AI and search

New research shows that 27% of adults are using AI platforms for traditional search functions. I am getting about a dozen direct inquiries on my site from ChatGPT, and I’ve secured two customers through AI.

So, how is this going to work? It seems that Google is in trouble, but how can you bet against the world’s number-one search engine?

That’s the subject of the new episode of The Marketing Companion. I welcome a new co-host, Andy Crestodina, one of the premier digital marketing wizards around. Andy has some well-informed views of what is happening, what is likely, and how we need to think about search in the next few years.

We also delve into a topic that is a bit more controversial (believe it or not!) LinkedIn newsletters. Historically, I have not been a fan. You’re turning over your email list, SEO value, and perhaps even content discoverability to LinkedIn. And hey, who ever heard of a newsletter going viral?

But Andy has had some success in this area and presents a compelling case for the platform. An interesting debate!  To hear it all, simply click here:

Click here to enjoy Marketing Companion Episode 310

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The post Goodbye Google? Dissecting the role of AI and SEO appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

Today I’d like to move beyond the tips and tricks phase of AI and marketing (although that is still a lot of fun!) and provide something more advanced — how to design an AI marketing strategy. Let’s step back from the hype and take a more strategic view of how AI will be applied to strategy.

The format of this post will be a little different from what you normally see from me. Since this subject is so new and my own perspective is naturally limited, this post will feature a curation of the best ideas from everything I could find (with my insights peppered in!)

I will cover:

• Two types of AI applications for marketing
• Standalone versus integrated solutions
• Primary areas for marketing benefit
• Where to begin
• Keeping the customer first
• AI marketing strategy for the small business owner

Let’s begin!

The two types of AI for marketing

According to an article in Harvard Business Review, it is easiest to break AI down into two main applications for marketing. This helps us ease into a framework.

1. Task automation

These applications perform repetitive, structured tasks that require relatively low levels of intelligence. They’re designed to follow a set of rules or execute a predetermined sequence of operations based on a given input, but they can’t handle complex problems such as nuanced customer requests. An example would be a system that automatically sends a welcome email to each new customer. These applications can’t discern customers’ intent, offer customized responses, or learn from interactions over time. But this focus makes us more productive.

2. Machine learning

These algorithms are trained using large quantities of data to make relatively complex predictions and decisions. Such models can recognize images, decipher text, segment customers, and anticipate how customers will respond to various initiatives, such as promotions.

Machine learning already drives programmatic buying in online advertising, e-commerce recommendation engines, and sales propensity models in CRM systems.

These applications use data to make us more insightful and intelligent in our marketing.

Why is this important? A number of studies show that winning companies—those increasing their market share by at least 10 percent annually—tend to be early adopters of advanced sales and marketing technologies.

Standalone versus integrated solutions

In the early days of digital marketing, my company had to build everything on its own because there weren’t any integrated solutions. Today, a modern ERP like Salesforce has everything under one roof. Likewise, in the early days of social media, we cobbled together standalone apps but today, an AI-powered platform like Sprinklr offers an integrated social media marketing system.

We are in the very same era for AI. We are being deluged by one-off solutions, but the long-term solution will be integration. Keep this in mind as you assess today’s solutions. Be patient and keep an eye on what’s coming next. The future of AI marketing strategy will be a layer of AI applied to everything we do, not just standalone apps.

Before placing your bet on a host of new apps, watch carefully how AI is being implemented into your current systems.

Primary areas of focus for an AI Marketing Strategy

1. Consumer behavior

CMSWire claims the biggest generator of strategic growth lies in leveraging AI for consumer behavior analysis. The world is changing so quickly. AI will help us pinpoint shifts in consumer priorities.

A case in point is offered by Procter & Gamble’s Olay Skin Advisor, which uses deep learning to analyze selfies that customers have taken, assess their age and skin type, and recommend appropriate products. It has improved conversion rates, bounce rates, and average basket sizes in some geographies.

2. Predictive analytics

AI enables the rapid processing of massive amounts of customer data and information. Through these systems, organizations can decipher consumer patterns as they emerge, and further determine how these patterns will evolve into trends and sales patterns.

3. Personal versus personalization

Today’s personalization systems are not necessarily personal. AI will enable granular personalized experiences and customer journeys.

4. Customer experience

The low-hanging fruit of the AI marketing strategy might be customer service, especially as chatbots become more human than humans! Hyper-personalized content and offerings can be based on individual customer behavior, persona, and purchase history.

