Jodi Harris is director of content strategy at CMI. She describes her role as a combination of strategic alchemist, process architect, and creative explorer. Prior to this role, Jodi spent over a decade developing and managing content initiatives for brand clients in the entertainment, CPG, health care, technology, and biotech industries, as well as for agencies and media brands. Follow her on Twitter at @Joderama.
Does anyone know where 2015 went? Seems like I just blinked my eyes and opened them on a brand new year.
I always consider the holiday season to be a time for reflection – a time to take a step back from the daily grind, look at the progress I made in the year that’s passed, and prepare to tackle the tasks and projects I want to accomplish in the next 12 months.Continue Reading
Excelling at any marketing initiative can be intimidating, and with content marketing representing a significant departure from the “old ways” of connecting with customers, there are bound to be plenty of processes that involve a bit of a learning curve.
This is why the CMI team does what we do: Share insights that can help increase your understanding of the discipline; support your efforts with helpful tips, resources, and guidance; and prepare you to achieve greater levels of success as you move forward.Continue Reading
For those in the United States who celebrate, Happy Thanksgiving!
While we at CMI are thankful every day to be part of such an amazing community of content marketers, today we give a special thanks to those who graciously share their expertise, insights, and experiences with us and our audience.Continue Reading
Blogging may be an elder statesman when it comes to the formats content marketers have at their disposal, but that doesn’t mean the technique is ready to go the way of the dinosaur. In fact, CMI’s 2016 B2B Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends report found that 81% of content marketers include blogging among their techniques.Continue Reading
Content marketing – like any marketing discipline – can fall short of expectations for a number of reasons. For starters, it’s not a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants initiative. It takes time, dedication, and a strategic plan to position your business as a helpful resource for the kinds of information your audience needs and wants.
It’s also not a “set-it-and-forget-it” kind of technique, so ongoing success is going to require some flexibility. Let’s assume you already understand all this. In fact, you may even be among the 30% of marketers surveyed in CMI’s latest B2B Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends report who consider their organizations effective in their use of content marketing.Continue Reading
Editor’s note: Considering how rapidly visual trends come and go, we felt it was time to update this post.
Outstanding visual content doesn’t require the complex process we imagery-impaired, design-phobes think it does. We’ve pulled together eight best practices and 27-plus handy tools so you can up the quality quotient of your visual content, and give your brand a distinct and powerful look – without having to spend a ton of time at the drawing board (literally). We’ve broken the tools into four categories to make it even easier – content image creation and editing; data visualization; video; and games, animation, interactivity, and multimedia.Continue Reading
The humble headline. Such a simple construct, really – a one-line summary of a piece of content and why it’s worth reading. Yet, good headline writing is a deceptively complex process. In fact, crafting a clear, powerful, and compelling title may just be the most difficult part of content creation.
Why? Because there is a lot of contradicting advice when it comes to identifying what it takes to write a good headline. For instance:Continue Reading
Because email marketing continues to be the backbone of a successful content marketing program, this article has been updated.
Think of a well-executed email strategy as the backbone of a successful content marketing program. It’s an essential structure that supports your various content efforts and is the best technique for building a subscriber base – which helps you stay at the top of your readers’ minds.
But, just like any critical system, if it’s not properly maintained, your email content can start to lose momentum and show signs of aging. If you fail to keep pace as consumption trends shift, even your most faithful followers may start to overlook your emails in their crowded inboxes – or opt out altogether if they feel you are no longer meeting their needs.Continue Reading
SlideShare is a popular, business-friendly social site – one that you probably already use to enhance the life span of your company’s PowerPoint slide decks and other presentation materials. But could you be overlooking some of the most powerful features and functionalities the platform offers for greater content marketing success? Continue Reading
Content creation can be a challenging endeavor in many respects. With so many techniques, formats, and channels for your content efforts, it’s easy to become paralyzed by indecision when it comes to executing your carefully constructed content marketing strategies.
On the other hand, even if you know exactly what types of content you want to create, you may find it difficult to distinguish your brand and ensure that your efforts are heard above all the noise in a crowded landscape.Continue Reading
