I was in the doctor’s office last week for a routine checkup. As I entered, the nurse escorted me to the patient room where I waited for the doctor. On the desk in the office sat a computer monitor that was streaming what looked to be a PowerPoint show. 

There were about 10 rotating messages targeted to me, the patient. One talked about checkups for colon cancer, another about weight issues, and another one was about moles (fun!).  I learned a lot and paid attention. The one slide on adult shots motivated me to ask the doctor a question, which resulted in me actually buying an additional shot…one that I would not have bought without the computer show.

The health care industry always been a trend setter when it comes to educating customers and prospects. They are in the business of healing and education.  Most hospitals either have their own newsletter/magazine, or carry the WebMD magazine. Now they are doing it again by using a computer (which has to be there for the doctors/nurses) and leveraging it to educate customers (and upsell).

Here’s the point: You are also in the business of education. It is your responsibility to educate your customers and prospects about not only your products, but about the industry and key issues that surround your product. By doing so on a consistent basis, with relevant and valuable content, you will sell more to these people.

And here’s your task: Find the places where your customers and prospects are, and take advantage of these locations by delivering timely and relevant information. This could be:

• On your invoices (tip or white paper download information).
• At your register/counter (placards, signage, additional tips, magazines, newsletters, monitors).
• On your website. We talk about this all the time, but most marketers still only use their website to showcase the company and its products. Carve out a portion of your site to educate and inform your customers about things important to them. Do this right, and they will come to rely on you for this kind of information.
• At trade shows (pass out industry reports, white papers, etc.).
• On sales appointments (magazine, tip sheet, industry report, economic report, microsite to send prospects to, etc.).

These are just a few.  The point is to think of all ways in which customers come in contact with you and leverage those opportunities to help educate and engage them. Most companies lose educational opportunities through many different touch points. Make sure that you aren’t one of those companies by making a list of those touch points and deliver content marketing to them along the way.

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“The future of advertising is radically different from its past. The struggle for control of attention, creativity measurements and platforms will reshape the advertising value chain and shift the balance of power. And, as in previous disruptive cycles, the future cannot be extrapolated from the past.”

– from The End of Advertising as We Know It, IBM Global Services, 2007

Today, most companies are still using traditional marketing approaches that they may have been using since the middle of the 20th century.  There are several reasons for this:

• Companies are set up to sell products, not to provide relevant and valuable information to customers and prospects.
• Companies have well-worn marketing paths that are easy to follow.  Going off the beaten path into uncharted territory is intimidating.
• Companies have strong relationships with media partners that may go back decades.  It’s not easy to break those relationships by pursuing a brand-new content marketing strategy.
• The reduced effectiveness of traditional marketing may have occurred so slowly that no alarm bells have gone off within your organization.
• Many companies aren’t measuring their marketing, so they aren’t even sure what is and what is not effective.
• Many companies lack both the right people and the right processes to implement a new kind of marketing.
• Many businesses are reluctant to abandon traditional marketing tactics for what they may believe to be unproven content marketing or new media practices.
• Most companies lack content marketing role models from whom they can learn best practices.
• Some companies place very little value in marketing versus other aspects of the organization (operations, product development). Little do they know, that every part of the organization is affected by (or actually is) marketing.

In order for a company to alter their mindset toward one of new media or content marketing, they need one of a few things to happen:

• Business gets so bad that they start trying new things.
• Voluntary or involuntary turnover creates new thinking in the organization.
• A culture change in sparked in the organization, through an internal champion, external customer demands, or the merging of a new business culture through an actual merger or buyout.

The point is that there is great opportunity. There is opportunity for small businesses who can make these changes and adaptations faster than their larger competitive set. There is also opportunity for medium and large organizations who can make decisions based on how their customers want to engage with them, not on what they’ve done in the past.

The IBM white paper that led off this post has an interesting set of questions to ask marketing professionals that speaks directly to the drastic changes that have taken place just in the last few years.

