Stories By Ann Gynn
5 Ways To Be a Better Content Team Leader
Hard truth: Content marketing team members won’t stay in their roles forever. Great content team leaders nurture their employee’s professional development – even if that development prepares them to move on. Here’s why (and how) to start taking the long view.
‘Bah, Humbug!’ Why Negative Content Turns In Such Positive Results
Hate is a surprising emotion to use to sell jewelry. But the success of IHateStevenSinger.com shows how a contrarian approach can reinvigorate your content strategy and help you avoid the scourge of sameness plaguing so much content. Try these tips to surprise your audience by doing the opposite of what everyone expects.
How a Content Formula Helps You Create Bingeable Series (Proven by Hallmark)
Hallmark holiday movies are variations of the same plot. That familiarity has drawn millions and inspired other networks and streaming services to do the same. Here are seven ways to use that strategy in your content marketing.
How To Support the B2B Buyer Revolution With the Right Digital Content
B2B buyers don’t want to talk to sales until they’re ready – or ever, in some cases, even for expensive services. Yet they have more people to convince before they buy. And that means they need more of the right content at their fingertips. Here’s how to figure out what “the right content” means.
How This Outside-the-Box Approach to Content Produced Award-Winning Results
You don’t need a background in marketing to excel in content. You do need a clear focus on your audience's needs, program goals, and story ideas that support both. Here’s how TD Bank Group’s lead content strategist applied these concepts to build an award-winning program.
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is a Content Marketer’s Dream: 7 Inspiring Lessons
Millions gather to view your content marketing. It’s the stuff of your professional dreams. And it’s the reality for marketers at Macy’s every U.S. Thanksgiving Day. Here are seven inspiring content marketing lessons from the fun event.
How To Build an Audience by Giving Back – the #BossTalks Story
The best mentors listen, answer questions, and help. The best content marketers do, too. So #BossTalks, a multichannel content project featuring Salesforce’s unofficial mentor-in-chief Ebony Beckwith, had the ingredients of a smash hit from the start.
How NBC Sports Next Medaled in Olympic Content for Kids
The content team at NBC Sports Next expertly threaded its way through executive moguls and pandemic-related detours to reach Olympic kid-content glory. Here’s how they developed a repeatable process to attract the next generation of viewers.
How an Entrepreneurial Spirit Helps This Content Leader Manage 10 B2B Publications
Managing 10 B2B media brands sounds like a daunting task. But Sarah Tolle, content director at BWZ, makes it happen by building enviable SME relationships, planning processes, and time-management strategies. Here’s how she makes it all work.
Why (and How To) Write a Strategy for Your Cause-Related Marketing
Your brand talks the talk. But does it walk the walk? Many brands take a few steps toward supporting a social cause but falter when it comes to sustaining the focus. What if your content team took the lead? You’d help the brand achieve its cause-related objectives and elevate your importance, too. Here’s how to do it.
Foundry 360 Finds ‘Purrfect’ Content Mix With Award-Winning Business Model
Who said content and sales teams can’t get along? Not former journalist Diane di Costanzo, who leads a unique content practice at Foundry 360. Here’s the inside story of the compelling editorial and repeatable models for success that earned her the 2022 B2C Content Marketer of the Year title.
How Pega Launched an Award-Winning Brand Journalism Magazine in 120 Days
You can’t quite call it an overnight success. But GO! Magazine’s path from idea to award-winning launch is close. Here’s the inside story of how a content team with no magazine-publishing experience pulled off the brand journalism feat in less than four months.