Latest News from Newt Barrett

Take Your Elevator Speech to a Higher Level

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:45:00 EST

As he put it, "Understand that the Elevator Pitch is Dead. You remember the elevator pitch. The notion that you should be able to describe what your company does in the length of time consumed by the average elevator ride. I’m here to tell you, that’s way too long these days. Elevator rides seem interminable." I am in absolute agreement that brevity is essential. But, brevity is just the beginning. In fact, the ideal elevator speech should be exactly that–a beginning. Don’t think of your short statement as a traditional speech designed to get a big round of applause at the end. Instead, it serves as an opening gambit that engages your listener so effectively that it begins a dialogue of indefinite length. It can become the welcoming door to your compelling content.

Six Reasons to Embrace Social Media Today

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:00:00 EST

Social media marketing is a trend, not a fad. But, most small to medium-sized businesses have yet to participate fully and enthusiastically. We have just written about a powerful new research study that paints a picture of how thousands of smart companies are already benefiting from the inclusion of social media. What’s clear from [...]

Terrific New Social Media Research Study Means It’s Time for Small Business to Get with the Program

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:19:06 EST

If you’ve been dragging your feet on social media, it’s time to take both of those feet and jump right in. The just released study on business use of social media from the folks at Business.com is must reading for content marketers who are active, tentative or hesitant about social media. Their research, 2009 [...]

Give Your Marketing Real Depth to Deliver Offline and Online Results

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:57:04 EST

It’s All About the Power of Deep 3 D Content Over Skinny 2 D Content What’s the difference between 2-D marketing and 3-D marketing you might ask? Plenty! Think of all the junk mail you receive at home or at the office. Tons of envelopes and a few postcards. Virtually everything but the bills will be [...]

Top 10 Lessons Small Businesses Can Takeaway from Smart Content Marketers

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:37:28 EDT

This week, several client meetings reinforced a vital truth: Content marketing isn’t an arcane theory taught in expensive graduate schools that only billion dollar companies can use. In fact, great content marketing is much more about brains than big bucks. Those client conversations took me back to lessons learned from more than a dozen case [...]

Yes! You Can Afford to Do The Research That Lets You Understand Your Customers

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:39:15 EDT

How to Get Started on Cheap and Powerful Customer Studies Unless you understand your customers, you risk painful marketing missteps. Because we know that effective content marketing depends on a thorough understanding of your customers, regular research should be a core component of your content marketing strategy. Of course, it’s possible to do way too [...]

A Financial Pro Charts the Way to a Great Online Business Presence

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:11:00 EDT

Dean Piccirillo Makes a One-Person Blog-powered Website Look like a Major Corporate Presence Online Building a solid business blog-powered website is challenging for all of us. But it’s even more difficult for anyone who lives in the financial services universe. Because financial services professionals must adhere to strict compliance regulations, they must be very careful [...]

The Godfather Guide to Direct Marketing

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 16:00:00 EDT

I was perversely inspired to write this because of a recent gorgeous direct mailing I received from local French restaurant. They did a lot of things right. There was some beautiful photography that captured the essence of this charming little bistro. They described how the restaurant and its cuisine were uniquely appealing. They shared some impressive awards and recognitions for their excellence. They included their Web address. And, they even provided a little map that showed me exactly how to find it.

Location, Location, Location on Google

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 09:15:00 EDT

Effective content marketing online drives Chris Griffith’s blog powered website to number four on search rankings. You might think that Realtor.com, Yahoo real estate, the Yellow Pages, either of the two local newspapers or all of the big area real estate companies would trample an individual realtor on Google. But, you’d be wrong. In fact, when [...]

