Latest News from Ambal Balakrishnan

How to Put the "Viral" in B2B Marketing Viral Campaigns?

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 08:00:00 EDT

Does viral work for B2B marketing? We asked B2B Marketing experts: What are the components of a "good" viral B2B Marketing Campaign? Read on to get their insights. Every B2B marketer wants their content to be so widely acclaimed that it goes “viral.” This said, I encourage marketers to look beyond the numbers of views to the quality of the outcomes. For a B2B company, if 1,000 people download your eBook, white paper or video, does it matter if you can’t link that activity back to revenues? The best example I’ve seen documented recently is from Junta42. Joe Pulizzi and Jonathan Kranz published The Content Marketing Playbook: 42 Ways to Connect with Customers. Here are the tangible results they documented within 4 business days of its launch:

How to Enhance Information Absorption for Your White Paper?

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:00:00 EST

Many companies are producing video white papers as online presentations based on information that would normally go into a printed white paper. Visual connection seems to engage viewers better and also enhance information absorption. We asked our panel of white paper experts "In what scenarios should video white papers be used? What are components of a good video white paper?". Read on to get their insights.

Michael Stelzner

Blog WritingWhitePapers Twitter Mike_Stelzner

"A video white paper combines information with a real person to create a very unique delivery mechanism"

Michael Stelzner's Bio

Michael Stelzner is one of the leading authorities on the topic of writing and marketing white papers. Michael is also the author of the bestselling book, Writing White Papers: How to Capture Readers and Keep Them Engaged.

Michael Stelzner's Tip

I came across an interesting example of video white paper sponsored by IBM. Simply defined, a video white paper takes the attributes of a white paper and presents them in a video format.

In this video white paper, a third party expert is bashing HP and Intel technology. It comes off as though you are listing to someone’s opinion, but it is rather persuasive. The video white paper combines PowerPoint type on screen information with a real person to create a very unique delivery mechanism.

In this example, there a few interesting things I want to draw to your attention:

Registration required: In a smart marketing move, IBM plays the first 30 seconds of the video and then asks you to fill out a registration form in Flash. This allows them to capture a lead.
Human face: You are actually watching a man talk and he looks right at you. You can kinda tell he is reading a script, but I like it.
Jump around factor: This was designed so you can hop around and get to what you need - a nice touch from having to sit through 30 minutes of video.

Michael Stelzner Recommends

Jonathan Kantor

Blog WhitePaperPundit Twitter Jonathan_Kantor

"Interactive video white papers allow individuals to assimilate information in a way that best fits their fast-paced lifestyles”

Jonathan Kantor's Bio

Jonathan Kantor is the principal and founder of The Appum Group, "The White Paper Company", and has been producing commercial white papers for the past 11 years. He is also the author of the White Paper Pundit blog. Jonathan's experience with white papers is also coupled with over 25 years of enterprise business experience with leading industry innovators such as Apple Computer, Microsoft, Digital Equipment Corporation, and J.D. Edwards Enterprise Software (now a division of Oracle Corporation). This experience included a variety of sales, marketing, business development, and management positions.

Jonathan Kantor's Tip

While video represents an innovative approach to information delivery, document-oriented PDF white papers will remain the premiere way to distribute critical business information.

Today, the white paper is an online document-oriented medium, with the vast majority being published using the Adobe® PDF format. This provides business marketers with the greatest flexibility for onscreen viewing, online distribution, and hardcopy printing that meets the needs of both their marketing campaigns and business users.

For customers that use online social media and smart phones, interactive video white papers allow individuals to assimilate information in a way that best fits their fast-paced lifestyles. But given their short attention spans, video white papers would have a limited amount of time to adequately deliver detailed business benefit messages.

Rather than transform an entire white paper into an interactive video presentation, I prefer the concept of incorporating video as an additional element in the traditional PDF white paper format in the same way that graphics, charts, and illustrations are used. This would enhance existing text content by allowing the reader to switch between a short video or its associated text information in each white paper section. As a result, business readers could select either the information format that best support to their unique learning style.

Jonathan Kantor Recommends

Generating More Leads with Video White Papers
Free document distribution sites: Scribd.com, DocStoc.com, Slideshare.net, Gazhoo.com, Yudu.com, and WhitePapers.org.
Blog sharing sites such as BizSugar.com, Sphinn.com, and Reddit.com.
WhitePaperPundit: The Friday FREE White Paper List, a listing of free white papers from weekly Twitter Tweets that don’t require registration, posted each Friday.
Twitter search criteria set to keywords: “White Paper”, and “White Papers”.
Google Alerts set to “White Paper”, and “White Papers”.

Stephanie Tilton

Blog Savvy B2B Marketing Twitter StephanieTilton

“Video white papers make the most sense for complex topics that require visual explanations”

Stephanie Tilton's Bio

Stephanie Tilton is an expert case study and white paper writer who helps B2B companies advance the buying cycle by engaging prospects and customers. Harnessing her unique blend of technical knowledge, marketing savvy, and writing skills, Stephanie has crafted nearly 150 case studies and white papers for leading brands such as Akamai Technologies, EMC, Macromedia, Novell, SAP, and Symantec. Her website is Ten Ton Marketing.

Stephanie Tilton's Tip

Video white papers make the most sense for complex topics that require visual explanations to clearly convey information. Companies that want to explore this option without making a big investment should consider embedding video within a traditional white paper to highlight important information or explain complex complex points.

Elements of a good video white paper

An engaging speaker and strong story
Interactive navigation
Access to a transcript
Links to related resources

Stephanie Tilton Recommends

Example of video white paper

Recommended Resources from Experts on white papers

Books

Others

WhitePaperSource Online Forum
WhitePaperSource Newsletter
How to Write a White Paper – A White Paper on White Papers
Scribd for reference and distribution of white papers
5 Steps to a White Paper that Pulls in the Perfect Prospect
Savvy B2B Marketing blog posts about white papers
White Paper FAQs
Who needs white papers anyway?
Tips on terrific titles for white papers
Tips on writing white papers as tips
How to use white papers to grow a healthy crop of leads
WhitePaperPundit: The Friday FREE White Paper List

How to increase your Sales Effectiveness with Content?

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:00:00 EST

How to develop your customer's buying milestones? How to use a customer decision plan to close a deal? How to get your prospects to call you back? Sales Veteran Michael Griego covers these question and more in his book 42 Rules to Increase Sale Effectiveness. I have invited Michael to share his insights on how the sales landscape has changed over the decades and how we can adapt to this change.

Michael Griego is president and founder of MXL Partners, a Silicon Valley firm providing sales training, consulting and management services. After a successful sales and management career with firms like IBM, StorageTek, Gartner Group, Intelliquest and Active Decisions, Michael is now a popular sales trainer, sales consultant and keynote speaker for companies internationally. His recent book 42 Rules to Increase Sale Effectiveness provides the keys to sales excellence in today’s challenging world. Michael has a BA degree from Occidental College and an MBA from Stanford University.

Michael Griego

Blog SalesNote

"Do you know how your customer buys?"

Ambal Balakrishnan: Tell us about your sales background?
Michael Griego: I have over 28 years of practical high-technology sales and sales management experience. I spent my first 12 years selling mid-range computer and storage solutions with IBM and XL/Datacomp-StorageTek. I then served sales and VP management roles at Dataquest/Gartner Group, Zona Research/IntelliQuest, Active Decisions and Workshare Technologies. I founded MXL Partners in 2002.

Ambal Balakrishnan: How has the internet era changed the way sales happens today (as compared to traditional sales)?
Michael Griego: Today the internet allows for easy dissemination of product information, demonstration and sales communication. The challenge is to break through the walls, noise and overload to get products sold. Wise use of the internet can augment the sales effort, but salespeople will not soon go out of style.

Ambal Balakrishnan: What prompted you to embark on creating 42 Rules to Increase Sale Effectiveness?
Michael Griego: These concepts, rules and tools are proven in practice over my career and that of manner others. I’ve been speaking, teaching, coaching and consulting on these for the past 10 years and decided, at the urging of many, to finally start to put it down in writing.

Ambal Balakrishnan: Who is 42 Rules to Increase Sale Effectiveness addressed towards?
Michael Griego: If you are a professional salesperson, sales manager or director, VP of Sales, CEO, any role in marketing, or anyone supporting selling efforts, this book is for you. If you are a senior executive, consultant, venture capitalist, board member, entrepreneur or aspiring up-and-comer, you should know the updated tools, language and tactics of selling in today’s market

Ambal Balakrishnan: What are the 3 key lessons you want readers to take away from your book?
Michael Griego:

It’s not about you
It’s not about your products
It’s all about your customer

Ambal Balakrishnan: What one “get started on right way” change do you recommend to the reader of your book 42 Rules to Increase Sale Effectiveness?
Michael Griego: While each Rule can be read in stand-alone mode, I recommend the book be read chronologically. There are 7 sections that are crucial facets to sales and sales management.

Ambal Balakrishnan: What kind of projects (both personal and professional) are you involved in?
Michael Griego: Besides technology companies, I am also engaged with some non-tech professional services companies looking to enhance their “business development” (read “sales”) skills and processes. On a personal front, in 2009 I released a classical guitar CD entitled “Classical Christmas” fulfilling a long time dream to record my musical arrangements.

Read 42 Rules to Increase Sale Effectiveness Table of Content and Sample Chapters here.

Win A High-Level Website SEO Review

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 09:00:00 EST

Our expert contributors to ClickPredictions 2010 eBook are giving away many exciting and wonderful prizes this week.

Win eBook version of Jonathan Kantor's new book Crafting White Paper 2.0

To enter this giveaway, just use this precrafted tweet or include the link to this post or this page with '#CLICKPRIZE'. Include @clickdocuments and @Jonathan_Kantor in your tweet.

Win 1/2 hour consult with Gordon Graham

Gordon will do an 1/2 hour FREE consultation with the winner. Winner can e-mail Gordon a white paper to review, or ask questions about a white paper project they're considering or working on.

To enter this giveaway, just use this precrafted tweet or include the link to this post or this page with '#CLICKPRIZE'. Include @clickdocuments and @whitepaperguy in your tweet.

Win a one-hour high-level website SEO review by Tom Pick

To enter this giveaway, just use this precrafted tweet or include the link to this post or this page with '#CLICKPRIZE'. Include @clickdocuments and @TomPick in your tweet.

Over to you...

Get 2010 started on the right foot with a bit of inspiration and no-nonsense marketing straight-talk from 38 other B2B marketers, e-mail marketers and social media gurus. Click and download FREE eBook from Marketo and ClickDocuments

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2010 Content Marketing Trends and Predictions

Link Thought Leadership to Intelligent Client Discovery

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 12:58:00 EST

Conventional approaches won’t deliver – and inbound marketing is not enough. We asked Britton Manasco "What are key marketing trends and predictions for 2010? What actions should marketers take in 2010?". Britton Manasco helps firms become thought leaders and trusted authorities through value-rich content such as white papers, success stories and executive presentations. Britton is the producer of the thought leadership marketing blog Illuminating the Future.

Britton Manasco

Blog Illuminating the Future Twitter brittonmanasco

"Companies engaged in a complex sale must link thought leadership to intelligent client discovery."

Britton Manasco's Marketing Prediction for 2010

B2B marketers will increasingly realize that one of their key challenges is to guide decision teams through challenging decisions using compelling thought leadership and other forms of decision-driving content. One factor driving new investments in rich content will be growing disillusionment with returns on search engine and social media marketing. They’ll increasingly realize it’s difficult – if not impossible – to engage decision-influencers/makers in these media without compelling perspectives to offer.

Britton Manasco's Marketing Action for 2010

B2B marketers should increasingly shift money from activities such as advertising, trade shows and conventional business development into thought leadership marketing and intelligent client discovery. While thought leadership drives conversations and builds credibility, client discovery work is about targeting, profiling and provoking specific prospects with relevant value propositions. It goes beyond inbound marketing and brings back intelligent, yet persistent outbound outreach.

Summary: Companies engaged in a complex sale must increasingly link thought leadership to intelligent client discovery. That’s how they confront today’s Guidance Imperative. Conventional approaches won’t deliver – and inbound marketing is not enough.

Recommended Resources

Over to you...

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2010 Content Marketing Trends and Predictions

Sarah Mitchell's Marketing Prediction for 2010

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 11:00:00 EST

Does your marketing promote your Corporate Social Responsibility program? Sarah Mitchell says that promoting a company through altruistic activity is going to be far more effective than slick advertising campaigns. We asked Sarah Mitchell "What are key marketing trends and predictions for 2010? What actions should marketers take in 2010?" Sarah Mitchell is the owner of Global Copywriting, based in Western Australia. She specializes in Content Marketing for B2B companies.

Sarah Mitchell's Marketing Prediction for 2010

The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) continues to drive consumer behaviour in 2010. Content marketing will gain mindshare with businesses because a tight economy means considered purchasing decisions are the norm. The sales cycle will lengthen and consumers will continue to expect value for money. An emerging trend is the insistence from the public sector on purchasing from good corporate citizens. With the economy still raw, companies have an obligation to more than profit margins. Business must not underestimate the contained anger developed from widespread corporate malfeasance. People will buy with their conscience.

Sarah Mitchell's Marketing Action for 2010
In 2010, attracting and educating prospects using non-traditional methods makes the most sense. Building a strong online identity is the first step for any marketing team. Incorporating an engaging social media campaign, developing original content and ensuring the search engines can find your business is paramount to success. Importantly, marketing teams must promote a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program honestly reflecting the desire of the organisation to contribute to community-based programs. Promoting a company through altruistic activity is going to be far more effective than slick advertising campaigns. Consumers are demanding community involvement from business and marketing must deliver.

Win 1/2 hour free content strategy consulting session by Sarah Mitchell

To enter this giveaway, you can:

Click here to send out a pre-crafted tweet
Send out your tweet with a link to this post using the hashtag #CLICKPRIZE. Include @clickdocuments and @globalcopywrite in your tweet.

Recommended Resources

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2010 Content Marketing Trends and Predictions

Does 'Being Findable' mean 'Being Everywhere'?

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 06:00:00 EST

"Being findable" is very important in marketing today. However, "Being Findable" doesn't mean "Being everywhere". We asked B2B Marketing experts: What does "Being Findable" mean in today's digital age? Does this mean cross-media, low-volume campaign all year long? Should marketers spread budget across time period and channels or one or two big programs? Read on to get their insights.

Ardath Albee

Blog Marketing Interactions Twitter Ardath421

"Go Where Your Best Prospects Spend Their Time"

Ardath Albee's Bio

Ardath Albee is a B2B Marketing Strategist. Her company Marketing Interactions helps companies with complex sales and quantify marketing effectiveness by using interactive e-marketing strategies driven by compelling content. She empowers her clients to create customer-centric nurturing programs that leverage strategic story development to engage prospects until they are sales ready. Ardath’s book, eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale is now shipping!

Ardath Albee's Tip

Before a B2B company can decide which tactics to use, they need to do some research and develop a strategy for being “findable.” Trying to be everywhere, just to cover your bases, is not a good strategy. That’s equivalent to the batch and blast newsletter sends of old when companies hoped their messages would land in the inbox of someone who might be a potential customer. In today’s marketplace relevance is a critical component you must address.

Consider these five steps for determining the best way to get found:

1. You’ve got to know who your buyers are and learn about their online habits and preferences.

a. Monitor your competitors or even partners to see what they’re doing and where they’re being found. Then look at who’s there and make sure they are the audience you’re focused on acquiring.

b. Ask your customers where they go online to find useful information – perhaps even how they found you. Most of them will likely say they found you themselves. Their perspectives and preferences can provide great insights you can use.

c. Look at the source of origin for the prospects currently in your pipeline.

d. Create a buyer synopsis as I outline in my book, eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale.

2. Audit your company’s presence online to identify how you’re being found now.

a. Look at keywords and phrases being used to find your website.

b. Search for where your company’s content may have spread online.

c. Make a list of referrers to your website (and blog) and check them out.

3. Match the results from steps 1 & 2 to determine matches and misses.

a. For the matches, look for how you might improve connecting with prospects in the venues where you both have presence.

b. Assess the misses against what you’re currently doing and create a plan for establishing a relevant presence on each of them. Prioritize and add each one as you have resources. For example, some companies think they have to be on Twitter. But unless you have a lively blog or fresh content to share often, Twitter may not be the best first step. You need a good content foundation to improve being “findable.”

4. The results of #3 will help you create a roadmap and editorial calendar. Each online avenue will have unique requirements for improving relevance. This could be in style, tone or subject matter – or a combination of all three. The key here is that you need continuous and consistent exposure once you discover the best places to be found.

5. Discover opportunities to integrate your content so it builds a bridge from wherever it is online your prospects find it and your website. Think “hub.”

Being findable is not about seeding one article here and there in hopes it will draw attention. It’s about building a credible presence in the places you’ve determined are the best attraction sources for prospects who could become sales opportunities. There are a lot of ways to be found online. There are also a lot of ways to spend time and resources without generating results. Do your homework and create a route to reach the right prospects because you understand not just where they are, but the most effective way to engage them with your content.

Ardath Albee Recommends

Howard Sewell

Blog The Point Twitter HJSewell

"Have an effective inbound marketing strategy."

Howard Sewell's Bio

Howard J. Sewell is president of Spear Marketing Group, a full-service agency with offices in Silicon Valley and Seattle that specializes in demand generation, lead management, and ROI-based marketing.

Howard Sewell's Tip

I translate "being findable" as having in place an effective inbound marketing strategy. The most effective inbound marketing program is one that maximizes reach and online presence in the venues most likely to be trafficked by your target audience.

By definition, inbound marketing is “always on,” 24/7, so that any one potential customer searching at any time for your type of product or service, or simply researching answers to the problem that your product or service can solve, finds you before he/she finds your competition. As such, inbound marketing provides an effective foundation to a comprehensive demand generation strategy when integrated with more targeted, outbound activity as well as systematic lead qualification and lead nurturing.

The four most effective vehicles for inbound marketing are:

Paid Search (SEM)
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Social Media (blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn)
Content Syndication (posting content on third-party sites and networks)
In a well-orchestrated campaign, all of these vehicles work in synergy and reinforce each other, utilizing a consistent message, offer strategy, and brand identity.

Howard Sewell Recommends

Recommended Resources from B2B Marketing Experts

Blogs

Books

Others

Mapping Content to the Buying Process - Slidecast

Not all Content is King!

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 06:00:00 EST

While many companies may be focusing on quantity, the ones that will succeed will be those who focus on quality. Michele predicts that content will continue to be a driving force in B2B marketing in 2010, especially as companies try to take advantage of social media. We asked Michele Linn "What are key marketing trends and predictions for 2010? What actions should marketers take in 2010?". Michele Linn is a B2B marketing consultant and writer who specializes in producing buyer focused content and providing insights on how to market it.