• Will advertisers still need a traditional agency? If so, in what capacity?
• Will traditional programmers lose significant revenue to the Internet, mobile device providers and interactive home portals?
• Will consumers reject outright the concept of interruption marketing in the future?
• Will consumer receptivity vary by medium (for example, mobile devices versus home-oriented devices)?
• Will consumers see value in advertising as a trade-off for content?
• To what extent will advertising inventory be sold through open platforms?
• Do advertising industry players have the customer analytics needed to better understand and reach target customers?
• Are companies organized correctly to create, market and distribute cross-platform content?

Most everyone has an answer to the above questions – but noone knows for sure if they will be right. All we can do is see what is happening and talk to our customers. That said, the more I interact with marketing and publishing professionals, the more I realize that the old rules don’t apply anymore. What is going on right now is a revolution like nothing we’ve ever seen. The opportunity is great for those companies that buy into this.

Some companies think that the Internet is just another way to market. It’s those companies that are in trouble.

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• Seth Godin: “Content Marketing Is the Only Marketing Left” and 10 New Marketing Lessons
• Corporate Content Will Take Over Media as We Know It
• Six Key Principles to Content Promotion

mar·ket·ing
[mahr-ki-ting]

1. The act of buying or selling in a market (Dictionary.com)

Content marketing, taken at face value, is simple terminology for a complex process.  Content, as in creating information that meets your customers’ needs, and marketing, as in distributing and promoting it to a targeted group of people, inherently makes sense.

Go back to the definition of marketing at the top of this page. Marketing is all about behavior. It’s an action. It’s not about generating buzz, or web site traffic, or press mentions – unless those things lead to a profitable customer behavior.Continue Reading

Well, after almost six months in “beta” we’ve decided to launch the full version of Junta42. And what better way to do that than with a cool list.

This week we are premiering the Top 42 Content Marketing Blogs that features the best blogs from the net focusing on some aspect of content marketing. Some, you’ll find, are very well known, while others are definitely “up-and-comers”. Congrats to Millward Brown’s “Straight Talk with Nigel Hollis” on taking first spot on our premiere listing.

I think what I like most is that Junta42 members can vote on the ones they like the best, which generates a user rank. Members can “Hitch!” (or vote – just like Digg) for the blogs they believe are the best. The most popular blogs rise to the top. I believe at the end of the day, that’s the list that will have the most value.

Now, we’ve by no means perfected the selection criteria, but we’ve made a good start.  Here’s a full description of how we selected and ranked the blogs.  I’m quite certain we’ve left off many, so if you know of any you’d like to nominate, send us a note at add[at]junta42.com. We’ll be adding blogs and refining the process over the next few months.

Other additions to the new Junta42 include:

• Content Marketing Resource Center
• Video Series on the Content Marketing Revolution
• Additional social media components, including profile image and commenting tools/notification
• Easy-to-use “Submit a Story” function (now two steps)
• Latest article RSS feeds and Email updates
• and last but not least, the ability to rank all categories by most recent, most popular…and all listings by most popular weekly, monthly or all-time.

We are also excited about the launch of Junta42 Match, which will take place over the next few months. Junta42 Match will be the “eHarmony of business content”, matching businesses who need content expertise with custom publishers or content providers that match specific needs and criteria.

We’ll have plenty more to come on Match over the next few months.

Thanks to all of you who have supported us along the way.  Let’s enjoy the ride and have some fun.

The formal press release goes out this Wednesday.  Here’s a sneak peak…

Many of our consulting clients are small businesses. For some reason, even though budgets aren’t what they are in the larger companies we work with, I love the potential that exists with small businesses. When we make recommendations to larger companies, it takes sometimes many months to get them going, working through multiple chains of command and different budget buckets.

With small companies, sometimes we execute projects the same day. Also, there is a smaller decision-making base, which helps make decisions faster and more focused. Ultimately, that’s why small companies rule.