Six Steps to a Successful Small Business Content Marketing Strategy

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 09:00:00 EDT

How to go from clueless to compelling to transform prospects into buyers In 2007, the mention of content marketing brought as many blank stares from small business owners as the mention of a website did 10 years before. In fact, in 1997 when we started our small business magazine in Southwest Florida, few owners had websites, let alone an online marketing strategy. Today, most small businesses do have websites and the term, ‘content marketing,' has gone from obscure to fashionable. When I say fashionable, I mean that the usage of the phrase has skyrocketed in the past two years. For example, the number of visitors to our website who arrived because they had done a search for 'content marketing,' has increased by a factor of 10. I'm delighted that content marketing has come out of the shadows and into the spotlight. Even so, for most small businesses, developing a content marketing mindset and a strategy to follow just does not come naturally. Fortunately, the fundamentals of a successful small business content marketing strategy are much more commonsensical than you might think. In fact, they build on what have long been best marketing practices. Even those content marketing elements that require a new mindset have a simple and compelling logic that even the smallest business can grasp and adopt. Here are the six steps that should put you on the path to effective content marketing:

Six Secrets to Creating a Positively Remarkable Brand Name

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 22:10:00 EDT

A Great Product with a Terrible Name Will Sink. A Great Product with Terrific Name Will Soar. Think Google. Think Bing. Think Kleenex. Think Nike. But most of all think carefully before you attach that all-important brand name to your shiny new product. That’s the essential advice from Caitlin Randolph of BrandBucket.com in this guest post. BrandBucket teaches companies how to build new brands with a bang by choosing just the right name. 6 Keys to Turning a Terrific Idea into a Successful Product by Leveraging Just the Right Brand Name. For many start ups, naming a new business or product is even harder than coming up with the perfect name for your firstborn child. By the time your idea is ready to become a product you may find yourself in desperate need of a great brand name. But you may also find yourself a bit too close to your baby to give it the perfect brand name. We know how hard and how important it is to develop that name so let us shine some new light on the naming of your future brand.

Six Secrets to Making Online Video Work for Small Business

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 07:57:00 EDT

Kathy Saenz of Neighborhood America Shares What It Takes to Make Video an Effective Content Marketing Tool Even a micro business can use video effectively to communicate with its customers online. But, as we amateur carpenters know, you can wind up with a mess instead of a masterpiece unless you understand how to use a [...]

Lessons from a Business Website That Misunderstands Content Marketing

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 09:39:34 EDT

You must be clear on what you do and how your customers will benefit I became aware of the Metwell website as a result of a promotion they had sent me via Twitter. Their website is full of unintended ironies as they offer online marketing advice which the website appears to ignore. It's also a good example of a website with a pretty good layout that is undercut by a lack of focus and a serious shortage of relevant and compelling content. I found it hard to understand exactly what Metwell does or how they could help me after a quick--and then a more in depth--visit to their website The company seems to know content is important because their site attempts to provide a lot of content, at least on the surface. But they misunderstand the essence of content marketing by failing to make their content relevant and compelling to prospective buyers. Here's what I find to be most problematic:

Why Being Visual Can Bring Beautiful Business Results

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 08:11:16 EDT

Inspiration from ‘Visual Blogger’ Mark Smiciklas of Intersection Marketing It's hard to make things easy. And, it's even harder to be amusing at the same time. But the very best visuals can take a complex idea or series of connected ideas and make them instantly understandable. Just the right visuals make those ideas even more memorable when they are funny as well. In the case of the Intersection Marketing blog from Mark Smiciklas, he manages to do both consistently.

Why The Statue of Liberty Offers the Best Brand Promise for America

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 07:27:33 EDT

Lady Liberty Symbolizes the Best of the United States in a Uniquely Powerful Way. This may be more about loving the Statue of Liberty than about marketing. So I might be slightly off-topic. Even so, you don't have to look any farther than the Statue of Liberty to understand the potential power of a brand promise with deep, authentic roots. This year, in the weeks before 9/11, I started to think about what I believe is the most powerful symbol of all that is right about the United States, not just for Americans but for people around the world. I also began to think that the only thing worse than losing the Twin Towers in 2001 would have been losing the Statue of Liberty, too.

Use 4 Easy Pieces to Build to a Successful Content Strategy

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:30:34 EDT

Use the B.E.S.T Plan to Plot Your Content Course My colleague and co-author, Joe Pulizzi of Junta42 fame, just posted an article that will make it easier for newcomers to content marketing to get off on the right content foot. The shift in mindset to a content-based strategy from a traditional marketing approach requires some pretty heavy lifting. But, with the B.E.S.T.content strategy, you’ll be able to go from content marketing neophyte to professional with minimum aggravation and maximum effectiveness. There are just four basic components to master as you work on your organization’s marketing transformation. Here’s how Joe builds the case for the 4 easy pieces:

Bad Dog Commercial. Bad. Bad. Bad.

