5 Important Visual Lessons From Designers for Content Marketers

I don’t want to write another article explaining the importance of visual content in your content marketing. And Joe Pulizzi already included the topic in his article about the biggest content marketing trends in 2017 so we don’t need to outline it anymore.

But a lot of marketers still don’t understand visual content.

Visual content is something that you, as a marketer, should work with a designer to create.

Think about it this way: You need to influence people by touching an emotion that will make a segment of readers/consumers interact with you as a brand. And because the internet is so crowded with content, you need to take a step further to attract attention.

What type of content will 65% of the population be more likely to recall? Visual.

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65% of the population is more likely to recall visual #content via @SSRN.
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You can’t speak proficiently about visuals for your content marketing if you don’t talk with the people who create them – the designers. Call them however you want: UX/UI designer, web designer, graphic designer, creative director, visual content creator, or art director. They are the ones who consume visual content, create visual content, and think about visual content every day.

And that’s why in this article, I go to these visual experts to share the five lessons content marketers need to know about visual content.

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1. Know less is more 

“When marketers feel that every little bit of info needs to be included on a piece that’s when things get very muddy and messy,” says Joseph Kalinowski, creative director at Content Marketing Institute.

And I agree with him.

If you think creating a lot of content will bring you the results you want, well my friend, let me tell you that you are wrong. Creating a lot of content, articles, videos, and social media posts won’t get you more clicks, leads, or whatever else you want to get.

When I asked designer Paul Jarvis what content marketers need to know, I assumed he would reply in three words: Keep it simple. But I was wrong (and right):

Less is always more. Non-designers seem to always want to add elements, more fonts, more colors, more stuff to designs to make it ‘pop’ or stand out. When design, professional design, works best when it’s focused and to the point.

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Less is always more when it comes to #design, says @PJRVS.
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Many content marketers want to write one more piece of an article, to insert one more image, or to record one more video. But what if they focused on the thing that is important for them and their audience? Focusing on one point brings them value.

As Mihai Cora, UX/UI designer for Smartketer, says:

Give enough space between the lines. This will make it more comfortable to read.

And I couldn’t agree more.

Yes, your content needs space and time to breathe. Your content needs to let your audience consume it, think about it, and interact with it.

As Jozef Matas, head of design at Teamweek, says, “Reduce clutter and make it breathe.”

Takeaway: Don’t go overboard with text – design to give your content the space and time to be consumed easily by your audience.

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Don’t go overboard w/ text. Design to give #content the space & time to be consumed easily.@katairobi
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2. Strike a balance

What’s the right mix between text- and visual-based content?

A 2014 Blog Pros study shows that the 100 most popular blogs on average use one image every 350 words. That means if you write a 2,000-word article you should use at least six visuals, including the featured image.

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Use one image for every 350 words in an article, says @blogpros. #design
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But throwing a few visuals in a blog post doesn’t mean that you are doing a good job, or as Joe Kalinowski says:

Many marketers in general have a good sense of design, but there are many times when they overlook some of the basic design principles that should be adhered to when trying to create visual content.

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Basic design principles should be adhered to when creating visual content, says @jkkalinowski. #design
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Only half of B2B marketers say creating visual content is a priority. What about the other half? Aren’t they interested in visual content?

Ian Paget, a logo designer and visual content creator, outlines the importance of visual content for a successful content marketing strategy:

Adding imagery every few paragraphs makes the content feel more engaging. Images can be created in a few different ways. Create your own imagery, using photography, software such as Photoshop, or online tools such as Bannersnack. This route is more time consuming, but means that you can create exactly what you need, and have a consistent style throughout your content.

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Adding imagery every few paragraphs makes the content feel more engaging, says @Logo_Geek. #design
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Takeaway: Visual content creation should be as important as text or audio content creation.

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3. See the color

I believe I lost a few great articles and stories because of the color of the website. I couldn’t understand why the designer (or developer) behind that website used that ugly combination with red and orange, or green and yellow.

Think about how many users you lose each day because of your color combinations. Joe offers this suggestion:

“Think back to the days of your high school art class when you had to make the color wheel. Contrasting and complementary colors, primary, secondary and tertiary colors, the list goes on. You don’t have to get crazy … Just remember that unless it’s the holiday, try to steer away from placing green type on a red background (LOL).

“… If you have a general idea of a color that you would like to use as a base, there is an abundance of online tools like Sessions College that can help you choose colors that will work well with your palette.”

Though the psychology of color is one of the most controversial aspects in branding, you still need to understand its importance.

Takeaway: Every time you launch a content marketing project, make sure your use of color stays true to your brand.

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Every time you launch a #contentmarketing project, make sure use of color stays true to your brand. @katairobi
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4. Think about typography

What is the difference between a Sans Serif font and Comic Sans or Curlz? If you’re a designer, I bet you have a few ideas. If you’re a marketer, you may ignore that question but you shouldn’t.

If your type is hard to read, readers will ignore your articles. Jacob Cass of Just™ Creative explains:

(T)ypography plays a huge role in communicating a message visually. Every typeface has subtle nuances that will make or break your visual communication. So learning about the basics of typography will help set you up for visual marketing success.

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Every typeface has subtle nuances that will make or break your visual communication, says @JustCreative.
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You don’t have to be a professional in web design and understand the role of every type font, size, and color, but you need to know the basics. Jacob recommends a great book for you: The Non-Designer’s Type Book.

I love the way Joe puts together the importance of typography in this analogy:

Think of a newspaper’s front page, big headline, medium-sized subhead, small body copy with a nice accompanying photo that works well with all of the fonts and sizes. Now, imagine how hard that newspaper page would be to read if everything was the same size, font, font weight. Adjusting size and weight of items in your visual content is a must.

Takeaway: Educate yourself on the basics of typography to ensure that readers won’t find your content hard to read.

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5. Don’t let page-load time deter visitors

When your website is loading so slowly that you can watch one season of House of Cards (OK, I’m exaggerating a little bit, but you got the point), you have big problems.

