You have a fiercely loyal audience that loves your content. Folks share it with their networks, provide feedback, and help generate leads. Problem is... your mighty audience is mighty small. What to do? You need to recruit influential people to help you expand your audience by talking about you and your ... more

Despite the glitz and glamour of newer marketing channels, most people still favor tried-and-true email. "A recent study asked consumers which channel they prefer for receiving permission-based promotional messages," reports Janelle Johnson in an article at MarketingProfs. "A whopping 77% said email. No other channel even scored in the double ... more

Brands are now publishers. That's no longer news. But what are the implications? For one, brands need editors—and not just for their content. In this episode, Tom Fishburne, the Marketoonist, explains that he learned the power of editing while working as a product marketer—and editing not just when creating content ... more

Within seconds your killer headline and content have hooked your audience. But how do you reel them in? That is, how can you keep their attention after they start to read your article, watch your video, or listen to your podcast? Inspired by Andrea Phillips's Fast Company article titled "Five Lessons ... more

In this episode, we talk with Tim Washer, the man behind the IBM marketing video selected as a "Staff Pick" by Comedy Central, an honor not many B2B marketing pieces can claim. Tim is now social media manager at Cisco, and he talks about how to make comedy an effective ... more

No B2B company can achieve a leadership position without a thought-provoking point of view. "Customers buy into the story before they buy the solution," writes Robert M. Wright at MarketingProfs. "And a story is more than a slogan or a catchy tagline." In fact, it needs to accomplish two goals: ... more

If you're one of Gmail's 350 million users, you know how vigorously the service defends your inbox from unwanted email. Obvious junk goes to the spam folder. But that's not all. In addition to legitimate email marketers, spammers send billions of messages to consumers every day, leading harried recipients with little ... more

Has your organization ever created buyer personas? If so, did you ever use them? Many don't—because they don't create truly useful personas in the first place. Ardath Abee lays out key elements of personas you can really use. more

To win a court case, lawyers must first assemble a gripping argument. Facts need to be combined with compelling story elements to create a persuasive narrative to win the jury over. The same is true in marketing. Just like lawyers, marketers draw their audience to their side by solid storytelling. But ... more

HubSpot's Kipp Bodnar discusses why so few B2B companies blog, how to develop a social media strategy, and what roadblocks companies encounter when trying to implement their strategy (if they actually have one!). more

Content consumption is no longer a choice, it's innate. If you own a smartphone, tablet, or laptop, chances are you're absorbing content the majority of the time that you're awake. This brief survey considers how marketers consume content, and how they use and measure it in their work as marketers. more

As various technology platforms (e.g., social media, apps, tablets, smartphones, and TV) evolve to become more integrated with one another, more customizable, and more participatory, so are people's expectations around their everyday content experiences, according to a study by Latitude. more

Pinterest, the mega-popular online pinboard platform, has more than 20 million users. But what do its users say about it? What about Pinterest inspires love or whips up hate? more

Once in a while, we like to highlight a strong opinion, and Ron Romanski has one. In a post at the Business 2 Community blog, he says lengthy newsletters should be a thing of the past. "With today's fast-paced society, you need to make things as single-focused as possible," he argues. ... more

The "S" word can be intimidating, but failure to articulate a clear strategy (and goals!) for your content marketing will undermine its effectiveness. Here, Michael Brenner discusses how SAP defines—and implements—its content strategy. more

How is content marketing like the daring sport of skydiving? For starters, to avoid a crash-landing, both require careful planning. In her Business Insider blog post titled "Content Marketing Lessons While Skydiving," Amanda Maksymiw compares her first leap from an airplane to leaping into a content marketing campaign. And she ... more

When everything's going well, it's easy to find yourself in an email-marketing rut. Perhaps you've gotten complacent with ROI that's good—but not great. Or maybe you're boring your customers with the same campaigns they've seen a thousand times. "Whether you want to shake things up or simply polish off the dullness," writes ... more

Joe Pulizzi is THE content marketing guy. And he has quite a bit to say about content marketing in general, but I was most curious to find out how he has used content marketing to grow his business at the Content Marketing Institute. The resulting conversation focused a lot on ... more

Sometimes, the hardest topics to talk about are those closest to you. So when businesses have to share their stories, they stumble. This colorful infodoodle slide show can help draw out your inner brand storyteller. more

Mark Brownlow once waited in silent trepidation as he watched a tarantula crawl across his hand. "The experience comes to mind every time I face a blank piece of paper," he says at Email Marketing Reports. "A rising sense of panic…paralysis…a prickle of sweat." You might feel the same way when ... more

Just like a shop owner who tracks his sales and restocks the shelves accordingly, content marketers need to be on top of their content. Otherwise, they end up with empty shelves, disgruntled customers, and fewer coins in the coffer. That's why smart content marketers use an editorial calendar to plan, produce, ... more

Customers learn about brands through an array of devices and media—often simultaneously.That's why your brand needs a strong multiscreen storytelling strategy. Social@Ogilvy offers five principles for getting it right. more

"It's time to master the headline, to get it right where the copy counts most by paying attention to those critical words that appear at the top of your email messages," writes Marco Marini at Email Critic. Headlines also appear at the top of your landing pages—and regardless of their location, ... more

The history of the business video dates back to the 1970s, when AT&T created the Picturephone. The device transmitted an image only once every two seconds—slow speeds that would make any Internet user cringe today. The way we access and share visual creations has changed a lot since those early ... more

We marketers often place media in three categories: paid, owned, and earned. But customers tend to ignore such distinctions. They're looking for the "right" media. How do you give them what they're looking for? These slides from the Altimeter Group can help. more