The Power of Bottom-Up Branding

Every marketer should read the recent Harvard Business Review article, “Branding in the Age of Social Media,” by Douglas Holt. The former Harvard and Oxford University professor asserts that most businesses are failing with social media because they’re using the same tactics they used in the days of mass media. This familiar strategy is called “branded content.” The idea is to create memorable content that people come to associate with a brand. It's not a new idea. Back in the 1950s brands sponsored popular TV shows, and legendary advertising campaigns like “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing” were based upon the same id…

25 B2B Marketers Sound Off on 2016 Priorities

I was delighted when B2B Marketing Zone – a website and newsletter that I devour - asked me to be one of 25 contributors to its "B2B Marketing Trends for 2016" e-book. I love this content concept, and it’s an idea more B2B marketers could adopt. Contact influencers in your market – or even your own customers or subject matter experts – and ask them for short paragraphs on a topic, then combine that content into an e-book. Then do what Tom Pick and Tony Karrer of B2B Marketing Zone did – make it easy for people to compose posts like this one and share the book through their social networks. Your contributors will be flattered …

What’s next for B2B social media in 2016

By Paul Gillin,  January 2016 I was recently contacted by a B2B publication looking for some thoughts on what’s coming up in the next year. I thought some of the questions were interesting and worth sharing here. What trends are gaining momentum in B2B social media right now? B2B marketers are finally realizing that merely throwing content into the ether is both expensive and wasteful, so they’re trying to target their content better to the audience and purpose. Marketers realize that buyers are people, not demographic segments, so they are appealing more to the motivations that influence human behavior. That’s one reason we s…

Creating Content that Connects

Recently, Social Media expert Paul Gillin gave a free webinar on content marketing, and how to create content that connects to target audiences. Below are questions asked at the end of the presentation. Question One: I’m getting the marketing department off the ground at my small company.There is limited time, but there is  desire to create numerous material for each of our solution areas . Is it better to create some content for all areas or focus on one area until there is a good amount of content in place and then move on? Paul Gillin: It depends on the size of the audience you need to reach and your short term business objective. I…

Three Secrets of Creating Content that Connects with Customers

by Paul Gillin,   May 4, 2015 Among the top complaints of content marketing professionals in nearly all the research I’ve seen is that they have trouble coming up with ideas for good content. But creating good content isn’t a big problem if you know three basic secrets. In my May 6, 2015 webcast I’ll go into greater detail on all of them. Here’s a preview of what I’ll discuss. Think like a Customer This isn’t as easy as it sounds. Traditional marketing has taught us how to tell our story, but not how others listen to it. We need to change that equation because customers are talking to themselves a whole lot more than th…

Create Content Your Customers Care About

By Victoria Bianchini, April 28 2015 When you sit down to write a sales letter, blog post or even a tweet, do you ask yourself "who cares?" Not as in "who gives a darn," but who am I writing for and what do they care about? Considering your audience and what interests and motivates them is a good place to begin. Start by making a list of keywords your customers might use to search for information and reviews about products or solutions your company offers. Try a research tool like Ubersuggest to get a sense of what people are searching for related to your keywords. Now use those keywords and phrases to listen in on the conversations,…