As Google says, the best brand is the one who is there, useful, and quick.

Ian suggests one way to speed things up in design – optimize images: “Make sure when creating images for the web, images are sized and compressed correctly.”

And Patricia Coroi, graphic designer at Flipsnack, says:

More people are consuming content using mobile, so being optimized for mobile is very important. And the best way to check out how ready is your website for mobile is by checking it with Google’s tool.

Takeaway: Make sure your visuals are optimized for the online environment.

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Conclusion

I let Denis Matveev, product designer at PromoRepublic, have the last word because he makes the value of design to all content marketers clear:

Apart from art, design is a suite of rules and laws, such as typography, composition and color. When doing design, you don’t steal, but borrow the best decision. Always seek for trends and reference in order to create a working, eye-catching, wow-effect visual.

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Apart from art, design is a suite of rules & laws, such as typography, composition, & color. @Matsofski
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So here are the five important lessons from designers every content marketer should learn:

1. Know less is more – give visitors space and time to pace their viewing.
2. Strike a balance – see visual content creation as important as text or audio creation.
3. See the color – stay true to your brand.
4. Think about typography – give visitors an easy-to-read experience.
5. Don’t let page-load time deter visitors – optimize your visuals.

Now, get back to your content creation and see what you need to adjust to do a better job. But before you go, which one of these lessons do you think is a general problem for the content marketing industry? Let me know in comments.

Want help in balancing your content marketing mix? Whether it’s visuals vs. text or something else, get advice from experts in CMI’s daily newsletter. Subscribe today – it’s free!

Cover image by SplitShire

Please note:  All tools included in our blog posts are suggested by authors, not the CMI editorial team.  No one post can provide all relevant tools in the space. Feel free to include additional tools in the comments (from your company or ones that you have used).

The post 5 Important Visual Lessons From Designers for Content Marketers appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

This Week in Content Marketing: The Bull Market in Marketing Is Just Beginning

PNR: This Old Marketing with Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose can be found on both iTunes and Stitcher.

In this episode, we discuss Google’s move to insert ad blocking features into the Chrome web experience, and what it might mean for the future of marketing and advertising. We also dig into some new research on the high demand for marketing skills, and explore executives’ love of long-form content. Our rants and raves cover content workflows and mission statements; then we wrap up with a content marketing gem from the early 20th century.

This week’s show

(Recorded live on April 23, 2017; Length: 1:02:41)

Download this week’s PNR This Old Marketing podcast.

If you enjoy our PNR podcasts, we would love if you would rate it, or post a review, on iTunes.

1.   Our sponsor (08:04):

• PowerPost – Welcome to the Age of Power Publishing: As content marketers, we understand the importance of creating content that not only educates, but inspires consumers to take action. As a result, we have entered a new era of “brands as publishers” – where brands are increasingly becoming publishers in their own right. With brand publishing and content distribution come several key steps to the publishing process. But the elongated process of content creation, review, scheduling, and tracking analytics can often take more time than we have. Built by marketers for marketers, PowerPost is a time-saving tool for companies who manage content for multiple brands with multiple users – whether it’s a regulated industry or creative agency. With PowerPost, your team can publish from one location across all of your online platforms, quickly and efficiently turning your brand into a power publisher. To help more brands excel at publishing, join us for a webinar on May 9th with CMI founder Joe Pulizzi. We have also created a comprehensive e-book, with insights from 50 experts in the content marketing field, and their strategies on conquering the five pillars of brand publishing: content planning, workflow, distribution, analytics, conversion. Claim your download at powerpost.digital.

2.    Notable news and upcoming trends:

• Google may introduce an ad-blocking feature for its popular Chrome browser (11:31): Looking to enhance the quality of its mobile and desktop experience, the big G is working on a tool that would filter out some of the online ad units that users often find to be most irritating – such as pop-ups, auto-play videos with sound, and prestitial ads with countdowns. According to The Wall Street Journal, if Google decides to launch the feature, it would base blocking decisions on the quality standards established by the Coalition for Better Ads. Considering Chrome’s leadership position among browsers – as well as Google’s overall dominance in digital marketing – Robert wonders whether this launch will turn out to be the tipping point for the changes that need to be made across the digital ad ecosystem. Yet, I bristle at the idea of Google becoming the sole “judge, jury, and executioner” when it comes to ad serving.

• The most in-demand marketing skills in 2017 (24:25): MarketingProfs reports on a new McKinley Marketing Partners study that characterizes the current talent and hiring landscape for digital marketing. The report found that there’s a high demand for digital advertising, content creation and curation, and content strategy skills in marketing, while graphic, web, and visual design skills topped the list of the creative services businesses need most. The findings confirm my belief that marketing skills of all kinds are going to be in high demand for a long time, while Robert sees a tremendous opportunity here for potential employees to differentiate themselves as providers in this market.

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Marketing skills of all kinds are going to be in high demand for a long time, says @joepulizzi.
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• The media habits of the world’s “smartest, busiest people” (34:20): Quartz released its new Global Executives Study, which surveyed 1,357 executives from around the world to find out how they get their news, why they share content, and how they feel about advertising. Among the notable findings of the study, which has an infographics-like interface that made Robert smile, are that 84% of executives cite long-form articles as the content format they are most likely to share, and 74% found the last piece of sponsor content they read to be interesting, informative, and valuable.

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84% of execs cite long-form articles as the #content format they are most likely to share, via @qz‏.
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3.   Rants and raves (41:15)

• Robert’s rave: We don’t often toot our own horn in PNR, but Robert can’t resist sharing his enthusiasm for a recent CMI post, 30 Habits of Highly Productive Content Teams. Based on a session delivered by Heinz Marketing’s Matt Heinz and Workfront’s Heather Hurst at our annual ContentTECH virtual event, the stellar, in-depth article written by Marcia Riefer Johnston is a must-read for anyone looking to learn how to efficiently scale their content marketing team and its output. It’s a master class in blog post form.

