5 Signs That You Don’t Know Your Audience

As the marketing and online communication landscape whooshes by at the speed of light, one particular mantra seems to get louder and louder: “Know Thy Audience.” Listen up CEOs, CMOs and COOs: Audience Personas are not just a nice idea or a warm fuzzy. Locking eyes with your audience in every piece of communication is more…

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How to Stop Wasting Time in LinkedIn Groups

So, you think LinkedIn Groups are a waste of time? Chances are, if you’re simply “hanging out” here and there, you’re right. But like any networking effort — whether it be an in-person event, trade show or online forum — you’ll only get out what you put in. And, forget the shortcuts. There are no magical, cookie-cutter…

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Why Are Fewer Corporations Blogging?

Kevin McNulty (@netweave), an esteemed friend and colleague in the industry (I can see his eyes rolling — he’s so humble), asked me for my thoughts on this week’s Marketing Profs Report showing that Social Media usage among Inc. 500 companies was up, while blogging was down. Although I am far from a bandwagon jumper,…

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Will Your Content Even Matter in 2012?

Happy 2012! Did your online content create leads in 2011? Or just a lot of work? Let’s get real. Online content is NOT a magic marketing bullet. Sure, you may get a short-term “sugar rush” of traffic with certain content. However, for businesses with a longer, more complex sales process, that sugar rush simply won’t…

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Even LinkedIn is Spreading the Holiday Cheer!

By now you’ve probably seen Google’s very cute hidden holiday treat. No? Okay, let’s cover that first. In Firefox or Google Chrome, visit Google’s Search page and perform a search of the words Let it snow to see a flurry of snow fall from the top of your browser, rapidly filling up (and fogging up) your display. Use your mouse to…

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5 Ways Content is Experiencing Its Own Health Reform

During a recent project, I got a crash course in Healthcare Reform. Not ObamaCare but rather the undercurrent of initiatives causing a major paradigm shift in the industry. To survive the shift, healthcare entities will have to marry new-school technologies with old-school industry values.  And, the key initiatives, when stripped down, are strikingly familiar. That’s…

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What Makes Content Effective?

Like all marketing efforts, Content Marketing has one ultimate goal — to produce new customers or clients. That’s a given. However, HOW content achieves this goal is a different story. In fact, there is no one magic recipe for creating effective content that sells. That’s actually what makes Content Marketers’ jobs so much stinkin’ fun! Content has to be…

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Content Marketing: 5 New Rules We Can’t Ignore

This week I had the surreal honor of attending Content Marketing World 2011 in Cleveland. I say “surreal” because I was surrounded by people who didn’t just chant “Content is King.” These people are actually running the kingdom. The overall message that emerged from the conference was simple but refreshing: Keep it Real. Make it…

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Content Approval in Gridlock? How to Break the Cycle.

The creative process in Corporate America can be chock full of…oh…shall we say…”challenges.” Last week I heard a respected colleague mention that the challenges of gaining project approvals are even worse now because of the economy. Seriously? Don’t worry. I’m not about to jump on the “blame the economy” bus. But, I will say that the…

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Top 5 Reasons I’ll Be Sticking With Google+

I was invited weeks ago, but put off joining Google+ until recently. Then, I waited `til I had a few dedicated hours to delve into the network. I confess, part of me really wanted Google+ to fail. After all, it’s just one more Social Network I have to learn. And Facebook’s hype-machine has desensitized me…

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