How to Create an On-demand Webinar that Converts Readers into Leads: Guest Post for CMI
September 20th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
In today’s hyper-competitive world, typical white papers and webinars are no longer enough to attract qualified leads. We’re all overwhelmed with data and facts. Adding more to the pile simply doesn’t work.
So what makes some content offers stand out above the rest? It all comes down to perceived value vs. perceived risk. Read it now…
Bite Sized B2B Best Practices: Evernote
September 13th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Who:
Evernote (www.evernote.com)
What they do:
Software to help “easily capture any moment, idea, inspiration, or experience whenever they want using whichever device or platform they find most convenient, and then to make all of that information easy to find.”
How I found them:
Word of (online) mouth. « Read the rest of this entry »
Is Your Content a Bridge or a Wall?
August 29th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
I wish I could say that my love for content marketing originated from some positive, inspiring experience.
I can’t. The truth is, it was born out of fear.
Fear of calling on strangers. Fear of rejection, of coming off as too pushy, of doing things I was uncomfortable with. Fear of losing face.
Marketing allowed me (or so I thought) to avoid all the messiness involved in actually selling something. If I could get good enough at copywriting and creating content offers, then I’d only have to talk to people who contacted me first…new customers served up on a silver platter.
No rejection. No pushing against my comfort zone. No pain. « Read the rest of this entry »
Bite Sized B2B Best Practices: Palo Alto Software
August 15th, 2011 § 2 Comments
Who:
Palo Alto Software (www.paloalto.com)
What they do:
Business and marketing plan software
How I found them:
Their blog post: Palo Alto Software Reviews You! – Chocolate South
Why they’re so great:
Because they go out of their way to make their customers the stars. The result is a brand that goes well beyond business planning solutions and taps into the reason people start businesses to begin with…to fulfill a dream. « Read the rest of this entry »
7 Steps to Creating Engaging Content | On-Demand Webinar
August 11th, 2011 § 2 Comments
This step-by-step process for creating engaging content is modeled after the world’s best content marketers, storytellers, influencers and presenters. 7 Steps to Creating Engaging Content will show you how to consistently combine purpose, message and visual elements to earn and keep your audience’s full attention and convert readers into leads.
Building a Solid Content Marketing Foundation Part 2: Expanding Through Social Media
August 9th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
In my most recent guest post for B2Bbloggers.com and follow up to 5 Steps to Building a Solid Content Marketing Foundation, I interview Kimberlee Wilkes from Wilkes Business Solutions to find out how to take the next step with your content marketing strategy and begin to use social media to interact with and engage your audience. Read on…
Engaging Content is More Poetry than Personas
August 3rd, 2011 § 4 Comments
“Excrement! That’s what I think of Mr. J. Evans Pritchard! We’re not laying pipe! We’re talking about poetry. How can you describe poetry like American Bandstand? “I like Byron, I give him a 42 but I can’t dance to it!”
This was English professor John Keating’s (Dead Poets Society) response to J. Evans Pritchard, according to whom the quality of a poem can be accurately measured by first becoming “fluent with rhyme and meter” and then determining a poem’s greatness by answering two questions: “One. How artfully has the objective of the poem been rendered? Two. How important is that objective?”
If you don’t remember the scene…
Of course, poetry can’t be plotted out on a curve like the results of some biology experiment. What makes for good poetry, or any other form of human expression, is impossible to codify. « Read the rest of this entry »
Give It Away Now – Why Freemium Is The Future for All of Us
July 27th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Freemium is a “business model that works by offering a game, product or service free of charge (such as software, web services or other) while charging a premium for advanced features, functionality, or related products and services.” (Wikipedia)
David Rogers’ article How to Make Piles of Money from Charging Nothing sums the concept up nicely:
“The freemium business model works like this: Everyone gets your product or service for free, forever. But those customers who really like it, and find most value in it, will have a strong temptation to upgrade to a “premium” (paid) service which has lots of additional goodies. It is, at heart, a strategy of pricing by customer segmentation. It also requires a lot of insight into your customers and how they use your product.”
Spotify let’s you listen to a certain number of songs for free, with a premium paid option for heavy users. Skype lets you call any computer in the world for free, with a premium paid option for those who want to call a real phone.
But this concept isn’t just limited to software and websites. Freemium is more than just a business model, it’s about the fundamental shift in how buyers expect to interact with and sample products and services. Whether you sell software or consulting or custom kitchens, if you compete with other companies that give away content for free in order to engage an audience, you are officially in the freemium business. « Read the rest of this entry »
Why Great Content Without Persistence is Worthless
July 12th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Ray Kroc built the McDonald’s empire from a single prototype in San Bernardino into a business behemoth that serves around 64 million customers every single day. While I’m not a fan of the food, I am a fan of the man behind it. Here’s one reason why…
There’s a plaque inside a sealed glass case at Petco Park (home of the San Diego Padres, which he bought in 1974). On it is a quote from Mr. Kroc that not only applies to success in life, but to content marketing as well. « Read the rest of this entry »