There are many gen AI use cases after the customer signs on the dotted line, including onboarding and retention. When a new customer joins, gen AI can provide a warm welcome with personalized training content, highlighting relevant best practices. A chatbot functionality can provide immediate answers to customer questions and enhance training materials for future customers.

5. Natural voice and language processing

I am already using AI transcription and translation services heavily. But this is just the beginning. Using AI applications to learn natural language models will enable innovations in customer service, ordering, and personalization.

6. Workflow automation

So much opportunity in content creation and approval, SEO, social media management, research, and team productivity!

AI can optimize marketing strategies through A/B testing of various elements such as page layouts, ad copy, and SEO strategies, leveraging predictive analytics and data-driven recommendations to ensure maximum return on investment. These actions can continue through the customer journey, with gen AI automating lead-nurturing campaigns based on evolving customer patterns.

7. Sales Effectiveness

McKinsey reports that AI can boost sales effectiveness and performance by offloading and automating many mundane sales activities, freeing up capacity to spend more time with customers and prospective customers (while reducing cost to serve). In all these actions, personalization is key. AI coupled with company-specific data and context has enabled consumer insights at the most granular level, allowing B2C lever personalization through targeted marketing and sales offerings. Winning B2B companies go beyond account-based marketing and disproportionately use hyper-personalization in their outreach.

At the top of the funnel, gen AI surpasses traditional AI-driven lead identification and targeting that uses web scraping and simple prioritization. Gen AI’s advanced algorithms can leverage patterns in customer and market data to segment and target relevant audiences. With these capabilities, businesses can efficiently analyze and identify high-quality leads, leading to more effective, tailored lead-activation campaigns.

8. Creative Applications

I am already seeing AI enable a surge in creativity. Once there are systems in place that allow us to generate content and images in a fair way that acknowledges original artists and creators, we’ll go to a whole new level of efficient and inspiring creative output.

These use case are the tip of the iceberg. Here is the result of a McKinsey study anticipating where we might have the biggest impact from an AI marketing strategy

Where to start an AI Marketing Strategy

The authors of the HBR article suggest looking at internal priorities this way:

1. For firms with limited AI experience, a good way to begin is by building or buying simple rule-based applications. Many firms pursue a “crawl-walk-run” approach, starting with a stand-alone non-customer-facing task-automation app, such as one that guides human service agents who engage with customers.
2. Once companies acquire basic AI skills and an abundance of customer and market data, they can start moving from task automation to machine learning. A good example of the latter is Stitch Fix’s clothing-selection AI, which helps its stylists curate offers for customers and is based on their self-reported style preferences, the items they keep and return, and their feedback.
3. Look at where you have the largest amounts of data for obvious applications since most AI applications, particularly machine learning, require vast amounts of high-quality data. You can even tap into public data sources. I was able to do an analysis of marketing hotspots in my home state of Tennessee by pasting public census data into OpenAI.
4. The biggest gains from AI will come from replacing human systems that rely on repetitive, high-speed decisions, such as those required for programmatic ad buying. In an ideal AI world, human decision-making would be reserved for the most consequential questions, such as whether to continue a campaign or to approve an expensive TV ad. This is where the greatest returns from an AI marketing strategy will be found.

McKinsey points to key indicators of a successful Ai marketing strategy:

1. There is a clearly defined AI vision and strategy.
2. More than 20 percent of digital budgets are invested in AI-related technologies.
3. Teams of data scientists are employed to run algorithms to inform rapid pricing strategy and optimize marketing and sales.
4. Strategists are looking to the future and outlining simple gen AI use cases.

Many sources describe the importance of constant experimentation, especially when it comes to partnering with startups. The AI landscape is evolving very quickly, and winners today may not be viable tomorrow. Test and iterate with different players, but pursue partnerships strategically based on sales-related innovation, rate of innovation versus time to market, and ability to scale.

Keeping customers first in the AI journey

Almost all of the sources I reviewed emphasized the importance of keeping the focus on the customer, not the technology. It’s easy for the AI enthusiasm to overwhelm the reason we’re here — customer needs.

Truth is, many customers fear how AI applications are collecting, sharing, and using their data, particularly ones that give away their location or are always listening. However, customers have also shown a willingness to let go of some privacy in exchange for the value that AI brings.

Marketers should ensure that AI applications have transparent privacy and security controls and that customers “get what they give” in exchange for their data. Customers should also be given the freedom to choose what data they are willing to share and be in control of how and when it is collected and used.

AI marketing strategy for the small business

Predictably, there is an AI platform gold rush going on. It seems as though there is a new AI service being developed and marketed every day. How do you make sense of what to do and create a competitive advantage through an AI marketing strategy … even if you don’t have an IT department?

