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The Weekly Wrap: The 1 Thing That Goes Bump in a Marketer’s Night (and Day)

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And that’s a wrap of the week ending Oct. 25, 2019

This week I’m thinking about how to handle those marketing bumps in the night. I mull over Verizon’s startling move from publishing to commerce. I ask creative agency leader and teacher Jonathan Kranz for his tips on differentiating through content. And I point to an article that might just have you and your agency singing Kumbaya.

Listen to the Weekly Wrap

It’s the lead into All Hallows’ Eve, so we are creepin’ it real this week. Let’s wrap it up.

  • One deep thought (2:29): It’s one of the most misunderstood human emotions. It can push us to action in times of crisis (think angry bear emerging from the woods). What we do with fear defines its usefulness. When marketers experience fear (typically fear of failure) they too often retreat, freeze up, avoid, or hand off innovative activities that the teams are passionate about. I talk about solutions that let you keep the exciting projects, even when you’re afraid of what might happen. Because if you don’t, as Adrian so wisely tells Rocky, “It’s going to bother you for the rest of your life.”
Marketers experience fear & retreat, freeze up, or avoid innovative activities, says @Robert_Rose. #WeeklyWrap Click To Tweet

  • A fresh take on the news (10:52): A Digiday story, ‘We’re Playing Offense’: Verizon Pivots Its Publishing Strategy to Focus on Commerce, caught my eye this week. The article delves into the new strategy laid out by a company that spent years “cobbling together ad tech tools” and content titles like Yahoo and Engadget. It is pivoting to a model based on commerce. The new approach, Digiday writes, is “led by a shoppable video series, tools that help its sites’ writers embed products in their stories, and more technology to help their audiences shop both on and off its sites.” I explore what this pivot signals about the worlds of publishing, advertising, owned media, and the financial value of audience and subscriber relationships.
.@Verizon’s new strategy pivots from #content titles to a commerce-based model, says @Robert_Rose. #WeeklyWrap Click To Tweet
HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: The Audience Valuation Engine: A New Model for Calculating the Value Per Subscriber
  • This week’s person making a difference in content (17:30): My guest, Jonathan Kranz, is an amazing writer and head of communications firm Kranz Communications. The company works with B2B enterprises and high-tech, higher education, health care, and financial services companies, plus – as he says – the occasional odd duck, such as real estate or 3D printing. His agency takes on copywriting projects including but not limited to web pages, e-books, white papers, case studies, articles, collateral, and direct mail. Jonathan also teaches this wonderful stuff. He will be teaching with me at the Content Marketing and RFP Master Class for Agencies in November.

This week, Jonathan and I had a wonderful discussion about all things agencies, including how content is the key to real distinction, a preview of his master class, his take on “planting” agency staff in client companies, and a play on words to delight fans of a certain play whose title hits close to home for both of us.

Listen to our conversation, then learn more about (and from) Jonathan by:

·  Visiting his website
·  Attending the Content Marketing and RFP Master Class for Agencies next month in New York

  • One content marketing idea you can use (32:05): This week’s post fits right in with the agency topic. Earlier this year, Dennis Shiao wrote a piece called Client and Content Agency Share Insider Tips to Successful Relationship. It’s almost like marriage counseling tips drawn from experiences shared and (lessons learned) by a real brand and its agency, and from their working partnership.

The wrap-up

Tune in next week when, as the mummy might say, we’ll be wrappin’ it up with one thought that may drive you batty, one news item that skeletons don’t have the guts to listen to, and one practical tip that won’t lead you to a dead end. All delivered in a little less time than it takes Mitt Romney to launch another fake Twitter account.

If you like this weekly play on words, we’d sure love for you to review it and share it. Hashtag us up on Twitter: #WeeklyWrap.

It’s your story. Tell it well.

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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute-

Robert Rose

Robert Rose

Robert is the founder and chief strategy officer of The Content Advisory - the consulting and advisory group of The Content Marketing Institute. As a coach and strategist, Robert has worked with marketers at more than 500 companies including global brands such as adidas, Roche, Salesforce, NASA, and Hilton. Robert is the author of four books. His latest, Content Marketing Strategy, was published by Kogan Page in September 2023, and was called “a rich and much-needed understanding of content marketing" by Professor Philip Kotler. Robert is also an early-stage investor and advisor to a number of technology startups, serving on the advisory boards of a number of companies, such as DivvyHQ, and BrandLens.You can follow him on Twitter @Robert_Rose.