Before he was the best-selling author of The Martian, Andy Weir was a computer programmer who wrote short stories as a hobby. In his words, “I thought I was writing for a tiny niche audience of hard-core science dorks.” Now working on his second manuscript with Random House, Weir reflects on the journey he took to get here. CCO: You had a short-story blog for a long time before The Martian came out. Did the experience of getting immediate feedback from an audience help you develop your craft?Weir: I started the website because I wanted a creative outlet. I wanted a place to put my creative stuff. I had tried earlier in life to be a full-time writer but couldn’t break into the industry. So I was a computer programmer for 25 years. I just used it as a place to dump my short stories. I slowly accumulated readers; I got about 3,000 regular readers over the course of 10 years. That sounds like a lot … but 10 years was also a very long time. It was just a hobby of mine. Absolutely, the readers helped with the storytelling. I would get feedback immediately when I was posting short stories, which was really cool. And I was getting feedback on every chapter when I was publishing The Martian’s chapters on my website. My audience was pretty much nerds like me and so they would point out any technical, scientific, or mathematical errors in the text immediately. It was like having 3,000 fact checkers. CCO: What was their reaction when suddenly this guy who they’d been following rocketed into the stratosphere of fame with the book?Weir: They were really thrilled. Lots of people sent congratulatory emails. The original readers are like Andy Weir hipsters; they would say “I read Andy Weir before he was popular!” CCO: Along the way, especially over a decade, there must have been moments of doubt.Weir: I actually didn’t have those moments of deep doubt because I wasn’t trying to do anything other than what I was doing. I wasn’t thinking it was all a means to an end to get published. It was just me writing stuff and posting it on my site; what I got out of it was the feedback and fan mail from my regular readers. I had no idea it would ever become popular outside of my tiny little audience. CCO: What were your sources of inspiration? What genres inspired you as a writer?Weir: The main one would be Apollo 13. Both the real-world events and the movie. There’s that one scene in the movie where they have to make an oxygen scrubber and a CO2 filtration system from the lunar module work, and they have to make this contraption that will run the air through it. They’re all floating around in space with duct tape, stuffing a sock in this one spot. I thought that was so cool. It was very MacGyver-in-space. I thought, I want to write a whole book about that. CCO: The Martian is so scientifically dense. Did you ever worry that you were going to lose people?Weir: Absolutely. That was a constant balancing act for me. On the one hand, it was an immutable requirement to me that it be scientifically accurate. That means I needed to exposition all this deep scientific crap to the reader, but I also didn’t want it to read like a Wikipedia article. That’s why we have the smart-ass narrator; that’s why there’s a joke every paragraph or two … to keep it funny. I’ve gotten a lot of feedback from readers after the book got big and they would say stuff like, “I’m not really into science and it’s not even that interesting to me. I love the book, but I skimmed those paragraphs that described it.” For me, that is awesome. There’s this relationship that forms between author and reader. The reader has to trust you. If you get to the point where the reader is willing to just say that he trusts that everything is correct, and that he can skim that paragraph because he doesn’t need it to be proven to him—that’s rare and great. There’s this relationship that forms between author & reader. The reader has to trust you. @andyweirauthor I didn’t have any idea that non-scientific people would ever like the book. I thought I was writing for a tiny niche audience of hard-core science dorks, but it’s great that it worked out this way. CCO: You’ve talked about the challenge of just sitting down and writing … how grueling the process can be. Do you have any habits or rituals that make it easier?Weir: Of course! First thing I do every morning is make sure I’m properly caffeinated, and usually that’s with Diet Coke. Now that I made a bunch of money off a book, I get to do stupid, eccentric things, right? I have a restaurant-style soda fountain in my house now. That’s the wild, partying kind of guy I am … I’ve got Diet Coke on tap. After caffeinating, I’ll spend 30 minutes to an hour answering fan mail in the morning. It’s a nice warm-up because I’m writing, but I’m not straight into the book. I also like to take a walk every day. Other than that, I try to set myself a word count. I try to get 1,000 words done a day. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I blow right past it when I’m really motivated. Another writer (I don’t remember who it was, unfortunately) once told me: Sometimes you’re very, very motivated, and you’re cranking out words. Other times, it’s a complete slog, and each sentence is torture. You’re lucky if you get 300 words done across the whole day. But if you look back on your work months later, you can’t tell the difference between what were your motivated days and what were your slog days. That’s really encouraging when I’m having a rough day.