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 08:36:00 EDT

Just because you put a cute dog in a commercial, you won't automatically communicate effectively with your customers. Storytelling is a key component of effective marketing and often of the very best advertising. But, you have to be really careful in the use of storytelling for a brief TV commercial that addresses millions of viewers who are not giving you their full attention from the get-go. That's why the State Street SPDR commercial featuring a cute Jack Russell Fox Terrier misses the mark.

Stop Being a Marketer

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 10:25:00 EDT

Marketing rules are changing all around us. The winners in this new world will be the early adopters who understand the new breed of buyer, take advantage of better and cheaper technology, and deliver problem-solving content. It's time for marketers to replace traditional publishers. Make sure you aren’t the last one on your block to make the transformation.

Dogs and Baked Beans a Dangerous Combination? Not for the Bush Family of Products!

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 08:54:12 EDT

Why a talkative canine was able to put a family-owned business in our collective consciousness One can only imagine the original ad agency pitch to the company when they suggested having the company president and a talking golden retriever be the centerpiece of a national marketing campaign. It must’ve seemed just as crazy as the [...]

Why Your Personal Brand is All About Solving Customer Problems

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:36:37 EDT

And Why It’s Not about Your Wonderful Qualities as a Human Being I don't mean to suggest that your customers don't care about your fundamental decency, professionalism, and your devotion to your local community. However, each of those qualities is necessary, but not sufficient for someone to do business with you. Ultimately, your personal brand reflects your unique ability to help your ideal customers succeed. A few weeks ago I had a phone conversation with a former colleague who had invested a significant amount of money with a company whose assignment was to shape his personal brand. He pointed me to his brand-new website which highlighted his passion for financial planning and his devotion to his local Midwest community. Since I've known him for years, I know that this accurately reflected the kind of guy he is. But if I had been a customer going to his website in search of solutions, my initial reaction would've almost certainly have been, "So what?"

The Best Way to Promote Your Offline Business to Online Prospects

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:31:45 EDT

Use Google, Yahoo, and Micosoft Directories to Turn Your Physical Storefront into a Virtual Version (Guest post by WordPress fanatic and small business web consultant Don Campbell) If your business is an "offline" business with a physical storefront, the most effective way to improve your search rankings in Google is to list your business in the free local business directories from Google, Yahoo and Microsoft. Once you are listed in these directories, you have a chance to get listed in the "Google 10-Pack" - which is an invaluable way to get the word out about your business when people type in search terms in your local area. In fact, if you don't claim your Google Local Business Center profile, in some cases it can be scooped up by others who want to capitalize on the listings!

Why Your Blog Beats Your Website to Your Prospects

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:15:00 EDT

Influence them with information well before they are ready to buy from you. I have written before about the many differences between a traditional website and a blog. Your website typically provides timeless information, while your blog provides timely information. Moreover your blog becomes more important as you keep adding more and more content that is relevant to your prospective customers. But a case study about a consulting company, De Novo Strategy, from Bernie Borges' new book, Marketing 2.0, suggested a new nuanced but critical reason for the power of a business blog. It boils down to the fundamental difference between the purpose of your website and of your blog. Your website must necessarily be designed so that when your customers are ready to research the purchase of products and services, they will find everything they need to know to make positive buying decision on your site. Your blog has the opportunity to reach those prospective customers earlier in the process. The best blogs provide a continuous stream of information about topics, issues, and problems that are specific to a well defined market niche.

Why You Need Outbound Marketing to Strengthen Your Inbound Marketing

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 10:15:32 EDT

Great Advice from Singapore Blogger and Coach Celestine Chua on Kick Starting Your Business We all tend to go overboard with any important trend. We get so excited about what's brand-new that we forget about the tried and true. So it is with inbound marketing vs. outbound marketing. Celestine reminds us that outbound marketing done right, particularly in the form of smart public relations can make a measurable and almost immediate positive difference. The concept behind inbound marketing is that you engage in a lot of information creation activities that will pull in folks who are interested in what you have to say. Business blogs and participation in social media such as Twitter and Facebook enable you to offer content that prospects volunteer to consume. Obviously, I believe in that. Witness the existence of Content Marketing Today and the blog post you’re currently reading. But, as Celestine emphasizes, that's only the first part of the equation that should also include smart outbound marketing.

