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5 Key Elements of Modern Inbound Marketing

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Last week, I made the case for a new definition of inbound marketing, or as Michael Brenner (@brennermichael) called it in the comments, a “call to arms” for inbound marketers.

The new inbound marketing definition: Be found through the recommendation of others and delight everyone that finds you.

As inbound marketing evolves, the components also need to change. Traditionally, inbound marketing has been functionally defined as the combination of search, social and content. However, these components are not enough for inbound marketers to excel in today’s environment.

This is what modern inbound marketing looks like: [Read more…]

Content Will Not Be King

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Coronation crown of Louis XVNearly every marketer in every industry has heard the cry “Content is King“. Even the cover of Ad Age was emblazoned with Content is King last month, complete with a crown. Once a call for change and recognition of a new marketplace reality, Content is King has become conventional marketing wisdom.

The problem is, conventional wisdom is average. Following conventional marketing wisdom will not differentiate you.

Why is content king today:

  • Being customer-centric required moving away from creative executions as the primary way to deliver a message. Focusing on the customer requires providing something that meets their need, and content perfectly fits the bill.
  • Content marketing was not the norm. Companies embracing content marketing were able to provide unique value to clients and prospects.

Today, the situation has changed. [Read more…]

3 Questions For When Mobile is the First Screen

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my iPhone family pileMobile devices are expected to be the primary mode of internet access in the next three years. This is worth saying again: Your company’s digital experience will be primarily via mobile devices.

The current response from marketing falls woefully short of where they need to be in a few short months.

Discussions of mobile marketing quickly turn to apps, mobile sites and how to make content mobile-friendly. Even when embraced, this response is eerily similar to early websites, which extended brochures to the web by merely converting to HTML and adding hyperlinks. [Read more…]

Twitter IS Social

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This morning, eConsultancy posted Twitter isn’t very social: study, a review of recent research from Yahoo, taking the position that Twitter is not a social network. In fact, they question if Twitter is more of a broadcast medium than a social medium.

The statistic circulating through Twitter (by the way, being shared between connections on Twitter, but I won’t belabor the point) is that 50% of all content consumed on Twitter is generated by only 20,000 users. The elite, the top 0.05% of twitter users, create 50% of all content consumed on Twitter. Sound impressive? It’s not.

[Read more…]

Content Curation: The Oldest Media Activity

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Media companies have always curated content. With limited time and space, newscasts, prime time schedules and papers have been carefully assembled from the best available content.

Kitty on a pile of newspapers - from Brit Randolph on FlickrAs marketers become publishers in their own right, it is natural they become expert content curators also. In Content Curation – It’s What’s for Breakfast These Days on Social Media Explorer, Stephanie Schwab says brands the curate interesting content from outside sources ultimately expand their brands. That is one of your objectives, right?

[Read more…]

Set Your Content Free

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Your content is in jail. It had great potential, but something went wrong. Now, it is stuck behind a window with 6 to 10 horizontal gray steel bars. Your registration form. Barred Window

This is the content you slaved over and chased your subject matter experts for weeks, even months, for. It clearly positions your solution as the leader in your quickly changing industry.

Now, it is stuck in jail. It is nearly impossible to discover through search. It is not tweeted or liked by anyone but you. It is missing its opportunity to reinforce your leadership message. And the days tick by, until one day your content is out of date, its jail term turned into a forgotten life sentence.

Your content was developed to support your position. Get it out of jail. Allow it to do what it was designed to do. When you do, here are just a few of the benefits you can expect to see: [Read more…]