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7 Productivity Killers for Marketers and How to Fix Them CCO: If you think of story archetypes, one popular archetype is the so-called hero’s journey. In it, the hero encounters a monster – that monster sometimes is of the physical world, but sometimes it’s a psychological monster. On your hero’s journey, what is your monster?Weir: It’s definitely a man-vs.-himself plot. There are the four classic plots: man vs. nature, man vs. society, man vs. man, and man vs. himself. Well, mine’s the last one. I have a bunch of anxieties. I struggled with depression when I was younger. Later in life, I had severe anxiety problems, to the point where I was dramatically reducing the quality of my life. Now, I have therapy and meds, which help a lot. That’s my monster. It’s just me. CCO: Do you think that struggle makes its way into your writing? Does it inform your writing in some way?Weir: I don’t know. I’ve put thought into that. I’m just not sure. The whole time I wrote The Martian, I was still suffering from pretty severe anxiety issues. Anxiety makes you paranoid about the way the world is going to screw you over. Did that help me write a story about a guy who’s on a world that’s literally trying to kill him at every turn? I don’t know, maybe. I honestly don’t know the answer to that. The hardest thing to analyze is yourself. It’s so much easier to look at someone else and notice a particular problem and point it out to them. It’s very easy to do that. But it’s very hard to do it to yourself. So I honestly don’t know. CCO: One thing I see marketers struggle with is taking on more ambitious projects. It’s easier to do a little 3-minute video to get an audience’s attention. It’s much harder to take on more complex projects, be they long form content, documentaries – topics and projects with more depth and subtlety. Can you offer words of inspiration?Weir: The most important thing is to find the interesting part. I think marketers are very message-focused. They know what they want people to hear. They have to work backwards from there to figure out how to make that happen. What they should do is find the thing that’s unique or interesting that captures people’s attention. Figure out what that thing is; don’t worry about the message right now. Just find the interesting part, and then figure out how to link that to the message. Find the interesting part of your story and then work towards the message, says @andyweirauthor. One of the most successful content marketing projects I ever saw was a documentary about FedEx way back in the late 1980s. Back then everything went to their central airport in Tennessee. If you FedExed a package to your next-door neighbor, it would go to Tennessee and then come back. It was the most efficient way on average for dealing with shipping. The documentary showed the whole process in detail. This was in the ’80s, when we were used to the U.S. Postal Service, which could take six to eight weeks to deliver a package. With FedEx, you could order something by phone today, and it would be at our houses by tomorrow. It was a complete disruption in the delivery system. The documentary lets you see the inner workings at FedEx. Audiences are extremely aware of preachiness, especially in the modern era. Hollywood has decided that everything has to have some freaking political message, which drives me crazy. The Martian, by the way, had no political message. Dude didn’t want to die … that’s it. People quickly, even if they don’t do it consciously, identify the message, get mildly annoyed at it, and then start ignoring the parts of the movie that push that. That’s why I try to avoid it. Instead, find the interesting part of your story and then work towards the message, rather than desperately starting with the message and trying to work towards the interesting part. HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: This article originally appeared in the February issue of CCO magazine. Subscribe for your free print copy today. Andy Weir was the keynote speaker at last year’s Intelligent Content Conference, the content strategy event for marketers. Register today for ICC 2017, March 28 to 30 in Las Vegas. Use code BLOG100 to save $100.00. Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute The post Best-Selling Author Shares Thoughts on Storytelling, Inspiration, and Creative Process appeared first on Content Marketing Institute. Best-Selling Author Shares Thoughts on Storytelling, Inspiration, and Creative Process syndicated from http://ift.tt/2maPRjm via Tumblr Best-Selling Author Shares Thoughts on Storytelling, Inspiration, and Creative Process
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While you can use the data from Google Analytics in infinite ways, you need to understand the four most helpful reports for your content marketing – traffic, navigation summary, traffic from organic search, and conversions. Once you understand what this data is and how to track it, you’ll be able to mix and match insights to take advantage of opportunities with your web-based content, driving more traffic to your website and (more importantly) doing more with the traffic you have. TrafficWhy this report is useful: The traffic report (referred to as Pages report in Google Analytics) looks at the pages getting the most traffic on your website. By default, it also displays metrics such as time on site and bounce rate. How to find in Google Analytics: Go to Behavior > Site Content > All Pages. To expand the list of pages, change the number of rows displayed by going to “Show Rows” at the bottom left of the screen. Also, make sure the report encompasses a sufficient period. I typically look at search volume from the past quarter, six months, or year for this exercise. Click to enlarge How to act on this data: This list of pages is a gold mine! Because so many people arrive on your website through these pages, keep a running list and review them on a regular basis. Remember, though, just because a page gets a lot of traffic does not mean it’s an effective page. That’s why you should review the pages that get the most traffic to: Just because a page gets a lot of traffic does not mean it’s an effective page, says @michelelinn.
Navigation SummaryWhy this report is useful: Though there are several ways to dig into pages to see how visitors are behaving, my favorite report is the Navigation Summary, where you can see 1) how visitors get to a page and 2) where they click once they are there. How to find this data in Google Analytics: When you are in the traffic report, click on any page. At the top of the page, you’ll see an option for Navigation Summary. Click to enlarge This page shows how visitors are navigating to this page from within your website – and you can see where visitors are clicking. Just as you can do with the traffic report, you can adjust the number of rows displayed. Click to enlarge Alternative: You can use In-Page Analytics to view where visitors are clicking on any page on your website, but this report does not show how visitors are getting to the page. When viewing single-page data, this option is next to Navigation Summary or you can download the Google Page Analytics extension for Chrome. How to act on this data: There are two parts of this report to which you’ll want to pay attention:
Traffic from organic searchWhy this report is useful: Not only do you want to know which pages are getting traffic in general, but it’s also useful to understand which pages are popular in organic search. There are two reasons why search traffic matters:
How to find this data in Google Analytics: Go to Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels. You see a list of the channels driving traffic to your web pages. Click to enlarge Select Organic Search and then Landing Page (under Primary Dimension) Click to enlarge To find traffic on a specific page, such as a blog post, search by pasting everything after your primary URL into the search box. You can see the effect of organic search traffic on that page by looking at the absolute number of sessions as well as a percentage of your search traffic. How to act on this data: There are two things to consider with pages that get a lot of search traffic. First, use caution when making changes. Understand that these pages likely rank well in Google. Be careful of how much you change on this page as you don’t want to negatively impact how it comes up in search. I’m not suggesting that you never change anything on the page, but tread more carefully and monitor more frequently how the pages perform after you make changes. For web pages that get a lot of search traffic, use caution when making changes, says @michelelinn. The good news is that there are ways to learn more about why people are visiting these pages. I use SEMrush for this purpose. Here’s an example of how to do this using one of our search-magnet pages – Developing a Strategy. Go to SEMrush and paste in the URL of the page. Scroll down on the page to the section for top organic keywords. In this example, we can see that people who arrive on this page want to learn more about content strategy, content marketing strategy, marketing plan, and content plan. As such, it’s a good idea to make sure the page addresses each of these topic areas. (Note that your high-traffic search-landing pages often are works in progress and should be continually reviewed and updated to best answer searchers’ questions.) See how well your keyword results for the page match your intentions for the page. If you intended for this page to do something else but you see it is working for something different relevant to your business, keep this page as is. Then create a new page that better helps with the initial topic you had in mind.