Michele Linn

Blog Savvy B2B Marketing Twitter MicheleLinn

"Only exceptional, reader-focused content will stand out. Be relevant, educational, entertaining, clear and conversational."

Michele Linn's Marketing Prediction for 2010

Content will continue to be a driving force in B2B marketing in 2010, especially as companies try to take advantage of social media. However in a rush to create content, I also predict there will be a glut of mediocre content: blah content that doesn’t inspire. Not all content is king! While many companies may be focusing on quantity, I think the ones that will succeed will be those who focus on quality. Only exceptional, reader-focused content will stand out.

Michele Linn's Marketing Action for 2010
Before developing content, it’s critical to know your ideal reader. Build and religiously use buyer personas. Always ask, “Would my readers enjoy and forward this?” If not, re-work your content until they would.

Here’s my checklist for great content:

Relevant: Answer, “What’s in it for me?” from the reader’s perspective.
Educational: Share information your reader needs to know; it’s often not about your product.
Entertaining: Make content fun, and it’s more likely to be passed along.
Clear: Use words your reader understands.
Conversational: Talk directly to your reader instead of using a formal tone.

Win free 1/2 hour website or content strategy consultation with Michele Linn

To enter this giveaway, you can:

Click here to send out a pre-crafted tweet
Send out your tweet with a link to this post using the hashtag #CLICKPRIZE. Include @clickdocuments and @MicheleLinn in your tweet.

Recommended Resources

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Related Blog Posts

2010 Content Marketing Trends and Predictions

Micro-fragmentation in Online Consumption

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 06:00:00 EST

Marketers are forced to explore smaller, more niche-focused online communities in order to empower passionate digital influencers to drive revenue and reduce costs. How should marketers stop being everything to everyone? We asked Andrew Davis "What are key marketing trends and predictions for 2010? What actions should marketers take in 2010?". Andrew Davis is Chief Strategy Officer and Co-Founder at Tippingpoint Labs. Andrew’s passion for developing high-quality content and focus on measuring quality of content generated helps shape Tippingpoint Labs strategies and those of its clients.

Andrew Davis

Blog Tippingpoint Labs Twitter TPLDrew

"You can’t be everything to everyone!"

Andrew Davis' Marketing Prediction for 2010

Like a fractal, marketers are going to be forced to explore smaller, more niche-focused online communities in order to empower passionate digital influencers to drive revenue and reduce costs.

Andrew Davis' Marketing Action for 2010

Take time to really understand your market. Identify your digital influencers, the prosumers that participate in each community and the consumers they empower.

Recommended Resources

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2010 Content Marketing Trends and Predictions

Are you using Video for Corporate Story telling?

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 06:00:00 EST

As more and more people find web video to be valuable and entertaining, web video for corporate story telling will continue to expand. We asked Seamus Walsh "What are key marketing trends and predictions for 2010? What actions should marketers take in 2010?". Seamus Walsh is Founder of Vazt Global Inc., a B2B content and research publishing platform comprised of a SG&A taxonomy and micro-sites focused on Optimizing people, process and technology.

Seamus Walsh

Blog The Content Advisor Twitter SeamusWalsh

"Publish your videos on a private media channel."

Seamus Walsh's Marketing Prediction for 2010

As more and more people find web video to be valuable and entertaining, web video for corporate story telling will continue to expand. While many public sites, such as youtube.com have gained huge popularity, they are not always the best vehicles for business-based communication. The threat of viruses, competitive advertising and lack of quality control are reasons why companies are steering away from public media channels and moving towards private channels, while committing internal resources to produce quality content quickly.

Seamus Walsh's Marketing Action for 2010

Consider investing in equipment and building a studio space. For $10,000 and 400 square feet you can assemble a HD-broadcast quality studio. Get your customers, executives and product champions in front of the camera to tell their story – how you’ve solved people’s problems, why your solution is unique and what value you bring to the table. Publishing your videos on a private media channel can be the most effective way to reach your target audience.

One note of caution – bring in quality videographers and editors. Your video content should be professional and positively reinforce your corporate brand.

Summary: Rely less on boring print-based web-sites and tell your story in video – a medium that will resonate with your clients.

Recommended Resources

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2010 Content Marketing Trends and Predictions

Creative Is King, Queen, and Everything in Between

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 06:00:00 EST

Consumers trust their peers, way more than they trust advertisements. So, how do marketers think beyond banner ads and the visual and information overload consumers face today? We asked Mani Iyer "What are key marketing trends and predictions for 2010? What actions should marketers take in 2010?". Mani Iyer is CEO of Kwanzoo, a social inbound marketing service for businesses. Mani is also a seasoned Internet Executive, Serial Entrepreneur, Industry Speaker and Startup Advisor.

Mani Iyer

Website Kwanzoo Twitter iyermani

"Socially engage consumers through all marketing channels, to drive peer recommendations of your brand."

Mani Iyer's Marketing Prediction for 2010
Facebook continues to grow. Google Wave sees early adoption. LinkedIn consolidates its position. Email marketing goes social. Display advertising begins to shift from traditional banner ads to interactive and data-driven ad formats. Social marketing goes from test-and-learn phase to a growing slice of corporate marketing budgets in 2H2010. The Feds come down on deceptive online marketing practices. Offer monetization and virtual goods platforms, as well as social games providers clean up their act. Direct marketers begin to tap social media as a source for new customers, leads and sales. Businesses establish 24x7 customer service channel via real-time channels (a la Twitter).

Mani Iyer's Marketing Action for 2010

Marketing must change for a social world. Consumers trust their peers, way more than they trust advertisements. Juice up your SEO with real-time reviews, high quality tweets and social updates about your brand by your customers. Remember tweets and updates are now indexed by search engines. Spice up your SEM landing pages with interactive content, so you cut through the message and visual overload for consumers. Think beyond banner ads; your users are already blocking them out! The Creative is King, and Queen, and Everything in Between! Find the best online tools and talent. Own the strategy, and get help on tactics.

Win a Kwanzoo beta account
Create Viral Campaigns in 3 Easy Steps!

Receive FREE private beta test access to Kwanzoo's viral marketing service in Feb 2010, and
Receive 1 month FREE access at the BRONZE LEVEL (valued at $29) for March 2010

This promo code expires Feb 28, 2010. Hurry! In Kwanzoo's Request for Invitation Form enter "ClickDocuments TWT:twitter-id" in response to "Where did you hear about us?"

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2010 Content Marketing Trends and Predictions

STOP chasing Consumers. Collaborate with your Customers.

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 06:00:00 EST

The days of pushing ads, pulling consumers to websites or chasing consumers to assorted Social Networks are over. It’s time to collaborate with consumers to make goods and services better and more relevant. We asked Rick Liebling "What are key marketing trends and predictions for 2010? What actions should marketers take in 2010?" Rick Liebling is Global Director of Client Management at marketing communications agency Taylor and blogs at Eyecube.

Rick Liebling

Blog Eyecube Twitter eyecube

"From collaboration to measurement, brands need to work with, and for, the consumer."

Rick Liebling's Marketing Prediction for 2010
After many false dawns, we’ll finally see mobile explode. Google’s Android, Apple’s iPhone and the Palm Pré, along with clever apps and new developments like Augmented Reality have the consumer primed.

We’ll also see new developments in the area of measurement. Social Media has changed the game, putting power in the hands of the consumer, yet measurement is still focused on the brand. It’s time to look at Consumer ROI. What value are brands providing in exchange for all the effort consumers are putting in to engaging with brands via blogs, Twitter and even offline activities like store visits and Customer Service interactions.

Rick Liebling's Marketing Action for 2010
The days of pushing ads, pulling consumers to websites or chasing consumers to assorted Social Networks are over. It’s time to collaborate with consumers to make goods and services better and more relevant. Brands need to be more open, agile and responsive.

Don’t worry about trying to grab as many Twitter followers as you can, focus on creating meaningful relationships with consumers truly committed to your brand. Create a real value proposition and give those consumers the tools to bring others along.

Win an exclusive copy of Rick Liebling's eBook "Everyone Is Illuminated"

Rick has been passionately writing about Crowdsourcing in the last year. Check out a few of his blog posts - A More Civilised Approach to Crowdsourcing, Crowdsource / Open source, Crowdsourcing: Lesssons from the World Series of Poker.

Rick is publishing his eBook on crowdsourcing next week. It is titled "Everyone Is Illuminated". The eBook is not only meant to provide a primer on the current state of crowdsourcing, but also meant to be a springboard for further discussion on crowdsourcing.

How do you get an exclusive copy of Rick Liebling's eBook "Everyone Is Illuminated"? Simple. Just use this precrafted tweet or include the link to this post or this page with '#CLICKPRIZE'. Include @clickdocuments and @eyecube in your tweet. We will pick 2 lucky winners and announce them early next week.

Recommended Resources

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2010 Content Marketing Trends and Predictions

Get Great at Content Marketing - NOW!

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:03:01 EST

Incorporate web video in your B2B Marketing. Get good at mobile marketing. Take content marketing seriously.

We asked Doug Kessler "What are key marketing trends and predictions for 2010? What actions should marketers take in 2010?" Doug Kessler is the Creative Director and co-founder of Velocity, the London-based B2B marketing agency specializing in technology markets. He started his career at Ogilvy & Mather New York on consumer accounts but quickly migrated to B2B, where his heart lies.

Doug Kessler

Blog Velocity-B2B Marketing Twitter DougKessler

"If B2B marketing is both art and science, science is winning. And it’s kind of fun."

Doug Kessler's Marketing Prediction for 2010

Content Marketing will go from strength to strength - But response rates may start to fall due to 'mutton dressed as lamb' eBooks.
Web video will become a B2B staple - It's such a good way to tell a complex story.
The whole social thing will calm down a bit - Still valuable -- just not the whole enchilada.
Mobile marketing will make inroads in B2B - Not so much mobile web sites but useful apps.
Vertical search will start to rattle Google's cage - Unless they strengthen their vertical chops.
'Personal brand' coaches will disappear up their own arses - Leaving nothing but a trail of tweets.

Doug Kessler's Marketing Actions for 2010

Get great at Content Marketing now - We know a cool eBook that can help
Get good at lead nurturing -This stuff is way too powerful to ignore. And your sales people will sacrifice rams to your name (which does wonders for your SEO).
Learn Google Analytics like the back of your hand - It tells you what’s working. For free.
Have a Microsoft Windows 7 Party - With balloons and cake and hats and stuff.

Recommended Resources

The B2B Content Marketing Workbook Our free eBook that outlines what we think of as best practice
Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy by Shapiro and Varian. This was written in 1999 but still cuts right to the heart of the dynamics of information products. Brilliant.
Marketing Myopia, by Theodore Levitt Written in 1960, this Harvard Business Review article is what made me go into marketing.

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2010 Content Marketing Trends and Predictions

Be Strategic, but Authentic

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 06:00:00 EST

We all know that effective content marketing depends on planning and strategy. You don't just blog or publish every idea that crosses your mind. You think before you speak.

But, one of the casualties of planning and strategy is authenticity. In the quest to sound authoritative and "on top of the game", content marketers forget that being authentic and unvarnished will help them stand out.

Gary Vaynerchuk's recent book Crush It: Why Now is the Time to Cash in Your Passion, offers some insight on this. Vaynerchuck, an online marketing guru and self-taught wine expert, is well known for his hyper-enthusiastic Wine Library wine-critique videos. He has been famously featured on Conan O'Brien and other talk shows, noted as a maverick in the traditionally snobby wine world.

In his book, he talks about his video-making process, which is deliberately unscripted and simply produced. Here's an excerpt from the book:

"One of the silliest questions I get is, 'What kind of mic do you use?' To that I reply, why are you even worrying about that? Your content has nothing to do with the mic, the camera, the lighting, or the set. The day I filmed my first ... show I sent the stock boy out to buy a $400 video camera from Best Buy (now I use a fancy Sony that cost a few thousand bucks, but most of my recent shows I tape on a $150 Flip Cam and they look fine). Watch the show, what do you see? It’s me, sometimes an awesome guest ranging from my dad to Wayne Gretzky to Jim Cramer, some bottles of wine, and a Jets spit bucket. I only invest effort and thought into what I care about and what I need to create great content."

He also talks about how his business blog videos are filmed in his typically messy office and why he doesn't clean it up.

"There’s nothing scripted and nothing staged about my blogs, and I always, always do only one take. No redos, no tweaks, nothing. People walk in and out of the office, I wave to folks passing in the hall—whatever happens during filming is what my audience will see. I’ve filmed posts from balconies, hotel rooms, the street, even my editor’s office—anywhere an idea strikes me. Sometimes the sound quality sucks. Sometimes the light is bad. As long as I get my point across and feel like I delivered the message in an authentic way, I don’t care."

Next time you're thinking about how to get your ideas across, think about whether your delivery is authentic. A relevant thought experiment is suggested by Julien Smith, co-author of Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation and Earn Trust. Smith first asks you to imagine doing your work as though it would always be invisible – not eligible for recognition or appreciation – suggesting that your invisible work might become incredible work. He suggests writing a blog post about what would happen if "there were no media whatsoever, nor word of mouth, to get you any attention, forever." It might be something really authentic and really good.

Social's New Value: Sharing

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:27:00 EST

We asked Nanda Kishore "What are key marketing trends and predictions for 2010? What actions should marketers take in 2010?"

Nanda Kishore is Chief Technology Officer at ShareThis.com and in previous role had overall responsibility to develop a new advertising based product for Amazon merchants.

Nanda Kishore

Blog ShareThis Twitter nkishore

"Marketers must be able to measure and target their influencers across any interest or social channel."

Nanda Kishore's Marketing Prediction for 2010
Content consumption and the social behavior of consumers are more fragmented than ever; there is no longer a “one size fits all” social or content experience. We’re in a period of massive content inflation, and one of the major activities that aids rapid spread of content in the social media sphere is sharing. The ability to share everything from 140 character opinions to news and videos has allowed consumers to direct the flow of information online. So what’s next? In 2010, new ways for filtering and measuring the social web will emerge. And marketers will realize that technologies and targeting techniques won’t measure up unless they can deliver mass adoption and an aggregated, measurable view of social media value.

Nanda Kishore's Marketing Action for 2010
At ShareThis, we believe sharing is one of the best methods for filtering the web, and everyone who shares is an influencer. For forward-thinking marketers, 2010 will see bold new ways for measuring and delivering influence. Marketers will measure social media just as they measured search and display advertising—response, engagement, intent, and ROI. Going beyond developing campaigns for a single social channel or demographic segment, marketers must be able to find, measure and target their influencers across any interest, site or social channel.

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2010 Content Marketing Trends and Predictions

Social Media: Where's My ROI?

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 06:00:00 EST

We asked Tom Pick "What are key marketing trends and predictions for 2010? What actions should marketers take in 2010?" Tom Pick is an online marketing executive with Minneapolis-based B2B marketing and PR agency KC Associates, and writes the award-winning Webbiquity.

Tom Pick

Blog Webbiquity Twitter TomPick

"Marketers need tools to measure social media results the same way as other marketing programs."

Tom Pick's Marketing Prediction for 2010

With increased time spent on social media marketing, C-level executives will pressure their teams to demonstrate measurable ROI from these programs. And because of the necessarily labor-intensive nature of social media, companies will seek to automate efforts where possible, such an analytics.

Recognizing this need as well as the convergence of social networking and mobile devices, Google will continue to expand and refine the social media and mobile device/browser tracking capabilities recently added to Google Analytics, putting the same type of pressure on social media monitoring vendors as it has on traditional web analytics providers.

Tom Pick's Marketing Action for 2010
As social media marketing matures from hot buzzword status to just another element of the marketing mix, marketers will need to develop more strategic, comprehensive models of how it fits within their overall marketing plan as well as how to apply uniform metrics so that social media results can be measured in the same way as other marketing programs.

It’s unlikely that any analytics provider—even Google—will emerge with a single, all-encompassing “Swiss Army Knife” style tool for social media measurement, so marketers will need to continue to seek out and integrate results from multiple specialized point-solution tools.

Win a one-hour high-level website SEO review by Tom Pick

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2010 Content Marketing Trends and Predictions

ClickPredictions: Deliver Compelling Content to Match Buyer Information Needs

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:37:37 EST

We asked Rebel Brown "What are key marketing trends and predictions for 2010? What actions should marketers take in 2010?"

Rebel Brown is go-to-market strategist and Spin Doctor specializing in start ups, turnarounds and start-around. She’s also an author and speaker. Her business is PeopleWhoKnow.

Rebel Brown

Blog Phoenix Rising Twitter RebelBrown

"Vendors who understand buyers and communicate relevant value will capture the next wave of spending."

Rebel Brown's Marketing Prediction for 2010

Vendors who deliver compelling content to match buyer information needs will be the big winners as B2B dollars begin to flow again.

Rebel Brown's Marketing Action for 2010

We all say we map our value focus to specific buyer needs. But few vendors really do. Check out ten websites. You’ll find the majority still filled with Me, Me Marketing or feeds ‘n speeds content.

Two sub-trends make clear value propositions more important than ever.

Increasing buyer access to information from social media, buyer communities, online research and more. Content availability will continue to grow – in volume as well as diversity. The more alternatives buyers have for information – the more our messages must be spot on to capture their attention, quickly and credibly.
Smarter dollar spends As we begin to move beyond the recent economic correction – budgets will open. But we won’t see the spending we saw pre-correction. We’ll see smarter buyers with more selective criteria. We’ll see hungry competitors making big noise to win those dollars. The higher the noise level – the more critical it is to hit a strong buying chord with our messaging.
Opportunity always follows crisis. Vendors who understand buyers and communicate relevant value will capture the next wave of spending.

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2010 Content Marketing Trends and Predictions

Learn to Listen and Engage

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 07:00:00 EST

We asked Ian Lurie "What are key marketing trends and predictions for 2010? What actions should marketers take in 2010?"
Ian Lurie is chief internet marketing strategist at Portent Interactive. He is also the author of Conversation Marketing: Internet Marketing Strategies.

Ian Lurie

Blog Conversation Marketing Twitter portentint

"Twitter is a vast-self answering community. It’s also the ultimate search engine."

Ian Lurie's Marketing Prediction for 2010

Twitter is going to overtake Yahoo! and Bing for search market share. Yeah, you hear me: Search market share. As Twitter's user base grows, more and more folks go there to ask questions, and get answers. It's a vast, self-answering community. Search the community, find your answers. More and more users are figuring that out, and Twitter search is gaining popularity as THE place for current answers to all kinds of questions, from "what's a good place to eat on 1st Avenue?" to "How do I fix a bug in Windows 7?"

Ian Lurie's Marketing Action for 2010

Marketers need to learn to listen and engage. That means doing more than paying those verbs lip service. You must look at Twitter and similar communities as more than another spam vehicle. Learn to truly get to know your customers, understand when they need help, and then deliver it to them. News that you 'get it' will spread beyond your own small circle of customers and friends to the community at large, and you'll start getting results.