This is the first page of Seth Godin’s book Small is the New Big:

“Small is the new big. Recent changes in the way that things are made and talked about mean that big is no longer an advantage. In fact, it’s the opposite. If you want to be big, act small.

Consumers have more power than ever before.

Treating them like they don’t matter doesn’t work.

Multiple channels of information mean that it’s almost impossible to live a lie.

Authentic stories spread and last.

That ability to change fast is the single best asset in a world that’s changing.

Blogs matter. If you want to grow, you’ll need to touch the information-hungry, idea-sharing people who read (and write) them.”

Your Website Is Your Greatest Marketing Asset

The changes in technology have enabled small businesses to market their products and services as well as, or better, than a large, well-funded business. The only caveat? Small businesses must understand the power of the internet, and give their foremost attention to their website and online initiatives.

Technological changes are increasing at an ever faster rate than before. Small businesses can adapt to these changes to communicate more effectively with their target customers. Larger businesses, through multi-leveled bureaucracy and committed budgets, have a much more difficult time changing communication initiatives if the signs are there for change.

Small Wins on Local Level

This is especially true on a local level.  Companies such as Lowes or Wal-Mart are tied to corporate branding and initiatives, and are challenged by personalizing marketing efforts to local markets. Even a Best Buy, which does an outstanding job of personalizing stores to their clientèle, still must segment stores into groups (busy suburban mom’s or technology enthusiasts), but not truly on a local basis. Big brands are executed at the national level.

Small businesses do not have that concern, and can adapt to the needs of their local customer base. With a focus on quality web content, it is altogether possible that a small business can score a much higher search engine ranking on local key words, especially with a help of locally-focused blogs, white papers and other online content efforts.

I’m a Small Business: What Should I Do?

To compete with the big boys, here is what you need to focus on:

1. Begin with Research – Get some key information about your audience. What are they informational needs? What keeps them up at night? What websites do they go to for content? How do they view your services? This type of information will help shape the rest of your marketing plan. It can also serve as a benchmark for measurement.
2. Start a Blog – There is no better way to consistently get valuable content out to customers as easily than through a blog.  Look to wordpress or Typepad for starter accounts.  Both can be integrated within your current websites.
3. If you’ve started a blog (or once you do)…get active in the community.  Find the top 20 blog sites in your industry or local area and start commenting.  Every time to comment, a link is created back to your site. In essence, this creates a new highway for people to find your site.  The more highways created, the better your online traffic.
4. Create a regular opt-in communication piece. For many, this will be an eNewsletter, where you can highlight content from around the web and your own original content that is relevant to your customers. Instead of, or in addition to, an eNewsletter, you can create a white paper series (say quarterly) that speaks to key customer challenges. Expanded lists (top 10’s, 5’s) work great.
5. Develop your keyword list.  I always recommend spending about 5 hours with a search engine optimization (SEO) expert to help you define your keywords.  It will also help to ask a question that gets this information in your survey.
6. Utilize NEWS releases – Send them not to get coverage, but to expand your highways and web presence.  Make sure the releases focus on the customer, not how great you are.

It’s never been better to be a small business. Perhaps small is the new big.

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Related Articles:

• The Big Idea Won’t Fix Your Marketing…Think Small and Frequent
• The Ultimate Small Business Marketing Plan
• 42 Content-Building Ways to Attract and Retain Buyers
• 16 Questions to Ask Before Launching a Content Marketing Project

Available at Junta42

• Content Marketing 101

Came across this simple, but excellent post by Dave Navarro at Freelance Folder. The three questions that Dave discusses are:

#1 – Why Do You Enjoy Being My Customer?
#2 – What Else Do You Wish My Business Did?
#3 – Who Should You Tell About My Business?

According to Dave, these are questions we never ask, but need to ask our customers.

Strategy Tip: If we consistently deliver valuable information to our customers, they will be more open to answering these questions. This should make sense, since we are giving them something of value, and they will give something of value in return.

