SEO has been a staple of content marketing for over 20 years. Firms sprang up overnight as Google grew to dominate the market. They promised top results for their clients. Some even succeeded. There was low-hanging fruit to be had. SEO expert Rand Fishkin noted on one podcast, “Back in the day, I would just point three anchor text phrases at Continue Reading...

A few years ago I worked with a company that focused on traditional marketing. Fliers and catalogs were how we reached the audience. While I was there, they began to modernize their processes. There was one problem: no one cared what they had to say anymore. Their rudimentary social media strategy had focused on pushing products for so long Continue Reading...

I’m a huge Dune fan. So when Denis Villeneuve’s Dune was announced, I was overjoyed. Even after I left the theater, it stayed with me. It’s a perfect adaptation of the books. There are elements of the books that weren’t included, things we nerds can argue about while waiting for Part 2. There were intentional decisions on what to include, Continue Reading...

Email isn’t sexy. The technology behind email has existed for a little over 50 years now. It’s ancient in Internet years. But it works ... still. Social media platforms are more glamorous. SEO is a bigger buzzword. But email just keeps delivering results. No content marketing or digital marketing plan is complete without email. It’s the Continue Reading...

Content marketers are usually more concerned with the words they create than the appearance of those words. Content is important. Absolutely. But the way the content is presented matters too. It’s a mistake to ignore the design elements for content entirely — and it’s one a lot of content marketers make. You have to be concerned about how Continue Reading...

Fish, rice, seaweed, vinegar, soy sauce, wasabi. These are the components of edomae-style sushi, the type served at world-famous Sukiyabashi Jiro, the first sushi restaurant in the world to earn three Michelin stars and the subject of the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi. Sushi isn’t a complex dish. In fact, it’s one of the simplest. There is Continue Reading...

The cowboy’s cigarette droops loosely from his mouth. His hat is white, clean, untouched by dust. He’s the Marlboro Man, an image that’s lasted since iconic advertiser Leo Burnett started the campaign in 1955. Think of the iconic campaigns you’ve seen and how many channels you’ve seen them on. Chick-Fil-A’s Holstein cows. The “PC vs. Mac” Continue Reading...

Priceline was a dotcom darling. It shot to prominence with campaigns featuring athletes and celebrities like William Shatner and Kaley Cuoco. It went public for $16 a share and rocketed to $88 on the first day of trading. Then it died. Priceline sold airline tickets that fell through the cracks, filling in the gaps where the airlines didn’t Continue Reading...

Toyota just passed Volkswagen AG as the best selling carmaker on earth. “Steady” is the best word to describe Toyota. It doesn’t have a reputation for huge leaps in innovation. It usually keeps large cash reserves. It prioritizes personnel and doesn’t pay high dividends. It doesn’t have a reputation for bold, groundbreaking marketing or Continue Reading...

Your business has access to a platform with 500 million daily users. And they’re highly engaged. These users spend an average of 28 minutes on this platform each time they open it. They don’t leave. They look at post after post, often catching up completely with their feed before leaving. That platform is Instagram Stories. And if you’re Continue Reading...