishing experts in the field for book reviews. This does two things. First, you'll know if you have a bad book if they don't want to give you a review. Fortunately, all but one of our reviewers made the date in time for publishing. The team included the father of integrated marketing Don Schultz, bestselling author David Meerman Scott, digital expert and author Rohit Bhargava, Mr. Magazine Samir Husni, leading marketing blogger Greg Verdino, post-advertising expert Simon Kelly, and the copyblogger himself, Brian Clark. Second, the "praise for" section of your book is a wonderful way to market the product. I don't know about you, but I almost always read the testimonials before purchasing a book.  They're priceless. We were overwhelmed with their reviews, and will be leveraging them for our marketing efforts.
7. Develop a System to Write during Off-Hours. If you have a real job and are not a full-time author, writing during the day is almost impossible.  Most of my writing was done between 10pm and 2am. Find what time suits you best, but probably not during regular work hours.
8. Tell People You Are Writing a Book.  This keeps you honest. Tell as many people as you can. They will start to ask you how the book is going (especially to see if you are one of those people who never finish a book). Use this as motivation to actually complete your book. There's nothing better than showing a copy of your book to friends when many of them never thought you could do it. Ha.
9. Determine a Core Selling Strategy (If You Can) Before You Start Writing. Part of our strategy was to sell bulk copies to custom publishers and other organizations who would benefit from giving the book to their customers. Upfront bulk sales to other businesses may be a lot easier for you than selling individual copies.  Using both would be the ultimate goal, but if one falls through you have the other. Minimizes risk.  Find a strategy that makes sense to you so you can get off the ground running. Doing it from the start gives you a good focus on who your core audience should be.
10. Stop Somewhere and Realize that Perfection Is Unattainable. We could have kept writing the book forever if we wanted to.  At some point, you have to draw a line in the sand and publish it.  As soon as you finish it there will be some new research, some new story, or some new perspective that you should have covered.
    
    Don't worry about it...just use it for your next book. :)
11. BONUS ADDITION - From Rohit Bhargava in Comments - Start Blogging First. "The benefit of being a blogger before writing a book is that my writing was "in shape" when I started my book. As a result, I feel like I was able to write much faster and make my points much more quickly. For anyone considering writing a book, I would highly suggest starting to blog at the very least so that you can start to flex your writing muscles in a consistent way. And you get the side benefit of starting to build your platform online too."

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BtoB Leaders In Branded Content Coming to NYC

American Business Media and Junta42 are proud to announce a "breakfast in July" about how the leading brands in business-to-business are creating and executing their own content initiatives. I'll be moderating the July 16th breakfast event "BtoB Leaders in Content" at the Scandinavia House in New York City.

We are currently in the process of securing our expert marketing panel, but have already signed up Paul Dunay, global director of integrated marketing at BearingPoint, and author of one of my favorite blogs, Buzz Marketing for Technology. We'll be signing up an additional three marketing heavyweights from brands that are creating their own content and making an impact on behavior.

Each marketer will give a brief presentation about how they are using content to drive their businesses. Then we will have a lengthly Q&A discussion with plenty of time for questions from the audience.

Here is the event overview:

More and more of the leading business-to-business brands are driving sales and customer growth through the use of valuable and compelling content. This means web content, magazines, blogs, social communities, eNewsletters, web events and more that are changing or maintaining behavior as part of the integrated marketing strategy.

In this limited attendance breakfast event, hear how some of the best-known brands in b2b are creating, executing and measuring their own content strategies that you can use in your own markets.

For more information or to sign up, click here. Note that this is a limited attendance event, so if it looks interesting to you, sign up soon!

Why are we doing this?
Even though the creation and execution of custom content is a full 30% of btob marketing budgets, marketing professionals still struggle with the best ways to create valuable, relevant and compelling content that gets them involved in the right types of customer conversations.

There has also been quite a bit of talk from btob marketers and publishers I work with about an event like this, focused on business-to-business content marketing best practices.  If this goes well, we'll be doing more of these types of events.

If you have any questions at all about the event, feel free to contact me at joe[at]junta42.com.