The first thing you need to know: Don’t create an AI marketing strategy just to do it. As a small business owner, every decision to reallocate resources is vital. Tread carefully.

A big difference between applying AI to a big business to a small one is the lack of data. A big business needs to turn to the big data sources as a clue on where to start. A small business should look at productivity. Where is the low-hanging fruit to save money and time?

Start by reviewing your current marketing applications for new AI features. Look at current vendors of your marketing software systems to see what’s coming for you within the platforms you already use. As I noted above, it’s going to be much better to have AI integrated into systems you already have compared to new piecemeal solutions.

Here’s an example. Many small businesses use Canva for designing everything from logos to social media posts. Canva has incorporated many amazing new AI functions. This saves you the work of finding your own unique solutions.

Here are the five areas ripe for small businesses to apply an AI marketing strategy.

1. Idea Generation

ChatGPT is a champ for brainstorming. Try prompts like this:

• I am launching a new product (add a detailed description). What are the best colors for the packaging?
• Here are the results of a customer survey. Please summarize the five major themes and suggest what actions I should take (paste results)
• I want to create a new burrito to honor Independence Day. What would be five creative names for this dish?
• I am having trouble with employee turnover. Other than increasing wages, what can I do to make my workplace a more attractive place to work?
• I want to start a business and sell electric bikes. What are the top 10 sales trends I should know before starting this business?

… the possibilities are endless.

2. Customer Experience

Chatbots are becoming increasingly popular and practical for their ability to mimic human-like conversations and perform routine tasks. By using chatbots, small businesses can deliver prompt and seamless customer service, reducing wait times and cutting staffing costs. In addition, chatbots can learn from customer interactions, continuously improving their accuracy and effectiveness.

New tools have emerged for under $100 per month that allows you to upload your own content files to “train” your own chatbot.

Automation is another way to use AI for customer service. With customer service automation, businesses can automate routine tasks such as sending order confirmations and following up on support tickets, saving time and resources while ensuring consistent and timely communication. Some automation tools can enable businesses to integrate with other applications such as customer relationship management (CRM) software, creating a more efficient and streamlined workflow.

3. Customer Research

While some large language models like ChatGPT can’t necessarily create unique customer insights for a specific business, you can “trick” it into helping you define customer wants and needs.

My friend Andy Crestodina of Orbit Media recently provided a free webinar where he explained a very clever way to create a customer persona, save it, and then continuously query it to optimize your content and marketing tactics. You can find the webinar here.

Another trick I use … Ask ChatGPT to be the voice of your customer. Provide a lot of detail about what you know about your customers. Then ask it to tell you their pain points and problems. This could be a source of new product and service ideas.

4. Marketing Strategy (to a point)

I’m a marketing consultant, and I have to admit, I’ve used ChatGPT to help create strategic advice for small businesses! It’s not perfect, and it certainly lacks true insight most of the time, but when I describe a business and ask for a strategic framework, it has a decent response. Certainly a starting point.

Here’s a little secret: The foundational elements of marketing are similar across almost any industry. It’s a pattern, and AI is good at patterns. So if you provide enough detail on your business, you’ll probably get a decent outline.

Then you can call me to make it REALLY great!  : )

5. Content Creation

This is the low-hanging fruit for most businesses! ChatGPT and its AI cousins can create blog posts, images, social media content, videos, and so much more. Experiment with:

• Audience research
• Brainstorm ideas
• Write outlines
• Build audience personas
• Create social media posts
• Write email marketing copy
• SEO edits
• Write product descriptions
• Improve website copy

Be warned — there are still a lot of legal issues to work out here. Who owns this material? What can be copyrighted? This has to be sorted out over time.

One last warning. A lot has been written about the quality and accuracy of AI content. Honestly, I think there is a place for Ai content, especially for a small business with limited resources.

However.

In the long term, quality wins. Quality is imperative. To win at SEO and establish authority, you have to put some human effort and insight into your content.

So there you have it, a few useful guideposts on the road to an AI marketing strategy. Good luck!

Mark Schaefer is the executive director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions. He is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books and is an acclaimed keynote speaker, college educator, and business consultant. The Marketing Companion podcast is among the top business podcasts in the world. Contact Mark to have him speak at your company event or conference soon.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram.

The post How to Design an AI Marketing Strategy appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

I’ve been doing a lot of online classes and workshops and I’ve had many questions about how “the most human company” mantra manifests itself in the real world. How do we put a face to a company when we are aiming at thought leadership? Does it really matter?

