Happy Friday Fix Day, fellow content marketers! Hopefully you’ve had a great week and a few laughs to boot; if not, we’ve got it on good authority that injecting your content marketing with humor can do your business some serious good. We also talk about when and why you should go global, how to think about content marketing in 2016, digital storytelling at the Sundance Film Festival, as well as tools and tips of the trade (such as what questions to ask to tell your story). So, grab an extra-large latte (because why not?) and kick back because it’s time to get your Friday Fix on.
Comedy & Content Marketing: A Q&A with Marketing Technologist Travis Wright
As one who loves to laugh, I think we all want to be funny…not like a dad joke at Thanksgiving “funny” but genuinely funny. This is something that Travis Wright who, among many things is also a stand-up comedian, and I agree on. In this article, Jennifer Taylor interviews Wright and explores the role of comedy –and comedians—in content marketing. They cover everything from when humor is appropriate to how to amend a faux pas when humor goes wrong (how could you betray us like this, humor!).
New Year, New Thinking in Content Marketing
venturebeat.com
There’s a saying that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. If you’re approaching content marketing with the same mindset year after year and expecting results that you’re not getting, then well, you’re not insane, but you do need Andrew Schulkind’s article, which suggests new ways for thinking about content marketing. These include digging into your niche, really understanding your customer, and focusing on quality, not quantity (to name a few mindsets).
Why a Global Content Strategy is Vital for Your Organization in 2016
Going global has come up before in past Friday Fixes, but this week, Ruben Sanchez revisits the discussion with new insight as well as new research that points out that as many as 64% of global companies don’t have a global content strategy (eek!). What a global strategy does for your organization, as Ruben tells it, is it protects the business from disruption, and it reflects success (43% of top-performing teams have a global strategy in place). So, I guess what he’s saying is that there’s no time like the present to start thinking outside of the box and to instead start thinking around the world (or at least figure out when you’ll be ready to think round).
Sundance’s First Digital Storytelling Conference Showcases the Best in Brand Videos
adweek.com
It’s a pretty exciting week for digital storytelling; this week, thanks to CEO of VMA Media Rick Parkhill. This week, digital storytelling will have representation at the Sundance Film Festival. In this article, James Cooper interviews Parkhill and gets his insight on everything from the mission of digital storytelling to its evolution to what marketers and agency executives are looking for (and more).
4 Content Marketing Methods to Stay above Your Competition
I love the quote at the beginning of Yoav Vilner’s article: “Promoting irrelevant content to your customer base is as useless as bringing a knife to a gunfight.” (Can I see that? Can someone set that up?) But seriously, per Yoav, there are four ways that winning companies are employing content marketing methods. They’re leveraging influencers; producing engaging, fluid digital stories; focusing on customer experience; and creating stories and content driven by the customer’s journey (this is a highly-intuitive step, so read Yoav’s article to fully grasp what he’s saying).
A Toolkit for Developing Your Content Marketing Strategy
If you’re a fan of the Friday Fix, then you know we’ve been promoting having a content strategy since the Fix’s inception. In this piece, Fenja Villeumier provides not only additional insight (like that the challenge is now a focused, target-aimed strategy) but also an in-depth analysis and review of exactly how the classic Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Matrix can be customized to ensure long-term content marketing success.
The 3 Types of Content Marketing
There are times when something is presented in such a way that you have an epiphany and suddenly, so much more clarity. I find that Rebecca Lieb’s article on the three types of content marketing is one of those things. We talk about content marketing, storytelling, various components, strategies, ROI…the list goes on, but we don’t always talk about underlining the purpose of the content. In this piece, Rebecca breaks down the nuts and bolts for the three types of content marketing: content that entertains; content that informs / educates; and content that provides tools / resources.
Content Marketing is the Answer to Ad Blocking
I’m sorry, did you say ad blocking, author, Inti Tam? Take my money! I’m kidding…I don’t have any money, but seriously, as one who’s highly annoyed by popups, I’m all for being seduced into a company’s loyalty via content marketing. Of course, the prevalence of ad blocking as described by Tam means employing smart tactics for keeping the audience reading. Tam advises both breaking long content into “bite-sized” posts and embedding visual elements that tell the story.
What to Include in a Content Marketing Proposal
komarketingassociates.com
In this piece, Ryan Young reveals that 64% of marketing professionals intend to amp up their content marketing efforts in 2016, which makes sense considering everything we know about content marketing in this day and age. Anyway, as Ryan points out, regardless of what your role is (agency or in-house), you need a well-organized proposal that includes all of the right bits and pieces.
[BizTrends 2016] Tell Great Stories
That’s right folks, it’s 2016…time to tell great stories versus those mediocre yarns of 2015. I’m kidding. In this piece, Samantha Page talks about her experience as a storyteller and an editor and explains the little bit of insight that’s propelled her career, which is that “a great story will stay with your reader longer than any trend you’ll ever cover.” That’s something we’re all banking on, right? But how are we doing it? Before looking at content moments and the art of storytelling, Samantha revisits John Lewis’ Man on the Moon because it was that good and it fully exemplifies her point.
Storytelling 101: 5 Questions That Can Help You Find Your Story
storytelleragency.com
So, what’s your story? This is more than a pick-up line from the ‘80s, it’s something you should ask yourself about your organization. It’s easy to look at dynamic, inspiration stories and to conclude that you either don’t have one or that yours is boring, but the reality is that everyone has a story and yours is probably better than you think (especially if you tell it right). Hence, we’re bringing in the pros. This week, we pose five questions that can help you discover your story and why it’s special.
Amy Delcambre is a freelance content and travel writer from Mobile, Alabama with a Master's in Creative Writing. When she's not painting the page with nouns, verbs, and adverbs, she's slaying grammar beasts as a freelance editor and saving the world one sentence fragment at a time teaching university writing classes. In her free time, Amy enjoys cooking, traveling, and testing which plant species best survive prolonged neglect.
Connect with Amy: LinkedIn