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The Future of B2B Marketing - From Ed Abrams at IBM

I had the pleasure of sitting through a presentation by Ed Abrams, VP of Marketing for IBM, at American Business Media's Spring Meeting a few weeks back.  Here are some of the high points.

The Customers Are In Control
Abrams was adamant about the notion that corporations have lost message control as part of the marketing process. Consumers choose what conversations they want to be involved in. The role of marketing is to work to get involved in those conversations that matter.

Research Shows that Non-Traditional Communications Have Impact (and are growing)
Abrams pointed to a number of research findings that state consumers get more and more of their information through such tools as blogs, wikis and more.  In the pictured chart to the right, 31% of IT professionals engage in IT blogs and wikis when searching for new product information. Critical Point: Abrams suggested that IBM looks for this number to double in the next year, theoretically making blogs/wikis the most powerful informational source for IT professionals behind only search engines.

IBM Making Impact in Social Networking
According to Abrams, IBM has the single largest community in LinkedIn at 175,000 members. They also have approximately 5,000 different communities on Facebook. IBM believes that, to be successful, they need to be a part of these conversations on an ongoing basis.

Online Influences Most!
According to Enquiro Research as presented by Abrams, the three leading influencers for IT decision-makers are Vendor websites, search engines, and industry informational websites (in that order), followed closely by Word-of-mouth peer and Word-of-mouth friend.

Content-based websites are key for IBM. Abrams believes that IBM must provide ongoing, consistent information about what is happening in the industry to be successful.

Abrams' Top IBM Takeaways for Online
Abrams shared a number of key points that are essential to IBM's long-term strategy for growing their business. Here are the ones that made the most impact.

1. User-Generated Content. This is critical to IBM's success. IT professionals trust in this information, and IBM has to know how to become part of those conversations.
2. Trust in the Audience. IBM has to trust in their social audiences to be self-policing. IBM knows they cannot control the audience.
3. Peer-to-Peer Communications. IBM must facilitate this type of behavior in any way they can.
4. Transparency. In all online situations, IBM must be transparent and open. Consumers can "smell BS" a mile away. If something is broken, IBM must admit that it's broken and address it immediately.
5. Low Barriers to Enter Conversation. Must make it easy for decision-makers to get involved in the conversation.
6. Facilitate Collaboration. Must be willing to work with others and promote others' ideas and concepts.
7. Connect People to Information. Get decision-makers to the information they need quickly and easily.
8. People first, money later. IBM believes that attracting the right people is the key...making money off of those people will happen later if all these points are followed.

In Summary

• Power is with customers, who can now connect with each other
• Two-way dialogue is more valued than marketing messages
• A lot can be gained by ceding control – viral marketing, market intelligence, etc.
• Marketing has an opportunity to operate faster, be more flexible and more responsive

From my perspective, IBM has transformed themselves from a "command and control" company to one that may have one of the best understandings of the "new marketing environment". Over this time, they have also adjusted their product mix to be more service-centric than product-centric.

Related Articles

• Content Marketing at Four Companies: IBM, Siemens, CIT and Information Builders
• Microsite Scorecard: Citi, Fidelity, IBM
• IBM's "The End of Advertising as We Know It"

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Content Marketing, Musicians and Growing Your Business with Free Content

I had the pleasure of working at my brother's (Tony Pulizzi) gig last night at the Winchester in Lakewood, Ohio. Tony opened last night for Alan Holdsworth, one of the most prominent guitarists of the last 50 years (Musician Magazine voted Holdsworth one of the top 100 greatest guitarists of all time).

The Tony Pulizzi Trio (Tony on guitar and vocals, Walter Barnes Jr. on bass and Elijah Gilmore on Drums) have been growing in exposure by opening for bands like Holdsworth and Spyro Gyra (Elijah and Tony pictured to the right). One reason is their use of content marketing.

A band makes money on a show through what they receive as a percentage of the gate or flat fee, in addition to what product they can sell at the event. In addition (and more importantly), it's essential to try to build relationships with those prospective fans that want to hear more from the band, including upcoming schedules, to grow future sales and spread word-of-mouth and referrals.

