American Eagle's entertainment marketing venture, a comedy series, is on the right track. Good content, targeted to a certain audience, is today's brand driver.

Focusing all communications around a sell can be detrimental to the long-term relationship you're trying to create with customers. Consider how you can expand your communication strategy.

Interaction with employees is a key relationship for your customers. So, it's essential that employees have a firm grasp of your company's brand and mission. A CMO's success depends on having employees involved in the marketing mix.

Publishers have accepted custom publishing as one of the best ways to grow revenues over the next several years. Successful ones will get on board -- before it's too late.

In his "Content Marketing Manifesto," Larry Chase offers an excellent overview of the benefits of creating and marketing valuable content effectively. Be patient and build relationships for the long-term.

At some point marketers and publishers need to come together, simply to get on the same page and work with each other to focus on producing valuable content.

Make a few small changes in the definition of how most companies market and you see a big difference. There is room for growth there in making the information we generate "relevant" and "valuable."

Call it content marketing or custom media, but smart organizations are creating valuable content that makes an impact on people. It's going to get interesting, so stay tuned.