Archive for January 2017

If you’ve seen any of CMI’s 2017 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends research, you may have noticed that the content marketing industry is growing up. In fact, 28% of B2B marketers, and 30% of B2C marketers now say their program has reached the sophisticated or mature stage of progress – the point where their efforts are able…

One of the most influential authors of my personal and career journey is Napoleon Hill. Napoleon Hill’s classic Think and Grow Rich was first published in 1937. Now, in its 80th anniversary year, Mr. Hill’s lessons are still extremely relevant and valuable. I had the opportunity to dust off my copy of Think and Grow Rich (from 1960, with…

Here’s a quick tip, to help you increase the effectiveness of your email marketing or mail shots. I was prompted to write this for you, after an email I received last week. It was a poorly targeted marketing email, from someone I hardly know. Here’s how the email started: “Hey guys, sorry for the email…

I don’t keep a running score, but between posts for my personal and company site plus my columns on business media sites like Inc., Entrepreneur, and Forbes, I create around 300 articles a year. Managing this effectively isn’t easy. If I simply wrote what I wanted, when I wanted, I’m pretty certain I wouldn’t be…

Where should content marketing leaders go to refuel and refresh their content marketing program? Having conducted hundreds of customer interviews over the years on behalf of my clients, I find the raw, unfiltered perspectives of customers provide powerful, new insights. I’m not talking about gathering quotes for a customer testimonial; I’m suggesting creating a steady…

Here are 5 tips, to help you build a valuable newsletter readership or list. I used each of these ideas when growing my own newsletter, which had 45,000 subscribers when I published the final edition. Newsletter Tip 1: Go easy on the pitches Make sure it’s a newsletter and not a badly disguised advertisement. Here’s…

At the ripe age of 28, after years of performing odd jobs at a small radio station, Larry King found his first job interviewing people on the radio. But he wasn’t sitting in front of that famous globe backdrop or interviewing world leaders as he would do later on CNN. He was sitting in Pumpernik’s,…

“Write for the user, not the search engines,” continues to be a mantra of content marketing. In reality, smart content creators write for both. Quality content is interesting, informative, original, AND it includes keywords, ultimately leading to more visits and helping you achieve your why. Quality content naturally builds links, which improves the site authority,…

When it comes to marketing, success leaves clues. By following these clues and learning from them, it’s possible to significantly improve your marketing. Allow me to explain. Consider the following: The last marketing email, which you were motivated to open because it had a powerful subject line. The last marketing email you read, which persuaded…