So, in addition to my job in selling Tony's product, we had an email sign-up list. The Results: by the end of the night, Tony had tripled any previous CD sales from prior events, and we managed to collect almost three times the number of email newsletter sign-ups.  Not bad ROI. 

Here's how he did it.

95% of the audience had never heard of the Tony Pulizzi Trio before.  The majority of fans were there to see Holdsworth.  The place was packed (standing room only). We were assigned one small table in the back to sell CDs.

After their opening song, Tony introduced the band and announced that he wanted everyone to go home with "a little taste" of the band.  So Tony made over 100 demo, three-song CDs of their latest work (which they played that night).  The demos were free to anyone that wanted them.  Before the end of the 45-minute set, Tony again announced that the free demos would be available in the back. The band also made themselves available for signing.

Here was how we made this work:

As soon as the band started to play and Tony announced the free demo, people started coming back to the table.  Lots of questions like, "are these guys local?" and "where are they playing next?". Every person received their free CD.  As I handed them out, I asked this simple question:

"If you like what you heard tonight, please sign the email sheet so we can keep you updated on their upcoming schedule."

Conversion rate was about 50%.  Not bad considering most people are wary about giving out their email address, especially at a club.

As I handed out the free demo, I had the opportunity to give them an overview of the products available.  There were three CDs, one rock oriented, one acoustic jazz, and one of the Trio's most recent Jazz/Rock/Funk music.

All in all, a hugely successful night in the Trio growing their fan base.

What can you, as a marketing leader, take from this message?

1. Create content that is valuable and relevant to your audience.  Holdsworth's jazz-rock fan base would be open to the Trio's music since it was the same style/genre. The band was tight, and the music was exactly what they wanted to hear.
2. Give away your content for free, no strings attached, but offer other opportunities to continue a dialogue with your customers. Fans could take the demos without signing up to the sheet, but most people, when given the offer, had no problem signing the sheet and actually seemed to want to. That means they wanted more and were willing to open a relationship with Tony. Could you give your content away for free, but offer premium content or opportunities to get their information?
3. Surround your free content product with opportunities to drive revenue, without overtly selling. As we handed out the demos, the CDs were right in front of them. I never asked once if someone wanted to buy a CD.  As they became interested products, I simply described what it was.
4. Position your product specifically to your customers likes/needs through your communications. As prospects began to look at the CDs, I simply asked them if they were into more rock or more jazz/funk.  Once I received that answer, I could point them to the CD that made the most sense to them.
5. Consider partnering with a non-competitive partner with a similar target base. The trio opening for Holdsworth and other prominent acts is essential for growth.  Can you find similar partners that will help you grow your business?
6. Some customers want closer access to you and your product...give it to them.  Fans who bought CDs were excited about having members of the band sign them.  Tony and Elijah had writer's cramp by the end of the night, but made happy fans and increased sales because of it. How can you make yourself more accessible to those customers that want it, without putting off ones that don't?

The basic content marketing process is alarmingly simple, yet extremely effective.  All businesses of any size can take these simple steps and use them to grow their business.  Don't get complicated.  Just create valuable, relevant and compelling content for your target audience, give it away for free, and give ample opportunities for them to get involved with you on a more personal, consistent level.

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Print Newsletters Still Pay Dividends in a New Marketing World

The following article of mine was published in the May, 2008 issue of ContentWise (formerly Publications Management).  For more information on ContentWise, click here.

How Print Stacks Up
Printed newsletters are getting a raw deal. With social media marketing getting the lion’s share of media attention, printed corporate publications seem to be considered an “also ran.” But don’t tell that to corporate marketers.

According to Publications Management’s most recent Publishing Characteristics Study, printed newsletters are now the preferred custom publishing medium at 40%, outdistancing both custom magazines (35%) and electronic publications (18%). That means that almost half of corporate marketers are delivering consistent editorial information to their customers in the form of printed newsletters.

Even more, a recent Junta42/BtoB Magazine study found that 28% business-to-business marketers still rely on the printed newsletter to communicate with their customers and prospects.

Considering all the marketing options out there, these are pretty powerful numbers.