If You or Your Boss Thinks Social Media Is a Fad, Watch This Video

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:15:00 EDT

SW Florida media maven and real estate professional, Chris Griffith, clued me into this cool and compelling video does a terrific job of dispelling doubts about the power and impact of social media. So, it's only natural to share it on my blog, which, of course, is a prime social media component. As I was about to post the video, I realized that the Facebook alert from Chris was a metaphor for the fast growing impact of social media to connect people, businesses, and concepts. Here's what I mean:

The Secret to SEO Search Engine Optimization

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:30:00 EDT

That's the word from veteran SEO expert Heather Lloyd-Martin SEO is not about creating a website sausage overstuffed with key words and phrases. It’s all about creating relevant and compelling content that transforms you into a thought leader who can become a trusted provider. You can, then, readily convert visitors into buyers Of course, this is gospel for me and many content marketers. But, it is poorly understood by many marketers and SEO practitioners who still think cramming a ton of words and phrases deemed to be search engine friendly in every nook and cranny of your website will place you high on the results page. So, I was both encouraged and inspired by Heather Lloyd-Martin's recent post who has been helping clients get great search results for more than a decade. Since she does search engine optimization for a living, it's wonderful to hear her say that it's ultimately all about the content.

Why Storytelling is Vital to Effective Business Presentations

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 05:15:00 EDT

Whatever audience you must persuade, you need to engage them with compelling content in the form of stories. That’s easy to say, but hard to do. As Jerry Weissman, author of Presenting to Win: The Art of Telling Your Story, puts it, "The problem is that no one knows how to tell a story and no one knows that they don't know how to tell a story." Fortunately, you’ll come away from reading this book armed with the necessary tools to tell those all-important stories brilliantly. Presenting to Win, in its new expanded edition, teaches you to communicate with a purpose--whether you are convincing employees of the need to change, persuading prospects that you have the best solution to a problem or leading skeptical community groups to support your cause.

How to Give Away a Ton of Information to Sell a Ton of Products

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:54:56 EDT

Content Marketing Pioneer, Tim Berry of Palo Alto Software Tells You How to Build Your Business Before He Charges You a Nickel In 1994, I read the first edition of Tim Berry's wonderful book, Hurdle: The Book on Business Planning without realizing that it was a perfect example of content marketing. Of course, back then, nobody was calling what he did content marketing. Essentially, Tim's book gave away all of the information you needed to build your own successful business plan. This might seem odd since his real business then and now is selling software that automates the process of building business plans and marketing plans. Why would we want to buy his software after we've read his book? I believe there are two reasons:

Because Your People Are Vital to Your Business, You Should Make Them an Important Part of Your Website

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:01:13 EDT

Visitors to two new client websites are spending a lot of time learning about their teams on pages devoted to team members. Why? Because your visitors understand that they must count on your people to deliver solutions to their problems. When I recently reviewed the Google analytics data from two recently launched websites, the amount of time visitors spent on pages devoted to their team members reinforced the value of showcasing each organization's team. Although, in both cases, a dozen or more pages got a solid level of traffic, their people pages ranked very close to the top. Your customers want to know that you have the right people on the bus and that you truly value them. When top corporate executives featured in Good to Great were asked to provide reasons for their success, they focused more than anything on their people. Author, Jim Collins, talked about the importance of getting the right people on the bus. Every leader understood that having the right team in place enabled them to manage almost any situation. In effect, those leaders indicated that leadership was a heck of a lot easier if you had the right people to lead. Your customers know that, too. Sure, they will decide to do business with you in large part because of how you are positioned, on your ability to provide appropriate products and services that solve their problems, and on the competitiveness of your pricing. But, in the end, their trust in your team will take them from strong prospects to solid customers.

