Tools are funny things. If you’re familiar with the problem you need to fix, and you understand how, when, and why to use each tool, they’re incredibly helpful. They save you time and money and help you do a truly professional-quality job. But if you just want to fill a big toolbox full of shiny new...

The biggest challenge B2B marketers face is producing engaging content (36%), a Content Marketing Institute survey of 1,100 marketers revealed.  One way to address this challenge is to plan obsolescence in your content marketing strategy, a tactic recently explained by Joe Chernov from Eloqua. Today,...

SOCIAL INFLUENCERS SHARE THE TOOLS THAT HELP THEM KEEP THEIR EDGE Faster, Leaner Productivity. SCHEDULING Rachel Foster Fresh Perspective Copywriting @CopywriterTO I use TimeTrade to schedule appointments. The software lets you place a link on your website or in an email to direct people to your calendar...

A social media policy is now a requirement of the Federal Trade Commission, flowing from its Guidlines on Endorsements and Testimonials. We asked the Word of Mouth Marketing Association to share the essentials. WOMMA: Essential Elements of a Social Media Policy A social media policy defines important...

Joe Pulizzi talks to Gary Spangler, emarketing manager at DuPont, about how big brands go social while minding critical ethical and legal obligations. Joe Pulizzi: Tell me about your role at DuPont. Gary Spangler: I work to steer DuPont’s efforts around social media marketing, and do it in a way that’s...

Marketing technology can’t live in IT anymore. It’s time to own up to our brave new digital world. What words do you associate with marketing? Branding. Positioning. Advertising. No doubt, these are classic foundations of our field. But increasingly, marketing has some new–and very different–word associations....

A conversation with the two men behind Procter & Gamble’s most talked-about brand content channel.   Procter & Gamble, the consumer products giant, has an online destination that aims to teach men the essentials of domestic life. The site, which offers columns like “Ask a Pregnant Lady”...

A talk with Tom Koulopoulos, author of The Innovation Zone, about the essential elements of innovation (psst: it’s not about technology). Feel pressured to adopt new marketing technology and call it innovation? Trying to make a splash in the market when the definition of “new and exciting” keeps changing...

Winning the battle for attention takes innovation—whether through an unexpected presentation, a new tech application or a provocative message. These 15 projects demonstrate that creativity and daring are possible within a wide range of budgets, industries and formats (in no particular order). 1 Project:...

In Diagnosis: A Serious but Curable Disease: Content Dissociative Disorder, Author Ardath Albee explains about the critical condition of this disorder and how to avoid it. Define Your Company Persona Create an umbrella persona for your company or brand. Just as a buyer persona is representative of a...

Does this story sound familiar? Your marketing team creates a lead generation campaign that includes an interactive game that tests their prospects’ aptitude for brilliance.  It’s fun, snazzy and colorful. Next, is a brand awareness program focused on the 30 years of history, patents and engineering...

A column about dynamic design and content optimization.  Hang on tight. We’re going to reframe many of your digital content beliefs and approaches through this column based on 15 years of studying how buyers choose and buy using the web. We’ll start by dismantling the traditional 4Ps of marketing. That’s...