Content Marketing

Last week I was in Minneapolis rubbing hashtags (#Confab) with other word geeks who build and publish stuff online. About 500 of us glommed around the Hyatt for three days to talk about how to plan for content, how to sell it internally and to clients, how to test for good content, and how to work through a content development process. Good stuff, and more thoughts from sessions I attended will be shared here in the coming days. And yeah, there were a few tweets flying around. But first I thought...

You can send an email from a plane and cull the most meaningful links from your Twitter stream without any heavy lifting.  You may even check your RSS feed during the agonizingly long school choir concert (raises eyebrow).  Does what you read and experience in these micro-moments and other, less fractured, times/ways add up to anything meaningful? Asked another way, do those bytes count and help move your needle somewhere? I picked up on a tweet stream from Scott Abel around midday today...

Each March Austin, Texas draws a ton of people - I mean massive numbers - for its annual South by Southwest event comprised of three tracks:  film, music and interactive.  The event serves as both incubator and launch pad for aspiring creative talent, tech companies and new media-type people looking to learn and network.   SXSW2011 is scheduled for March 11 to March 20.  Preliminary evidence suggests interest from interwebs geeks, mobile delivery,gaming and social media community is on the rise....

Every company, every brand, every service provider produces content.  It's a matter of communicating your reason for being to your customers, irrespective of the channel. Content is media agnostic and the ultimate brand-building resource.  Good content assumes 2-way communication in that it encompasses the needs of the customer and the benefits (value) of the provider.  Great content even folds in the curiosity and info-gathering behavior of the pre-customer known as the prospect. Good content...

One of my responsibilities is to plan video content which supports our brands products.  I spend time cultivating content in support of two different brands in different markets, for different channels.  One way I ensure we're producing the kind of video that can create an impact is by simple planning. Unimpressed?  Well, it's not rocket science for sure. But I've researched enough direct competitors to know that the task doesn't have to call upon quantum physics to trip you up.  Shooting,...

Content can be a wonderful thing. It can illuminate the unknown, introduce a concept, immerse a reader into a conjured time, place, or frame of mind. Like a time machine that inserts you Right There. In the midst of things. Good content flows seamlessly from first introduction (say, a Home page) to closing thought (maybe a Contact Us page). It feels like it stems from a single source. It wraps you in a comfortable, pleasing cloak. It's more than maintaining brand messages or established tone...

Nick Bergus is a teacher, a foodie, a writer, a videographer, and new media creator.  He has business sense, a creative flair and an unflappable 'approachability' factor that makes intellectual discussions entertaining and satisfying at the same time.  And he's my second guest for the 10 In 10 Vlog series.  I'm thrilled he had a few minutes to chat with me about journalism, new media, pay walls, and steeped traditional professions like hog farming in Iowa. Nick believes that multimedia tells...

I wanted to share with you a fun new video that we've been working on around the office.  We're quite proud of the end product, hoping it encourages lively discussions among marketing team members and introspection about the possibility of dusty marketing strategies, unvisited return metrics, and some misallocated budget dollars. If the video gives pause for thought about the services Ovation offers, well, that's a definite bonus. Ovation Interactive stands squarely in the Content Marketing crowd,...

I'm an avid reader of Joe Pulizzi and Newt Barrett's blogs covering content marketing topics. They do a fabulous job of framing up why marketers can't afford to remain oblivious to consumer media habits and issues of trust, authenticity, and the need for creating environments to cultivate customer engagement. I suggest you read their book, "Get Content, Get Customers."  In fact, I'm trying to encourage clients tune their thoughts to the concept by gifting them with copies when they sign on. Right...

Engage Customers Or Market To Them?  Decisions, Decisions Customer Engagement is an area of brand affinity that I'm passionate about.  I've always been a strong believer that only by tapping into the emotional needs of consumers will brands ever be able to design and deliver valuable products that serve their rational needs as well. This mindset goes way beyond performing in ways to achieve satisfied customers and much more to the heart of what my employer Ovation is doing now - encouraging brands...