• Joe’s rave: Though I was offline for most of the past week, this article on corporate mission statements made it through my filters. I have a particular affinity for content marketing mission statements, so there are a few points made in this article that really struck a chord for me, including the need to make them personal and distinct. When (not if) you create your own editorial mission statement, make sure it speaks in your unique brand voice and clearly communicates the distinct value your content provides for your industry niche.

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4.    This Old Marketing example of the week (51:23):

• In his limited downtime, Robert has been known to geek out on our industry by reading old marketing trade magazines from the early 20th century. Recently, he came across a few gems in the July 1916 issue of a magazine called Advertising and Selling. The first is an article from the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) that argues against the issue of “forced circulation” – essentially, publishers that buy traffic in order to increase their circulation numbers, thus justifying increasing their ad rates. Robert found this to be an interesting parallel to our current struggles with ad fraud and publishers buying traffic. The magazine issue also led to a fascinating realization: We had long assumed that Content Marketing World was the first-ever conference focused on content marketing but, as Robert learned, this isn’t actually the case. You may recall us mentioning the concept of a “house organ” on previous PNR episodes, explaining that it was an early term for external-facing magazines published by a brand. It turns out that this issue of Advertising and Selling features session coverage from a trade event that took place in 1916, called the House Organ Editor’s Conference. Essentially, this coverage amounts to six marketing case studies, including one from the editor for Buick’s brand magazine, which describes how the company revised its circulation method to enable its dealership partners to directly benefit from the magazine – and pay for its printing and distribution costs in exchange for the privilege. Many of the issues discussed at the conference are challenges that our industry still struggles with, earning it a retroactive This Old Marketing seal of approval.

View the full 3-page report

For a full list of PNR archives, go to the main This Old Marketing page.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

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The post This Week in Content Marketing: The Bull Market in Marketing Is Just Beginning appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

5 Costly Myths New Bloggers Too Often Believe

The Internet can serve as a double-edged sword of sorts. It provides valuable information and makes knowledge easily accessible with only a few swift strokes of the keyboard. But whenever massive knowledge becomes readily available with few if any restrictions or fact-checking mechanisms, it’s easy for false and inaccurate information to circulate.

Perhaps this is especially true when blogging enters the picture. A simple Google search for a basic blog-related topic will often yield millions of results. And although there’s likely plenty of useful truths in most blog posts, there are also lots of poor suggestions.

For example, you’ll readily encounter the following myths … and they can lead a new bloggers astray.

1. Keyword Stuffing is a Good SEO Practice

The tricky part about a lot of misinformation with regard to blogging is that it used to be true. But the people who share the information today don’t necessarily realize how obsolete it’s become. Keyword stuffing is a prime example.

As an article on the Green Residential blog states, “there’s no need to stuff your articles full of keywords. This is an outdated SEO tactic that can actually hurt your search engine rankings rather than help them. Simply using the keywords a couple of times in the article where they fit appropriately will help bring you search traffic.”

2. The More You Write, The Better

It used to be that short, 200- to 400-word blog posts were enough to get noticed by search engines. Then algorithms changed and long, 1500-word-plus articles became the norm.

Long posts are still valuable on blogs, but today length isn’t the defining metric for value. Writing more won’t automatically produce better results.

Quality is much preferable to quantity. You’d do better to write three high-quality, 1000-word entries a week than to churn out five low-quality, 1500-word posts every seven days. Focus on becoming a better writer, not on output.

3. Blogs Are Easy to Monetize

Once people realized you could make money from blogging, thousands of wannabe entrepreneurs flocked to this niche. The problem was that monetizing a blog is nowhere near as easy as industry gurus will try to assure you.

It’s certainly possible, but it requires lots of time and hard work. You won’t achieve success by being passive.

Be honest with yourself and acknowledge the challenges involved in developing a monetizing blog. The obstacles are many, and you’ll want to weigh each one before you get started.

4. If You Build it, They Will Come

Another story blogging gurus will tell you is that success is as simple as securing a domain name, using a website builder, and publishing regular content. This is another comforting myth.

It’s not as effortless as writing an online diary and waiting for people to crowd in. You’re going to have to develop a traffic acquisition strategy and work hard to funnel people to your pages, even if they’re good.

If you don’t, you’ll never get the results you want.

5. Traffic is the Most Important Metric

Because traffic acquisition is one of the largest challenges a blogger faces, it can be easy to start obsessing over traffic stats. But traffic, in and of itself, won’t make you successful.

In addition to getting and maintaining high traffic numbers, you need low bounce rates, high average time on site, and high conversion rates. Otherwise you could be doing nothing more than artificially inflating your stats and garnering quick yet worthless exposure.

Pay attention to website traffic, yes, but don’t focus on it at the expense of other vital metrics.

Due Diligence is Critical

If you’re a new blogger, you have to be very careful about whom you trust. Get your coaching only from experts who have firsthand knowledge and experience with blogging. This will ensure you set a strong foundation upon which to build and expand your blog.

Original post: 5 Costly Myths New Bloggers Too Often Believe

This post is courtesy of: http://www.dailyblogtips.com

6 Quick-and-Dirty Ways to Beat Writer’s Block

A severe case of writer’s block could lead you to rethink how often you publish.

But here’s the thing: Publishing regularly gives you a chance to be an authority in your field by consistently providing value to your audience. It gives you a chance to engage them in the comments, social media, and email. Most importantly, it lets you create a relationship with your audience.

Instead of battling your writer’s block by publishing less, combat it by finding muses that help you deliver relevant content to your audience. Here are six tips.

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1. Look for inspiration in keywords

Keywords serve as an indicator to search engines what your topic is about. Keyword research can help you find and connect with your audience more effectively.

By noting the most popular keywords in your niche, you can tell the type of content your target audience is looking for. Then you can move forward and create that content.