One conversation was centered on this interesting question: WHO is really the brand? Is it a company? A blogger for the company? Or a little of both?

There are a few companies I follow that create content in remarkable ways to build trust, including McKinsey, Deloitte, MIT Sloane, and Pew Research. These are brands I trust because they have content I can trust. I feel safe and confident in sharing their content and incorporating their ideas into my own narratives. Their thought leadership becomes part of MY thought leadership!

So, my trust is ultimately in these well-established brands. Off the top of my head, I can’t name a single blog author at these companies.

However … It would be really odd if these companies posted content without identifying the author. That would actually raise distrust. I want to know the name of the author, I want to see their face, I want to know what they do.

This is an important human connection that assures me that

• a real person was accountable for this, not an agency
• I could contact a real person if I needed to for follow-up
• I can find more of their articles if I think it would be valuable (I often click on a name to find more!)

Naming an author puts a face to the company and establishes accountability for the ideas and opinions. This is a small but important touch that makes the company “more human.” In fact, I would be suspicious if I didn’t know who produced the content. Why would no person take credit for their work?

So to me, there is a subtle relationship between a company, an author, and content that works together to create that all-important trust.

Connecting the dots

My friend Andy Crestodina of Orbit Media recently published some research that might seem contradictory to my views.

Andy surveyed nearly 500 marketers and 70 percent said “it’s not essential that a thought leader be a person. A faceless company will do. And if it is a person, they don’t even have to write the content themselves.”

I think this is a nuanced point … and not necessarily contradictory.

As I admitted, I also have an affinity to “faceless” brands like McKinsey. But my trust is based on the fact that there are always real people behind the content … even if I can’t name any of them right now.

I think it would be a mistake to believe that people trust “faceless” more than … well, I guess you would say “faced” content!

Even if a post is ghost-written, attaching a human face to the piece demonstrates accountability — “I stand for this.”

Thought leadership and branding

There is another important aspect to this that has to do with the size and awareness of a brand.

It’s likely that nearly everybody reading this post has heard of a well-known company like Accenture or Adidas.

But have you ever heard of Andy’s company Orbit Media? It’s not a household name.

If I started seeing posts from Orbit Media … with no author … I would probably never read them. I might think, “here is another company trying to sell me something.”

But years ago I started hearing about this guy Andy Crestodina who was pretty smart … and he founded something called Orbit Media. I started reading his posts. I met him at a conference and he handed me one of his books. Years later I had dinner with him and now he is a trusted friend.

And now I’m giving his personal brand and reputation a boost through this post because I trust him and admire his thinking.

Really, the only way for a small company like Orbit to be human is … to be human! There has to be a face.

I am not connected to that company by a logo, social media post, or sponsored content. I’m connected because of the trust I have in a real person — Andy.

I hope that provides some context to the relationship between thought leadership, content, and the personal brand.

Mark Schaefer is the chief blogger for this site, executive director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions, and the author of several best-selling digital marketing books. He is an acclaimed keynote speaker, college educator, and business consultant.  The Marketing Companion podcast is among the top business podcasts in the world. Contact Mark to have him speak to your company event or conference soon.

Illustration courtesy Unsplash.com

The post The relationship between trust, thought leadership and real employees appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

I’ve had a restful break to think about the direction of my work and what’s next for me in the coming year. One observation is that I’ve had a somewhat negative tone to many posts from the past two years. I’ve been a consistent purveryor of tech fear.

For example, on this blog and in my Marketing Companion podcast, I’ve fretted about

• Abuses of our privacy
• The urgent need for regulation
• Amount of power consolidated in the tech giants
• Fake news and democracy
• Smartphone spying
• Social media addiction
• Data breaches
• Marketing technology that spams and annoys people

… well, you get the idea.

I don’t regret creating any of this content, but I decided that I need to have a more balanced tone in my work. Overall, I’m an optimist when it comes to the intersection of technology, marketing, and humanity. With the dawn of a new decade, optimism is in short supply and I aim to do better.

The persistence of tech fear

Fear of our technological future has been with us since the dawn of the Industrial Age. I remember reading how the train companies were against telephones because they were afraid people would stop traveling!

The advent of the automobile created concerns about congestion and accidents.

When the early portable photographic cameras came out, there was a disgusted revolt by people who said taking pictures in a public park invaded their privacy.

Concerns that humanity has taken a technological wrong turn, or that particular technologies might be doing more harm than good, have been with us for centuries. For any new technology, its drawbacks initially seem to outweigh its benefits. When this happens with several technologies at once, the result is a wider sense of techno-pessimism.