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Does Your Content Answer Searchers’ Questions? ConversionsWhy this report is useful: In most content marketing programs, conversions are a critical metric – they are action(s) you want visitors to take when they arrive on your website. Do you want them to sign up for an email? Download something? Attend an event? How to find this data in Google Analytics: How you get this info varies and likely requires manual work. First, you need to set up your goals. Andy Crestodina, my go-to person on setting up goals, outlines the eight-step process in this video, How to Set Up Goals in Google Analytics: Once your goals are set up, you can track them under Conversion > Goals > Overview. You can either look at all goals in aggregate or you can look at which pages are converting to specific goals. How you can act on this data: While the raw number of conversions is somewhat useful, what is even more useful is the number of conversions divided by the number of page views. This results in your conversion percentage. The higher your conversion percentage, the more likely a visitor to that page will convert. These are the pages (which Andy calls conversion champions) that you should share and promote. Share and promote your conversion champion web pages, says @michelelinn. Once you identify your conversion champions:
These are just four ways to use Google Analytics so you can take action. Want more? Read How to Apply Analytics Data to Make Better Content Marketing Decisions. Want more information to make your content marketing measurement easier? Subscribe to our free daily or weekly digest newsletter. Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute The post 4 Analytics Reports Every Content Marketer Should Use appeared first on Content Marketing Institute. 4 Analytics Reports Every Content Marketer Should Use syndicated from http://ift.tt/2maPRjm via Tumblr 4 Analytics Reports Every Content Marketer Should Use This post was co-written by Julie C. Lellis, Ph.D. In 2009, whether you were a golfer or not, you likely heard about Tiger Woods. It started with a drama-filled Thanksgiving night with his wife. It ended with a public apology the following February. The superstar’s wholesome image unraveled publicly as one mistress after another came forth. Soon his marriage was lost, sponsorships gone, and fans bewildered. We were left wondering: Who was the real Tiger Woods anyway? Was everything we thought about him just a sham? Woods didn’t need a consultant to help him with his brand. He needed a therapist. He stated this himself in a somewhat bizarre 14-minute public apology. He also could have benefited from a crisis communications expert. But most importantly, Woods needed to figure out his identity – who he was and who he wanted to be. Identity is the foundation for authentic living. Many companies need to refocus on identity as well. When companies don’t have a clear sense of identity, they often act to some degree like Woods. We call this “going zombie.” Just like zombies, companies are often confused about their identities, haphazard in their behaviors, and sometimes downright scary. This leaves customers wondering who these companies really are. Rebranding isn’t a solid fix for this problem. A solid foundation built on identityHere’s how we describe identity in our recent book, The Zombie Business Cure. It differs from brand. Identity is constructed from core values. It’s the foundation that informs both an organization’s culture and its brand(s). When identity is unique – or clear and distinct– an organization will attract an audience that shares its core values. It’s easy to confuse identity with brand, especially because the words are often used interchangeably. The word “brand” has become somewhat tarnished – especially outside the communications industry. For example, in focus groups we led, participants often associated the word “brand” with “spin” or some kind of artificial superiority. This perception has created an additional barrier. It’s now between the group of people who comprise the company and the customers it wants to connect with. Why add an extra layer of complexity if it’s unnecessary? Whether the word “brand” has a positive or negative connotation, it makes a company less human. This can affect customer experiences. Do we want employees thinking about “our brand voice” or just “our voice”? Should we say “Our brand stands for …” or simply “We stand for …?” We think the latter is more powerful and connotes true ownership. People who are interacting with you and buying from you want to know who you really are. Your audiences want to know your identity – not just your brand idea. Your audiences want to know your identity – not just your brand idea, via @julie_lellis @melissaegg. Companies that do not have clear, responsible sets of core values applied effectively come off as inauthentic and inhuman. It doesn’t matter how creative and flashy their branding efforts are. You’ll avoid being a zombie if you refocus on your identity. HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How identity intertwines with content strategyContent strategists determine more than how to position a product or idea. They need to know how to get the right message to the right people at the right time in the right format. Part of that right message includes identity. Two identity-driven principles are most useful to content strategists: consistency and originality. Consistency in identity is essential to build trust with customers. Audiences should easily recognize who you are. They should be able to form realistic expectations about what you offer. The specific communication messages and channels you choose may adapt and change. Your identity should not. If you craft consistent messages with your core values in mind, you show audiences that you know who you are. You show that they can trust you to stay in line with your identity. Developing a published communication plan that details your core values will help everyone on your team. Even those outside of the marketing or PR department will benefit. Everyone can stay consistent in messaging, tone, voice, and style when producing content. This will increase consistency even when explaining the company to others. Whether they’re at an internal meeting, a networking event, or even the charity golf tournament, your employees represent your company and its values. A published communication plan that includes core values will help everyone on team. @julie_lellis @melissaegg Your communication efforts must have some form of high-level oversight. This ensures that the same identity comes across in all channels of communication. Are all of your communication efforts supervised by different people? If so, how might you create some way to check for uniformity? Remember lululemon’s botched communication related to its sheer yoga pants? In media interviews at the time, lululemon’s CEO seemed to blame the size of women’s thighs for the see-through fabric. His response didn’t match well with lululemon’s public manifesto about the importance of friendship, kindness, and love. The gaffe left us wondering: What kind of company was actually behind these pricey yoga pants? Moo, the design-focused printing company in London, focuses on being human and friendly in all its communication. From order confirmations to website content, the company feels like one cohesive unit with a clear identity. Content strategist Margot Bloomstein shares an extensive case study of Moo. Check out her excellent Content Strategy at Work book. Originality in communication combines creativity with identity. Originality is about being creative within the identity you’ve already determined for yourself. You should be unique, unusual, and – most of all – you! Any content you produce – be that on your website, in digital ads, or wherever—should not be mistaken for anyone else’s. Any #content you produce should be unique, unusual, and – most of all – you! @julie_lellis @melissaegg It might be creative and newsworthy for an insurance company, for example, to blog about the perils of unicorns. They may share how the company protects customers from unicorn damage. But if that fun idea isn’t in line with how the traditional company normally operates, the idea may confuse customers or fall flat. Discount broker E-Trade Financial achieved originality with its popular baby commercials. The E-Trade baby discusses investments and makes online trades. And nobody will mistake the billboards touting spelling-challenged cows. We know the company behind them is Chick-fil-A. Both E-Trade and Chick-fil-A use distinct strategies and can be easily recognized. Original communication is unusual – either in its style or in offering a new idea. Babies trading stocks … cows trying to convince us to eat more chicken. These are absurd ideas that don’t quite match reality, so of course we will remember them. HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Being mindful of identity in content strategyTo be mindful of identity in your content strategy, consider these questions:
Do you have something original to say or do you sound like your competitors, asks @julie_lellis @melissaegg.