Why Your Small Business Needs to Measure Its Return on Social Media Investments

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 22:17:47 EDT

Be very specific about what tangible benefits you intend to derive from your efforts. It seems as though every kind of organization from multinational to small business to nonprofit are beginning to believe that social media should be an important component of their marketing programs. In our own Southwest Florida community, this is clear from the organic growth of the social media coffee sessions organized by a savvy local marketer, Cyndee Woolley. The perceived importance of social media marketing has grown with astonishing speed even compared to the relatively rapid growth of the business Web. If you think back just 10 years, relatively few small organizations took the Web very seriously. If they had a website, it was probably pretty basic brochure Ware that did very little more than an actual brochure would have done. By contrast, within just a few years, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter now represent the concept of social media marketing for small organizations--even if they're not very sure whether and how to use either one of them. What I found encouraging from this morning's session is that a variety of owners, marketing folks, and nonprofit executives are determined to figure out exactly how to put social media to work. In particular, they are very much engaged in how to determine the ROI on their investment of time and money.

How a Small Retailer Does Powerful E-Mail Marketing That Delivers Dollar Results

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 09:45:40 EDT

Miss Lucy's House of Holidays understands how to segment its customers and deliver targeting messages as part of a consistent content marketing campaign. Like many small retailers, Miss Lucy's has a very limited marketing budget. Unlike many small retailers, they have a very clear understanding of their ideal target customer and know how to do carefully segmented e-mail marketing. This shop focuses on high-end product lines and unique gifts which are centered around a holiday theme. Throughout the year and for a wide variety of holidays they continually redecorate and refocus the design of their store. Since their founding in October 2007, they have experimented with a variety of marketing and advertising, including print advertising, TV advertising, radio advertising, direct mail--and most recently an effectively e-mail marketing. Today, they do almost no traditional marketing They have instead focused their efforts on e-mail marketing. Here's why that works so well for them:

Create a Special-Purpose eNewsletter Series

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 22:00:00 EDT

Whether or not you are actually sending out regular eNewsletters to customers and prospects, you should consider creating a special ‘tips’ eNewsletter for new users and/or testers. As it frequently does, the Avongate blog inspired me with a post that was specific to software companies that need to convert free trial users into paying customers. Guest blogger, Jason Cohen, CEO of Smart Bear Software, emphasizes that you need to do something with your captured customer info, because you will be wasting data otherwise. But, he also suggested that the typical "thanks and hope you’re enjoying our software " was not much better than doing nothing.

Test post for tweet meme

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:48:15 EDT

Does this get me a tweet meme link? xxxxxxxxxxxxx

How to Create an E-Book That Will Benefit Your Customers and Your Company

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 09:15:00 EDT

The E-Book E-Book Is the Perfect Example of Content Marketing That Helps You Be a Much More Effective Content Marketer You have to love it when a great marketing guy completes the content marketing circle. That's exactly what Jonathan Kranz has done in his new E-Book E-Book which teaches its readers exactly how to create an effective e-book that will, in turn, serve as an effective content marketing vehicle for their organizations. Jonathan is true to the content marketing credo. He provides relevant and compelling content for free. He proves that he understands how to create a great e-book by creating a great e-book. In so doing, he makes himself a trusted source of information whom we would be comfortable hiring to help us with our content marketing. It just doesn't get any better.

Five Twitter Tips to Strengthen Your Content Marketing Strategy

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 09:00:00 EDT

You may be wondering why something as seemingly simple as Twitter causes so much confusion and consternation among business people. Perhaps, it best likened to a tool like a hammer which is simultaneously simple and powerful. After all, a hammer can be used to put up a basic bookshelf or to build an entire home that will house a family for a lifetime. Everything depends on whether you wield that hammer in an awkward, solitary way or use it skillfully and cooperatively with a team of other like-minded folks. So too with Twitter. Used poorly, you may do little more than smash your virtual thumb. But, if you use it well, you can make a measurable difference in your content marketing strategy. Happily, some terrific tools make the effective use of Twitter almost as easy as hammering in a nail.