Several keyword research tools can help – Google Trends, Google Keyword Planner, and Keyword Tool.

You can also use Ubersuggest, which gives you a list of keyword ideas based on Google suggestions in the search box. When you start typing in the search box, Ubersuggest gives long-tail keywords in alphabetical order.

Serpstat works in a similar way as Ubersuggest, but also includes a “Question” tab. It gives you questions based on your search.

TIP: A word of caution – overusing this tactic to beat writer’s block could easily distract you.

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2. Use headline generators

Sometimes, all you need is someone to suggest a topic and you’re good to go.

A headline generator could be a real savior. Looking at suggested headlines is an easier way to find inspiration than being stuck in your head.

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A headline generator is a good way to solve writer’s block, says @AlexJasin.
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Tweak Your Biz Title Generator is one of those tools. Enter a topic or keyword to see results sorted into different headline category types – how to, list, question, motivation, etc.

Portent takes this a notch higher by giving some personality to the topics. To get even more headline options, refresh the results page. No, it doesn’t give you perfect headlines. Some of them won’t make sense. But by looking at the different suggestions, you can even come up with your own.

Want to know what headlines have been used for a certain keyword? ContentIdeator can tell you. You can use this to get a glimpse of what’s hot and what has been exhausted.

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3. Research what your audience is asking

If you know your audience well, then you know where they like to hang out online. You know their influencers, the communities they visit, and the forums they frequent. Those areas can be a great source for blog post ideas. Look through the discussions to see the type of questions and concerns that keep coming up.

Quora is a great place to find inspiration. Search for topics in your niche on the question-and-answer platform to see what people want to know and put together a blog post (s) addressing those issues. Yahoo Answers and Stack Exchange are other Q&A sites to look through.

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Need a content idea? Search for your topic on Q&A community platforms, says @AlexJasin.
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Reddit is another gold mine. Head over to find a subreddit (a sub-category of your topic) relevant to your audience. For instance, if you’re trying to help businesses succeed with social media, you can look around r/socialmedia. Since this is a broad topic, search further in the subreddit to make your target more specific. You can search for “how do you …” or “what …” to bring up posts from people trying to learn something in your niche.

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4. Talk to your audience

You know who really knows what your audience wants to read about? Your audience.

Sometimes you just need to ask your readers directly what they want to read. Start this dialogue by encouraging and responding promptly to comments on your posts and social media channels.

You can also post questions about the type of content they would like to read or what they would like to improve about your service or product. Analyze the responses and come up with a content publishing plan to address any issues.

By talking to your audience, you not only get topics to talk about but also improve your relationship with them, boost your credibility, and ultimately, build a loyal customer base.

TIP: Don’t use do-not-reply addresses in your emails as this only shuts down your subscribers from talking with you.

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5. Repackage content

Reframe your existing content so it fits into another format. For instance, turn a piece of long-form content into a 10-minute video. Or transform an epic podcast interview into an informative blog post. You could expand an original e-book or update sections based on new information.

However, don’t re-purpose your content just for the sake of inspiration. You must first see if it fits to your overall content marketing strategy. You need to have a plan to make sure the new format is valuable to your audience.

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6. Consume great content

You can’t expect to create ideas and write great content if you don’t read great content. You have to keep up with your industry to provide real value to your audience. As you read books and blogs, listen to podcasts, and more, you can find inspiration for new blog post ideas.

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You can’t create great ideas if you don’t read great content, says @AlexJasin.
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By using feed readers like Feedly, Flipboard, and Inoreader, you can subscribe to your favorite blogs, news sites, and other publications so you’re always in the know.

Image source

Practice makes perfect

Maintaining a blog that lives up to the promise on your About Us section takes a lot of time, but it doesn’t have to be hard. On The Ultimate Guide for Becoming an Idea Machine, James Altucher says the best way to come up with ideas (not just blog post ideas) is to exercise your idea muscle. The more you practice, the more naturally ideas will come to you.

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The best way to come up with ideas is to exercise your idea muscle, says @jaltucher.
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How do you manage to maintain your blog posting schedule? Do you have difficulties coming up with fresh and workable blog post ideas? Let’s talk in the comments.

Please note: All tools included in our blog posts are suggested by authors, not the CMI editorial team. No one post can provide all relevant tools in the space. Feel free to include additional tools in the comments (from your company or ones that you have used).

Want daily inspiration to improve your content marketing efforts? Subscribe to CMI’s free daily newsletter.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post 6 Quick-and-Dirty Ways to Beat Writer’s Block appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

Are Your Buyer Personas Ready to Take on the World?

Customers’ concerns vary, sometimes dramatically, across regions and cultures. Because these variations present business opportunities, you might expect global companies’ buyer personas to reflect those variations. In fact, many organizations miss this opportunity, applying one set of personas everywhere.

Even organizations that have regional or cultural personas may lack the insights they need to succeed across markets.  

Sometimes, even small differences between regional and cultural personas affect the bottom line, according to Cassio Politi. In his talk at 2016 Content Marketing World, he delivered a message for multinational brands:

Often, headquarters comes up with universal personas and tells everyone, ‘Go create content based on these personas.’ This approach may fail.

Cassio knows what works. The winner of the Digitalks’ Brazilian Content Marketer of the Year award in 2015, he wrote the first Portuguese book on content marketing. He also founded Tracto, a consultancy that develops content strategy for big brands, including U.S. companies with operations in South America and Central America – companies like Eli Lilly, Thomson Reuters, and Scup.

Cassio provided three examples of persona lessons his clients have learned the hard way. As you review them, consider what kind of opportunities your company might create by developing regional personas of your own.

Example 1: Tax-software users in Brazil

A Brazilian sales team for a global tax-software company worked with enterprise buyer personas and discovered that customers in their country had unique motivations. Like customers elsewhere, they wanted to be more productive using technology – the primary selling point in the company’s original strategy – but that wasn’t the main thing Brazilian customers were looking for in tax software.