Your answers to these questions will show how well you’ve wrapped your identity and content together. Consider your identity in all communications for lasting success and customer loyalty. As we’ve seen with Tiger Woods, after you go zombie, it can be hard to get back on track. But it’s better to step up to the challenge than live among the undead.
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Go Beyond Analytics to Give Customers the Content They Crave Mindfulness of identity pays offCharles Schwab, the San Francisco-based financial services firm, stands out. Since the start, Schwab challenged the norms of its industry. Since he began the company more than 40 years ago, founder Charles “Chuck” Schwab and his employees have served investors big and small. They distinguish themselves by prioritizing customer needs and keeping costs low. Over the decades, the communications teams at Schwab have supported the business as it has expanded throughout the globe. The company now has more than 330 branches worldwide and more than 16,000 employees. As we interviewed Schwab CMO Jonathan Craig, he struck us as uncommonly dedicated to staying true both to Schwab’s identity and to continuous improvement. His suggestions for success include:
Crispin Porter + Bogusky, an advertising agency based in Boulder, Colorado, helped Schwab develop a new marketing theme. “Own Your Tomorrow” launched in 2013. The language came straight from the mouth of Chuck in the 1970s. The new theme focuses on the power of engagement. The Own Your Tomorrow platform emhpasizes Schwab’s values of transparency and low cost. It has raised awareness and consideration of Schwab by prospective customers to the highest levels in the history of the company. The company reported mid-year results in 2016 that indicated it was on pace to gain $100 billion in net new client assets for the fifth year in a row. The book excerpt and Charles Schwab case are adapted and reprinted, with permission of the publisher, from THE ZOMBIE BUSINESS CURE © 2017 Julie C. Lellis, PhD, and Melissa Eggleston. Published by Career Press, Wayne, New Jersey. 800-227-3371. All rights reserved. A version of this article originally appeared in the February issue of CCO magazine. Subscribe for your free print copy today. Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute The post Identity Matters: How Content Strategists Build Trust and Loyalty appeared first on Content Marketing Institute. Identity Matters: How Content Strategists Build Trust and Loyalty syndicated from http://ift.tt/2maPRjm via Tumblr Identity Matters: How Content Strategists Build Trust and Loyalty I was trying to help a friend. His association needed a new logo. Now, creative directors, designers, and everybody else who works in the visual arts have a term that we usually dread hearing – design-by-committee. Sometimes this isn’t a bad thing. In this case, after a couple rounds – with plenty of input from the committee – I came up with a logo that seemed to encompass all of the suggestions. Weeks passed and I didn’t hear a word. Then, I saw an email from the association using a new logo. It wasn’t the one I designed based on feedback from the stakeholders. It was an icon purchased from one of those “buy-a-logo” websites, with my type treatment applied. That experience prompted me to look deeper into the online design offerings for marketers. Most of them use a design crowdsource model. These sites work a couple ways. Marketers can make a request for a graphic (e.g., logo, custom image for a blog post) and artists can submit their work for consideration. Crowdsourcing sites are gaining in popularity because they’re free or inexpensive (prestige of designing the winning one or incentive-to-participate prizes are often the only compensation earned by the designers). For the artists, it’s an opportunity to showcase their capabilities and market themselves on a high-traffic site. Crowdsourcing comes with a mixed bag. It does have its benefits, but it also isn’t the best choice for long-term content success. Crowdsourcing design isn’t the best choice for long-term #content success, says @jkkalinowski. Members of the American Institute of Graphic Artists warned almost seven years ago in a Forbes article that crowdsource design sites often lack a vetting process. Because people can simply fill out an online form, the site is filled with inexperienced designers looking to build a portfolio. Twist your crowdsourcingIf you’re using the same stock images as everybody else, crowdsourcing is a good first-step alternative to improve your visual content strategy, according to author and friend Roger C. Parker. Crowdsourcing is a good first-step alternative to improve your visual content strategy, says @RogerCParker. Mozilla found another benefit in design crowdsourcing when it tapped into its community for help with its new logo. Wired writes about how the software company teamed with a London-based agency to create logo concepts. Then they asked the online community for feedback on those logos. Over 3,000 comments and five months later, Mozilla had its new identity. Josh Miles, principal of branding agency Miles Herndon, expounds on the benefits: “Crowdsourcing is also a reasonable option for campaigns seeking contributing points of view, such as voting for a new flavor, or submitting to a customer-driven storyline.” Crowdsourcing is a reasonable option for campaigns seeking contributing points of view, says @JoshMiles. Velocity Partners’ creative director Doug Kessler isn’t an advocate of crowdsourcing but he recognizes that budget constraints force some companies to use these design sites. If that’s your situation, Doug offers this counsel: “Skew the brief towards super-simple solutions. Don’t be too ambitious. Just go for simple clarity (which in itself is harder than it looks).” If you have to crowdsource due to budget constraints, skew brief towards super-simple solutions. @dougkessler Buddy Scalera, author of multiple books on creativity and visual storytelling, says a prerequisite to working successfully with crowdsource sites is having a strong design background. His advice may seem contradictory, but it’s not. “If you have a strong design sense but no time to do the designs, these crowdsourced solutions could help you get things done on a tight schedule with a modest budget,” Buddy says. A prereq to working successfully w/ crowdsource sites is having a strong design background, says @buddyscalera.
