Ann Gynn edits the CMI blog. Ann regularly combines words and strategy for B2B, B2C, and nonprofits, continuing to live up to her high school nickname, Editor Ann. Former college adjunct faculty, Ann also helps train professionals in content so they can do it themselves. Follow Ann on Twitter @anngynn or connect on LinkedIn.
“What’s on your gift list this year?”
“They’re so hard to buy for. What would they find really useful?”
This time of year, those questions pop up frequently. To help you fill out your own wish list or decide on a gift for a team member or fellow content marketer, we’ve curated this recommended book list from the Content Marketing Institute community (including me).Continue Reading
It’s harder than ever to get people to open and read your emails – even the ones they’ve asked to receive. Why? Just consider the competition you face.
CMI’s most recent B2B research indicates 69% of marketers send email newsletters, and 68% send emails with other content.
That means a lot of brand emails in people’s inboxes vying for attention with their work and personal communications.Continue Reading
The future of sales-enablement and demand gen lies in self-service content. Is your content marketing program ready?
Buyers continue to want control of the process long before they connect with a sales rep.
“At least half, probably more, of B2B buyers prefer a self-driven experience,” Ardath Albee, CEO of Marketing Interactions, said in a presentation at Content Marketing World in September. “They want to research on their own. They don’t think they need any help from the sellers.”
But they arrive at a problem – too much information. Worse, she says, a 2019 Gartner survey notes only 9% say the content they come across from vendors is sufficient.Continue Reading
Content can never achieve greatness if it doesn’t see the light of day.
But most of the work involved in publishing content happens in a little illuminated behind-the-scenes process.
Someone with operations responsibilities, including oversight of the production process, is essential to a content marketing team. They shepherd the completed content down the field and over the goal line – getting it published (online or in print) for audiences to consume.Continue Reading
Welcome. I was worried you might not find this article.
After all, the headline isn’t six words long. And, according to advice on the internet, that’s the optimal headline length.Continue Reading
Put some verbs in your sentences.
Dr. Phil dispenses that advice to his talk show guests to goad them into creating a plan to resolve whatever problems they’re experiencing.
My advice for your (content) problems? Pack powerful and motivating verbs into every sentence. Stop using weak, extraneous, boring verbs.Continue Reading
Only a few weeks into the pandemic, I wrote 7 Steps to Create a Helpful Interim Content Marketing Strategy. Tired of reading about COVID-19 everywhere, I purposely focused the article on any significant disruption to a brand’s content marketing.
I know, I know. My naivete seems laughable 18 months later. I no longer think of the pandemic as a disruption deserving of interim treatment but as a revolutionary moment for most brands’ content marketing.
Unfortunately, we aren’t living in a post-pandemic world yet. But there’s no shortage of pontificating about how to adjust your content and marketing plans to meet that eventual. Some advice hits the mark (think: anything about getting in your audience’s head), but other pronouncements point you in the wrong direction.
We asked the experts presenting at Content Marketing World to share the worst advice they’ve heard about marketing in a post-pandemic world. They came through – and explained why you shouldn’t fall for any of it.Continue Reading
When everybody stayed home, in-person events moved online.
Two-thirds (67%) of B2B marketers and 39% of B2C marketers said they were doing virtual events in 2020, according to CMI’s most recent research. Shutdowns in the early months of the pandemic made the shift to virtual a necessity, but not every event hit the mark in terms of content and experience.
Many marketers have permanently shifted how they think about events. Still, with lingering pandemic concerns – and the realization that some audiences like the convenience and accessibility of digital options – virtual and hybrid events have joined in person on the event menu.
We asked the speakers presenting (virtually and in person) at Content Marketing World for their advice on creating better events in a hybrid world. These 28 experts don’t all agree on the best course of action. But they do agree on one principle – keeping the audience top of mind.
Here’s what they suggest. Continue Reading
If all the cool kids are playing with TikTok, Clubhouse, Twitter Spaces, Spotify Greenroom, and similar digital social places, should your brand be there too?
Before you get all trendy, we asked some of the content marketing “cool kids” presenting at Content Marketing World for their advice.
Here’s the advice 22 speakers offered.Continue Reading
Updated Aug. 31, 2021
If you want to be taken seriously as a content marketer, stop acting like a member of the PR team.
If you want to show that content marketing is a distinct contributor to business results, stop using only PR metrics.
Every time you use PR-centered metrics to show the “value” of your content, your content marketing program dies a little bit.