Why Local Newspapers Require Radical Reinvention to Escape a Very Grim Future

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 09:00:00 EDT

They provide too much of what readers can get anywhere and too little of what readers really want. Local newspapers and business-to-business publications face similar challenges as drastic drops in ad revenue drive equally drastic drops in relevant and compelling content. But for newspapers, ad revenue declines are exacerbated because the highly profitable classified advertising sections have almost disappeared as readers flock to the Internet. Moreover, business-to-business magazines that are well positioned still offer uniquely valuable niche content that helps readers succeed. Their readers still count on them. That’s not so true for our local dailies. I believe that the potential nail in the coffin for local newspapers is the ease with which readers can access national and international content thanks to the Internet. Conversely, I believe that the potential salvation for local newspapers is to become resoundingly local.

How to Create a Brand Name That Resonates with Your Buyers!

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 17:53:00 EDT

The Wigglebutt Inn Gets It Just Right With a Remarkably Wonderful Name You might not know immediately what overnight guests the Wigglebutt Inn is designed to serve. But, if you guessed that they are four-legged and furry, you would be right on the money. In fact, I'll bet that most of you not only guessed what the business does but immediately formed a mental image of a happy dog wagging his tail furiously as soon as you heard the name. Fortuitously, I learned about this brand-new business just after reading an article by Martin Jelsema in BrandNamingBasics.com about the importance of developing your brand name based on a personality-driven brand story. Martin could well have used as an example the Wigglebutt Inn which will open in September 2009 and provide company lodgings for the day or full multiple night stays for our canine pals.

Integrating Your Website and Your Blog

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 06:30:00 EDT

The best small business solution is to eliminate a separate blog and website. Unfortunately, typical small businesses misunderstand the power of a business blog--and cannot envision how it can and should be the driving force behind your online presence. Your best bet is to leverage the power of blogging software to create an online presence which is, at once, timeless and timely. Most of us began with a website that contains static content that was never intended to change much over time. Your static website will be an essential source of product, service, and company data to the majority of buyers that now relying on the Internet as their primary repository of information for potential purchases. Your static website is a vital beginning. But, it's only a beginning.

Word of Mouth Marketing Is Becoming Incredibly Important

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 05:42:00 EDT

Word of mouth marketing has carried marketing messages since the time of cavemen. Back then, it didn’t get your message more than a few cave doors down. Thanks to the impact of the Internet, changes in buyer behavior, and the power of blogging and social media, it will be among the most important ways to market your content and your company. That makes the creation of relevant and compelling content even more important than ever as buyers and prospects spread the word about you and your organization. Intuitively, we know this to be true. Solid research now reinforces that intuition.

Don’t Keep Your Web Visitors Waiting and Guessing

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:15:00 EDT

Our supplier of video services shall remain unnamed. When you arrive at the site you have to wait for flash video to load. Although it loads pretty quickly, the presence of flash is still an unnecessary barrier to getting the information you need to make a buying decision. The home page itself lacks any description of what the company does or how it will help solve my problems. We are presented with bouncing vertical lines at the end of which are vertical navigation links which are placed on their side and thus unnecessarily difficult to read.

A Small Business Website That Works

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 12:45:00 EDT

Adventure Training Concepts(ATC) shows us quickly and precisely what they do and why should we should care I met the founders of this company several years ago when they were just getting started. I always loved the idea of what they were attempting to do but had never looked at their website, until I reconnected with one of the principals, Michelle Jones. ATC leverages the Armed Forces skills of its founders to teach leadership to the building of teams within a challenging adventure framework. Of course, I knew what to their company did because I had met them before. But I would have been just as clear about who they are, what they do and how they can help my company from a quick visit to their website. Here's what works so well on their website.

The Public Relations Secret Behind the $1 Million House Coupon Phenomenon

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:15:00 EDT

How a small PR firm built an abbondonza of buzz for a Florida client with a house to sell. Big ideas can trump big bucks. This is especially true in the new Internet-powered world of public relations. Savvy marketers with a minimum budgets can get pervasive press coverage that would have been impossible five or 10 years ago Just ask Tina Haisman, Southwest Florida PR professional, who was able to generate an astonishing amount of TV, radio, and print coverage far beyond Florida borders. Tina's challenge was to help a Southwest Florida homeowner that needed to sell his multimillion dollar mansion in a very tough real estate market. The homeowner knew that he needed to reach well beyond his local market for likely buyers of his luxurious home. So, he cooked up the idea of a $1 million coupon that would be offered to anyone who bought his house. Motivated by the client's reiterated push for' buzz', Tina decided to make a big bet on a social media press release approach via PR Web. This enabled Tina and her client to reach and influence a global audience with minimum effort and maximum impact.