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Say No to Stock Photography and Create Authentic Images Go for quality designCrowdsourcing design reminds Doug of the line – “Fast, cheap, good: Pick any two.” As he says, “Crowdsourced sites offer fast and cheap. Do the math.” If you don’t have the experience to guide a quality crowdsourced design, you should work directly with an experienced artist. “Great designers do more than follow your directions. They use their abilities as visual storytellers to help you tell your story,” Buddy says. “You need to invest in the right places. If you’re looking to get designs made for less than you pay for shoes, you should reevaluate what your customers want from you.” Great designers do more than follow directions. They use their abilities to help tell your story. @buddyscalera Even with a smaller budget, you may be able to afford a customized experience. Find a talented freelancer or small design-focused firm to help. Then, track the results of the content using their creative to build the business case for quality graphic work. Buddy says it well, “Cheap, non-specific designs may not evoke the emotion you need to drive your business. I wouldn’t hunt for the cheapest solution for my design needs, especially now when it’s getting more difficult to capture attention and engagement.”
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Is Design Mostly Dead? DIY Platforms vs. Hiring a Pro ConclusionCrowdsourcing your design work can be an option to consider if you seek active community feedback, can provide detailed design briefings, and have a good sense of design and structure. In the long run, though, consider the value of working one-on-one with a design expert who can help deliver your content goals. As Doug says, “A good relationship with a talented design resource is a long-term asset for your business. It pays to invest in that.” Find a talented freelancer who can help deliver your #content goals, says @jkkalinowski. Want to hear from these experts on visual storytelling and many more? Register for Content Marketing World by Friday, March 3, for super early bird rate – a $500 saving. Plus, save an additional $100 using the code BLOG100. Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute The post Things to Consider Before Crowdsourcing Design appeared first on Content Marketing Institute. Things to Consider Before Crowdsourcing Design syndicated from http://ift.tt/2maPRjm via Tumblr Things to Consider Before Crowdsourcing Design Museum content development and content marketing have one important principle in common: creating memorable experiences. Think back to the last time you visited a museum. Did you realize that you were walking through a three-dimensional version of the user experience you’re trying to create as a content marketer? Because that’s exactly what you were doing. I began my career as a content developer for museums and interpretive centers. When I entered the world of digital content, I immediately noticed the museum-esque references — such as content curation and content artifacts. The similarities did not end there. Museum designers work in multiple dimensions and on teams of multiple disciplines. Our goal is to create a full-body, memorable experience while telling a story. At its best, museum design is content-driven — we begin with the story we’re trying to tell and then imagine how to engage visitors with the story using interpretive panels, hands-on exhibits, virtual reality, audio-visual treatments, and computer games, to name a few. My museum experience has served me well since moving into the realm of digital content. No one cares more about the specifics of their content than museum curators, and they hold their content developers and exhibit designers to exacting standards. No one cares more about the specifics of their #content than museum curators, says @kitchenamazon. Telling stories in three or more dimensions and being programmed with principles of interpretation also keep me grounded in the goal of creating user-focused experiences when I work in the digital realm. I get tripped up on referring to users instead of visitors but, really, they’re the same, and as experience creators, our role is to serve them. Here are three museum design principles that can easily be translated into the content marketing realm. HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Principle 1: If you don’t really know your audience, create a variety of experiences that appeal to a broad range of users.Does anyone else feel that uncomfortable sense that for all we are supposed to know our audience, we don’t really? Museum designers also begin with the audience, but unless an exhibit is intended to appeal to a certain age category, such as children, the most common answer is, “It needs to appeal to everyone.” As a content marketer, you can count yourself lucky if you offer a good or service to a specific audience. Then working with personas and avatars makes sense and you can create meaningful custom content. But if you are trying to grow your business, attract new customers, or appeal to a wide audience, it’s more challenging, and in trying to focus on your ideal customer, you may unintentionally exclude potential customers you haven’t considered. As public institutions, museums are for everyone, but most museum professionals understand that not everyone has the same level of interest or engagement in the stories they’re trying to tell. We try to tell the story in layers that require different levels of commitment. Museum designers and content developers call it the “streaker, stroller, and studier” rule. Streakers blast through a space, glance at a few things, read the headlines, and head for the gift shop. Strollers spend a little more time on the areas that interest them, and see a hands-on exhibit through to its conclusion. Studiers are going to arrive well informed, dig into an area of interest, and read and explore all the content, down to the captions and exhibit labels. They may also point out errors or areas where they disagree. Marketers already consider the impact of appealing to all three types. Content marketers should consider doing so too. Consider labeling your content types according to the types of user they might appeal to: a tweet vs. a white paper, for example. Think about a range of time commitment, voice, and style in your effort to appeal to the broadest audience. Label #content types according to the types of user they might appeal to, says @kitchenamazon. Museum designers also spend a lot of time considering how to appeal to different learning styles. Whether you are creating experiences that will appeal to as many learning styles as possible, or whether you can identify how your audience fits into one particular learning style, you may gain another angle from which to create meaningful content.
