So … you want to start a company. You have to do a lot of legwork before you get started. You know what you’re going to sell. You’ve planned it all out. Just one problem: who are you going to sell to? There are three major sources of insight to consider when you start building your audience: yourself, your community and your Continue Reading...

There’s way too much content that looks the same. A friend of mine who runs an agency has been using AI for some time to help with blog posts. I’ve seen the work it puts together. That AI generates predictive text based on the Internet content it’s seen before, but the average content writer is doing the same thing. You get similar points, Continue Reading...

Ads have been a part of the Internet since the beginning. And users have been trying to find a way around them for just as long. These days advertising is part of everything. Pre-roll ads on YouTube are getting longer and longer, and paid placements and promoted posts are clogging the feed. Users are rebelling. Almost half of all Internet Continue Reading...

Content isn’t what it used to be. Time was when you could create a simple blog with keyword research and build search visibility easily. It’s not that simple anymore. As SEO has gotten more competitive, the number of channels you can use to generate visibility has grown. Cornerstone content comes in a lot more formats today— it’s not just Continue Reading...

“You are what you eat” doesn’t just apply to your physical diet. It applies to content marketing too. Two recently released reports (from Facebook and SEMRush respectively) are shedding some light on just that. Meta’s Widely Viewed Content Report shows what people consumed the most on Facebook during Q4 2021, and the SEMRush Top 100 does the Continue Reading...

Last week we shared the FOUR types of stories you can tell to create truly effective marketing emails. That’s critical. But it’s just as critical to understand the structure of a story-based email. People have an intuitive grasp of what a good story feels like, but they don’t necessarily know how to break it down. Story structure is a critical Continue Reading...

“All marketers are storytellers,” said Seth Godin in All Marketers are Liars. He’s right. Marketing is about telling a story your audience wants to hear. And nowhere is that more important than in your emails. You can’t lean on the hard sell. You have to offer content that matters. As marketer Terry Dean notes, “Please understand. I’m not Continue Reading...

I was watching the Super Bowl at a friend’s house (for the commercials, of course — the Packers didn’t make it this year.) And suddenly, in between the game and the standard blockbuster ads, I saw … this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zLsUhOCqyU Of course I had to get up and scan it. Why wouldn’t I? The code took you to a Coinbase page. Continue Reading...

Twitter’s Conversation Report has been a mainstay for marketers analyzing the platform for years. But this latest version, called “#RealTalk,” is a little different. This one focuses specifically on how brands can succeed on Twitter — and what pitfalls can hurt them. Twenty brands submitted their data for the study, and Twitter mined that data Continue Reading...

“I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.” Don Vito Corleone’s phrase from the movie The Godfather is legendary. It’s also the key to getting your audience to buy what you’re selling. Now — leaving a horse’s head in your audience’s bed isn’t what we’re going for here. Selling isn’t about coercion. But it is about offering something so Continue Reading...