At first glance, the findings don’t make sense. More consumers are using the Internet than ever before, especially when making buying decisions. Forrester recently found that 92% of buyers go online first to research a possible purchase. In addition, ITA Toolbox states that consumers spend almost 10 hours per week consuming online content in the form of social media, editorial media and vendor content/websites.

Consider the Buying Cycle
The research clearly shows that the power of the Internet is growing and strong in the beginning stages of the buying cycle. Search engine optimization (organic listings) and search engine marketing (paid listings) are continuing to grow within the key corporate objectives of reach and acquisition.

But printed newsletters play a key role toward the retention and loyalty portions of the buying cycle. Especially during the current economic recession, corporate marketers need to be concerned most with retention and loyalty, as budgets continue to get cut and customers look to lower expenses by switching vendors. Newsletters deliver relevant and compelling information to customers on a consistent basis, which is valued by customers and positions your company as a thought leader.

Let’s consider some key reasons why corporate marketers are continuing to rely on printed newsletters:

• Customers still enjoy print, but use it differently than the web. Both printed newsletters and magazines give customers an opportunity to educate themselves on the industry and your company’s products and services. Engagement, or the time a consumer spends with your brand message, is gaining importance as a key marketing measure.
• Less Print = More Share of Voice. The trend toward less traditional magazine launches continued in 2007 – 200 less launches from 2006. This trend will continue. With your customers receiving less printed material, there is a clear opportunity to capture more attention through printed newsletters.
• Integration with Online Strategies is Key. In the past, corporate marketers published newsletters, and then took that content and posted it to their online microsites and corporate websites. Today, more corporate marketers are flipping the process – putting up consistently valuable content on their websites, and then pulling key stories from the web to create the newsletter version. This is the best of both worlds, combining timely news that your customers and search engines can access immediately, with high-quality packaged editorial in print newsletter form for easy digestion.

If you currently produce a printed newsletter, odds are you’ll be sticking with it, especially during the current economic cycle. If you are considering starting a print newsletter, you may opt to begin the process by focusing on your very best customers (the 20% of the 80/20 rule). As long as you understand your business objectives and define the measurement of your print newsletter, success should be within your grasp.

5 Tips for Integrating Your Print Newsletter

1. Produce your web content first. Then pull the “best of the web” together for your printed newsletter.
2. Remember that web content should be keyword driven. You may need to edit your print stories for more search engine impact.
3. Company stories are fine, but industry education stories get the attention. This is especially true for the web.
4. Distribute a press release with every issue. This can drive prospects to your newsletter signup page since newswire sites often rank high with search engines.
5. Create an email “issue alert” for “opt-in” customers and prospects. This is a great way to notify customers that the print issue is there or coming soon.

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Catch Me at Business Marketing Association in Vegas

As a speaker at the Business Marketing Association’s upcoming Annual Conference (taking place June 11-13 at the Loews Lake Las Vegas Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada), I’m excited to say that I’ll be sharing the spotlight with some of the industry’s top business-to-business marketing experts and gurus.

Here are but a few of the b-to-b luminaries – keynote speakers and panelists – that will be headlining the conference:

• Eduardo Conrado, Corporate Vice President of Global Business & Technology Marketing & Communications, Motorola
• Jeff Hayzlett, Chief Business Development Officer, Graphic Communications Group, Eastman Kodak Co.
• Keith Pigues, Chief Marketing Officer Ply Gem, Inc.
• Keith Ferrazzi, Founder and CEO, Ferrazzi Greenlight. Author, Never Eat Alone
• Rick Braddock, Chairman and CEO, FreshDirect
• Tom Wade, CMO, PGA Tour
• Bud Denker, EVP, Penske Racing
• Judith Sim, SVP & CMO, Oracle
• Katie Schoessel, Director, Partner & Prepaid Marketing, Discover Card
• Tom White, Founder, Profoundly Simple

And more!

 

I hope you can join me to learn from the best minds in b-to-b marketing! Event also includes seminars and workshops to help you crystallize your business-to-business marketing programs, advance your brands, and network with your peers.

 

Share ideas, gain knowledge and put concepts into action. This is one conference you don't want to miss.

 

Visit www.marketing.org/conference for details and registration.

 

See you there!