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Live Experiences Reinvent the Way Customers Interact With Brands Principle 2: Engagement is optional, so know your “big idea” and reinforce it relentlessly.One of museums’ reasons for being, besides preserving historical information and artifacts, is educating the public. But the public isn’t always interested in being educated. Knowing your why and making sure every message that comes out of your institution supports that message will help to ensure that even the most disengaged visitor leaves with an inkling of what you do and why you matter. Know your why & make sure every message that comes out of your institution supports it. @kitchenamazon A well-run museum or interpretive center is organized around a solid strategic foundation. The administration has put time and effort into defining the vision, mission, communications goals, key messages, and measureable learning outcomes. One of the first questions I ask a new museum client is, “If a visitor goes through your new exhibit and can articulate only one thing they’ve learned when they leave, what would that thing be?” If you can answer that question, you know your “big idea” and can shape your communications to support it. The clearest direction I received from a new client about the big idea was for a new interpretive center for a historic government house. When I asked him what the big idea of the center was, he answered readily: “Shameless promotion of the office of lieutenant governor.” Knowing that made my work in developing content for exhibits much simpler, and it struck me how little divide there was between my exhibit writing and marketing content for the office of government relations. What else is marketing but shameless promotion of any given topic? Particularly when you’re promoting and educating at the same time. That doesn’t mean every piece of content says the same thing. It just means that if you were to trace the meaning and intent behind all of it, there should be no break in logic, and certainly no conflict, between it and the big idea.
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One Thing Is Killing Content Marketing and Everyone Is Ignoring It Principle 3: Once you earn it, take your role as trusted adviser seriously.Museum curators come with a level of authority that content marketers aspire to. These scholars devote their lives to studying the minutiae of their areas of specialty and preserving those artifacts in service to society. They can’t wait to share what they know with anyone who will listen. They aren’t always able to share the information in a way that engages their visitors, but there is no doubt in visitors’ minds that they are the expert on their area of research. There also is no doubt in the visitors’ minds that these experts are sharing solely from a place of passion for their subject matter. As content marketers, it’s important to remember that the content is what serves your customers and the marketing is what serves your organization. While marketing is directly tied to sales and the bottom line, the more genuine your willingness to share information (like the museum curator) and the more generous you are with that information (like the museum itself), sharing for free or at least affordably, the closer you can come to the trusted adviser status that museums enjoy. #Content is what serves your customers & marketing is what serves your organization, says @kitchenamazon. You can’t pretend your way to the role of trusted adviser. It requires a depth of knowledge and a commitment to authenticity. It is a long-term commitment that won’t always show results immediately. Many museum members begin their relationship with the museum as children on school trips, and mature into committed patrons. You too will be attracting and cultivating your followers over time. You can’t pretend your way to the role of trusted adviser, says @kitchenamazon. #contentmarketing Put the love and care in your story. Know what you want to share. Shamelessly promote with enthusiasm and an eagerness to be of service. Believe in what you’re saying. Say it in ways that pique interest, even in those who might not think they care. That, my friends, is what creates a memorable experience and a relationship with your followers. Want more insights on how to think about your content marketing and how to grow your success? Subscribe to the free daily CMI newsletter or the weekly digest with an exclusive perspective from founder Joe Pulizzi. Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute The post 3 Museum Design Principles to Help Your Content Marketing appeared first on Content Marketing Institute. 3 Museum Design Principles to Help Your Content Marketing syndicated from http://ift.tt/2maPRjm via Tumblr 3 Museum Design Principles to Help Your Content Marketing When Michael Jr., a Content Marketing World keynote presenter, took the stage, he admitted, “This is not my audience at all.” While this may sound like an inauspicious beginning, within a few minutes, there was a palpable shift in the room as the audience truly focused its attention – and turned off devices – to hear what he had to say next. One of the key messages from Michael Jr.’s act is a simple statement: “When you understand your ‘why,’ your ‘what’ has more purpose.” By that he means, when you understand why you’re telling a particular story or – even more elemental – why your business exists, then your story or message can be on note. When you understand why your business exists, your story can be on note, says @MicheleLinn. We all need to hear – really hear – this message, but there was something even deeper about Michael Jr.’s connection with the audience – and something I couldn’t put my finger on until the follow-up conversation. I was expecting to spend an enjoyable 30 minutes chatting with Michael Jr., but I didn’t expect the degree to which he would change the way I think about marketing … and how I interact with people in general. “My comedy is comedy, but it’s more than funny,” explains Michael Jr. “And even more, the comedy is based on what I feel the crowd really needs. So, there is really not any preparation I can do. I just never know. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, my comedy is not as fast-paced as other comedians because I’m trying to listen in between the gaps and try to figure out what the audience really needs so I can give, instead of trying to get.” What’s behind this comedian who understands that comedy is more than funny? How did he make the transformation from traditional comedian to someone who inspires people – especially people he doesn’t consider to be his audience – to act? A message in search of meaningOver the course of an hour at Content Marketing World, Michael Jr. shared how a transformational moment fundamentally changed the way he communicates with his audience – and there is much for marketers to learn. “I was going to get on stage, and right before I got on, I had a shift in my understanding. Every comedian in Los Angeles, every comedian I know … we’re all about getting laughs out of people. And I just had this shift, this epiphany, where instead of going to get laughs, I just decided, why don’t I just give them an opportunity to laugh? “So I went up there and dropped my shoulders … because I was looking to give something instead of get. Everything changed. When you’re looking to take something from somebody, they can sense it. You can’t necessarily articulate it, but you need something from them. So the audience, they actually have more control that way. But when you have a gift, your job is simply to present the gift.” Michael Jr. went on to explain how this works in his stand-up career. For example, he’s just as likely to offer stand-up comedy at a prison or a hospital these days as he is in front of a paying crowd. And no matter the audience, he makes a point of hearing stories from those attending – and finding a way to tease comedy from ordinary interactions. In fact, he has a gift for pulling laughs from beautifully awkward moments with the people in his audience – individuals willing to share private details in front of massive crowds based almost entirely on the spirit of giving Michael Jr. brings to his shows. Beyond simply giving laughs, Michael Jr. also believes we all have important gifts to share. He says his own gift is the ability to make people laugh while asking them to examine the deeper meaning of their lives. His comedy, he explains, pushes people to open up to him in ways that are hard to imagine. Whether it’s the widow who sought him backstage to say she laughed for the first time in months or a man who tearfully approached him after a show to explain he was a fugitive of the law, hiding out at his aunt’s house, and had decided to turn himself in. “If we sat there for two hours, and I didn’t deposit anything that could help you get any further, what is the point of that? If I make 7 million people laugh next year, and nobody was better as a result of it, then I need to go fill out an application somewhere,” he shares. Helping others give“The greatest gift you can give someone is the opportunity to give,” says Michael Jr. The greatest gift you can give someone is the opportunity to give, says @Michaeljrcomedy. #CMWorld During our conversation, Michael Jr. recalls a family with very limited income who adopted multiple children so the siblings would not be split up, and shortly afterward had its vehicle stolen. “I felt like I was supposed to help this family, but I didn’t know exactly how,” he explains. “I didn’t feel like I was just supposed to buy them a new vehicle. My thing is I want to do the right thing; I don’t just want to do something … I want to do what’s right.” Instead of doing a comedy fundraiser – which would have easily raised enough money to purchase a new vehicle for this family – Michael Jr. chose a different path. He decided to have a comedy event … with no show. He sold $50 tickets, raising $40,000 for a show that never happened. “One guy walked up to the table to buy a ticket and he had a ring on his finger,” laughs Michael Jr. “I remember thinking it was awesome that he was going to buy a ticket and I asked him if he was going to take his wife. He laughed and bought another ticket. I can’t tell you how many emails and stories we received from those ticket buyers, and what happened as a result.” Finding your opportunities to giveYou may not think you have these opportunities, but they abound. Michael Jr. challenges each of us to answer this question: If you didn’t need to make any money, but you wanted to help your customer, what would you give them? If you didn’t need to make money but wanted to help your customer, what would you give them? @michaeljrcomedy I have found myself coming back to this question time and time again since my conversation with Michael Jr. What is your gift that you can give? If you’re taken with the idea of giving more and taking less, consider these examples of brands creating memorable, giving experiences. The Nerdery’s Overnight Website ChallengeThe Nerdery is a one-stop shop for nerd-needed mobile and web applications, websites, systems integrations, and digital-project consulting. Recruiting top nerds is an ongoing challenge in an economy lacking in digital talent … and the Nerdery is consistently named a top employer. One project that defines its workplace culture: The Overnight Website Challenge. Volunteers form teams of web designers, developers, and writers to crank out websites for needy nonprofits in 24 hours. BombasBombas sells socks … what is so special about that? Before the company launched, it learned that socks are the No. 1 clothing item requested at homeless shelters. To help, Bombas donates one pair of socks for every pair purchased – and not just any type of sock, but socks designed specifically to withstand the rigors of living outdoors.
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38+ Examples of Brands Doing Great Content This article originally appeared in the February issue of CCO magazine. Subscribe for your free print copy today. Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute The post How to Give Meaning to Your Content appeared first on Content Marketing Institute. How to Give Meaning to Your Content syndicated from http://ift.tt/2maPRjm via Tumblr How to Give Meaning to Your Content Have you ever seen a blog post and thought, “Wow, this looks really nice”? On the flip side, have you seen a post with a wall of text and no images, and thought, “Wow, this looks really ugly”? Did you even read the second one? Your posts’ text needs to engage your readers to keep them coming back, but first your posts need to be visually appealing to attract those readers. Your blog posts first need to be visually appealing to attract readers, says @TheBillWidmer. An attractive blog post will:
It’s not that hard to make a blog post look good, either – it just takes a little extra elbow grease and some pizzazz.
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The Ultimate Blog Marketing Checklist: 65 Tips, Tools, and Resources 1. Craft an awe-inspiring headlineDavid Ogilvy, famous advertiser, once said:
On average, 5x as many people read the headline as read the body copy says #DavidOlgivy via @TheBillWidmer. Wow. With so much at stake, what’s a content marketer to do? Well, here are a few tips: Be specificPeople prefer known risks over unknown risks (ambiguity aversion) – we want to know what we’re getting into. Neil Patel found that 61% of top-shared headlines contain numbers (numbers give readers a framework of what to expect.) 61% of top-shared headlines contain numbers, says @neilpatel. Promise somethingYour article should have a clear goal – to provide a benefit the readers seek. The headline educates viewers on how they will benefit by reading the post. For example, this post’s headline promised you three tips to make your blog posts sexy. Make a promise in your headline – and deliver on that promise, says @TheBillWidmer. Don’t be afraid to be oddThis isn’t conventional wisdom, but who ever wanted to be conventional, anyway? Some of the best headlines are those that make the reader stop and say, “Wait, what?” For example, Brad Smith recently wrote a genius headline on the Kissmetrics blog: Hey $FNAME” is Dead. Here’s How to Personalize Marketing in 2017. Unexpected or surprising headlines stand out among the clutter. Just make sure you don’t write a headline simply for shock value – it still needs to work for the text in the post.
