Whether you’ve spent the morning recreating the running of the bulls in Pamplona (aka, Black Friday shopping) or are still snapping out of your turkey coma, the Friday Fix comes as a much-needed reprieve. So, this week, we openly acknowledge that we are knee deep in Holiday Season 2014, and the momentum is only going to pick up as we hurdle toward New Years. What does this mean for your content marketing? Lots! This Fix has the lots of content marketing inspiration steals and freebies plus a great exploration of the difference between story selling and story telling.
A Cornucopia of Content Marketing Inspiration
This bundle of Thanksgiving joy from Jodi Harris is definitely something to be thankful for because sometimes, let’s face it, the inspiration well runs dry. Thus, Jodi has made a fairly comprehensive list of inspirational figures and players in all areas of content marketing ranging from creative to sales to marketing to strategy and so forth. It’s a great source if you’re looking for new ideas (or to see who some of the top players are) or if you’re just starting out and are looking for direction.
Content Marketing Strategies You Can Steal
Is it just me, or are all of these content marketing freebies adding up to be the greatest Black Friday ever? So, you’ve got all of the goodies on Jodi’s list as well as some of the best-of-the-best strategy steals courtesy of Ann Handley. Just a few of the theft-worthy suggestions on Ann’s list include reallocating budgets for pilot content programs, long-term (three to six months) editorial calendar mapping, and widening the social media net. This is quite possibly the content equivalent to Oprah’s favorite things.
The Content Marketing Word of the Year?
The end of the calendar year inevitably gets us reflecting; in Michael Brenner’s blog, it’s on the “word of the year”, which in the case of 2014, is vape (you know, as in vaporize as in e-cigs?) (I like runner-up slacktivistm better.). Anyway, so that got Brenner ruminating further on the content marketing word of the year, why he refuses to choose one, and why using “visual” approaches and “storytelling” are going to hold the keys to success in 2015.
Holiday Content Marketing: How to Connect with Your Audience for the Rest of the Year
Whether you’re already so tired of the holidays that you feel like you have tinsel coming out of your ears or you’re loving every shiny silver bell you hear, the holidays are –in a sense—a gift to content marketing strategies. Brad Kuenn shares invaluable tips on how to integrate the season in to your approach. Like, take a page out of Santa’s playbook and make lists.
Use Content Marketing to Tell Your Story, Not Sell Your Story
To borrow from Katherine Buccholz’s analogy, content is the cheese in the content marketing rat race, but how do you get the rats to and through the maze to the cheese? There has to be something that draws them in and, if studies are anything to go by, it’s not the sales pitch (60% of buying decisions are made before customers even reach out to sales reps); rather, it’s the story; more importantly, it’s a good, honest story (tell them something real about your cheese in a way that’s relatable). The truth shall set (the rats) free.
Where Brand Journalism and Native Advertising Can Fit Within Content Marketing
Lee Odden chimes in on where brand journalism and native advertising fit into content marketing. In a nutshell, it’s all about layering –if you will—for both brand journalism and native advertising can and should play parts in content marketing. If all are used properly and at the right time, the results will be non-linear and super effective content.
What Content Marketing Has Gained from Journalism
Journalism has come a long way from the days of yore when suspender-clad youth would stand on street corner shouting, “Extra, extra, read all about it!” In recent years, traditional journalism has seen a shift, but it’s not necessarily for the worse (as some may feel). Now, there’s an increased integration of marketing content and journalism with each influencing the other. So, what has content marketing learned from journalism? Justin Spicer has the scoop.
How Content Marketing, SEO, and Social Media Work Together
Matthew Collis also talks about the magic that can be made when other relevant forces properly contribute to a content marketing strategy (it’s basically like combining strengths to form the Voltron of content marketing). Check out this article to unleash your ability to unite these forces from setting measurable goals, to promoting content on social media, to analyzing and optimizing your content in the interest of creating one awesome sword-wielding content machine.
Don’t Let These Content Marketing Myths Hold You Back
Getting into content marketing can give you a “little fish in a big pond” complex pretty quickly. The big boys are all playing hardball, and you’re not sure you can cut it. Amanda Clark gives the pep talk you need to keep your head in the game. She breaks down some of the barriers that might keep you from showing up to play at all and provides tips for stepping up your performance on the field.
25 Content Marketing Truths
Joe Pulizzi shares a great list of 25 content marketing “truths” or words of wisdom to live by. This concise list is preceded by a touching story about Joe’s wise grandfather as well as the two most essential lessons Joe learned from his grandfather, which were how important it is to help others and how many more lengths you can go with strong storytelling.
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