Huge Opportunities for Businesses Who Focus on their Content Strategy

I had the pleasure of guest blogging at the King Fish Media ThinkTank blog the other day. You can check out the complete post here.

This was written after I had a brief conversation with a marketer that was taking the angle of content marketing being nice "fluff" to give your clients, but not necessary to the overall marketing strategy for most companies.  Of course, I (as nice as I could) disagreed with the gentleman and cited a number of reasons why he was completely off his rocker.

The web has turned most business models completely upside down, and created huge opportunities for others to launch businesses from nothing at all. The delivery of consistent and valuable content may be the most important indicator of financial success for future businesses.

If I'm launching a business today, or looking into the overall vision of the company, I'm looking at these three aspects of the business.

1. Customer Service Excellence
2. Valuable, Relevant Content Strategy
3. Helpful/Innovative Product Product

Note that I put the product itself as #3 on the list.  Products can be duplicated in almost every industry today, especially with the rise of cheaper labor overseas.  What separates one business from another is #1 and #2, which involves honest, transparent and consistent communication with customers and prospects. Cool products come and go - a relevant and consistent message is timeless. IMPORTANT NOTE: new products launch all the time and can become successful very fast just by the nature of the product. We've seen this happen with many web-based applications. But without a consistent content marketing strategy, competition can come in and duplicate the product quickly if the company has not clearly differentiated itself through their communications.

Medium-sized and Larger organizations with better-known brands should begin positioning their content as a product in their company (mostly so organizational management starts to take the concept seriously). This means creating R&D budgets, long-term content strategies, ongoing measurements against the content, and content growth strategies.

By doing this, an organization will make the investment necessary to truly differentiate themselves from the competition, and fend off any new competitors who simply try to copy their base products.

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The Power of Custom Video – How the Easter Seals Raised Money without Trying

I had the pleasure of attending the annual Easter Seals Northern Ohio “Spirit of Independence” Gala over the weekend. This year’s Gala honored Mal Mixon, CEO of Invacare for his tireless commitment to helping children and adults with disabilities (btw, Mal is an outstanding dancer. First on the dance floor.  I loved it). Full disclosure: Easter Seals Northern Ohio is one my clients.

After dinner, CEO Sheila Dunn introduced a video presentation that discussed three specific areas where Easter Seals Northern Ohio provides services: speech therapy services for children, camping/activities for children with disabilities, and home care for elderly adults.

The videos worked because they simply told the story of the children, parents and seniors affected by Easter Seals’ services. After the video about Joey, a young boy who works with Easter Seals Northern Ohio on the ability to communicate for effectively through speech, I saw a number of people at the Gala tear up (my wife and I included).

Then we enjoyed the story of multiple children with disabilities laugh and play at an Easter Seals camp and retreat. The final story, about home care services for adults, showed how, for one woman, Easter Seals services keeps her from going into a nursing home. It was clear that still being able to live at home was one of the most important aspects of her life, which Easter Seals makes possible.

Return on Investment
After the creation of any kind of content marketing, even with video, seeing a return does not usually happen immediately. Often it takes ongoing analysis, integration with a CRM system, and continuous tracking and feedback from sales staff and customers.

Well, for this particular situation, the return was immediate. After the video concluded, Sheila came to the stage and talked about how they wanted to fund 10 kids to get to go to camp (at $250 a child). You could tell by watching Sheila that she wasn’t sure how this would go.  I’ve been at events and auctions where a question like this was put out and failed miserably. Nonetheless, Sheila asked – and the audience answered!

Within seconds, hand after hand raised to support the children. Within 30 seconds, Easter Seals’ staff was overflowing with charitable contributions to help get kids to camp…the same camp that they just saw children with disabilities laughing, playing and being normal. I’m not sure how many camp donations Easter Seals ended up with, but it was clearly beyond Sheila’s expectations.

The Power of Video
We are visual beings. We build our reality through our eyes and create our perception of the world. Telling your story through video, a story that resonates with your customers and supporters, is the present and future of content marketing.

Could the Easter Seals have had the same amount of success at the Gala without the video? Possibly, but doubtful. Could your business improve by developing an ongoing video series about how your product or services truly helps people? Absolutely.

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