As Cassio explains, Brazil has a complicated economy with over 300 tax changes every year. Brazilian buyers are concerned about complying with these frequent tax changes.

“Imagine a company like Coca-Cola or Visa. They’re everywhere. Suddenly a remote city far away in Amazonia makes a change in a tax detail. The company has to follow every tax change,” Cassio says. “That capability is what people are looking for in tax software for that region.”

If the U.S. strategy was applied in Brazil, it’s probably going to fail, Cassio says. In a case like this – where customer needs, pain points, and behaviors vary enough to affect the way a company should present its products or services – a regional buyer persona is needed.

Example 2: Dairy farmers in Colombia

A pharmaceutical company makes a product that when injected stimulates milk production in cows by an extra gallon every day. The company had two personas for dairy farmers. One persona runs a farm with thousands of cows, and one runs a farm with hundreds of cows. Both personas want their cows to produce as much milk as possible.

Eventually, the marketing manager noticed that the content strategy based on these two personas wasn’t working in Colombia. Upon further investigation, the company discovered that the Colombian government sets limits on milk production and farmers have to pour any excess down the drain. What Colombian farmers care about is keeping their costs down because it’s expensive to feed the animals in a country without much space to produce food for the cows. Discovering that local “particularity” (Cassio’s term) led the company to create a Colombia persona to guide the strategy for the content they distribute in that region.

Example 3: Dog owners in Colombia and Panama

The marketing team at Comfortis, which makes flea-control products for dogs, learned that the content it was creating for its global buyer persona was less effective in Colombia and Panama than elsewhere.

In Colombia and Panama, the global message, “We’re dog lovers, too! Buy our product,” wasn’t convincing people to buy. When the marketers looked more closely at Panama and Colombia, they discovered that owners often spend time with their dogs on farms or in the countryside. When they see a flea on their dog, they wonder if the dog also has ticks?

That question matters to them because, while fleas bother dogs, ticks can kill them.

Comfortis’ competitor, Bravecto, has a product that controls both fleas and ticks. To earn the business of customers in Colombia and Panama, where tick concerns are common, Comfortis needed to create more educational content.

Here’s how Cassio sums up the message needed in this region: “Don’t solve problems you don’t have. If you don’t find ticks with the fleas, don’t buy the competitor’s product that gets rid of fleas and ticks. It could be bad for the dog.”

Until Comfortis discovered it needed a content strategy built around a regional dog-owner persona, it was missing out on business opportunities in Colombia and Panama.

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• How to Build Buyer Personas That Build Sales

Conclusion

If buyers everywhere cared about the same things, you could get away with using the same personas everywhere. In this world, though, global companies must seize sales opportunities by better understanding regional and cultural variations and creating buyer personas that reflect business-critical differences.

How about you? What lessons has your company learned about the need for regional buyer personas? Please share your insights in a comment.

Sign up for our weekly Content Strategy for Marketers e-newsletter, which features exclusive stories and insights from CMI Chief Content Adviser Robert Rose. If you’re like many other marketers we meet, you’ll come to look forward to reading his thoughts every Saturday.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post Are Your Buyer Personas Ready to Take on the World? appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

23 Quotes to Inspire Your Content Marketing and the Difference You Can Make

Are you feeling in a rut with your marketing? Or are you looking to be energized? I turn to these quotes – from inside and outside our industry – when I need an injection of inspiration. I share this compilation to help you think differently about your content, focus on doing less, prioritize the important, and give yourself space to create.

Think differently about the content you publish 

Do you ever have one of those days where you wonder why you are even in this business? Why are you spending time creating / writing / publishing? This quote from Jolie Miller, who was interviewed by Cameron Conaway in the April 2017 issue of CCO (page 39), revives me:

What I love about content is it has the power to change people’s lives for a second or for a day or forever. Great content creates space for people to pause and reflect, and that space is where transformation happens. – Jolie Miller

Andrea Fryrear shared a similar thought during her Agile marketing workshop at ICC:

Our job is not to create content. Our job is to change the world of the people who consume it. – Andrea Fryrear

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Our job is not to create content. It is to change the world of the people who consume it, says @AndreaFryrear.
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This well-known quote from Maya Angelou is another one that often dances in my head. How can we impact how someone feels by what we publish? (Are you seeing a theme? None of this is about “likes,” shares and traffic.)

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. – Maya Angelou

I picked up this quote from Rachael Ray over the holidays in 2015 when my daughter was a bit obsessed with Food Network. While I can’t recall the original source, I do remember sharing it with our editorial team when we were doing annual planning. While we always talk about putting the reader first, I like the lens Rachael shares on that concept:

We want our viewers to be 100% successful. We want them to feel good about themselves. I don’t really care that they are impressed by me. I want them to be impressed with the dinner they made, the adventure they went on … that’s the main goal. – Racheal Ray

Replace laughing with traffic, “likes,” and shares in comedian Michael Jr.’s quote, and this is so applicable to us marketers:

If we sat there for two hours, and I didn’t deposit anything that could help you get any further, what is the point of that? If I make 7 million people laugh next year, and nobody was better as a result of it, then I need to go fill out an application somewhere. – Michael Jr.