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Increase Content Marketing Success With Helpful Headline Tips & Tools 2. Format like a masterPeople don’t read every word in your posts. NN Group research found that visitors read around 20% of the words on a page. Be sure that your posts are designed to encourage people to read further. I’ll let Andy Crestodina, founder of Orbit Media Studios, take the stage on this tip: “As writers, we have just two ways to slow people down and get them to read more of our content: formatting and images. Formatting adds white space, which makes pages more scannable. Content is easier to consume if it’s in small groups, with important points called out. Consider adding these elements everywhere: Formatting & images are 2 ways to slow people down & get them to read our #content, says @Crestodina.
“But the big way to make content sexier is with images. Add something of visual interest at every scroll depth of every post. A lot of the pros are already doing this. Every year, more bloggers are adding more images to their typical article. “In a desert of text, images are like water. Give your readers a sip!”
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How to Make Visitors Read Your Entire Article 3. Don’t forget the little detailsJust as artists pays close attention to every detail so should content marketers on the finishing touches on their masterpiece. These include: Write an awesome descriptionYour meta description is the only thing (besides your title) to entice Google searchers to choose your post over another. You spent hours polishing your post – spend five more minutes to craft a great 155-character description of it. Your meta description & title are the only things to entice Google searchers to choose you. @TheBillWidmer
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5 SEO Strategies for Social Media You Need to Know Before You Hit Publish Make sure social posts look goodHave you ever shared your post on Facebook only to have the platform grab the wrong image or chop off the essentials? Look at this image used on social for an article I wrote on blog formatting – it doesn’t make me look like I know what I’m talking about that’s for sure. In addition, Facebook and Twitter sometimes don’t pull the text you want them to. You can fix these issues with the help of tools. Two that I’ve found useful are the WordPress plugin Yoast SEO, and Formilla. The Yoast widget includes at the end of each post a button that looks like a share icon on a mobile phone. Click on it and you can edit the Facebook and Twitter images, titles, and text. Formilla creates separate social-sharing images that include the headline text. That way, the headline version pops up on social but it doesn’t appear on the original blog page. Keep URLs short and specificWordPress and most other CMS automatically create a URL for your page. Often, it’s long and unsightly. Edit the prepopulated URL to make it as short as possible while including relevant keywords. This step not only makes the page seem less daunting, it also makes it easier for people to type or say it (e.g., referencing it in a podcast). ConclusionMore people are attracted to good-looking blog posts. They please the eye. They suck you in. They make you feel more comfortable. Beautifying your blog posts doesn’t have to take a tremendous amount of time or effort. You can implement most of these tips in just 15 to 20 minutes. You just have to start paying attention to the details. Cover image by Ryan McGuire via Bells Design Gratisography Please note: All tools included in our blog posts are suggested by authors, not the CMI editorial team. No one post can provide all relevant tools in the space. Feel free to include additional tools in the comments (from your company or ones that you have used). The post Beauty Matters: 3 Tips to Create Attractive Blog Posts appeared first on Content Marketing Institute. Beauty Matters: 3 Tips to Create Attractive Blog Posts syndicated from http://ift.tt/2maPRjm via Tumblr Beauty Matters: 3 Tips to Create Attractive Blog Posts PNR: This Old Marketing with Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose can be found on both iTunes and Stitcher. This week, Robert and I discuss The New York Times’ business model – and why its future could be very bright. We also explain how the fake news crisis could be creating an amazing opportunity for brands, and prepare for some big media company acquisitions by brands. Rants and raves include a Pixar training course on storytelling; then we close with an example of the week on John Yocum Beaty. This week’s show(Recorded live on February 26, 2017; Length: 1:04:43) Download this week’s PNR This Old Marketing podcast. If you enjoy our PNR podcasts, we would love if you would rate it, or post a review, on iTunes. 1. Notable news and upcoming trends
2. Sponsor (38:56)
3. Rants and raves (43:16)
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One Thing Is Killing Content Marketing and Everyone Is Ignoring It
The #content we provide needs to go beyond the products & services our businesses offer. @robert_rose.
Strengthen your core audience rather than focus on getting more audience, says @joepulizzi.
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Why Inbound Marketing Should Take a Back Seat to Current Customers 4. This Old Marketing example of the week (53:47)
For a full list of PNR archives, go to the main This Old Marketing page. Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute How do I subscribe?The post This Week in Content Marketing: Fake News Creates Huge Opportunity for Branded Content appeared first on Content Marketing Institute. This Week in Content Marketing: Fake News Creates Huge Opportunity for Branded Content syndicated from http://ift.tt/2maPRjm via Tumblr This Week in Content Marketing: Fake News Creates Huge Opportunity for Branded Content |
AuthorA professional with over 26 years experience working within the advertising and marketing communications industry. Practical knowledge, understanding and experience for a wide range of business disciplines including the financial services, legal, commercial services, retail, online, charitable and civil service sectors. I am managing digital marketing company with 600+ monthly clients. Started with search engine marketing, I have slowly moved into all branches of digital marketing like website design, Email marketing, web development, Mobile Application Development, PPC marketing, Android Application Development. With a unique combination of deep understanding of internet marketing, I have established an outstanding reputation. Personal Links
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