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2010 Content Marketing Trends and Predictions

ClickInsights: What is the ideal length of a white paper?

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:00:00 EST

How do you concisely convey the information you want to present in your white paper? How long should a white paper be to convey information and yet hold readers interest from start to end? We have invited White Paper Experts to shed light on the following question: "What is the ideal length of a white paper?"

We have invited White Paper Experts to shed light on the following question: "What is the ideal length of a white paper?". Read on to get their insights.

Michael Stelzner

Blog WritingWhitePapers Twitter Mike_Stelzner

"Anything less than 5 pages is just too short to be a white paper"

Michael Stelzner's Bio

Michael Stelzner's Tip

There's a lot of slop out there masquerading as a white papers. These are thinly disguised brochures, data sheets or some other piece of collateral trying to ride the good name of a white paper. I think anything less than 5 pages is just too short to be a white paper.

Why? Because for a white paper to achieve success it must resonate with readers. That means discussing trends, problems and history-three elements often overlooked. Content is still king, so grant your prospects some love by giving them a great content-rich white paper.

Michael Stelzner Recommends

Jonathan Kantor

Blog WhitePaperPundit Twitter Jonathan_Kantor

"If you accept the premise that a white paper is an educational document, then assign a minimum of six pages to properly execute that task”

Jonathan Kantor's Bio

Jonathan Kantor's Tip

In a recent study that was conducted by Information Week, one of the top white paper attributes that business executives are seeking is “minimal marketing”. With this target audience, short (2-4 page) white papers have only enough room to feature product/solution attributes and benefits. As a result, these extremely short papers will continue to bring diminishing returns for marketers that embrace this strategy.

The minimum size for a legitimate educationally focused white paper is six pages, and the following structure provides a good example:

Page 1 – Executive Summary
Page 2 – Introduction/Industry Dynamics
Page 3 – Topic-Related Problems/Challenges
Pages 4,5 – How Solution Approach Solves Problems
Page 6 – Concluding Summary/Call to Action Information

Most educationally focused white papers today fall into the six to eight page realm. The addition of a one-page case study is optional, but helps build credibility by transitioning the white paper from a theoretical discussion to a “proof of concept”.

In addition, including visually enhancements, such as design, graphics, sidebar callouts, shaded text boxes, and bullets helps readers with ‘short attention’ spans to easily assimilate large blocks of associated text. For business marketers these visual enhancements quickly deliver essential bottom-line solution advantage messages, allowing larger white papers to be more readily accepted with readers with short attention spans.

Jonathan Kantor Recommends

Free document distribution sites: Scribd.com, DocStoc.com, Slideshare.net, Gazhoo.com, Yudu.com, and WhitePapers.org.
Blog sharing sites such as BizSugar.com, Sphinn.com, and Reddit.com.
WhitePaperPundit: The Friday FREE White Paper List, a listing of free white papers from weekly Twitter Tweets that don’t require registration, posted each Friday.
Twitter search criteria set to keywords: “White Paper”, and “White Papers”.
Google Alerts set to “White Paper”, and “White Papers”.

Gordon Graham

Website ThatWhitePaperGuy

“The minimum length to be called a white paper is 5 pages”

Gordon Graham's Bio

"That white paper guy" is Gordon Graham, an award-winning writer with 30 years in technology. He's written hundreds of white papers and case studies for big-name clients like Autodesk, IBM, and Oracle... plus many smaller firms with big dreams. He's taught technical and marketing communication at two universities, and given countless workshops and webinars to professional audiences. And he's also editor of SoftwareCEO.com, the world's largest online community of software executives.

Gordon Graham's Tip

I've seen everything from a 2-page flyer to a 100-page book called a "white paper." But the sweet spot for today's business white papers seems to be 6 to 8 pages. For a technical audience, you can do more pages, as long as you're providing truly useful material. Once you hit 12 to 15 pages, it's time for a reality check. Ask yourself: Could this be split in two?

On the other hand, the minimum length to be called a white paper, in my book, is 5 pages. Less than that, and it's hard to provide enough background or proof points to be persuasive. A "page" equals 300 to 400 words, so a true white paper is at least 1,500 words, and more commonly 2,500 to 3,000 words.

It's better to call a 1-2 page piece an "article." This isn't much longer than a blog post.

Gordon Graham Recommends

White Paper FAQ Brief answers to 20 fundamental questions on white papers
Who needs white papers anyway? Three simple questions that determine whether any company needs white papers
Tips on terrific titles for white papers The title is one of the most important parts of any white paper. How to give your white paper a more effective title
Tips on writing white papers as tips Tips rule in magazines, books, and the Web. Here's how to harness this compelling format in your next white paper
How to use white papers to grow a healthy crop of leads 20 tips from interviews with top executives of two white paper syndication services

Stephanie Tilton

Blog Savvy B2B Marketing Twitter StephanieTilton

“Respect your readers' time but make it worth their while to read your paper.”

Stephanie Tilton's Bio

Stephanie Tilton's Tip

The people who read white papers have spoken, and it appears they want to see a minimum of four pages.

In February 2009, InformationWeek Business Technology Network published a report entitled "How to Maximize the Use of White Papers In Your B2B Marketing and Sales Process." They surveyed 542 professional IT buyers – on both the technical and business sides of the house – from organizations of all sizes. 86% of respondents preferred white papers under 10 pages, with 50% wanting even shorter ones at under 5 pages.

More recently, Eccolo Media published the B2B Technology Collateral Survey Report in September 2009. Eccolo surveyed 501 responsible for either making B2B technology purchases or influencing purchasing decisions in U.S.-based companies. The majority of respondents (65%) felt six pages or less to be the ideal number. Although slightly more respondents (24%) preferred even shorter white papers of just four pages, almost as many (21%) leaned toward eight pages.

These findings make perfect sense. B2B buyers typically consume white papers to be educated on business issues and possible solutions to them. While you certainly want to convey your points as succinctly as possible, don't shortchange readers by skimming the surface. The key takeaway is to respect your readers' time but make it worth their while to read your paper.

Stephanie Tilton Recommends

5 Steps to a White Paper that Pulls in the Perfect Prospect: A must-read eBook for those who want to take their white papers to the next level.
White Paper Syndication Options for Technology Marketers: This 14-page report details the costs to syndicate your paper with 10 leading syndication networks and what you get for your money.
Top 5 White-Paper Development Mistakes: Avoid these top white-paper development mistakes and you'll be well on your way to delivering an effective sales tool.
Savvy B2B Marketing blog posts with practical suggestions for improving your white papers

Cindy King

Blog CindyKing Twitter CindyKing

“The ideal length of your white paper comes down to why you need the white paper, who will read it and what you need to accomplish with it”

Cindy King's Bio

Cindy King is a Cross-Cultural Marketer & International Sales Specialist based in France. She uses her dual background in sales & marketing, in international business development, to help businesses improve their international sales conversion. She is also adept at content marketing, international web marketing and social media marketing.

Cindy King's Tip

You can see different lengths of White Papers in North America and Europe. White Papers in North America are getting shorter. White Papers are not used often in Europe, and when you do see one, they are noticeably much longer than the North American White Papers.

I like Drayton Bird’s advice: “the length should be long enough to cover everything relevant -and no longer. The more complex or serious the subject, the longer the copy.”

And I also like what Apryl Parcher has to say: “White papers by definition are both educational and persuasive. To accomplish this, it needs enough meat on its bones to fully explore problems the reader faces, outline the market drivers and position the solution. In my experience that takes a minimum of six pages—even when writing as economically as possible.”

The ideal length of your white paper comes down to why you need the white paper, who will read it and what you need to accomplish with it.

Cindy King Recommends

Janice King's book Copywriting That Sells High Tech
Casey Hibbard's book Stories That Sell: Turn Satisfied Customers into Your Most Powerful Sales & Marketing Asset
Jill Konrath's book Selling To Big Companies
Joe Pulizzi's and Newt Barrett's book Get Content. Get Customers.

Jonathan Kranz

Blog Kranzcom Twitter jonkranz

"Ask the right questions to determine content and length of white paper."

Jonathan Kranz's Bio

Jonathan Kranz is the author of The eBook eBook: How to Turn Your Expertise Into Magnetic Marketing Material and coauthor, with Joe Pulizzi, of The Content Marketing Playbook. He’s all about writing helpful content and making screwy videos. Join the party!

Jonathan Kranz's Tip

What’s the ideal length of a white paper? To me, the question belongs in the same category as the weight of a soul or the number of angels on the head of a pin. It’s the wrong question. The right questions include:

Who’s your intended reading audience and what kinds of things do they like to read — and how?
What’s your purpose? Is it to educate? Provoke? Challenge preconceptions? Tease?
What’s the nature of the material? Does it lend itself to sound-bites or dissertations?
What actions do you want on the part of the reader? An immediate response? A good opinion of you? Deeper engagement on your site? Viral distribution of your content?

When, and only when, you have meaningful answers to these and other relevant questions can you arrive at a meaningful and reasonable conclusion as to the length of your particular white paper.

Jonathan Kranz Recommends

Recommended Resources from Experts on white papers

Books

Others

WhitePaperSource Online Forum
WhitePaperSource Newsletter
How to Write a White Paper – A White Paper on White Papers
Scribd for reference and distribution of white papers
5 Steps to a White Paper that Pulls in the Perfect Prospect
Savvy B2B Marketing blog posts about white papers
White Paper FAQs
Who needs white papers anyway?
Tips on terrific titles for white papers
Tips on writing white papers as tips
How to use white papers to grow a healthy crop of leads
WhitePaperPundit: The Friday FREE White Paper List

ClickPredictions: The Short-Attention White Paper

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:00:00 EST

We asked Jonathan Kantor "What are key marketing trends and predictions for 2010? What actions should marketers take in 2010?"
Jonathan Kantor is a 26-year veteran of the technology industry, the author of the new book Crafting White Paper 2.0, and the primary contributor to the WhitePaperPundit.com blog.

Jonathan Kantor

Blog WhitePaperPundit Twitter Jonathan_Kantor

"Use Visual Enhancements to Engage New Media, Short Attention White Paper Readers.”

Jonathan Kantor's Marketing Prediction for 2010
Social Media will generate significant white paper changes in the future. As readers grow accustomed to short, hyperlinked, colorful, and stimulating media, a growing but limited attention span will require white papers that compliment these new media formats. As a result, the traditional text white paper will become less relevant to this savvier new media audience.

Starting in 2010, we will see a host of new white paper formats, designs, colors and visual enhancements that engage today’s short attention Social Media reader. These changes will prove to be more effective in delivering critical solution-oriented business messages that conventional white paper formats.

Jonathan Kantor's Marketing Action for 2010
To date, marketers have assumed that readers will read text in the serial fashion as it was created, from first to last page. Unfortunately due to the impact of Social Media, today’s new media audience loses interest after only one or two pages.

To engage this new reader, marketers must embrace a series of visual enhancements such as page layout, design, illustration, pull quotes, concept graphics, and abstracts/summarizes that spoon feeds short messages, creating a greater incentive to read more detailed white paper content. Using this approach, marketers can deliver critical solution-oriented messages in a more effective fashion.

Win eBook version of Jonathan Kantor's new book Crafting White Paper 2.0

To enter this giveaway, just use this precrafted tweet or include the link to this post or this page with '#CLICKPRIZE'. Include @clickdocuments and @Jonathan_Kantor in your tweet.

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ClickPredictions: Engage Better on Social Media

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 06:00:00 EST

We asked Michael Stelzner "What are key marketing trends and predictions for 2010? What actions should marketers take in 2010?"

Michael Stelzner is author of the book Writing White Papers, founder of SocialMediaExaminer.com and an organizer of summits such as Social Media Success Summit and Copywriting Success Summit.

Michael Stelzner

Blog WritingWhitePapers Twitter Mike_Stelzner

"Social media strategies will be as commonplace as using a fax machine—every business will need to be in the game."

Michael Stelzner's Marketing Prediction for 2010

Social media marketing will become a mainstream method for businesses to connect directly with customers and prospects. Leveraging social media marketing strategies will be as commonplace as using a fax machine-every business will need to be in the game. Facebook users will top 450 million.

Sites like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook will announce strategic partnerships with search engines that will bring real-time social media actives to the masses. Services will emerge that greatly simplify the management and monitoring of global social media activities.

We will move from a discussion of "Which tools should I use" to a discussion of "How can I better engage with my customers, wherever they are."

Talking about mobile consumers will become an oxymoron as all consumers will have mobile access to data, opening up the social media marketing floodgates.

Google will announce a series of new services that will give Facebook a run for its money. Early movers are sure to become unstoppable forces. Hold on to your hat, it's gonna be a wild ride!

Win a copy of Michael Stelzner's book Writing White Papers

To enter this giveaway, just use this precrafted tweet or include the link to this post or this page with '#CLICKPRIZE'. Include @clickdocuments and @Mike_Stelzner in your tweet.

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2010 Content Marketing Trends and Predictions

ClickPredictions: Stand Out with Great Content

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 06:00:00 EST

We asked Gordon Graham "What are key marketing trends and predictions for 2010? What actions should marketers take in 2010?"

Gordon Graham is That White Paper Guy, an award-winning writer who helps B2B technology firms tell their stories with crisp, compelling white papers.

Gordon Graham

Website ThatWhitePaperGuy

“Stop copy-writing and start creating great content: it’s the most sure-fire thing you can do.”

Gordon Graham's Marketing Prediction for 2010
It’s safe to say that in 2010, many B2B marketers will imitate each another. Many will talk in buzzwords. Many will glom onto the latest gimmicks. Many will use B2C tactics like branding for B2B marketing. Many will waste money on advertising, and squander time on social networking. And many will wonder why their companies don’t stand out in the crowd. Yet a few inspired firms will dare to create content that’s helpful, useful, entertaining, accessible... and not a sales pitch. Those few will tower over the rest of the pack, and be remembered when it’s time to buy.

Gordon Graham's Marketing Action for 2010
Want to stand out from the crowd? Stop “copy-writing” and start thinking hard about your prospects... and then create great content for them. Great B2B content is anything that helps a prospect solve a problem, understand an issue, make a decision, or do their job better. (Hint: Tips, webinars, and white papers.)
If you do that, will they remember you? Tell their colleagues about you? Damn right, they will. And when it’s time to buy, your company will make the shortlist. This is the least risky, most sure-fire thing any marketer can do in 2010.

Win 1/2 hour consult with Gordon Graham

Gordon will do an1/2 hour FREE consultation with the winner. Winner can e-mail Gordon a white paper to review, or ask questions about a white paper project they're considering or working on.

To enter this giveaway, just use this precrafted tweet or include the link to this post or this page with '#CLICKPRIZE'. Include @clickdocuments and @whitepaperguy in your tweet.

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Who Is Up for a Challenge?

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 06:00:00 EST

Last week, we talked about the Creative Copy Challenge, a blog that was born to help people hurdle writer's block(s). Each post is simply a list of ten words and phrases, and your assignment is to use them all in a short story, or even just a few sentences.

Judging by the level of participation (138 comments on the latest post), it's catching on – and once you've done a few of the exercises to rev up your writing, you might starting thinking, "How can I get a project like this going to rev up my blogging?"

Call it what you want: a project, challenge, assignment – it's a great way to bring a new level of energy, participation and community to your blog.

If you saw the movie Julie and Julia, you're familiar with the story of blogger Julie Powell, who signed herself up to try all the recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking within 365 days. The self-described "government drone" with a "crappy outer borough kitchen" developed an audience and turned her blog into a book and a movie.

No, this won't happen for everyone ... but Powell did something right (in case you're interested, she has written a second book, called Cleaving, about her adventures in butchering meat).

She went on a journey, and made it so fun – and informative – that people wanted to go along with her. Is there a project or assignment that you can get yourself and others in on?

Whether it's a challenge/assignment/project to do with design, fitness, or any other topic, here are some things to think about:

Be clear about your goals and how your audience can get involved.
Setting a time limit for the project will add a sense of relevance and drama. If Julie Powell had said she was going to try a Julia Child recipe "every week or so", the concept would have been much less appealing.
Make it useful: Creative Copy Challenge has found a way to bring people together with a fun, helpful exercise. What process or problem can you help others simplify?
Be enthusiastic and honest about the process: Showing the ups and downs of your journey is what will keep people interested.
Be visual about the project: Showing photographs or video along the way will help demonstrate your openness. In the Self magazine blog Eat Like Me, registered dietitian Christin Dillon-Jones photographs every meal she eats throughout the day, providing a nutritional breakdown as well, so that people can see how a nutritionist/working mother really eats

We all like a challenge, so figure out yours, and get other people in on it.

ClickInsights: Social Media Marketing in 2010

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 09:30:00 EST

How will social media marketing evolve in 2010?

We have invited 2 Social Media Icons - Pam Brossman and Chris Garrett - to shed light on the following question: "What do you foresee as the biggest change that will happen in social media marketing in 2010? How should marketers and businesses adapt to this change?". Read on to get their insights.

Chris Garrett

Blog ChrisG Twitter chrisgarrett

"Just having "cares" in your Twitter name is not enough"

Chris Garrett's Bio

Chris Garrett is an internet consultant, writer, web geek and co-author of the popular ProBlogger Book. Since 1994, Chris has helped thousands of individuals, non-profits, small businesses and blue chips make the most of the web.

Chris Garrett's Tip

I have never been very good with predicting the future so I am sure other people will have better and more accurate answers! That said, the biggest changes I see in social media are evolutionary rather than revolutionary.

More businesses will embrace social media as the case studies and proven ROI cases surface. Many businesses are holding back from social because they do not want to risk their budgets and reputation, but will feel forced by industry and consumer pressure to get involved if only from a customer service and PR standpoint.

Social media roles will increase due to this business pressure, which means the job market for people with marketable skills will improve, but also there will be a bigger market for the snake oil types to exploit. As a knock on effect, social media training will be in demand.

On a consumer level I think mobile has finally become a crucial element and the old days of WAP can be put behind us. With more emphasis on local, geo, and portability the "iPhone effect" can now be truly felt and will increase in the new decade.

How Will Businesses adapt to this change?
Businesses will need to be savvy about their strategy and who they recruit to help them with it, because there is a wild west mentality but with real brands and reputations at stake. Also companies need to avoid the "veneer of openness" that is starting to emerge, where the impression of customer service and authenticity is created, without backing up the promises with action. Just having "cares" in your Twitter name and talking to people does not make the service you provide work better and consumers are starting to realize this and talk about it in numbers. Your brand is ultimately at the mercy of the people who are supposed to deliver your product, all the conversation in the world will not change that.