Here’s another way to look at it from John Jantsch:

Your impact is measured not by what you do, but by what happens to other people when you do it. – John Jantsch

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Impact is measured not by what you do, but by what happens to other people when you do it. @DuctTape
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So how do we get to this place where we can make people feel? This observation is one I come to time and time again. It’s from Clare McDermott’s interview with Andy Weir, author of The Martian, published in the February 2016 CCO issue:

I think marketers are very message-focused. They know what they want people to hear. They have to work backwards from there to figure out how to make that happen. What they should do is to find the thing that’s unique or interesting that captures people’s attention. Figure out what that thing is; don’t worry about the message right now. Just find the interesting part, and then figure out how to link that to the message. – Andy Weir

On the fence about whether your work is good enough? Think about this idea from Ann Handley:

When we create something, we think, ‘Will our customers thank us for this?’ I think it’s important for all of us to be thinking about whatever marketing we’re creating; is it really useful to our customers? Will they thank us for it? I think if you think of things through that lens, it just clarifies what you’re doing in such a simple, elegant way. – Ann Handley

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Focus on less

Not only do you need to have goals, but you need to have the right goals. And not too many. I revisit this sentiment from  John Jantsch all the time:

As the founder of this very important life of yours, you must decide to do less, to do your most important things. – John Jantsch

I often refer to — and quote — this idea from Robert Rose:

When taking a content-first approach, our job as marketers is not to create more content … it’s to create the minimum amount of content with the maximum amount of results. — Robert Rose

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Our job as marketers is to create the minimum amount of #content w/ the maximum amount of results. @robert_rose
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Joe Pulizzi often references this quote from Michael Porter that I can’t help but appreciate. If you want to do less, you need to have a strategy:

The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do. – Michael Porter

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If you want to do less, you need to have a strategy, says @michelelinn
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I recently finished the memoir, It Was Me All Along, by Andie Mitchell. While the book focused on the author’s struggle with food, I think the same thing is true with much of the content we are producing:

Another plate wouldn’t have brought me any greater satisfaction, because contentment doesn’t double by the serving. – Andie Mitchell

Getting to this place of less – and more focus – requires that you put some of your ideas and projects to the side, which can be incredibly difficult. Jessica Abel coined the phrase idea debt, which is something I personally struggle with – and I know so many others who do as well:

Idea debt is when you spend too much time picturing what a project is going to be like, too much time thinking about how awesome it will be to have this thing done and in the world, too much time imagining how cool you will look, how in demand you’ll be, how much money you’ll make. And way too little time actually making the thing. – Jessica Abel

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Idea debt is when you spend too much time picturing a project and too little time making it, says @jccabel.
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While this quote from Shonda Rhimes in her book Year of Yes is not about marketing, it certainly applies. In this age of constant publishing, if you feel apologetic for something you are sending out to the world … stop.

When you feel the need to apologize or explain who you are, it means the voice in your head is telling you the wrong story. Wipe the slate clean. And rewrite it. No fairy tales. – Shonda Rhimes

Do you want one last reason to think about doing less? This quote from James Altucher has me pause when I decide to look up random facts or do anything that distracts my attention:

I used to think that when I added stuff to my brain I’d get smarter. But this is not true. For instance, if I look up when Charlemagne was born I’d just add a fact to my head that I will forget tomorrow but will clutter my subconscious mind. This won’t make me smarter. Subtraction, and not addition, is what makes the window to the brain more clear, wipes away the smudges, and opens the drapes. – James Altucher

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Subtraction of stuff, not addition, is what makes the window to the brain more clear, says @Jaltucher.
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Prioritize what’s most important

Related to doing less is prioritizing what’s most important.  One of my recent podcast discoveries is Ellevate Podcast: Conversations with Women Changing the Face of Business. While there are a ton of good insights in these conversations focused on the power of women helping women and networking, I recently scribbled this down from guest Sally Hubbard (episode 49).

I feel myself and so many people I know spend our days running, running, and rushing on the hamster wheel, but where you are going is not where you are meant to be going. It’s all a waste of time. We all tell ourselves we don’t have time, but what is more of a waste of time than killing yourself to get somewhere you don’t want to go? –Sally Hubbard

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Killing yourself to get somewhere you don’t want to go is a waste of time, says @Sally_Hubbard.
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When I think I want to know more — or I am tempted by distraction — I try to remember this perspective from James Altucher: You know what we need more of? Less. Less information. Less noise. Less distraction. Fewer goals.

One idea that is constantly rolling around in my head is that the way many of us are working is flawed. We come from a place of “not enough” and “need to do more.” Rather, I truly believe that we need less, but need to “be more focused. This excerpt from Brené Brown in her book, Daring Greatly, resonates with me:

“One of my very favorite writers on scarcity is global activist and fund-raiser Lynne Twist. In her book The Soul of Money, she refers to scarcity as ‘the great lie.’ She writes: ‘For me, and for many of us, our first waking thought of the day is ‘I didn’t get enough sleep.’ The next one is ‘I don’t have enough time.’

“Whether true or not, that thought of not enough occurs to us automatically before we even think to question or examine it. We spend most of the hours and the days of our lives hearing, explaining, complaining, or worrying about what we don’t have enough of …

“Before we even sit up in bed, before our feet touch the floor, we’re already inadequate, already behind, already losing, already lacking something. And by the time we go to bed at night, our minds are racing with a litany of what we didn’t get, or didn’t get done, that day. We go to sleep burdened by those thoughts and wake up to that reverie of lack …

“This internal condition of scarcity, this mind-set of scarcity, lives at the very heart of our jealousies, our greed, our prejudice, and our arguments with life.” – Brené Brown

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Give yourself space to be able to create

I really enjoyed Arianna Huffington’s book, Thrive, which focuses on how we can redefine success. This quote is one I think we can all relate to.

Linda Stone worked on emerging technologies at both Apple and Microsoft in the 1980s and ’90s. In 1997, she coined the term ‘continuous partial attention’ to describe the state of always being partly tuned into everything while never being completely tuned in to anything. Now it feels like a good three-word description of modern life. – Arianna Huffington

Is this how we want to work? (I don’t.)

I also learned so much from Deep Work by Cal Newport. This is just one of my favorite quotes that summarizes what so many of us experience – but let’s not be these people, OK?

“If you send and answer e-mails at all hours, if you schedule and attend meetings constantly, if you weigh in on instant message systems … within seconds when someone poses a new question, or if you roam your open office bouncing ideas off all whom you encounter – all of these behaviors make you seem busy in a public manner.

