“In the theater the audience want to be surprised – but by things that they expect,” said French playwright Tristan Bernard. I think we content marketers can relate.
Pleasing the audience is a continual balancing act between the original and the familiar. If the content is too unusual or unexpected, the audience may not feel it appeals to them, but if it is too similar to everything that came before, there won’t be enough novelty or new thinking to maintain interest. Whichever way you look at it and whatever your goals, the audience is both the reason for your content and the measure of your content.
This issue looks beyond the footlights of our content marketing stage, out into the orchestra and all the way back to the cheap seats, to explore audience needs, expectations, and behaviors.
Get ready to take your curtain call.
Stephanie Stahl
General Manager, CMI
The proliferation of marketing technology has had the unintended result of marketers viewing audiences as potential transactions instead of people with whom we develop trusted relationships.
Most marketers plan their content to work in all browsers and on all devices, but it can still be inaccessible or frustrating to a significant section of the audience. Is your content leaving people behind?
When the Sierra Club of Colorado needed to raise awareness about its conservation efforts (and raise money to support them), the grassroots organization used Voice of Customer audience research to get inside the heads of its members.
For years, the content marketing mantra has been “quality over quantity.” But bigger audience numbers still look better on a monthly report. How can content marketers strike the right balance between BIG and bold?
Engagement is a top content goal; yet, marketers don’t all agree on how to define it, clients often misunderstand its value, and no one is really sure how to measure it. Does it still have a valid role to play in content marketing?
The history of Content Marketing World keynotes reads like a roll call of the world’s most creative people – and one of the most popular was John Cleese in 2015. CCO’s interview with Cleese was never published online … until now.
“Followers” is such a loaded term, with connotations of leadership, of rapt social media crowds awaiting guidance, of committed allegiance. But who is really the follower and who is the influencer in this relationship?
Throughout history, younger generations have perplexed their elders. That can be baffling enough for parents, but seasoned marketers need to understand what makes each new generation of consumers tick if their strategies are to succeed.
Every year, the Content Marketing Awards celebrates the best the industry has to offer. Here are some of the projects that impressed the judges in 2018, snaring shiny new trophies for the agencies and brands behind them.
What’s the difference between narrative and story? How can a good yarn, well told, get your message across more effectively? Follow our intrepid hero as he fights valiantly against bland content with little more than a sharpened allegory.
A smorgasbord of fresh content ideas, including Google’s Art Zoom series; the Australian Red Cross take on Game of Thrones; outdoor retailer REI’s new magazine; and Deloitte’s Business Chemistry.
You didn’t ask for it, but he’s dishing it out anyway. This issue, Andrew Davis serves up some unsolicited advice to all of those software marketers offering free trials (and free sales bombardment).
Technology entices us into thinking it can save us time, help us drive more revenue and, in many cases, make us more creative. It’s a seductive lure; but it can quickly come undone once tech debt sets in.
Intel launched its digital magazine, iQ, in 2012. But in early 2017 the team switched focus from chasing eyeballs to sustaining loyal readers. Luke Kintigh was head of publishing at Intel iQ at the time and shared how they did it.
In the Venn diagram of marketing and sales, Joe Chernov sits firmly in the overlap. While the partnership isn’t always hearts and roses, Chernov believes account-based marketing could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