Pam Brossman

Blog Profitable Social Marketing Twitter pambrossman

“Use more visual & auditory media in your marketing and start hanging out where your target market is.”

Pam Brossman's Bio

After 25 years in the Corporate Communications industry, Pam has taken her visual communication and marketing skills plus her passion for video marketing to teach people the power of video marketing and ‘You Branding’ using digital mediums. Pam recently completed her International Social Media Accreditation with ISMA and is passionate about helping women create their own brand and market their business effectively online.

Pam Brossman's Tip

I forsee more ‘personal branding’ and use of digital marketing plus, I also believe a lot more women are going to start driving the direction of social media. Why? Because women are natural networkers and absolutely love the web 2.0 environment where they can connect, engage, communicate, assist and build strong networks of likeminded people for whatever reason.

Social media will continue to grow more strategically as people learn how to utilize the different platforms for their personal and business needs.

Personal Branding Personal branding to me is all about standing out in the crowd and sharing your message. We all have a message that can make the difference in someone’s life and social media has given more people the opportunity to have a voice and actually be heard. Personal branding is about deciding what it is you want to represent and getting out there and ‘SHINING’ in that niche. Mark Eldridge of ISMA refers to it as being seen as the ‘obvious expert’ which is the perfect name for it. Examples of people who are effectively using personal branding to become the obvious expert in their niche is Gary Vaynerchuk Wine Guru and Branding Expert, Mari Smith Social Media and Facebook Expert, Alexis Neely Family Law, Carrie Wilkerson – WAHM, Ali Brown Women Entrepreneurs …there are so many people using their personal brand to get their message and make a difference and it is very powerful.

Digital Marketing Includes marketing using the senses and I believe that visual and audio are going to grow massively in 2010. Stats have shown how people are wanting to receive and absorb their information and video and audio seem to be shining through. That is not to say the written word will become obsolete but I believe there will be a huge shift and increase in the popularity and creation of visual information products, visual marketing products, online niche TV shows, video advertising, video interviewing, and multi-purposing of one media into several different forms of content for use on many social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, FriendFeed, Itunes, Twitter, blogs, websites and many more. Very exciting times ahead!

How Will Businesses adapt to this change?
If you are an entrepreneur than I strongly suggest creating a ‘You Branding’ marketing strategy and start thinking about how you want to be seen as the ‘obvious expert’ for your niche and what mediums are going to best market your expertise so that you can stand out in the crowd.

For Businesses, I strongly suggest using much more visual and auditory media in their communication, marketing and product range in 2010 and beyond and start hanging out where their target market is. Social media is not a fad and for those who thought it was, you have a lot of catching up to do.

I will close my suggestions with:

Buy a video camera
Start sharing your knowledge using multiple digital mediums
Get your domain name, .tv, .com. Youtube Channel url, facebook url, fanpage url, twitter url, blog url
Get some professional photos done and start creating your own personal brand

There has never been a better time to shine as an individual…..stand out in 2010 it is going to be a great year!

How to Fight Writer's Block

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 06:00:00 EST

It happens to all of us. We stare at a blank screen, watching the cursor blink and minutes tick, but just can't think of how to start writing. Whether we're working on the introduction to an eBook on a dry subject, or a mid-week blog post – some days the engine just won't start.

You need a boost. So, here's a good one to try.

Writer and editor Shane Arthur came up with the site Creative Copy Challenge as a way to combat writer's block. Each day, each blog post contains a list of 10 random words and phrases. Your challenge is to write a short story that uses all the words, and post it in the comments section.

If you're thinking, "I am already behind on my real work. Now you're asking me to write a short story?" Relax. It's not necessarily about length or narrative or having a beginning, middle and end. It's just about getting your brain warmed up by finding ways to put the words together.

When you start reading people's submissions, you see that there's an unbelievable range of responses, from two sentences to 200 words. It's kind of like watching how Iron Chefs are challenged to use the same theme ingredient, but end up creating wildly different dishes.

Here's an example of a recent challenge, with two very different "stories" that use same 10 words in delicious ways. There were more than 80 comments on the post, so there's no shortage of other examples. Enjoy, and happy writing!

Creative Copy Challenge (Jan. 21).

One thing leads to another
Ruffian
Extrovert
Tranquility
Unlimited Access
Lantern
Dishwasher
Coffin
Barrier
Between the lines

One story, submitted by Jaced, was short and sweet:

With unlimited access to barrier-less tranquility between the lines, the ruffian extrovert set down his lantern and converted the empty dishwasher into a makeshift coffin. Because, you know, what the hell. One thing leads to another.

Another, from Dallas, reads like part of a novel:

“I am breaking up with you” Angela said

I sat there dumbfounded, trying to read between the lines. Our relationship seemed to start as abruptly as it seems to be ending. I, Mr. Extrovert met her, Mrs. Tranquility at a bar. She had a group of friends. I went alone. There was no barrier at all between us, we just clicked and started to talk. I felt like I met an angel, her eyes lit like lanterns illuminating the way home. We talked for hours, one thing leads to another, and we end up in bed together.

That was a month ago.

“You are a scoundrel and a cheat. My mom says you are a ruffian, that you cheated with other women” She continued.

I felt like my brain just took a spin in the dishwasher, I was dizzy with disbelief.

“Look honey, I have not cheated on you” I said.

“Oh no, you have unlimited access to women with your bar-tending gig.” She screamed at me “Don’t you even try to deny it.”

I had nothing to say; my heart was broken. All I wanted to do was fall in a coffin and die.

Then, next week, I met Jasmine.

ClickLaunch: Seth Godin's Linchpin

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 06:00:00 EST

What is a linchpin? Dictionary defines linchpin as - A locking pin inserted in the end of a shaft, as in an axle, to prevent a wheel from slipping off. Seth Godin has titled his new book as Linchpin (referring to a person). Who are Linchpins? Linchpins are the essential building blocks of great organizations. Like the small piece of hardware that keeps a wheel from falling off its axle, they may not be famous but they're indispensable. These people invent, lead (regardless of title), connect others, make things happen, and create order out of chaos.
I have invited Seth Godin to discuss his new book Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? and share his insights with us.

Seth Godin

Blog Seth Godin Twitter @sethgodins

"You have the opportunity to make a choice, right now. Choose to do work that matters, to make a difference, to be an artist."

Ambal Balakrishnan: What prompted you to embark on creating ‘Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?’
Seth Godin: The world has changed, fundamentally and perhaps forever. The era of the factory is over. And so people are in pain. They’re in pain because they were trained to be compliant cogs in a factory, not independent artists focused on inventing new ideas and making a difference. And that pain feels unfair, because we did as we were told.

The book is a clarion call that it’s okay to be the genius you were born to be.

Ambal Balakrishnan: Please walk us through the book writing life-cycle from concept to launch?
Seth Godin: It’s different every time, because I don’t set out to write a book. Usually an idea infects me. Sometimes I write the whole book in 20 days (The Dip and Unleashing the Ideavirus each took less) and sometimes it takes a year of wrestling to work it out.

Ambal Balakrishnan: Who is ‘Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?’ addressed towards?
Seth Godin: It’s addressed to people who want to keep their job, who want to leave their job, who want to run a company and most of all, to people who want to make a difference and do work that matters.

Ambal Balakrishnan: Name 3-5 of your favorite Linchpins? What are they defining traits?
Seth Godin: How about Shepard Fairey, the artist, Jonathan Ive at Apple and that incredibly kind person I met at the Delta counter in Utah last week. In each case, they don’t follow a manual, instead, they make a connection and change the people they work with. They are artists, even though they don’t necessarily work with paint.

Ambal Balakrishnan: How can organizations help nourish Linchpins?
Seth Godin: Understand that talented people are either going to do great work if you let them, or leave. So create enough space for people to own their output, to be generous, to feel respected and to show respect.

Ambal Balakrishnan: What are the 3 key lessons you want readers to take away from your book?
Seth Godin: Only one: you have the opportunity to make a choice, right now. Choose to do work that matters, to make a difference, to be an artist.

Ambal Balakrishnan: Your books, speaking sessions and blog posts are a great testimonial to your “Power of Noticing/Observing”. How can our blog readers hone this skill?
Seth Godin: They should start their own blogs. It’s a gift to be able to do this, and they should.

Ambal Balakrishnan: Please recommend 3-5 resources (must read books, blogs for marketers in 2010)
Seth Godin: Please read the entire works of Jackie Huba, Guy Kawasaki and Tom Peters. That will be a great start.

Ambal Balakrishnan: What kind of projects (both personal and professional) are you involved in when you are not marketing, blogging, speaking?
Seth Godin: I run Squidoo.com with some very talented people. And I get distracted by just about anything!

In the video below, Brad Lomenick interviews Seth Godin about this new book Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?. View Part 2 and Part 3 of the interview.

Related Blog Posts

ClickLaunch: What Matters NOW - Things to Think About and Do in 2010

ClickInsights: Biggest Roadblock to Converting Marketing Leads

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 16:30:00 EST

One of the goals of marketing is to generate leads. What is the next logical step once you have managed to get high quality leads? Yes, getting those leads into the sale pipeline.

We have invited B2B Experts to shed light on the following question: "What is the biggest roadblock to converting marketing leads into the sales pipeline? How do marketers overcome this roadblock?". Read on to get their insights.

Ardath Albee

Blog Marketing Interactions Twitter Ardath421

"Don't focus on short-term campaigns"

Ardath Albee's Bio

Ardath Albee's Tip

Short Termism
B2B marketing programs tend to focus on short-term campaigns designed to achieve company goals without regard to prospects’ needs and timelines. Part of this is due to the budget structure that allocates funding based on financial quarters. But, it’s also the company’s need for instant gratification. Salespeople need leads—right now. So marketing tries to feed the pipe. They may find some success by stumbling across prospects who are ready, but they tend to overlook the potential of those who aren’t.

If your company’s sales cycle is 9 months and you run 3-month campaigns—switching focus along with a change in quarter—you’re leaving most of your prospects hanging. The message you send them is that your marketing efforts are really all about you, not them. This gives them incentive to look elsewhere for more information on the topic you abandoned in mid-stream. Research showing that 79% of leads never become opportunities backs up the premise that our marketing efforts aren’t creating the best results across the long term.

If marketers want to overcome this roadblock, they need to create programs to match their prospects’ needs at every stage of the buying process. The mindset shift is that marketing isn’t a series of campaigns but rather an ongoing, consistent process that educates prospects about what they need to know; showcases your company’s expertise to add value to the product offering; and proves that what you say is true.

Consider adding progressive measures across your marketing initiatives that show momentum in addition to the number of qualified leads being sent to sales. Once you achieve the tipping point, you’ll find that it’s an easier proposition to build on that momentum for a continuous stream of prospects who become sales ready.

Ardath Albee Recommends

Seamus Walsh

Blog B2BContentMarketing Twitter SeamusWalsh

"Disconnect between sales and marketing"

Seamus Walsh's Bio

Seamus Walsh founded VAZT Global Inc. in January 2008. Seamus' passion for sales, sales process and excellence enabled him to develop a platform that "finds, cares and feeds" prospects until they are ready to buy. Prior to forming VAZT, Seamus worked in sales and strategic account management for The Hackett Group, a strategic advisory and management consulting firm in Atlanta, For Gartner, a research, advisory and consulting company in Stamford, CT and Cambridge Technology Partners, a web development company, prior to its acquisition by Novell. Seamus resides in Essex Junction, VT with his wife and four children.

Seamus Walsh's Tip

The biggest roadblock is having a disconnect between sales and marketing. Marketing collects information from companies expressing interest in a product or service and typically sends this "lead" onto sales. If the lead is not what sales considers to be qualified, or if marketing has a history of sending poor leads to sales, sales will not follow-up (or will follow-up half-heartedly) so the leads will not end up in the pipeline. This problem is exacerbated if marketing's goals are based on quantity of leads without metrics factoring in quality of leads.

Marketing can overcome this roadblock several ways:

Make sure that incentives align to desired behavior and that goals are understood and accepted across the executive suite. If the company's goal is for marketing to produce more leads that end up in the sales pipeline, then metrics and bonuses should be established for targets and progress tracked towards the achievement of those targets.
Develop a common taxonomy and understanding between sales and marketing, defining what is meant by "lead," "qualified lead," "pipeline status," etc.
If sales has a standard sales process or methodology, make sure that marketing understands the process and participates in any formal sale training if at all possible. Marketing cannot help sales if they don't understand the specific criteria for sales' success and the obstacles faced across the sales cycle.
Develop and implement marketing programs at the account-based (or segment-based) level. The more personalized or account specific the marketing messages and programs are, the more likely that generated leads will be from potential (or "qualified") buyers. At the very least, get input from respected sales agents and managers when developing marketing programs designed to generate leads.

Seamus Walsh Recommends

Recommended Resources from B2B Marketing Experts

Blogs

Books

Others

Mapping Content to the Buying Process - Slidecast

ClickPredictions: The Birth of a Meaningful Marketing Model

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 10:00:00 EST

We asked Bob Gilbreath "What are key marketing trends and predictions for 2010? What actions should marketers take in 2010"

Bob Gilbreath is Chief Marketing Strategist at Bridge Worldwide (one of the nation’s largest digital advertising agencies) and author of “The Next Evolution of Marketing”

Bob Gilbreath

Blog Marketing with Meaning Twitter MktgwithMeaning

"Resolve to abandon the advertising interruption model and begin to evolve to Marketing with Meaning."

Bob Gilbreath's Marketing Prediction for 2010
In 2010 a growing number of companies will break with their old, interruptive tell-and-sell habits and adopt the next evolution of marketing. They will accept that consumers cannot be hoodwinked or annoyed into buying their products and realize that the only way to earn attention and sales is to add value to their lives through the marketing itself. It’s a concept called “Marketing with Meaning” and works when brands create marketing that consumers choose to engage with and advertising that itself improves people’s lives.

Bob Gilbreath's Marketing Action for 2010
To adapt to this next evolution of marketing, businesses must begin to look for higher-level needs their brands can deliver on. The possibilities range from providing information to creating shared experiences to helping consumers achieve personal goals and improve the world around them. While brands will not move to this model overnight, those with a vision for where the world and their consumers are heading will increasingly experiment and invest in Meaningful Marketing ideas, and begin to shift organizational structures that have gotten in the way.

Recommended Resources

ClickPredictions: Key Content Marketing Trends and Predictions for 2010

Related Blog Posts

Marketing Trends and Predictions for 2010

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:37:45 EST

Content marketing is changing like never before at a faster pace than we’ve seen in the last 100 years. Companies that learn the new marketing lessons, and implement them well, will be big winners going forward. Those that play by yesterday’s rules will lose. So what are these new rules? What is the future of content marketing? We’re glad you asked. To answer these pressing questions, we dusted off our trusty crystal ball and passed it along to 39 of the worlds top B2B marketers, e-mail marketers and social media gurus, and asked them one straightforward question, “What are their key marketing trends and predictions for 2010?”

2010 Content Marketing Trends and Predictions

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 06:00:00 EST

FREE eBook from Marketo and ClickDocuments:

ClickPredictions: Key Content Marketing Trends and Predictions for 2010

Content marketing is changing like never before at a faster pace than we’ve seen in the last 100 years. Companies that learn the new marketing lessons, and implement them well, will be big winners going forward. Those that play by yesterday’s rules will lose.

So what are these new rules? What is the future of content marketing?

To answer these pressing questions, we dusted off our trusty crystal ball and passed it along to 39 of the world's top B2B marketers, e-mail marketers and social media gurus, and asked them one straightforward question, “What are key marketing trends and predictions for 2010?”

The answers are fantastic. You’re going to get a first-hand look into the future of content marketing from the people that live and breathe it every single day. And as an extra bonus, ClickPredictions eBook is also packed with over 100 recommended resources from these experts.

Click for free download now and you can get 2010 started on the right foot with a bit of inspiration and no-nonsense marketing straight-talk.

White Paper Success Summit 2010

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:00:00 EST

How do you attract quality leads and grow your business with educational white papers? If you’re a marketer who wants to unleash the power of the mighty white paper to reel in qualified leads, White Paper Success Summit 2010 will show you how. Attend White Paper Success Summit 2010 from your home or office and learn from White Paper Experts.

White Paper Success Summit 2010

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 06:00:00 EST

White paper marketing works! (based on recent study by Eccolo Media). White papers yield powerful influence: 84% of businesses find white papers either moderately or extremely influential in their purchasing decisions. White papers are the most viral form of marketing collateral: White papers are the most commonly shared form of marketing collateral, with 89% of readers passing them along to others. White papers yield the most strength early in the sales cycle: Regarding the sales cycle, 80% of marketers claim that white papers are most effective in the presales process.

How do you leverage the power of white papers in your marketing? How do you attract quality leads and grow your business with educational white papers? If you’re a marketer who wants to unleash the power of the mighty white paper to reel in qualified leads, White Paper Success Summit 2010 will show you how.

What is White Paper Success Summit 2010?
White Paper Success Summit 2010 is the only major online event dedicated to helping businesses succeed with white paper marketing. This live online event will empower you to attract quality leads and grow your business with educational white papers.

Who will present at White Paper Success Summit 2010?
Join bestselling authors and marketing experts such as Michael Stelzner (author, Writing White Papers), Bob Bly (author, White Paper Marketing Handbook), John Jantsch (author, Duct Tape Marketing), Brian J. Carroll (author, Lead Generation for the Complex Sale), Jill Konrath (author, Selling to Big Companies), Roger C. Parker (author, White Paper Design that Sells), Ardath Albee (author, eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale), Joe Pulizzi (author, Get Content Get Customers), Jonathan Kantor (author, Crafting White Paper 2.0) and many others!

What sessions will be held at White Paper Success Summit 2010?

More Business Than You Can Handle: How to Achieve The Business Dream With A Single White Paper
Leveraging Social Media to Promote Your White Papers
7 Ways to Guarantee Your Next White Paper Is a Success
More Leads and Sales with Free White Papers
Launching White Papers Like Products: 7 Steps to Boosting White Paper Performance
Proven Techniques for Using White Papers for the Complex Sale
Partnering for Leads: Getting Other Businesses to Promote Your Paper
Apply the "Rule of 5" to Your White Paper Content to Increase ROI
Supercharging Your White Paper Distribution for Maximum Impact
Turning White Paper Leads into Customers

Get details at White Paper Success Summit 2010

How to register for White Paper Success Summit 2010?
Register at White Paper Success Summit 2010. $200 discount is available until the 21st of Feb.

Stop. Read No Further.

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 09:37:00 EST

Gotcha! A little reverse psychology never hurt. But, poorly written blog post titles definitely can hurt all the work you put into writing.

When you write – whether it's a post, paper, essay or eBook – think twice about the title before you publish. Chances are, you're happy just to have finished writing and simply want to add a title that describes the subject.