“If you’re using busyness as a proxy for productivity, then these behaviors can seem crucial for convincing yourself and others that you’re doing your job well.” – Cal Newport

How do we get to a better place – a place of space? Vishal Khanna recently shared some of his favorite quotes in his presentation at Intelligent Content Conference. One of the quotes he shared is from Gustave Flaubert. I adore the reminder that we need order so we can be creative:

Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.” – Gustave Flaubert

I also think the ability to be quiet is one of the most under-valued skills there is (and, yes, I say skill as I think it’s something that takes practice for most of us in this day and age). This quote from a recent article from Justin Talbot-Zorn and Leigh Marz is one I think about:

When we’re constantly fixated on the verbal agenda – what to say next, what to write next, what to tweet next – it’s tough to make room for truly different perspectives or radically new ideas. It’s hard to drop into deeper modes of listening and attention. And it’s in those deeper modes of attention that truly novel ideas are found. – Justin Talbot-Zorn and Leigh Marz

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It’s in the deeper modes of attention that truly novel ideas are found, says @JustinZorn & @LeighMarz.
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And back to James Altucher:

Often, the successful mediocre entrepreneur should strive for excellence in ZERO-tasking. Do nothing. We always feel like we have to be ‘doing something’ or we (or, I should say “I”) feel ashamed. Sometimes it’s better to just be quiet, to not think of anything at all. A very successful, self-made businessman once told me, ‘Never underestimate the power of a long, protracted silence.’ Out of silence comes the greatest creativity. Not when we are rushing and panicking. – James Altucher

I’ll leave you with this reminder: When life gets to be too hectic, take a deep breath, exhale, and repeat. Or, as my 5-year-old daughter would say, “Smell the flowers, blow out the birthday candles.”

Are you a quote junkie like I am? Share your favorite quotes below.

And here’s a tip – one of my favorite ways to track my favorite ideas from books is to highlight them while reading on my Kindle. Your highlights then can easily be reviewed and copied. You also can easily add notes to help you search for ideas when you need inspiration.

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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

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The Content Assembly Line is Broken

As companies turn their content marketing efforts up to 11, we’re seeing our own little industrial revolution, moving the content creation process from the craft workshop to the high-volume assembly line.

The conditions are right:

• We have the division of labor – research teams, copywriters, designers, developers, experts in search, and social.

• We have enormous pressure to create more content faster – to lubricate our lead-nurture flows and fill our virtual funnels.

• And we have a precedent – as Henry Ford and earlier pioneers proved that assembly lines dramatically increase manufacturing productivity.

It’s no surprise that we tend to make content the same way we make cars and coffee machines – in sequence:

• The researchers hand the findings to the writer.
• The writer turns it into copy.
• The designer makes it pretty (boy, am I going to get in trouble for that).
• The illustrator adds the images.
• The animator makes them wiggle (see above).
• The developer codes it for the web.
• The promotion team pushes it out.
• The analytics geeks measure the impact.
• And we do it all over again tomorrow.

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We tend to make content the same way we make cars – in sequence (but we shouldn’t), says @DougKessler.
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It’s not at all uncommon that this whole thing happens without any team member even talking to the person immediately to the right or left of them along the conveyor belt (much less skipping a level and talking to someone two steps away).

For an increasing number of content teams, this is only a slight exaggeration. A freelance writer may never even know who designed the piece. A research strategist may not even know that a social media pro will one day flog the findings on Facebook.

It’s evolved this way because it’s efficient. Because it means a small team of specialists can churn out an awful lot of work to an acceptable standard.

And that’s the problem.

Because assembly lines were created to put together identical products made from standardized parts. As my favorite smarty-pants, Gustav Wikipedia, says, an assembly line means that “a finished product can be assembled faster and with less labor than by having workers carry parts to a stationary piece for assembly.” (How does he know so much?)

I’ve bold-faced the words that power the whole sentence – and the whole model: Faster. Less labor. That’s what assembly lines are for.

If your content strategy is simply to generate more content faster and/or with fewer people, this series of hand-offs from one blindfolded specialist to the next is your go-to go-to-market model (your GTGTMM).

But if you actually want someone to enjoy the content experiences you create, to be changed by them, to learn from them, and to recommend them to their friends … maybe it’s not such a great idea to produce your content the same way children and slaves produce smartphones. (No, I won’t take that back. Look it up.)

Because great content is not like the billionth Ford Focus to roll off the line.

It’s unique.

Crafted.

One-off.

Unlike toaster ovens and leaf blowers and photocopiers, it’s different every time.

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Unlike toaster ovens & leaf blowers, great #content is different each time it’s created, says @DougKessler.
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As a grey-haired, B2B agency guy, I’ve been involved with both kinds of content creation processes: the assembly line and the agile, group-hug-based collaboration. And the latter runs circles around the former (while making that beep-beep roadrunner sound).

At Velocity, our best pieces are the ones where designers, developers, writers, researchers, and geeks work together – from the start and all along the way, in cute little stand-up scrums.

Click to enlarge

That’s my plea to all you chief content officers (and pretenders who somehow got a hold of this blog post): Break up your assembly lines. Get your weird and wonderful teammates into the same room. Order in some cronuts (I recommend the Pumpkin Maple Cinna-munch Cashew Twirl™). Brief them to change the world.

And stand back.

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A version of this article originally appeared in the April issue of Chief Content Officer. Sign up to receive your free subscription to our bimonthly, print magazine.

Want to meet Doug Kessler and talk more about how to break out of the content assembly line? He’s presenting at Content Marketing World Sept. 5-8 in Cleveland, Ohio. Register today and use code BLOG100 to save $100 on early-bird rates.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

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Account-Based Marketing: What Content Marketers Need to Know

To market its webinar, InsightSquared went the extra mile. It bought 248 copies of the presenter’s book. The author autographed the books with an invitation to attend the webinar. Each one included a bookmark with a URL to register.

Then, the company targeted everybody who visited its website with the same domain as an invitee.

Webinar day arrived. Six people attended.

A complete content marketing disaster.

But at the end of the quarter, the book-invitation webinar campaign was the most effective one to influence the deals that got done.

Huh?

How did a content marketing calamity turn into a big sales success?

Account-based marketing.

That’s how Joe Chernov, vice president of marketing at InsightSquared, explains it in his session Account-Based Marketing vs. Content Marketing: Friend or Foe? at Content Marketing World 2016.

“Content marketing leaves off at a certain point, but business goals go a little beyond that,” Joe says. Account-based marketing can fill in those gaps.

InsightSquared combined content marketing and account-based marketing for its webinar-focused campaign. “We confused people. We gave the reps an excuse to call to un-confuse people,” Joe says, noting that a sales rep on the phone with a potential customer is a big win in the sales process.

Beware of false choice

Joe argues that the choice for marketers is not an either-or proposition. Brands should use content marketing AND account-based marketing (ABM). “Our job (as marketers) is to grow our business,” he says.

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Brands should use #contentmarketing & account-based marketing, says @JChernov.
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By carving segments from your larger target audience and subdividing those into various cohorts (i.e., accounts with common attributes), you can create smaller highly targeted customized campaigns – flipping the sales funnel upside down.

“Yields will be at least or greater to the wide-mouth funnel approach that is content marketing,” Joe says.

Don’t have a low-bar strategy

“Show how I’m measured and I’ll show you how I’ll behave,” Joe says.

If marketing success is measured by the quantity of marketing-qualified leads produced, the bar to create such a lead will be set as low as possible. Marketers will do what they think will produce the biggest numbers, not necessarily the best leads.

MQLs transfer the problem to the sales team. “(You’re) giving them junk,” Joe says.

Content marketers publish a blog post, wait for the audience to find it, and expect some readers to dig deep enough to fill out a form with their valuable contact information. Plus, just because a person fills out a form to acquire valuable content does not mean she is interested in sales or even the brand. Yet, the person is an MQL and the burden is moved to sales.

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Don’t transfer junk leads from your #contentmarketing to your sales team, says @JChernov.
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“It’s not efficient. Waiting isn’t the strategy and yet content marketing relies on some waiting,” Joe says. ABM is a proactive approach – reaching out to prospects and customers.

While content marketing follows a sequential or linear process (blog, offer, lead scoring on conversion, lead nurturing, hand-off to sales), ABM is lumpy. You target an account or a basket of accounts and pick and choose ways to engage them (a blog post, ungated content, personalized email, event, or dinner).

ABM complements content marketing and vice versa. As Joe says, marketers must find ways to stitch together the two methodologies because accomplishing your ultimate goals requires both. Fortunately, the values for content marketing and ABM are the same – to make your customer’s life better.

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See the opportunities

Content marketers shouldn’t be threatened that ABM will take away the need for content in their companies. In fact, the opposite may be true. Demands for content – lots of little content, original, and customized – for each account or cohort will be needed.

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Content marketers shouldn’t be threatened by ABM. Demand for #content may be greater. @JChernov
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ABM also presents a more effective primary content distribution channel – the sales team. “None of this works if the sales team isn’t using your content,” Joe says.

Finally, marketing still needs a way to engage people the first time. That usually occurs on a widely targeted basis and content is an effective way to attract those new people.

“You have the opportunity to take everything learned in content marketing and apply it to a new methodology,” Joe says.

Think content-marketing strategy applied to direct mail.

Joe shares a couple inspirational successes from InsightSquared. In the first example, InsightSquared’s sales reps each picked five accounts to receive a case of InsightSquared-branded energy drinks. It included the message, “Fuel your sales team for a monster Q4.” The results were great – recipients were 30 to 40% more likely to buy than those who did not get the drinks.

The second example incorporates individual account-based data. The InsightSquared marketing team uses that data to identify someone who is stuck in the sales process. When it sees a hesitant account, it confirms the status with the sales rep. Then, marketing mails a pair of socks and a postcard with the message, “Don’t get cold feet.” It explains why the company is sending it and invites the recipient back into the active sales process.

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Rethink definition of success

When Joe was at HubSpot, a company marketing its products to most B2B companies, he would say, “I don’t care if we’re selling to Mack the truck driver or to Mack Trucks.”

But, he says, many companies do have to distinguish whether they’re selling to Mack the truck driver or Mack Trucks. They know exactly who their customer is – and it isn’t the masses.

Combining content marketing and ABM requires marketing’s goals to align with the sales team. You must work toward what’s best for the business as a whole. No longer is success driven by how many companies you connect with, it’s about the number of highly responsive and interested companies you connect with.

Metrics focused on the size of the audience are backward in an ABM-focused environment. As Joe explains, if your blog audience numbers stay flat month over month but the composition of the audience includes more designated accounts, that’s a marketing success.

Your measurement framework must be sales-centric.

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Your measurement framework must be sales-centric, says @JChernov. #contentmarketing
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Rejuvenate collaborative content

In an ABM-included world, the content team gets a new center of gravity. Instead of a blog with content for a broad audience, content creators can narrow the aperture of what they write to be for a very specific audience. The alignment also enables the content team to plan its editorial calendar in tandem with the sales team’s themes.

By working with sales, the content team can arm sales reps with content to have more meaningful, personalized conversations. “It’s the agent’s job to get the actor the audition, not the part,” Joe says. “Our job (as marketers) is to get sales the chance to get the right people on the phone.”

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Our job as marketers is to get sales the chance to get the right people on the phone, says @JChernov.
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The key to combining content marketing and account-based marketing, though, rests in a collaborative effort with the sales team. And that can’t be the chief marketing officer and the head of the sales division talking once a month. It requires a marketing quarterback sitting with sales and really listening to sales when it comes to accounts. As Joe says, “That’s the only way this works.”

What insights and ideas will this year’s Content Marketing World presenters share? Make sure you’re there to hear them. Register today for the Sept. 5-8 event. Use the code BLOG100 to save even more on early-bird rates.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

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