There’s an old saying that “Marketers ruin everything.” It’s an oversimplification — but there’s a grain of truth to it, and one of the most obvious examples is your email inbox. When email became widespread, marketers obtained lists of email addresses and flooded inboxes with unsolicited offers. Spam was born, and email providers have been Continue Reading...

Ever see a Coke bottle with your name on it instead of “Coca-Cola?” That’s the “Share a Coke” campaign. It began in Australia in 2011. The South Pacific division of Coca-Cola printed the 150 most popular first names in the country onto bottles and cans, and a phenomenon was born. People took pictures of their cans and posted them to social Continue Reading...

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...