But the title is part of your marketing strategy; it's the sign out front, the wrapping, the invitation. And you want it to be irresistible. Before you post it, stand back and look at it from the point of view of a total stranger.

Would it stand out in their blog reader? Is it going to teach something, solve a problem, make them laugh, make them cry, make them change, or tell them anything they don't know? Is it friendly and cool or aloof and intimidating?

Here are five tips for writing hard-working titles:

1. Tell the reader what they're going to get out of your post. By using the title to describe what the post is going to do for them, rather than just stating the topic, you're giving them incentive to start reading. As Outspoken Media says, "By targeting phrases like “how to” or “tutorial” or “help with X”, you also set yourself up to benefit from future search traffic when someone borks their 301 redirect in the year 2011 and it’s your descriptively-titled post that ranks for it."

2. Be clever, but not too clever that search engines won't find you. Titles should include key words or phrases related to the subject that will help search engines find it – and readers find you. And try re-writing titles of posts or pages that are already popular.

3. There are many ways to draw readers into your posts; next time you write a post try playing with some of several different concepts, then choose the one that works best.

4. Sometimes it helps to see how a blah headline can be made beautiful. Check out some examples of good, bad and ugly headlines.

5. Upon writing a sexy headline, you may be tempted to stick to that formula for your next post. Don't do it. As Michael Gray says, it's better to change your strategy, get creative again and try something different.

ClickInsights: Mistakes to Avoid in Copy Used for Lead Generation

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 06:00:00 EST

One of the purposes of writing copy is to generate leads. What are the challenges in writing good copy that not only educates prospects and customers but also draws them in as leads for your business?

We have invited White Paper Experts to shed light on the following question: "What mistakes must a copywriter avoid in copy used for lead generation?". Read on to get their insights.

Recommended Resources from Experts on white papers

Books

Others

WhitePaperSource Online Forum
WhitePaperSource Newsletter
How to Write a White Paper – A White Paper on White Papers
Scribd for reference and distribution of white papers
5 Steps to a White Paper that Pulls in the Perfect Prospect
Savvy B2B Marketing blog posts about white papers
White Paper FAQs
Who needs white papers anyway?
Tips on terrific titles for white papers
Tips on writing white papers as tips
How to use white papers to grow a healthy crop of leads
WhitePaperPundit: The Friday FREE White Paper List

Michael Stelzner

Blog WritingWhitePapers Twitter Mike_Stelzner

"Don't lead with the product pitch"

Michael Stelzner's Bio

Michael Stelzner's Tip

If your objective is to help businesses capture a lead, close a sale or establish themselves as kings in a crowded market, here's some tips to avoid:

Don't lead with the product pitch: In today's economy nobody likes to be sold to. Rather they prefer engagement. That typically means start by building affinity with readers. You can do this by talking about things they care about, such as problems and trends. This draws people into your work and allows you to eventually make the pitch.
Avoid verbose writing: Pacify the skimmer. Use short sentences rather than long prose. Try bolding key items and make sure your work is like butter melting on warm toast. This takes time but ensures that skimmer is engaged.
Don't assume they're just like you: Too often writers assume that readers understand the terms and inside the beltway talk that goes around. However, there's no bigger turn off to readers than terms and phrases that are foreign. Always ask yourself, "is this phrase something the reader will understand?" If not, kill it.

Michael Stelzner Recommends

Stephanie Tilton

Blog Savvy B2B Marketing Twitter StephanieTilton

“Write a headline or subject line in the form of a question requiring a YES or NO answer”

Stephanie Tilton's Bio

Stephanie Tilton is an expert case study and white paper writer who helps B2B companies advance the sales cycle by engaging prospects and customers. Harnessing her unique blend of technical knowledge, marketing savvy, and writing skills, Stephanie has crafted nearly 100 case studies and white papers for leading brands such as Akamai Technologies, EMC, Macromedia, Novell, SAP, and Symantec. Her website is Ten Ton Marketing.

Stephanie Tilton's Tip

To effectively engage prospects – and propel them to take action – avoid the following mistakes when crafting lead-generation copy:

Write a headline or subject line in the form of a question requiring a “Yes” or “No” answer. If readers don’t respond with the anticipated answer, you’ve lost them from the start. Instead, write a benefit-focused headline or subject line that the reader can’t resist.
Fail to incent the prospect to read on. We’re all deluged with offers via email, direct mail, and the Web. Within seconds, you need to grab your readers’ attention and explain what’s in it for them.
Focus on your product or service instead of the offer. A lead-generation piece isn’t the place to sell your product or service. Your sole objective is to encourage a response to your offer.
Present dense copy that’s daunting to read. Prospects shouldn't have to slog their way through your copy. Write short, engaging copy – and format it for readability using subheads and bullets.
Omit a clear and compelling call to action. Vague calls to action don’t get the desired result. Instead, present a benefit-oriented offer sure to spur a response.

Stephanie Tilton Recommends

Cindy King

Blog CindyKing Twitter CindyKing

“Not Targeting the Right Stage in the Sales Process”

Cindy King's Bio

Cindy King's Tip

Here are two of the biggest mistakes I notice in lead generation copywriting.

Not Targeting the Right Stage in the Sales Process
Sales cycles can be different depending on the industry you are in. You must spend the time to clearly identify what your primary goal is and how this fits into the overall sales process.

Is your reader simply in the awareness phase? Is he still exploring the subject? Does he need motivation to make a decision? Is he comfortable with his decision? Is he happy to have purchased your product or service? Where is he in the sales process?

In lead generation copywriting if you don’t have an intimate understanding of the sales process, and target your copywriting for one specific task within this sales process, your copywriting will not work.

Forgetting Your Global Audience
When writing lead generation pieces keep your global audience in mind. This is particularly relevant for anything published online.

Before taking the step of adapting your lead generation materials to different cultural markets, you can often make a few small additions or minor changes to your current copy to improve your global communication.

With a little attention to the details of your copywriting in English you can also include a wider multicultural and international audience. And if you don’t pay attention to these details, you can turn off potential multicultural or international clients without realizing it.

Cindy King Recommends

Janice King's book Copywriting That Sells High Tech
Casey Hibbard's book Stories That Sell: Turn Satisfied Customers into Your Most Powerful Sales & Marketing Asset
Jill Konrath's book Selling To Big Companies
Joe Pulizzi's and Newt Barrett's book Get Content. Get Customers.

Michele Linn

Blog Savvy B2B Marketing Twitter MicheleLinn

"Not including a clear call to action"

Michele Linn's Bio

Michele Linn is a B2B marketing consultant specializing creating and promoting buyer-focused content, such as white papers, research reports, feature articles and case studies. Her business is devoted to making the job of B2B marketers easier by producing effective content and providing insights on how they can market it. Her website is Linn Communications.

Michele Linn's Tip

When I am writing copy for lead generation, I think about two things: the landing page (the web page where the reader downloads the offer, such as the white paper or eBook) and the content that drives the person to the landing page (such as an email or a pay-per-click ad). Here are a few common mistakes to avoid:

Promoting the product or service, not the offer: The goal of the copy is to get the reader to download your offer, not make a purchase.
Not answering the question, “What’s in it for me?” You don’t have much time to get a reader’s attention, so you need to clearly and quickly let them know how they will benefit from your offer.
Creating only one version of the landing page: The landing page for your lead generation activities needs to tie directly to your promotion. For instance, if you have multiple pay-per-click ads that use different keywords, you should have multiple landing pages that reference each of these keywords so your reader quickly understands the connection.
Using buzzwords: You have a very limited time to catch a reader’s attention, so you need to be exceptionally clear with what it is you are saying and asking.
Not including a clear call to action: You may know what you want the reader to do, but it needs to be very explicit.
Asking for too much registration info: The more fields you ask readers to complete to register for your offer (if you are asking for registration), the fewer downloads you’ll receive. Ask only for what is necessary.

Michele Linn Recommends

Jonathan Kranz

Blog Kranzcom Twitter jonkranz

"No offer, No focus, No clear call to action"

Jonathan Kranz's Bio

Jonathan Kranz's Tip

Mistakes? I’ve seen plenty (and committed more than I’d like to admit). But here are the top three that really matter:

No offer: You can survive just about any other mistake, but this one is lethal — you just gotta’ have an offer, a concrete, urgent reason for readers to respond. No, “for more information” is NOT an offer. “To learn more....” is NOT an offer. A discount, a demo, a free trial, an ebook, free shipping — these are offers. Be sure you have one.
No focus: Everyone has an agenda, that’s only natural. But when competing departments insist on loading their competing messages into your lead generation piece, the result is an unnatural, hybrid, communications piece that should never see the light of day. A lead generation piece has ONE goal: to get readers to accept your offer. It is NOT the place to expand your brand, share your mission, articulate your values, explore your history, etc. Focus relentlessly on your offer: what is is, why it’s valuable, how readers can get it.
No clear call to action: See number one above. The corollary to “no offer” is no visible means for accepting it. Don’t make readers work (they won’t); like an elementary school teacher instructing a room of seven-year-olds, spell out EXACTLY what readers have to do, step by obvious step, to accept your offer.

Good luck! May your 2010 bring enviable response rates!

Jonathan Kranz Recommends

Let's Start Over. Again.

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 06:00:00 EST

Ahh, back to our routine! At this point, many of us are happy about the return of our regularly scheduled programming. Happy to pack up Christmas clutter. Really happy to throw out that fruitcake. Come to think of it, we're even happy to get back to work!

But, wait a second. We shouldn't go back to our routine. Most of us want to change something in our lives or careers. And to do that, we need a new routine. Even those of us who scoff at New Year's Resolutions are still working toward goals of some kind.

All the resolution-related articles do have a point: If you want to change something, you have to plan for it. And simply putting your tie on and returning to work isn't a plan. The good news is that there are tons of time-management tools and apps to help you plan your efforts for the next year.

When it comes to content marketing specifically, it's a good time to think about having a daily or weekly strategy in place for moving toward your goals. Here are some ideas to get you started:

Don't ditch 2009 just yet: Before you trash last year's calendar, it's a good idea to look back through it. You'll be reminded of all that did happen and all that was accomplished, and of the things that remain on your to-do list. Envision what you want to happen this year.

Say "Happy New Year" and mean it: Yes, this annual greeting does resemble the ubiquitous "Have a Nice Day", but there is typically a short period after the holidays where managers and co-workers are a little more open and friendlier. People have had a break, energy is renewed and slates have been wiped clean. Take advantage of this time to strike up new conversations, ask advice, reaffirm professional relationships, share ideas and initiate new projects.

Commit to being more social: We all know that accomplishing our goals isn't just about us; it's about having contacts, networks and relationships that will help pave the way. Make regular commenting, connecting and conversation a weekly goal. Exploit social networks as much as you can.

Connect to a worthy cause: We all want to find more meaning in our work and lives, yet the day-to-day rush often discourages socially conscious work. If you can find a way to tie the project or marketing you're doing to a worthy cause, you'll be that much more motivated to reach your goal.

Happy New Year!

What's the Plan for 2010?

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:15:00 EST

As you head into to 2010, no doubt you'll be thinking about business goals. Perhaps you already have a mental to-do list: blogging and Tweeting more, networking more, starting a Facebook group or uploading video content. Once New Year's has worn off, you just want to jump in and get started.

They're great intentions, but you'll never achieve them without a plan. Start your year off on the right foot with an editorial calendar that breaks your blogging and social media agenda down into manageable tasks. The calendar should plot out at least a month, and up to six months of content.

Here are five reasons for having an editorial calendar:

1. To stay on track with your topic, audience and purpose

Plotting out an editorial calendar forces you to think ahead about what's relevant, timely and marketable. Coming up with posts spontaneously on a daily or weekly basis means that there's no long-term strategy in place, and you're likely to veer away from your goals.

2. Help maximize content and effort

Taking the time to plan means that you're thinking about how to expend your energy and resources wisely. You're less likely to squander a great idea in one post if you've thought about it ahead. Get more out of less effort.

3. Target networking and social media efforts

Lots of great blog posts go unread because they're not promoted. If you know that at the end of the month you'll be writing about a particular subject, you'll have the lead time you need to promote the relevant post among the people who will be interested.

4. Improve your relationship with your audience

If a blog offers an educational series of how-tos, or an insightful breakdown of a particular process, it looks and feels authoritative. Your audience will respect that. They can tell the difference between a blog that wants to serve its audience, and one that is there for the sake of being there.

5. You can get ahead

Once your first calendar is planned out, it's a great idea to set aside time to get ahead on it. Then you have the breathing space you need to spend more time on other valuable tasks, like social networking, tweaking your blog design, or developing an idea for an eBook.

Right now, the year is a blank slate - get it started on the right foot.

Best of ClickDocuments "Connect the Docs" Blog in 2009

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 06:00:00 EST

2009 was the first year of Connect the Docs. A big thank you to all our readers, guest bloggers and interviewees for helping us build Connect the Docs.

Enjoy the following collated list of best blog posts from Connect the Docs in 2009.

How Shopping Can Help You Become a Better Marketer

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 15:00:00 EST

Love it or hate it, the holiday season is a largely commercial event. Those of us who dread shopping can at least look at the annual exercise as a good opportunity to analyze our own experiences as customers - then figure out how to replicate the positive experiences in our own marketing efforts. Your purchasing decisions are often made for reasons of convenience or affordability; but what kind of stores make you actually enjoy shopping? In an interview in the book Blog Blazers by Stephane Grenier, marketing guru Seth Godin makes the point that in business, people tend to focus on the task at hand.

ClickInsights: What Was Your "Aha" Moment in 2009? - Part 2

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 09:00:00 EST

It’s almost the end of the year and we will soon start a fresh one. What is amazing about the end of the year is the festive mood it puts us in. It also puts us in a reflective mood as we ponder over what has transpired and how we have come out of this year stronger than we went in. I have invited our Panel of B2B Marketing Experts to reflect on 2009 and answer the following question: What was your aha moment in 2009? Read on to get their insights.

Recommended Resources from B2B Marketing Experts

Blogs

Books

Others

Mapping Content to the Buying Process - Slidecast

Ardath Albee

Blog Marketing Interactions Twitter Ardath421

"Don’t let prospect assumptions limit marketing effectiveness."

Ardath Albee's Bio

Ardath Albee's Tip

In much of the work I’ve done this year with corporate marketers, it’s become clear that much of what they think they know about their prospects is limited or has become outdated. It used to be that once you knew your prospects, it took a long time for that knowledge to become obsolete. That’s no longer true. The buying environment is shifting—faster than ever. The changes are as much about who is involved in the buying decision as in how they facilitate it.

The “aha” moment for me was the discovery that many marketers know enough to generate leads, but not enough to drive engagement over the length of time it takes for buyers to agree to—and be ready for—sales conversations. There’s a tremendous gap between lead generation and sales readiness for a complex sale that can be bridged with active nurturing programs.

In filling this gap, marketers need to expand their reach – not only to engage with decision makers, but to satisfy the needs of all the people who influence the sale. Buying committees are growing in number and the “aha” moment for marketers should be that influencers may not be able to say yes, but they can definitely derail the sale by saying no.

The best way to overcome this deficiency is through continuous listening, research and refinement of marketing programs based on prospect and customer intelligence. The speed of change requires that marketers keep their content development process fluid over time. Plan your editorial calendar to cover the buying process, but develop it incrementally, adjusting as needed to match your buyers’ shifting perceptions and priorities.

Several tools for prospect intelligence:

Lead scoring provides real-time insights.
Google alerts pull a wide variety of information to you.
LinkedIn Groups and Answers can give you a quick read on viewpoints.
Twitter Search can reveal top-of-mind concerns and perspectives for specific topics.
Sales rep feedback from the streets must be collected and factored into marketing programs.
Customer interviews can help with understanding the true impact of issues.
Customer service insights can help you learn what’s working and what’s not, as well as what may be of increasing importance in the future.

Ardath Albee Recommends

Rebel Brown

Blog Phoenix Rising Twitter RebelBrown

"Twitter!"

Rebel Brown's Bio

Rebel Brown is go-to-market strategist and Spin Doctor specializing in start ups, turnarounds and start-arounds in the high technology arena. She has helped to define, position and launch over 75 individual products and companies since she began consulting 20 years ago. Her clients who are technology vendors and venture firms leverage her strategic marketing and go-to-market expertise. She identifies and transforms differentiation - customers crown jewels - into compelling, customer-centric value that sells. Her blog is Phoenix Rising and her business is People Who Know.

Rebel Brown's Tip

I avoided Twitter until May of this year. Like many, I was skeptical. From the outside, Twitter looked like a new-fangled chat room for people who had time on their hands – which I don’t. But at the insistence of some friends, I joined Twitter as I launched my blog, Phoenix Rising. I wasn’t sure why I needed, or wanted, Twitter in my life – but I joined. What a delightful surprise awaited me! Yes, there are characters in the stream that are pretty silly, thinly veiled MLM pitches and those ‘used car’ sales approaches. And yes, SPAM is as much a part of the Twitterverse as it is with our email.

But there is so much more! Once I learned how to sift through the chaff to find the wheat – what amazing kernels of wisdom I found. Powerful business lessons, thought provoking perspectives and a community of professionals whose generosity astounds me every day.

I’ve met my speaking coach and mentor, two new clients, more new business associates and partners than I can count – all on Twitter. We are a virtual business team! We brainstorm together, share expertise and lessons learned, offer recommendations for new contacts, marketing and sales approaches, speaking and book writing, personal learning and more. Then there are my new friends – people who astound me with their grace, intelligence and generosity. My Twitter family is as diverse as it is global.

Twitter is more than chatter. It’s a powerful place to connect with fellow business professionals who can propel our ideas and businesses to the next level of growth. We simply must take the first step - to connect on a personal, open and honest level. The rest happens naturally with Twitter.

Rebel Brown Recommends

Charlene Li's and Josh Barnoff's book Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies

Tom Pick

Blog Webbiquity Twitter TomPick

"How to use technology to really make relationship marketing work?"

Tom Pick's Bio

Tom Pick is an online marketing executive with KC Associates, a marketing and PR firm in Minneapolis , Minnesota , focused on b2b technology clients. He helps clients improve business results through search engine optimization (SEO), search marketing, interactive PR and social media programs. Tom also writes the award-winning Webbiquity, a blog about B2B lead generation, social media, interactive PR, SEO and search engine marketing.

Tom Pick's Tip

The concept of one-to-one marketing, also called relationship marketing, has been around for more than a decade, at least since Don Peppers and Martha Rogers wrote The One to One Field Book back in 1999. Unfortunately for the authors, the technology to support such programs really didn’t exist at the time. But that issue was resolved just a few years later when the first marketing automation software suites came to market.

So, given that the theory of targeted marketing has been around since the last century, and the tools have been available for several years now, why are so many marketing messages so un-targeted? I’m not alone in seeing this in both b2c (I receive membership materials from AARP and offers for Medigap insurance—hey, I’m not THAT old!) and b2b (for example, I get email blasts about cloud computing conferences; I had a cloud computing client a while back, but other than that have no relationship to the industry).

