Ann Gynn edits the CMI blog. She also serves as the Tech Tools editor for Chief Content Officer magazine. 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.
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.
Let’s address the ugly part of editorial mission statements up front.
Too few brands (18% of B2B marketers) have one.
Yet, there are plenty of reasons why brands should have an editorial mission statement. As Kane Jamison writes, “(c)ontent that’s not backed by an editorial mission statement is a bit like a ship without a compass.”
“When are you going to start?” Blink.
“Are your fingers frozen?” Blink. Blink.
“Why aren’t you typing?” Blink. Blink. Blink.
“Don’t you know what to create?” Blink. Blink. Blink. Blink.
The cursor is a silent but pesky critic.
Do you ever want to curse the cursor when you’re in a slump?
We have soccer moms – married women who live in the suburbs and are best known for transporting their children to and from sports practices and other activities.
We have NASCAR dads – blue-collar, middle-aged Caucasian men who graduated from high school and like watching stock car racing.
And don’t forget the millennials – young adults who are entitled and lazy, live on their phones, and were raised by helicopter parents.
Are those stereotypes or personas?
Every March, basketball madness infiltrates offices, bars, restaurants, and even a cable-channel wedding dress show.
That doesn’t mean people are interested in every slam dunk, 3-point shot, or flagrant foul in the 63 games being played over a few weeks. Some of the millions who pay attention to the annual tournament are more interested in being part of the watercooler conversations, betting pools, viewing parties, and other general excitement around the games.
Nearly all nonprofit marketers would benefit greatly by taking one month to power up their content marketing programs.
That’s a logical conclusion based on the responses from 207 nonprofit marketers to the eighth annual Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs content marketing survey.
Sitting in a staff meeting, my boss asked if there were any questions. I mentioned seeing a job posting online for the marketing department and wondered if the team was expanding.
Several co-workers quickly interjected, “Why were you reading that? Are you looking for a new job?”
“No,” I replied. “I just like to keep tabs on what’s happening in the marketplace.”
That was 15 years ago. I doubt that conversation would go the same way today because most people have an online presence through social media and use the internet for information gathering.
Have you ever had one of those days where you wish you could start your content marketing team over? One of those days when you want to fire everybody, figure out what you really need, and then hire (or rehire) as needed?
That moment of frustration likely ended quickly because you knew firing your content team wasn’t an option and probably wasn’t the best solution.
Nobody thinks their content sucks – or, in other words, is weak and not deserving to be believed.
After all, why would someone intentionally create something that’s utterly useless for their organization or their audience?
And yet, a lot of content sucks. We’ve all seen (and sometimes created) it.
Consider this article the proverbial splash of cold water to help you wake up (or more importantly, wake your content up).
Some of the best inspirational and engaging content comes from unexpected places. B2B and B2C brands surprise and delight their audiences with relevant, entertaining, or unique content opportunities, from Instagram to YouTube to new digital media partnerships.
Natalya Minkovsky finds some of the best examples for her Idea Garage column appearing in each Chief Content Officer magazine. Here are 15 of the most intriguing as she shared them in 2017.
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