LEGO pieces are literally all over our house. We have the traditional sets, like the airport and fire station, the Star Wars series, LEGO Creators, and just about all the Bionicles. If you have boys (or girls) of any age up to 14, you probably know what I am talking about.

LEGOs are small building toys for kids anywhere from four years old on up. If you are asking how they relate to content marketing, read no further. LEGO is perhaps one of the elite companies in the world at attracting and retaining customers through the use of valuable and relevant content. But, before I mention any specifics, I need to tell you a quick story.
My son, Joshua, recently celebrated his sixth birthday.  At the party, he received a card from his Aunt welcoming him to the LEGO Brickmaster Club. With his new club membership he receives LEGO Builder sets and an issue of Brickmaster every two months. This is over and above what he already receives as a member of LEGO club. It goes without saying that Joshua was VERY excited to receive his new LEGO membership.

So let’s dissect this for a second. Joshua (the customer) is excited to receive content from LEGO that, in essence, is a piece of LEGO sales collateral. Do your customers get excited when you send them your sales material?

I’ve discussed this during speeches and with marketers before. Most of the time, I get a very defensive reaction from marketers when I ask them this question.  Marketers usually say something like, “We don’t sell LEGOs, we sell (widgets). Our customers aren’t going to get excited about receiving a magazine about (widgets).” My answer is always the following:

If you have a product or service that helps an individual solve a problem, and your product helps them do their job better, makes their life easier, or entertains them in some way, it is possible to get customers excited about your product through the use of content.

Let’s look specifically at what LEGO does to deliver information to customers that creates a true LEGO experience.

• LEGO has been delivering consistent content to customers in the form of a print magazine. They have been doing this at usually a 6x per year frequency for over 20 years (I used to get the original Brick Kicks in the 80s). The content has always revolved about how target consumers can take their products to the furthest level of their imaginations.
• LEGO puts on targeted roadshows around the country for LEGO fans to meet with other fans and see LEGO creations, as well as contest opportunities.
• LEGO promotes user-generated content EVERYWHERE. You’ll see this in the magazine and all over the Web site.
• LEGO integrates their magazine content with helpful online content for power builders.
• LEGO understands the end-user, but also understands the role of key influencers and other decision makers. To bring those decision makers into the fold, LEGO promotes family events and content specifically for parents (i.e., they target C-level executives).
• LEGO leverages user case studies whenever possible.
• LEGO segments their customer base with different types of content. While LEGO magazine is great for many of their customers, a good portion of their customer base, which I would consider the “high-spenders,” need more attention and have more advanced content needs. Thus, Brickmaster was born.
• LEGO created a user discussion forum so that builders could connect with other builders. They also provide a social networking function where customers can personalize their pages and showcase their designs. Some companies outside of LEGO are now dedicated to enhance the LEGO experience (i.e., BrickJournal.com).
• LEGO is a licensing king and has created non-traditional content channels such as gaming (LEGO Star Wars), movies (Bionicle and Exo-Force) and hundreds of book titles.

This is just some of the great content that LEGO is distributing consistently and frequently to their customers. And, it’s not just good content, it’s great content that mixes interesting stories with eye-catching design to create a true user experience.

Question is, where would LEGO be without this content?  Would they be one of the most recognized brands in the world? Frankly, it wouldn’t be close. Great products such as LEGO aren’t enough to create a great brand and differentiate your brand from the competition. Communications and content is today’s true brand differentiator.

Each of us have the communication tools at our fingertips to create a true community around our products and services. Each of us have the power to create great content that focuses purely on the needs of our customers and prospects.

Still not a believer?  Just ask Megabloks.

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Related Articles:

• Key Questions When Launching a Content Marketing Initiative
• Why Most Custom Publications Aren’t Measured
• Stop Shouting Features: 5 Tips To Create a Knowledge Marketing Program
• Want Customer Loyalty? Create Customer Wins With Content

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