My “a-ha” moment came earlier this year in conversations with some very smart people in the marketing automation market, including Kim Albee of Genoo and Steve Woods of Eloqua. The problem isn’t a lack of theory or tools, but rather the challenge of figuring out how to use the technology to really make relationship marketing work.

It isn’t easy; it requires proper identification of granular market segments, understanding their unique needs (is this the functional or economic buyer?), creating content to address each audience, and coordinating all efforts carefully with the sales force to avoid working at cross-purposes.

Fortunately, there are parties at every level working to address the issue. At the thought-leadership level, Ardath Albee provides a roadmap for content creation and targeting in her new book, eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale. At the vendor level, Genius has released its Essential Marketing Automation Handbook and Marketo has its Definitive Guide to Lead Nurturing, both designed to help customers use their software more effectively. Savvy marketing automation resellers are also beefing up their consulting side to help customers, on an individual basis, use the technology more effectively.

Hopefully the culmination of these efforts will mean less spam and junk mail for buyers, and less wasted, untargeted efforts by marketers.

Tom Pick Recommends

Seamus Walsh

Blog B2BContentMarketing Twitter SeamusWalsh

"The right content at the right time to the right people."

Seamus Walsh's Bio

Seamus Walsh's Tip

My 2009 aha moment was when I realized the target market I was aiming for basically ceased to exist, and publishers, content creators and VP of sales and marketing were fast becoming “social media experts”. At the same time, implementations of marketing and sales information portals were strong, despite the sluggish economy.

Now that "fast track" implementers and early adopters alike need content that is fresh, has a point of view and is actionable to their reader, a content strategy and taxonomy standards like Dublin Core and DITA bring a process and methodology that can enable companies to serve "the right content at the right time to the right people".

Seamus Walsh Recommends

Over to you

What was your "Aha" moment in 2009?

Participation Inequality Online: Don't Panic if Your Blog doesn't Get Comments

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 07:28:54 EST

Whether we're writing a blog post, article or ebook, we're all hoping for the same thing. A reaction. A few dozen comments and a spirited discussion would be nice. Or at least a sign that someone is out there. Blogging can be tough - especially in the beginning - because it's a one-sided conversation. The risk is that, without the immediate affirmation we want, panic sets in and we go off track and off topic, forgetting what our point was in the first place.

In a super article in Harvard Business Publishing, Alexandra Samuel writes about how blogging is like having a conversation with a Botox user. She recalls meeting a woman at a party and talking about their respective jobs. Her acquaintance, who had spoken animatedly about her own work, seemed to glaze over while listening to Samuel talk about hers.

"I found myself rambling through a perplexing conversation that produced sparkle when she talked, but nothing when I did. I left the party baffled." Months later, she found out that the woman was a heavy Botox user - so the flat facial expression didn't necessarily indicate disinterest.

Likewise, in blogging, it's tough to gauge readers - the enthusiasm and interest may be there, but people rarely express it. Think about how often you pay someone a compliment, or recommend a restaurant or service that you love, or leave comments on others' blogs. Chances are that you just don't think to take these actions, even though you're a fan.

Jakob Nielson reported in 2006 that 90 per cent of online users are lurkers, 9 per cent contribute occasionally, and 1 per cent actively contribute. Nielson says "participation inequality" is a fact of online life, so the best strategy is to expect it and proceed accordingly.

Samuel offers five pointers for improving off- and online communication skills, so that you stay on track with your conversations, no matter how one-sided. One great suggestion for bloggers is that they picture their audience while writing:

"It's easy to feel like you're talking to yourself when you blog or tweet without getting a response. That leads to carelessness -- or even to writing hurtful or counterproductive content. Picture a person that your message is aimed at, whether it's someone you're e-mailing or a single user among your 100,000 Twitter followers. Keep this person in mind, perhaps by literally looking at their picture or avatar as you type. It will make your message more personal, authentic and compelling."

Great advice. How do you deal with "participation inequality"?

ClickLaunch: What Matters NOW - Things to Think About and Do in 2010

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 05:00:00 EST

Thunder. Rolling Thunder. You can hear and sense it coming. Similarly, I knew that some fantastic content was coming our way when a few weeks ago, over a cup of hot tea, Rajesh Setty had mentioned to me that he was contributing to an eBook that Seth Godin and Ishita Gupta were putting together. The eBook would include ideas from several thought leaders on what they think will matter in 2010 - somewhat similar to the special sections that Times runs just before the new year.

So, here it is….What Matters Now - Things to think about (and do) this year.

Read Seth's blog post on this brand new eBook What Matters Now.

60+ top minds in the world have shared their insights nuggets of wisdom on how to make our businesses and life better. Yes – they know we live in an attention challenged world. So each nugget of wisdom is only 200 words or less.

I have picked a few of my favorites from the eBook. Enjoy these snippets and go download the entire eBook for FREE at What Matters Now - Things to think about (and do) this year.

Seth Godin

Blog Seth Godin Twitter @sethgodins

"Generosity"

If you make a difference, people will gravitate to you. They want to engage, to interact and to get you more involved. In a digital world, the gift I give you almost always benefits me more than it costs. This year, you’ll certainly find that the more you give the more you get.

Rajesh Setty

Blog Life Beyond Code Twitter @Upbeatnow

"Enrichment"

We are all on a search – a search for more meaning in our lives. Through choosing to enrich other people’s lives, you add meaning to both their life and your own.

Jackie Huba and Ben McConnell

Blog Church of the Customer Twitter @jackiehuba

"The One Percenters"

The One Percenters are not the usual suspects of name brand tech bloggers, mommy bloggers and or business bloggers. The One Percenters are often hidden in the crevices of niches, yet they are the roots of word of mouth. This year, your job is to find them and attract them.

Marti Barletta

Blog TrendSight - Marketing to Women Twitter @martibarletta

"Strengths"

Forget about working on your weaknesses --> Focus on supporting your strengths. The beautiful thing about being on a team is that, believe it or not, lots of people love doing the things you hate. And hate doing the things you love. So quit diligently developing your weaknesses.

Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Blog Made to Stick

"Change"

You’re probably trying to change things at home or at work. Stop agonizing about what’s not working. Instead, ask yourself, “What’s working well, rightnow, and how can I do more of it?”

Download the FREE eBook - .What Matters Now - Things to think about (and do) this year.

Over to you...
Print the eBook out. Put it someplace close. Read each page one at a time.
Pick one lesson you want to put to use in your life. Only one lesson. Practice it. Consistently. Create a better world and better yourself.
This holiday season – I will lift a glass to you and your unshakable resolution for 2010. Go ahead. Blaze those trials. Good luck.

The Importance of Powerful Visuals in Content Marketing

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 08:15:00 EST

Content isn’t just about text anymore. In fact, too much text can harm your efforts to engage an audience. With peoples’ shortening attention spans, you need to think visually, and use powerful visuals to attract and connect with your audience.

People now post over 14 million photos a day on Facebook. Video content isn’t far behind. Easy-to-use cameras, video cameras and cell phones make it incredibly easy to shoot pictures and record video, and then share it online. Content is getting more and more visual and that’s of critical importance to anyone involved in content creation and content marketing.

The old adage, “Show don’t tell” is critical to successful content writing and marketing. For example, you can use a flowchart diagram to explain a complicated process, instead of explaining each step in a lot of detail. Then accentuate the visual with shorter, punchier bullet points. If something can be better explained with a visual, use one.

For landing pages, images are absolutely essential. Often times they’re called “hero shots”. MarketingSherpa defines a hero shot as, “…a picture or graphic representation of the item being marketed, whether it’s a tangible product, the cover of a report or the photo of a webinar presenter.”

Angali Merchant makes an important point about the use of images in landing pages, “Use images that portray the biggest benefit your product or service offers and/or use images that relate specifically to what you offer.” (http://www.viget.com/engage/intro-and-landing-pages-best-practices) If you use an image that doesn’t have any real meaning or connection to what you’re selling, or the surrounding content, you’re going to lose readers’ interest; and worst, their trust. That means stock photography is a no-no, unless it’s absolutely relevant. Too often you’ll see websites with stock photos of people; all that does is distance the audience from the website (and company) because they know it’s fake.

Tip: People are drawn to images, so make the images on your landing page (or website) clickable. When someone clicks an image, they’re expecting an action to take place, and they’ll be more likely to convert through your landing page process (instead of clicking and not finding that the images go anywhere.)

Images can make a huge difference in presentations, even if it means using more images to show something instead of writing everything out in text. And with more and more presentations now going online (hosted on sites such as Slideshare.net), you can leverage presentations very nicely as content marketing tools. Oliver Adria has a quick example of how 3 images within a presentation do a much better job of evoking meaning and motion than 1 slide with factual bullet points.

Too many content pieces – be they blog posts, e-books, presentations, webinars, landing pages or websites – ignore the importance of powerful images to attract and engage the audience. Images are typically much more effective at drawing the eye and evoking strong reactions. You want images to stand out and emphasize the core value proposition of what you’re marketing. Powerful images will make your content that much more worthwhile.

And don’t forget – white space is important too. White space is the space between elements on your web page, blog post or e-book page. White space makes text easier to scan, and also gives you the opportunity to highlight key elements (especially visuals!) more clearly. For more on white space, check out this great guide: Using White Space Effectively in Web Design

So the next time you’re preparing a key content marketing piece for your business make sure you invest enough time thinking about and preparing top-notch visuals. You won’t regret it.

ClickLaunch: Jonathan Kantor's Crafting White Paper 2.0

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:30:00 EST

We have grown accustomed to short, quick messaging methodologies and unable to read detailed information for a substantial period of time before becoming distracted by events that require our immediate attention. What impact does this have on the readers of our white papers? How do we ensure that our white paper is not only read but also acted upon? Jonathan Kantor addresses this question and more in his new book Crafting White Paper 2.0: Designing Information for Today’s Time and Attention Challenged Business Reader. Crafting White Paper 2.0 Table of Contents and FREE Sample Chapter.

I have invited Jonathan Kantor to discuss his new book Crafting White Paper 2.0 and share his insights on white papers with us.

Jonathan Kantor is the principal and founder of The Appum Group, The White Paper Company, and has been producing commercial white papers for the past 11 years. He is also the author of the White Paper Pundit blog. Jonathan's experience with white papers is also coupled with over 25 years of enterprise business experience with leading industry innovators such as Apple Computer, Microsoft, Digital Equipment Corporation, and J.D. Edwards Enterprise Software (now a division of Oracle Corporation). This experience included a variety of sales, marketing, business development, and management positions.

Jonathan Kantor

Blog White Paper Pundit Twitter Jonathan_Kantor

"Reset your understanding of a “white paper”. Treat it as an essential first impression of your entire business.”

Ambal Balakrishnan: Jonathan - It is a great pleasure to discuss your new book Crafting White Paper 2.0. Thanks for finding time out of your very busy schedule to provide your valuable insights to our readers. Tell us about The White Paper Company.
Jonathan Kantor: The Appum Group, The White Paper Company has been dedicated to white paper marketing since 2000. My firm is made up of four individuals: Two writers, an editor, and a graphic designer. Each person in The White Paper Company has an extensive enterprise business background and serves as an independent contractor. We collaborate on white paper projects depending on the project’s target audience, industry, and scope.

Ambal Balakrishnan: Give us the background of how you gained an interest in white papers?
Jonathan Kantor: Prior to starting my own firm, I spent 26 years in enterprise business marketing with several Fortune 500 organizations such as Digital Equipment Corporation, Microsoft, and Apple, Inc. My last enterprise marketing position in the late 90’s was with J.D. Edwards Enterprise (now a division of Oracle Corporation) where I served as a Senior Technical Marketing Manager responsible for the development of their corporate white paper marketing program.

Ambal Balakrishnan: What makes The White Paper Company different from other players in the market?
Jonathan Kantor: There are four things that clearly differentiate The White Paper Company from other white paper writers/marketers:

An exclusive focus on white papers.
An extensive experience with enterprise white paper marketing.
A unique approach with white paper formatting and design.
A thorough understanding of how business decision makers assimilate white paper information that forms our development, production, and design strategy.

Ambal Balakrishnan: How did you develop J.D. Edwards corporate white paper strategy earlier in your career?
Jonathan Kantor: When I started my career with JDE in the late 90’s, white paper development was considered the exclusive domain of the software development department. In other words, software developers were tasked with writing highly technical white papers for an equally literate technical professional audience (CIOs, MIS Directors, etc). My marketing group recognized that the individuals our organization had to target were business rather than technical professionals that played a significant role with the final decision and procurement process. Unfortunately, the highly technical white papers created by the development group were hard to read and used complex terms that went over the heads of the business professional audience.

I, along with several business managers crafted a new type of white paper that translated technical attributes into strategic business advantages so that the business audience could better understand and assimilate key solution messages and make a more informed decision for their enterprise software procurements.

Ambal Balakrishnan: How has the white paper medium evolved in the last decade?
Jonathan Kantor: There are two areas that have changed the commercial white paper in the past 10 years: Target Industry and Format.

The white paper originated in the government and academic environment starting in the early part of the 20th century. Since that period, the first commercial industries that adopted white papers as a part of a formal marketing strategy were organizations that had close ties to those public institutions. These were Pharmaceutical, Biotech, Medical Research, and Technology sectors. Of these, the technology sector was the most aggressive in their use of white papers as a business-marketing medium. As other industries saw the positive results gained by the technology sector, they also applied white papers to their marketing communications programs. Today, white papers are as commonplace as websites with every industry sector from Agriculture to Zone Planning using them on a regular basis.

Format and size is the second area of radical change. Ten years ago, the 8-12 page white paper was considered an acceptable size. As white paper adoption increased among several business industries, its size began to drop. Five years ago, the standard size was reduced to 6-8 pages. Today, as a result of the recession and the need to lower marketing costs, as well as increasing short attention spans, the most frequently requested size is in the range of 2-6 pages.

In addition, the all-text, paragraph-oriented format has remained a standard component of the modern commercial white paper. But as we become more accustomed to online content, the effectiveness of these plain, text formats is becoming less effective with a more savvy, rich media, online user.

Ambal Balakrishnan: How is the marketing landscape different than what it was a decade back?
Jonathan Kantor: Ten years ago, the role of the white paper was clearly understood to be an education medium. Enterprises used certain deliverables to support their sales activities such as spec sheets, brochures, and sales guides. White papers were used in a different form of marketing, namely to apply educate as a way to convince key decision makers to the viability of a solution via a thorough discussion and presentation of industry dynamics, business challenges, and how advocated solutions can solve those identified issues.

Today, the need to generate ROI has accelerated the white paper’s evolution to a sales format similar to other traditional sales/marketing deliverables. As the modern white paper gets smaller, its limited number of pages is becoming increasingly focused on sales messages, solution attributes, and their associated benefits. Many feel that the cost related to incorporating an additional number of pages necessary to thoroughly educate the reader to background/industry issues and problem assessments as done in the past, is now an expenditure they can no longer afford. This has led to an abundance of short, heavily sales-oriented white papers that has turned off many business decision makers.

In addition, the advent of Social Media has changed the way we interact with information. Sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, exemplified by short, quick, rich media messaging has reduced our attention spans and our ability to read large blocks of paragraph-oriented text. We’d prefer to watch a 5-minute YouTube video than read a five-page white paper on the same topic. As our attention spans become shorter, our attraction to the traditional all-text white paper has waned.

Ambal Balakrishnan: Tell us about the expression that you have coined, “Short Attention Marketing” (SAM)
Jonathan Kantor: Short Attention Marketing (SAM) is a new term based on the marketing strategy that I formed from my JDE enterprise business experience that was used to engage business readers. Since then, as social media has become a greater part of our daily lives this model has become more apparent and pertinent to the short attention business reader. Short Attention Marketing (SAM) creates incentives to engage readers with larger portions of white paper content by integrating summaries, text and graphic enhancements, and page design elements that draw the reader into essential solution-oriented information. Once the reader is engaged by these visual elements, the chances that they will read larger portions of related solution-oriented information will increase.

For example, an Executive Summary provides critical overview messages that inform readers to the viability of the featured solutions. Sidebar callouts draw attention to larger paragraphs on the same page. Concept graphics translate complex details into visual messages that are easier to assimilate. Page design attracts the web surfer to download and skim through a white paper. These elements integrated into an entire white paper strategy form the basis of Short Attention Marketing (SAM).

You can read more about this on my blog post Clarifying ‘Short Attention’ and ‘Short Content’.

Ambal Balakrishnan: You mention in your book that “Crafting” white papers is different from writing or creating white papers. Can you share the significance of why you chose the word “Crafting”?
Jonathan Kantor: When we hear the word “crafting” we think of a talented artisan. When we think of “writing” we think of a basic productivity task. A designer is a craft artisan while a business writer is a task-oriented, productivity worker.

As the number of short, all-text white papers proliferates across the web as a result of driving the cost downward, design will become a new strategic differentiator. To change the perception of the white paper writer from a basic productive worker to that of a craft artisan, marketers must incorporate design elements into their white papers. The suggestions advocated in “Crafting White Paper 2.0” will provide white paper marketers with several new ideas that will enhance the design and effectiveness of their white papers, providing a new competitive advantage. In doing so, white paper marketers will be more akin to craft artisans than task-oriented business writers.

Ambal Balakrishnan: What prompted you to embark on creating your book Crafting White Paper 2.0?
Jonathan Kantor: Over the past 10 years, I have emphasized Short Attention Marketing (SAM) as a key part of an effective white paper marketing strategy with my clients. I’ve seen the results of this strategy firsthand in the way that visual enhancements have helped them generate a greater number leads and deliver their essential business solution messages much more effectively than the traditional, all-text white paper.

My goal with Crafting White Paper 2.0 was to package each of these individual concepts into an overall white paper strategy. In doing so, I hope to stem the declining tide with an over abundance of cheaply produced short, overly sales-oriented, all-text, boring white papers. By applying the principles in Crafting White Paper 2.0, I hope to reinvigorate the medium and provide marketers with a fresh set of ideas that can lead to a modern renaissance of the white paper medium.

Ambal Balakrishnan: Please walk us through the book-writing life cycle from concept to launch?
Jonathan Kantor: The components of Crafting White Paper 2.0 are ones that I have been preaching as part of my White Paper Pundit blog for several years. To produce the book, I needed to organize these components and expand on each one in much greater detail.

I produced the book in the same way that my organization produces a white paper, by first developing a highly detailed outline. The outline for the book took several weeks before I felt it conveyed the points that I wanted to feature in the book. In fact as I began to write the book and new ideas came to mind, I went back to the outline and made additional changes, such as changing the order of chapters and sections within each chapter.

I started the process in April, and finished the first draft by the end of September. The hardest part was the editing process where I worked with an editor from the publisher on three separate rounds of edits and corrections. That delayed the release of the book beyond what I had originally expected when I first began the project.

Ambal Balakrishnan: Who is Crafting White Paper 2.0 addressed towards?
Jonathan Kantor: Crafting White Paper 2.0 is targeted to corporate business marketers, independent white paper writers, and business marketing copywriters that are interested in a unique way to differentiate their white paper offerings from that of their competition. For corporate marketers, Crafting White Paper 2.0 will give them new ideas that will make their existing white papers more engaging and more effective, leading to more successful outcomes. For independent business writers, Crafting White Paper 2.0 will provide ways to generate clear market differentiation, more profitable white paper projects, and higher gross margins.

Ambal Balakrishnan: What are the 3 key lessons you want readers to take away from your book?
Jonathan Kantor:
Lesson #1: Readers don’t read as much today as they did in the past. You can’t assume that an articulate writing style alone will yield positive business results. You also can’t assume that your reader will have the patience to read three or four pages of text to obtain engaging bottom line messages. If your reader isn’t quickly engaged and doesn’t get past the first page, the degree of writing quality in the paper won’t matter. You will lose the target white paper reader that has a short attention span.

Lesson #2: Visual enhancements and design matters today. The appropriate use of summaries, text and graphic visual enhancements, and design is a compelling way to obtain a unique competitive white paper advantage within your industry or marketplace. You can’t write a paper and assume your reader will read it with the same fervency as you had when you wrote it. Today’s reader has a short attention span, and the additional of visual elements is an essential way to engage them.

Lesson #3: Social and Online Media is Changing Today’s Business Reader. As we grow accustomed to the short, quick, rich media styles associated with Social Media messaging, our ability to assimilate traditionally formatted text such as paragraph-oriented white papers will wane. A “White Paper 2.0” strategy is one way to bring today’s short attention reader back into the commercial white paper medium and match a similar style as they are accustomed to with Social Media messaging.

Ambal Balakrishnan: What one “get started on right way” change do you recommend to the reader of your book?
Jonathan Kantor: Reset your understanding of a “white paper” from commodity information deliverable to an essential first impression of your entire business.

Many companies that seeking their first white paper, apply commodity principles to the procurement and development process. Just like brochures and websites, the thinking is that any white paper will do, therefore it should be produced as cheaply as possible. What is missing from this perspective is the understanding of the weight and magnitude associated with the term “white paper”. When a prospective customer sees that you have a white paper on your website, there are certain high expectations they have with that term.

If your white paper consists of a short, simple, overly sales oriented, all-text document, then your customer’s first impression will not be positive. If on the other hand, your white paper uses a series of visual enhancements and design that engages the reader while quickly delivering key bottom-line solution advantage messages, then a more positive impression of your business will be formed. This translates into greater leads, and a better opportunity to turn a potential customer into an actual customer.

Ambal Balakrishnan: Please recommend 3-5 resources (books, blogs).
Jonathan Kantor:
Besides my own blog (White Paper Pundit) and my newsletter (Short Attention Marketing Tips), I also recommend:

Ambal Balakrishnan: What kind of projects (both personal and professional) are you involved in when you are not writing, blogging or consulting?
Jonathan Kantor: I share my time between homes in Denver, Colorado and Tequesta, Florida. I am an avid beach devotee, and certified scuba diver. When I’m not writing, I like spending time with friends and family, playing golf, and honing my skills at Euchre (a card game that is akin to Bridge), Mexican train Dominoes, as well as UpWords (a 3-Dimensional version of Scrabble). During football season, I’m a big Denver Broncos fan.

Ambal Balakrishnan: Jonathan - Thanks for taking the time to discuss your book and sharing your insights about crafting white papers.
Jonathan Kantor: Thanks Ambal.

Win FREE copies of Crafting White Paper 2.0

To celebrate Jonathan Kantor's book launch, we are giving away 2 FREE copies of Crafting White Paper 2.0. To enter this giveaway, simply do the following:

Follow @clickdocuments and @Jonathan_Kantor on twitter
Tweet either the link to this interview or any post from Jonathan's blog with '#CLICKGIVEAWAYS'

We will randomly pick 2 lucky winners in the next week and ship them a copy of Crafting White Paper 2.0. Stay tuned!

Additional Reading

Crafting White Paper 2.0's Table of Contents
Crafting White Paper 2.0's FREE Sample Chapter
Jonathan Kantor discusses his new book Crafting White Paper 2.0: Designing Information for Today’s Time and Attention Challenged Business Reader at My Book: Crafting White Paper 2.0 Now Available! and So Many White Papers! How Will You Compete?

Over to you...
Whether you are a copy writer or marketer, Crafting White Paper 2.0 will help you learn how to attract prospects and retain customers by creating white papers that stand out among a crowded field of plain, text-oriented white papers. Go ahead and grab a copy of Jonathan Kantor's Crafting White Paper 2.0. Learn how to incorporate new white paper elements that will engage the 'short attention' reader.

Jonathan Kantor's Crafting White Paper 2.0

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:37:07 EST

Connect with Your Customers by Marketing with Meaning

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:56:49 EST

How do you connect with your customers? The old interruptive model of marketing doesn’t work. We know that. So, how do we marketers make meaningful connections with our customers through marketing that is truly valuable to their lives? Marketing strategist Bob Gilbreath’s new concept, Marketing with Meaning, represents the next evolutionary step in a progression following direct marketing and permission marketing. In his new book called The Next Evolution of Marketing, Bob outlines a model for developing meaningful marketing and then highlights many examples on how the model can be tailored to any company, large or small. I have invited Bob Gilbreath to get an insider look into his book The Next Evolution of Marketing.

The Next Evolution of Marketing

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 09:00:00 EST

The old interruptive model of marketing doesn’t work. We know that. So, how do we marketers make meaningful connections with our customers through marketing that is truly valuable to their lives? Marketing strategist Bob Gilbreath’s new concept, Marketing with Meaning, represents the next evolutionary step in a progression following direct marketing and permission marketing. In his new book called The Next Evolution of Marketing: Connect with Your Customers by Marketing with Meaning Bob outlines a model for developing meaningful marketing and then highlights many examples on how the model can be tailored to any company, large or small. Rather than pushing a product or service, Marketing with Meaning woos customers by offering them something of value independent of purchase.

I have invited Bob Gilbreath to get an insider look into his book The Next Evolution of Marketing: Connect with Your Customers by Marketing with Meaning.

Bob Gilbreath is Chief Marketing Strategist at Bridge Worldwide, one of the nation’s largest digital advertising agencies and part of WPP. Bob leads the Strategic Planning team within the agency, advising clients such as Procter & Gamble, ConAgra Foods, Kroger, Luxottica, and Abbott. His writing has been featured in Brandweek, he has spoken at Ad:Tech and Harvard Business School, and taught classes at NYU and Miami University. He is the author of The Next Evolution of Marketing: Connect with your Customers by Marketing with Meaning, which was released by McGraw-Hill in Oct 2009.

Bob Gilbreath

Blog Marketing with Meaning Twitter MktgwithMeaning

Meaningful marketing depends on customer understanding and insights that are relevant.

Ambal Balakrishnan: Bob, it is a great pleasure to discuss your new book The Next Evolution of Marketing. Thanks for finding time out of your very busy schedule to provide your valuable insights to our readers.Tell us about your role at Bridge Worldwide. What keeps you up at night?

Bob Gilbreath: At Bridge Worldwide I lead our Strategic Planning Group as well as our New Business efforts. I’m also on the executive team that helps lead the direction of the entire company. I am kept awake at night thinking about the opportunities that lie out there for both our business and the business of our clients. Society is changing rapidly, that means business is changing rapidly. Our agency has survived and continued to grow (even in this downturn) by continually understanding that we must alter our approach to serving clients (even those we have kept for over a decade).

Ambal Balakrishnan: What are 3 marketing strategies at Bridge Worldwide that sets it apart from other players in the market?
Bob Gilbreath: First, we have an incredible culture at Bridge Worldwide. Long ago we realized that the only true competitive advantage in the advertising agency business is to create a place that is special for the people who work here. Our people are empowered to make decisions, lead and do the right thing. We continually involve the entire company in directing the changes we make, and we listen to their issues and ideas for improvement. That’s why we have been named one of the Top 25 Small Businesses to Work For in each of the last 4 years.

Second, we have a unique philosophy on where the marketing world is going. We believe that the traditional, interruptive models is unraveling before our eyes. As a result, we must help our clients create marketing that people choose to engage with, and advertising that itself adds value to people’s lives. We call the concept Marketing With Meaning, and we bring it to life in work such as our cold and flu tracker for Vicks and a online education and meal plans for people with diabetes for Abbott.

Third, we bring very strong strategic thinking to the table in all of our work. Unlike many traditional agencies that are focused on “the ad idea” or digital agencies that are more about technology execution, we start with a deep understanding of our clients’ businesses. Many of our key leaders come from the client side, and that comes through in the work that we do everyday.

Ambal Balakrishnan: How does your team at Bridge Worldwide aim to make meaningful connections with your customers through marketing that is truly valuable?
Bob Gilbreath: As a digital agency, we understand that you cannot force consumers to visit websites, register for an email, or download an iPhone app. The digital advertising agency business was born with this understanding that marketing must add value to people’s lives. And the opportunities to take clients business objectives and apply digital strategy and tactics to deliver on them are endless.

Ambal Balakrishnan: What prompted you to embark on creating your book ‘The Next Evolution of Marketing’?
Bob Gilbreath: For years many of us in marketing and advertising jobs have been seeking a new answer to changes in society that are impacting business. We have been attracted to new tactics of marketing, ranging from pop-up retail stores to mobile applications, but there has been no fundamental model for this new thinking. I began to develop a model called “Marketing with Meaning” and decided to write a book for our clients and other marketers in big and small businesses that need a new answer.

Ambal Balakrishnan: Please walk us through the book writing life-cycle from concept to launch?
Bob Gilbreath: It took about three years from concept to getting a book on the shelf at Barnes & Noble. In the first year I came up with the concept and began the process of researching and outlining my frameworks and examples. In year 2 I found an agent, developed a book proposal, shopped it to publishers, and began blogging to gather an audience for the book launch. In this third year I completed the book and when back and forth with the publisher on edits and additions. This is also when I began the process of developing and executing a marketing plan for the book. Overall, I find the process very similar to the work I used to do as a Brand Manager launching new products for Tide and Mr. Clean at Procter & Gamble. There is a tremendous amount of effort to get a new product on shelf, and writing a book was similar—both in the highs and lows of the process!

Ambal Balakrishnan: Who is ‘The Next Evolution of Marketing’ addressed towards?
Bob Gilbreath: I wrote this book for business people who are responsible for marketing their company’s products and services and are seeking a better alternative to the interruptive model. These people range from one-person business owners to Brand Managers on billion-dollar brands. They are attracted to new media and may have read other books by authors like Seth Godin, but are searching for both a great concept and a how-to guide for making change in their organizations.

Ambal Balakrishnan: How is the marketing landscape different than what it was a decade back?
Bob Gilbreath: Two words: Consumer control. Even a few years ago marketers could effectively interrupt their target audience, which was essentially held hostage to a handful of TV stations, radio channels, newspapers and magazines. But digital tools allowed them to control their use of media. This began with many cable channels, led to ad-skipping with DVRs, spawned continued with the penetration of iPods which put thousands of commercial-free songs at your disposal, and has grown with broadband Internet use that gives people the weather, news and sports info they used to have to watch the 11 o’clock news for. Digital media gives consumers control. And when they have control they start to realize that they don’t want to sit through unwanted, biased advertising any more.

Ambal Balakrishnan: What are the 3 key lessons you want readers to take away from your book?
Bob Gilbreath:

Start with a strong Brand Purpose. Southwest Airlines exists to democratize air travel. Pampers exists to help babies develop. Why does your brand exist? Once you focus on something big and important in your Purpose, then meaningful marketing flows naturally.
Focus on a strong Business Objective and Consumer Insight. Meaningful marketing starts with a critical business opportunity or challenge, then depends on customer understanding and insights that are relevant.
You’ve got to start experimenting now to win. Some brands claim that traditional advertising is still a positive-ROI, but the trends are undeniable. Even if your corner of the world seems immune to change, it takes some time to get the hang of this new marketing model, so you’ve got to start now.

Ambal Balakrishnan: What one “get started on right way” change do you recommend to the reader of your book?
Bob Gilbreath: The next time you start writing a creative brief or brainstorming advertising ideas, simply hold yourself and your team to a simple requirement: Create marketing that people choose to engage with, and advertising that itself adds value to people’s lives.

Ambal Balakrishnan: Please recommend 3-5 resources (books, blogs).
Bob Gilbreath: I have to mention that people interested in this topic can enjoy some meaningful book marketing by going to www.marketingwithmeaning.com, where we are offering lots of content for people whether or not they have purchased the book. This includes my Twitter feed, 3 blog posts per week, and a community of like-minded marketers who are helping each other shift to meaningful marketing.

Ambal Balakrishnan: What kind of projects (both personal and professional) are you involved in when you are not marketing, blogging, speaking or consulting?
Bob Gilbreath: My favorite work outside of my job and usual hobbies is my work as the President of the Board of The New School Montessori in Cincinnati. This is a school with a great program for kids aged 3 to 12 in a very diverse area of the city. I really enjoy working closely in a non-profit organization and developing my skills and perspective in new ways.

Ambal Balakrishnan: Bob, thanks for taking the time to discuss your book and sharing your marketing insights with us.
Bob Gilbreath: Thanx Ambal.

You can get a FREE chapter of Bob's The Next Evolution of Marketing: Connect with Your Customers by Marketing with Meaning here.

Win FREE copies of The Next Evolution of Marketing

To celebrate Bob Gilbreath's book launch, we are giving away 2 FREE copies of The Next Evolution of Marketing: Connect with Your Customers by Marketing with Meaning. To enter this giveaway, simply do the following:

Follow @clickdocuments and @MktgwithMeaning on twitter
Tweet either the link to this interview or any post from Bob's blog with '#CLICKGIVEAWAYS'
We will randomly pick 2 lucky winners in the next week and ship them a copy of Bob Gilbreath's The Next Evolution of Marketing. Stay tuned!

Over to you...
Fellow Marketers - What are you waiting for? Get yourself a copy of Bob Gilbreath's The Next Evolution of Marketing: Connect with Your Customers by Marketing with Meaning and learn how to take your marketing from meaningless messages to meaningful connections.

11 Marketing Lessons to be Learned from Driving

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:06:55 EST

I drive my kids to all the places they need to be and tackle a zillion questions along the way. If you have an inquisitive 7 year old son like mine and drive around with him as much as I do, every minute with him in the car becomes an opportunity for many fun games, storytelling, being silly and also teaching him life lessons. As I keep dolling out these life lessons to my son at every opportunity I can while driving, I have been reflecting on the many marketing lessons we learn from an activity you and I do every day - Driving.

11 Marketing Lessons to be Learned from Driving

View more documents from Ambal Balakrishnan.

STRATEGY

MARKETING LESSON #1:

Get behind the wheel and learn to drive. Do you remember the first day you “learnt” how to drive? Or, how you kept falling of your bike and hit every light pole along your street. Well, eventually you did learn to drive and bike, didn’t you? As you kept driving, it became second nature - almost an involuntary action.

The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing. - Walt Disney

Start the campaign instead of just talking about it. Practice marketing and you will become better at it. Learn, unlearn and then relearn. The marketing landscape is changing and you need to adapt in order not to become an "old world marketing dinosaur". Get out there, start and work your marketing campaign. You will hit road bumps, fall, then get up again, brush off and finally “know” what to do. Pick a direction and move forward.

MARKETING LESSON #2:

You wouldn't start driving without a map or a GPS, would you? When driving to a place you have never been, you wouldn’t start driving without knowing how to get there, would you? You will figure out how best to get there and what road conditions (bad weather, traffic etc) to account for.

If you don't know where you're going, you might not get there.- Yogi Berra

Know your short term and long term marketing goals. With any new marketing project, identify the goals and how best to reach that goal. At a minimum, you need to identify the following - Vision(1 short sentence on what you are trying to achieve), Strategy(3-5 bullet points) and Tactics(3-5 bullet points). What is your 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 5 years marketing plan? Knowing where to go is not enough. Executing on your vision will ensure that you progress every day, slowly but steadily, towards your destination point.

MARKETING LESSON #3:

Check the rear-view mirror while keeping your eyes steadily on the road ahead. You drive with our eyes on the road ahead. However, your "driver" part of brain is also trained to keep a check on the rear view to see what lies behind. Is there a crazy weaver in the back? Is there an ambulance you see in the rear view mirror that you have to make way for?

The past is behind, learn from it. The future is ahead, prepare for it. - Thomas S. Monson

Learn from marketing mistakes of the past but focus on the future. In marketing, while you move steadily forward, it is mandatory to know the road you have traversed. What did you learn from your best and worst marketing projects? Which one of your biggest marketing blunders you shouldn’t repeat again? Which of the best practices from your most successful project do you want to carry across to the current marketing project. Which of your competitors are chasing you and want to get ahead? Listen and stay tuned. Uncover the new ground. Learn new marketing tools/vehicles and adapt to the changing marketing landscape. Customer needs are evolving. Competitors are getting more aggressive. It is a new world out there every day. Evaluate the new marketing tools and vehicles. Learn what makes sense for your business. Leverage the marketing tools that will help you reach your goals.

MARKETING LESSON #4:

Don’t focus on the pole. Focus on the road you are on. Be honest. How many times did you hit the pole when you started to ride a bike? How many times did your driving teacher (dad, aunt or friend), tell you to hold the steering wheel straight so you won't get the car over that curb. They yelled "Don’t focus on the pole. Focus on the road you are on."

Focus on competition has always been a formula for mediocrity. - Daniel Burrus

Focusing on your competition instead of your customer is suicide. Keep your eyes steadily on what your competitor is doing. However, too much focus on beating your competitor at their own game won't get you far. Focus on your customer instead. Provide them a great product and excellent service. Customer focus should win over competitor focus for the simple reason that excessive focus on a competitor is plain suicide.

TACTICS

MARKETING LESSON #5:

Kids are observing me from the back seat all the time. My kids notice everything I say and do in the car. They’re constantly observing, and unfortunately also learning from both my good and bad driving. My son is old enough to say “Mom, Why did you cross the intersection when the light was turning yellow?”, “Mom, You just did a rolling stop. Grandpa told me that a stop sign means coming to a full STOP” or “Oh Mom – Don’t get pulled over by the cops. You should use your headphone instead of holding the cell phone in your hand”.

Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching. - Thomas Jefferson

Your customers are watching you constantly – play nice. Whether or not you like it, your customers, prospects, partners, analysts, bloggers, press and competitors are watching you constantly. Don’t just play nice on your website or at a tradeshow. Every interaction with a customer - whether it is a pleasant first meeting with a prospect or an unpleasant call from a disgruntled customer - is an opportunity to show what you and your company stand for. Use that opportunity wisely.

MARKETING LESSON #6:

Stop and ask for help along the way and be aware of your blind spots. Pride doesn't carry you far when lost on a highway. Just stop. Ask for help instead of traversing the wrong road and beating your head against a wall and hoping something will give. Help is out there - along every gas station or a friendly passerby on the road who knows much more about his neighborhood than you will ever know. Blind spots exist. Check them as you make lane changes.

Refusing to ask for help when you need it is refusing someone the chance to be helpful.- Ric Ocasek

Marketing expertise is distributed – seek help and learn. There is never a shortage of new marketing paradigms, tools and vehicles. Let us get this straight - no one person or one marketing organization knows it all. There are many great marketing books and blogs to keep track and learn from. Reach out and ask for help instead of trying to figure it out yourself. Us marketers will forever be the "cool" folks. Asking for help and using every opportunity to learn is the defining trait of a "cool" person. Reach out to that partner organization that has mastered email marketing and that Red Bull chugging, green-colored spiky haired young fella for your social media. They "get it" and you need them on your side. Knowing the weakness and blind spots in your marketing organization is important. With this awareness you will be empowered to tackle surprises.

MARKETING LESSON #7:

Drive defensively and tackle roadblocks, dead ends, detours and red signals to get to your destination safely. I used to live in the Midwest for a couple of years. People there treated fellow drivers on the road very courteously. Nobody was in a hurry. Even if I did some crazy things on the road (back then, I just had started to drive), drivers would give me a beautiful smile and patiently wave me on. It is very different experience from the hurried drivers on the Bay Area roads. There are those mad weavers, the crazy ones who will recklessly move back and forth between lanes. Then there are those that appear out of nowhere and zip past you and are gone from the horizon in less than a second. You and I have seen enough of those thrill seekers - again and again. They will never go away. We just have to adapt to the craziness of the road and tackle the crazy drivers, roadblocks, dead ends, detours and red signals. If a fellow driver on the road does something crazy or treats you badly, shock them with a big smile and thumbs up.

Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning. -Bill Gates

Hope for the best and prepare for the worst in your marketing campaign. Partners, suppliers, customers and competitors will constantly throw curve balls. Marketing strategy is a game of chess. Think a few steps ahead. Play both offense and defense - as the situation calls for. If you hit a marketing dead-end, come back. All a marketing roadblock does is to make you try a little harder to get your message across to your customer. Handle negative feedback swiftly and with grace. Bloggers might post something nasty about your service. Analyst or press might give your product a negative review. However, these entire curve balls can he handled gracefully. Move swiftly and address your customers concerns. Always take the high road. Ask them for constructive criticism. Tell them you appreciate their feedback. No one marketer died because of some good and honest feedback. Treat every feedback as an opportunity to make your product or service better.

MARKETING LESSON #8:

Luxury cars command more respect. A luxury sports car will always command more respect on the road. Have you noticed the admiring looks as you drove a sportsy looking car? If your brand is perceived as the second best or as a commodity, you have to try harder (Avis slogan "We try harder") to differentiate, to attract and retain customers.

You have to decide what 'image' you want for your brand. Image means personality. Products, like people, have personalities, and they can make or break them in the market place. - David Ogilvy

Always easier to sell a branded and great product. Marketing a great product is much easier. Notice how the Mac brand is considered cool as compared to the PC? The Mac brand image even rubs off on the product owners and we call all our MAC buddies "cool folks". However, whether you own a great product or a commoditized product, differentiate yourself with what makes your product unique - more convenience, great service, easy to use etc. Ensure that your marketing message has both steak and sizzle.

MEASUREMENT

MARKETING LESSON #9:

Gas up enough, stay nourished and refreshed for a long road trip. Don't you gas up enough on that long, windy road trip? Along the way, you get down, take a walk, smell the fresh air, get a cool drink or coffee to stay refreshed and nourished along the road trip. You keep a check on the gas meter and on tire pressure and adapt your driving to road conditions. Low speed on steep, windy roads and high speed on flat, straight highways.

Toyota Prius comes well-equipped with multi-information display panel that is integrated into the dash. This easy-to-read display provides instantaneous feedback - featuring features fuel consumption history, energy flow, and a new hybrid system indicator - to the driver through an improved multi-information display. The display empowers the driver with information to help reduce fuel consumption and acquire economical driving habits.

We were driving along, watching only the speedometer, when in fact we were running out of gas. - Michael Dell

Budget wisely and use metrics to measure success of your marketing campaigns. Any marketing campaign is an adventurous road trip. Budget wisely. Don't use up dollars and resources without proper planning. Separate the important projects from the urgent projects. Use metrics to measure how your marketing campaigns are performing and how you should fine tune them.

MARKETING LESSON #10:

If you are on the wrong road, don’t hesitate to turn around. There is a reason that U-turns exist. It is quite natural to take the wrong roads sometimes. You might not know the landscape well enough or how to go where exactly you want to get to. However, once you realize you are on the wrong roads, you correct course quickly by taking a U-turn or turning into a road that will get you to your destination.

A dead end street is a good place to turn around. - Naomi Judd

If you have invested marketing dollars in a project that gone bad, quit or change course. In the real world, it takes a lot of guts to take a U-turn and correct course on a marketing project. Dropping a bad marketing project is viewed as failure. So, marketing dollars and resources are still pumped into a project that has gone bad. Why? The simple reason is that a marketer who makes a wise decision to drop a bad project is not viewed as hero. The marketer who "supposedly" navigates his ship through turbulent water is viewed as a hero. This mindset should change. If you have invested marketing dollars in a project that gone bad, quit or change course.

MARKETING LESSON #11:

The only thing you control on the road is your steering wheel, your brake and your attitude. On the road, do you control anything at all - road conditions, weather, traffic, accidents? Nope. The only thing you control is your steering wheel, your brake and your attitude. Also, any road trip is about the journey and not just the destination. How many times have you said or heard "Are were there yet?" on a family road trip? I have beaten it into my son that it is not just about the destination - whether it is a simple one day trip to the beach or a 4 day camping trip. It is OK to have fun along the path before you get to the destination.

It makes no sense to worry about things you have no control over because there's nothing you can do about them, and why worry about things you do control? - Wayne Dyer

There are several knobs that you can control in your marketing projects. In any marketing project you can’t control anybody - competitors, customers, partners, good reviewers, nasty commentators. You only control your attitude, your budget, your product and the quality of your service. Each of these knobs you can control give you tremendous leverage, don’t they? Move the knobs on the plenty of items that you control instead of worrying about the items you can’t control.

Also, along the way, focus on your team's well being, celebrate small wins and stick it out to the end. Every one of us marketers is travelling a path. In fact, we travel several paths. Stay focused on your goals. Keep yourself and your team nourished and refreshed. Don't forget that it is not just about reaching the goals. It is also about having fun along the way. Not every day is easy and fun. There are always ups and downs. There are those nightmarish days which you don't know how the heck you got through. Celebrate the small wins and learn from the goof ups as you march steadily forward to your destination. At the end of every destination you should see happy customers - again and again.

Summary
Hope you enjoyed reading this post as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thanks to my buddies Rajesh Setty, Jagan Nemani and Kumar Nagarajan for their enthusiastic feedback to this blog post.

I could elaborate for a long time on each of these marketing lessons, but you get the gist. If you went "Aha, that is right" and smiled knowingly as you read this post, stop and pat yourself on the back. You are a pro at marketing, just as you are a masterful driver. Go conquer your marketing world.

Over to you…
I am curious. What marketing lessons have you learnt - from your running, golfing, reading, blogging and most importantly from your customers?

ClickInsights: What was your "Aha" moment in 2009? - Part 1

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 06:00:00 EST

It’s almost the end of the year and we will soon start a fresh one. What is amazing about the end of the year is the festive mood it puts us in. It also puts us in a reflective mood as we ponder over what has transpired and how we have come out of this year stronger than we went in. I have invited our Panel of White Paper Experts to reflect on 2009 and answer the following question: What was your aha moment in 2009? Read on to get their insights.

Jonathan Kantor

Blog WhitePaperPundit Twitter Jonathan_Kantor

"Discovering the Power of Twitter and Adobe TweetDeck.”

Jonathan Kantor's Bio

Jonathan Kantor's Aha Moment

During this past year, my “aha” moment was discovering the power of Twitter for Social Media with the Adobe TweetDeck application.

Prior to this year, my perception of Twitter was that of a useless text-messaging medium designed to send friends obscure personal information. Instead, I have come to realize that Twitter is a highly influential way to build social networks and relationships, quickly find specific business information, and track the release of white papers.

I use Twitter to populate my weekly Friday FREE White Paper list. Using TweetDeck, I setup two search criteria, “White Paper” and “White Papers”. Any subsequent Twitter message containing those key words is listed in a columnar format. This narrows my search, allowing me to drill down to each hyperlinked website listed in these messages and uncover free white papers that have been submitted by Twitter users.

Since I’ve started a Twitter presence in February 2009, I have been able to build a 4000+ following relatively easily. This has enabled me to promote my blog and build additional exposure to both my white papers and those of my clients.

Happy Twittering!

Jonathan Kantor Recommends

Free document distribution sites: Scribd.com, DocStoc.com, Slideshare.net, Gazhoo.com, Yudu.com, and WhitePapers.org.
Blog sharing sites such as BizSugar.com, Sphinn.com, and Reddit.com.
WhitePaperPundit: The Friday FREE White Paper List, a listing of free white papers from weekly Twitter Tweets that don’t require registration, posted each Friday.
Twitter search criteria set to keywords: “White Paper”, and “White Papers”.
Google Alerts set to “White Paper”, and “White Papers”.

Michael Stelzner

Blog WritingWhitePapers Twitter Mike_Stelzner

"Delve into social media marketing."

Michael Stelzner's Bio

Michael Stelzner's Aha Moment

My aha moment in 2009 happened when I published a report called the Social Media Marketing Industry report and it became one of the most talked about items on Twitter for two days running. I immediately knew the world was super hungry for a lot more social media marketing knowledge. That lead to the launch of Social Media Examiner - No turning back now!!

Michael Stelzner Recommends

Jonathan Kranz

Blog Kranzcom Twitter jonkranz

"Try something. Test it out. Learn from the experience. That’s social media."

Jonathan Kranz's Bio

Jonathan Kranz's Aha Moment

My “ah-ha” moment truly is a moment. On May 19, I was one of four participants on a social media panel discussion at the New England XPO for Business. Each panelist was given a few minutes for an introduction. The two who preceded me offered quite impressive credentials and formidable opinions. But I opened with a question. “Show of hands,” I said. “How many of you feel baffled, confused or overwhelmed by social media?” The room was packed (at least 80 people, probably more) and in a second, it was completely filled with raised hands. I raised mine as well.

This is the thing: social media is so new and is evolving so rapidly that we’re ALL trying to find our way in this promising, yet still largely un-illuminated landscape. Anyone who claims to be an “expert” is full of it. While the lack of leadership may be disorienting, it also means we’re free to explore without worrying about meeting standards — because there are none.

Try something. Test it out. Learn from the experience. That’s social media.

Jonathan Kranz Recommends

Sarah Mitchell

Blog Global Gopywriting Twitter globalcopywrite

"I realized the value one well-crafted white paper can bring to a business."

Sarah Mitchell's Bio

Sarah Mitchell is a freelance copywriter with a focus on B2B content, specifically case studies and white papers. Combining successful technical, sales and writing careers, Sarah provides a rare perspective to every project. She’s especially interested in working with small and medium-sized businesses. Sarah has lived and worked on five continents. Find her website at Global Copywriting.

Sarah Mitchell's Aha Moment

I’m a big fan of white papers. I’ve been writing them since 2002. I first became aware of them in the mid-1980’s when I worked as a computer program and utilized their content in my development work. I promote white papers to my clients as the ultimate marketing document.

In other words, I’ve drunk the white paper juice, or so I thought.

In August of this year, I was asked to do a presentation on social media. As I was researching the topic, I decided to develop a corresponding white paper. Titled Practical Advice for Making Social Media Work for Your Business, the paper was a companion piece to what turned out to be a popular presentation. I didn’t charge for it and offered it to my audiences for those interested enough to send me an email requesting a copy. I put very little effort into distributing the white paper.

At the end of October, I received a phone call from a man who had a copy of my paper. I don’t know how he got it because I had never met him and he hadn’t been to any of my presentations. He was calling, specifically, to compliment me on the document. He also told me all the places he had recommended me including our local government’s small business development center. It turns out he’s very well connected. He’s given me excellent Word of Mouth references.

The same week, another person called and asked permission to distribute a section of my paper as part of a university workshop. At a professional networking function a couple days later, I was thanked by someone who had blatantly plagiarized my paper and distributed it under their company letterhead.

My ‘aha’ moment came that week when I realized the value one well-crafted white paper can bring to a business. My intent was to provide additional information to supplement my seminar. Even though I had been advising my clients to invest in white papers, I had never considered how my business would benefit from one. From here on, I’m taking my own advice and incorporating white papers in my overall marketing strategy.

Sarah Mitchell Recommends

Michael Stelzner's Book Writing White Papers: How to Capture Readers and Keep Them Engaged
WhitePaperSource Online Forum
White Papers
ThatWhitePaperGuy - Gordon Graham’s website, especially the Articles section under Resources

Stephanie Tilton

Blog Savvy B2B Marketing Twitter StephanieTilton

“Seeing how a mix of social-networking and social-media activities can positively impact my business.”

Stephanie Tilton's Bio

Stephanie Tilton's Aha Moment

My 'aha' moment in 2009 was seeing how a mix of social-networking and social-media activities can positively impact my business. Specifically, I've established new connections and landed new clients by:

Offering valuable information via practical blog posts, an eBook, and a report.
Providing links to this content via Twitter and LinkedIn.
Interacting with others and adding to the dialogue on other people's blogs and in LinkedIn group discussions.
Attending local networking events where I've made new connections and converted previously virtual relationships into face-to-face meetings.

What strikes me about this "epiphany" is that nothing earth-shattering occurred to bring about these results. But it did require a shift in my mindset. Instead of worrying about marketing my business, I focused on sharing my knowledge and forming relationships. In the end, I've been able to grow my sphere of influence and number of connections in a way that feels natural and unforced.

Stephanie Tilton Recommends

Recommended Resources from Experts on white papers

Blogs

Michael Stelzner's WritingWhitePapers Blog
Jonathan Kantor's TheWhitePaperPundit Blog
Stephanie Tilton's Savvy B2B Marketing Blog
Sarah Mitchell's Global Gopywriting Blog

Books

Others

WhitePaperSource Online Forum
WhitePaperSource Newsletter
How to Write a White Paper – A White Paper on White Papers
Scribd for reference and distribution of white papers
5 Steps to a White Paper that Pulls in the Perfect Prospect
Savvy B2B Marketing blog posts about white papers
White Paper FAQs
Who needs white papers anyway?
Tips on terrific titles for white papers
Tips on writing white papers as tips
How to use white papers to grow a healthy crop of leads
WhitePaperPundit: The Friday FREE White Paper List
The eBook eBook: How to Turn Your Expertise Into Magnetic Marketing Material
The Content Marketing Playbook

Over to you

What was your "Aha" moment in 2009? Why?

Time to Analyze your Content: What Worked and What Failed?

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 06:00:00 EST

As the end of the year approaches, it's a good idea to shift focus from content to analysis. What has worked for you the past year and what hasn't? What was hot and what was not?

While people move into vacation mode, there's no harm in producing a little less content in order to focus on maximizing results in the coming year. Not effort. Results. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

What content has been most effective in terms of traffic, buzz or comments?

Look at your analytics to get a clearer idea of things like traffic patterns, searches that bring up your site, or key words that work for you. Spend more time thinking about how you can replicate efforts that have already worked. It's not about putting more time in; it's about spending it more wisely.

Are you going to where your audience is?

Perhaps you'll benefit from spending less time on blog posts and more time on Twitter or Facebook, or another social networking platform. If commenting on others' blogs isn't working, try interacting with them in their favorite way. Listen to what they want.

Are you delivering content the way your audience likes to get it?

In addition to blogging and Twittering or Facebooking, you may need to consider a different, more useful way of delivering your content. Perhaps a newsletter would help? Or a video, podcast, ebook, white paper or webinar? Can you package a "best of" roundup from the year in a slick, new way? Hint: Content marketing guru Joe Pulizzi says more and more Junta42 readers have been asking for video.

What can you give for free?

Perhaps you could plan to regularly offer free tutorials, reviews or expertise. If you're thinking that it's wrong to "give away" this kind of information, you should know that others are doing it already. Your content has to provide some ongoing value to people – it actually simply comes down to making them feel good or solving a problem.

Are you calling your audience to action?

This doesn't mean nagging. It means helping people navigate toward the best of your content, rather than getting lost and moving on. It means spelling out what you'd like them to do in the way you'd like them to do it. If you want them to sign up for your newsletter or fill out a survey, make it clear and prominent, and find as many places as possible to remind them about it.

Are You Ready for Black Friday and Cyber Monday?

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 07:00:00 EST

Holidays are fast approaching which means spending time with your family and loved ones, time off work for most of us and, of course, overspending on gifts and merchandise. The notorious Black Friday is usually perceived by analysts as being the main major marketing event that launches the Holidays' spending frenzy. It is soon followed by Cyber Monday, which sort of launches the same wave of spending though in the online space. This is a great time for retailers, etailers and affiliate programs.

Or is it? Are you prepared for Cyber Monday's frenzy?

1. Increase your marketing budget. Now is a good time to get a pay-per-click campaign going. Never had one of those before? Well SearchEngineLand has you covered - check out their collection of articles on PPC campaigns to get you started.

2. Revise your keywords. Buying keyword campaign could prove highly beneficial for your business, but first you need to make sure they're on target and representative of your business and service offering. Indeed, a well performing set of keywords could highly improve the amount of traffic directed to your site by search engines. SEOmoz's beginner's guide to conducting keyword research will get you there fast.

3. Organize a targeted marketing campaign with coupon codes. Indeed, coupon campaigns are proving to be efficient while also raising your link equity. Business.com has an interesting article on the efficiency of coupon strategies. This campaign can even be carried on Twitter and other social networks through sites like Coupontweet.

4. Put people in a festive mood. Have you ever noticed how inhaling the smell of warm bread at the grocery store makes you want to immediately bite into a baguette? Well adjusting your site's design to reflect seasonal moods could help increase sales. Brick and mortar stores have been doing it for decades, and so has Google.

Are you and your business ready for the start of the Holiday season? Any other tips you'd like to share with us?

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