Five Guys Burgers and Fries Really Understand in Person Content Marketing

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 08:45:00 EDT

How They Use Secret Shoppers to Catch Their Team Members Doing the Right Thing. If you are looking for great basic meat and potatoes cooking in a casual atmosphere, you can’t do much better than Five Guys Burgers and Fries. While working on a client project, I had the opportunity to [...]

Best Read "Content Marketing Today" Posts

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 20:45:00 EDT

Proving again that our readers like to dig into a variety of topics under the broad content marketing umbrella. While you’re enjoying the beach or a barbecue this 4th of July weekend, take a few minutes to ponder how effective content marketing can make you independent of the old-fashioned way of doing things. Here’s the tasty [...]

Here’s A Public Agency That Really Understands Content Marketing

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:45:00 EDT

AC Transit's Dedicated Site, ACTForMe.org, Paints a Brilliant and Loving Portrait of the Benefits of Public Transit AC Transit operates a very sophisticated bus transportation system in the San Francisco Bay area, handling more than 65 million passengers annually in an area covering 364 square miles. That's pretty impressive. But what really impressed me is the fact that they also make excellent use of the web to tell a story that turns taking the bus into the obvious transportation choice.

Why Every Wedding Planner Should Have a Blog–and You Should Too!

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 08:57:00 EDT

When your customers have an important need, they need to know the kind of company you are and why they can trust you I recently had the pleasure of speaking to a combined group of wedding planners from Southwest Florida, the Wedding and Party Planners of Naples and the local National Association of Wedding Planners chapter. As I was preparing for the talk, the importance of content marketing in general--and of blogging in particular--really hit home.

The Golden Rule of Content Marketing

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 23:00:00 EDT

Some of the smartest people I know run very small companies in the business-to-business market. They are dedicated to helping their customers succeed. In one-on-one discussions with customers and prospects, they make it clear how they can help. That’s terrific. And it generates sales. But it’s just a start.

Who at BMW Cooked Up This Disastrous eNewsletter?

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 14:45:00 EDT

I love my BMW. I think Germain BMW is a terrific dealership. But, I hate their eNewsletter. Why? Because it has almost nothing to do with the BMW brand promise: BMW—The Ultimate Driving Machine. In fact, the eNewsletter is so bad, I can only imagine it must be a stealth product of the federal government’s new car Czar organization.

Small Companies Who Get Social Can Play with the Big Boys

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 14:45:00 EDT

Corporate giants are losing power to communities of consumers--and your company can benefit. When it comes to the evolution of the Web and of social media, keeping up seems like an impossible task for most business executives. Nonetheless, keeping up is critically important in order to remain relevant. The good news that I take away from a recent study by Forrester Research, is that the evolution of the "social Web" will help level the marketing playing field between large and small organizations. This is good news for companies who deliver great products and great customer experiences. And, it is especially good news for small marketers can take advantage of what Forrester Research calls the new "social Web”.

What is Your Unique Buying Proposition?

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 14:30:00 EDT

Don’t get me wrong. The unique part is critical. But the age old concept of a unique selling proposition views the problem of positioning almost backwards. The idea of a unique selling proposition is that you need to differentiate yourself from the hundreds or thousands of other vendors with whom you compete. Theoretically, if you have a really good USP, you can stand apart from all the same old same old that everyone else is selling.

Here’s Your Social Media Marketing Tool Cheat Sheet

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 09:15:00 EDT

Thanks to my co-author, Joe Pulizzi, and some helpful contributors for making your search for the right implements a lot easier. If you are starting from scratch, it's almost impossible to figure out what social media and other related online tools will be genuinely useful for marketing your business. Fortunately, Joe has taken the time to assemble and comment on 42 of the most worthy in his blog. You'll find that a common thread among many of the 42 is that they involve both inbound and/or outbound communication. In other words, they will help you send a message to your target buyers or listen to what those buyers are saying about you. My five favorites of the less well known among the 42 that Joe highlights are: