Content Strategy

5 Future-proof Ideas For Your Website

Predicting the future of the web is nearly impossible. Ever-changing technology provides fodder for our imagination to run wild. And it typically does. Imagination outpaces invention. And invention outpaces convention. Which is why we should focus less on technology, and more on human nature when we’re future-proofing our websites. If we bet on technology, we […]

Give Me One Reason to Share It and I’ll Spread Your Post Around

There are a lot of blips on our daily radars. We check our Twitter stream. We drop in on Google+. We comb through our RSS feeds. And for the most part, we ignore most of the content we see. Why? Because we’ve read it before. Because it sounds too familiar. Because it’s obvious. Because it’s […]

4 Ways to Get More Mileage Out of Old Content

nickelodeon old content all that, picture of a girl getting slimed

I’m a ’90s baby. I grew up during, at least what I believe to be, the peak of Nickelodeon’s programming. These classic Nick shows represented an iconic part of tv’s pop culture and had everything from talking babies (Rugrats), a dog and cat conjoined (Catdog), action shows (Legends of the Hidden Temple) and pretty much […]

If Your Website Burst into Flames, What Would You Keep?

Like an attic in an old house, websites tend to be a place where we set something down for the time-being, and that time-being turns into eternity. And it ends up being very cluttered. It’s the web, after all. It’s virtually limitless. We can upload as much as we want, we can trick out navigational […]

Goodbye, Voice of God (in Journalism)

voice of god is dead in journalism, picture of speakers

For political junkies, there was no more bizarre and fascinating news night than the 2000 election returns. Among the embarrassing moments that night—and there were quite a few—was when anchorman Dan Rather announced that Al Gore had won Florida, and then proclaimed, “If [CBS News] says someone carried a state, you can take that to […]

The Anatomy of a Web Redesign Failure

web redesign failure, image of a construction site

All of the best practice documents in the world can’t prepare you for a thud that was supposed to be a splash when your big website redesign hits the market. Or should we say, misses the market. Designing a website is a difficult endeavor. Sure, everybody and their 11-year-old-nephew seems to be capable of launching their own […]

You’re a Human, Act Like It. Unless You’re OK with Being a Digital Marketing Failure

human digital marketing superior to robot digital marketing

Audiences are made of people, they aren’t made of logos. And when building an audience, you must connect with other people as a person, not as a logo. There are very few that can succeed while ignoring this basic mantra. According to the law of averages, you are not one of them.

What Has Your Blog Done For Me Lately?

You probably fell in love with a blog once. You subscribed to the RSS feed, liked it on Facebook, and followed it on Twitter so you never missed an update or witty remark from your editorial superhero. Maybe you met through a friend or maybe you stumbled upon it (literally or figuratively). Regardless, you fell […]

Content Design for the Digital Reader

terry pittman, content marketing executive

I was sitting on the bus on the way to work a few mornings ago when a thought suddenly struck me: “Where’s all the trash?” Washington, D.C., where I live, is a city known for its appetite for reading. On any given morning, the downtown line is a gray hue of policy wonks, academics, financiers […]

What the Presidents of the USA Would Have Blogged About on the 4th of July

Declaring independence (and keeping it) is a difficult endeavor. It takes wisdom, fearlessness, consistency, persistence, and dedication. In a much humbler realm – content marketing – the same virtues apply to success. In honor of the 4th of July, here are what some of the commanders in chief have said about content marketing. Sort of.

The Difference Between a Crowd and an Audience

In a former life, I was the lead singer of a band. Believe it or not, I used to get on stage, play guitar and sing, and not everyone booed. We had a demo CD, T-shirts, and a handful of people who would show up to our gigs who weren’t blood-related.

Why Content Matters

Lori Rosen is executive director of the Custom Content Council (CCC), a membership organization representing nearly 90 publishers of custom print and online media. Rosen and several members of her organization are fresh from the CCC’s annual meeting in Charleston, S.C., where new research showed that 81 percent of chief marketing officers said they planned […]

5 Things Brands Want from Facebook Fans Besides Money

ROI doesn’t always come in the form of cold, hard cash. Though your CFO might get nauseous at the notion of outcomes she can’t put in the bank, there’s a ton of value to be derived from Facebook fans that doesn’t make the cash register ca-ching. At least not directly.

6 Social Media Marketing Roadblocks and How to Plow Through Them

The race is on. Social media provides a track for organizations to connect with their audience like never before. But the road is not always smooth. A recent survey by HiveFire highlighted 6 of the most common roadblocks that hinder progress for organizations when it comes to implementing their social media marketing initiatives:

Content Curation: If You Can’t Be the Source, Be the Resource

People used to come into my sandwich shop craving pizza. I could see it in their eyes. They wanted melted mozzarella on a bed of tomato sauce with black olives, pepperoni and maybe just a touch of roasted red pepper. They wouldn’t be satisfied with a sandwich – not this time anyway. Their craving knew […]

Bringing Content to Life: 5 Tips for Creating Online Video

better online video content with michael mccarthy

You don’t have to be Martin Scorsese to create online video for your brand. But that doesn’t mean you can just whip out a shaky hand-held camera and videotape a squirrel riding a skateboard with bizarre ambient sounds in the background. So how do you use online video to extend the pages of your print […]

Print or Online? There’s No Easy Answer

If I had a nickel for every time a client asked me ‘do you recommend print or online?’ I would be a rich man. Well, not quite rich, but I’d have a boatload of nickels. This question comes up almost daily from corporate marketers, association marketers, hospital marketers, and even from colleagues at other media […]