However, that pessimism can be overdone.

Benefits and risks

There was a recent article in The Economist which pointed out that we take many benefits of technology for granted and dwell on the possibilities of unintended consequences. For example, the article points out:

• Worries about screen time should be weighed against the much more substantial benefits of ubiquitous communication and the instant access to information and entertainment that smartphones make possible.
• Fears that robots will steal people’s jobs may prompt politicians to tax them, for example, to discourage their use. Yet in the long run, countries that wish to maintain their standard of living as their workforce ages and shrinks will need more robots, not fewer.
• The remedy to technology-related problems very often involves more technology. AI is being applied as part of the effort to stem the flow of extremist material on social media. The ultimate example is climate change. It is hard to imagine any solution that does not depend in part on innovations in clean energy, carbon capture, and energy storage.

I’m not saying that the debates spawned by “techlash” aren’t important. We must think through the possible consequences of technology … in fact, we need to have more of these broad debates at the highest levels of our policy-making organizations.

That should be a necessary (required?) step in the adoption of important new technologies.

The Economist article suggests that “perhaps the real source of anxiety is not the technology itself, but growing doubts about the ability of societies to hold this debate, and come up with good answers.”

Choosing optimism over tech fear

History still argues, on the whole, for optimism. The technological transformation since the Industrial Revolution has helped curb ancient evils, from child mortality to hunger, thirst, and ignorance.

Yes, the planet is warming and antibiotic resistance is spreading. But the solution to such problems calls for the deployment of more technology, not less. So as the decade turns, I’m trying put aside the gloom — at least a little — and try to be an advocate for the good.

To be alive in the tech-enabled 2020s is to be among the luckiest people who have ever lived. Technology brought me to you!

The tech fear in me and others will persist, but I can also choose to dispense hope.

If you’d like to hear more about tech fear/optimism, practical ideas about machine learning, and a surprising new retail trend, please tune in to the new episode of The Marketing Companion. It’s so easy. Just click here and tune in!

Click here to dive into Episode 180

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Article on the new retail trend of used clothes online

Examples of machine learning initiatives from Britney Muller

• ImageNet
• Google CodeLabs
• Lumen5
• Amazon Transcribe
• X.ai

Book mentioned in the show > The Inevitable by Kevin kelly

Other ways to enjoy our podcast

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Mark Schaefer is the chief blogger for this site, executive director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions, and the author of several best-selling digital marketing books. He is an acclaimed keynote speaker, college educator, and business consultant.  The Marketing Companion podcast is among the top business podcasts in the world. Contact Mark to have him speak to your company event or conference soon.

Illustration courtesy Unsplash.com

The post Putting tech fear in its place appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

I’ve been in marketing “a while” (longer than a lady cares to admit), so I’ve heard a lot of the same marketing conversations over the years. For example, email has “died” just about every year, and nearly every year has been dubbed “The Year of Video” (including this year, by the way). Similarly, I’ve heard marketers in all types of organizations proffer the same (invalid) reasons for writing boring content.

The marketers I talk with don’t want to create boring content that no one will ever read. They want to create fun, helpful, accessible content that people look forward to receiving.

And they can.

But they don’t. Because … reasons. (And those reasons have been the same since I got into marketing back when the mail merge was an exciting new development.)

In my career, I have the opportunity to talk with marketers about the obstacles they face and how to overcome them. But for every marketer who’s able to turn the ship around at his or her company, there are thousands who stay trapped.

If you feel trapped in a culture of boring content, this piece is for you.

I’ll describe the four most common obstacles marketers face in their quest to create valuable content, and the secrets for getting around them …

1) I have to write for Search Engine Optimization

“But I have to stuff headlines full of keywords until they’re nearly impossible to understand! It’s for SEO.”

Let’s think about how search engine optimization helps your business and why search engine rankings are desirable: you want people to consume your content (written pieces, podcasts, videos, landing page copy, etc.), engage with that content, perhaps even sign up to continue a lasting relationship with your brand, and ultimately buy from you.

But even if your content achieves a high search engine ranking, that relationship never blossoms if people don’t click on your link. A keyword-stuffed headline that’s nonsensical won’t inspire people to click, which negates the possibility of them reading further, much less engaging with your brand long term.

Mark Schaefer recently explained why writing for SEO can be holding your business back and suggested that actually writing for your audience provides the most benefits for most businesses.

This isn’t to say that you don’t need to at least consider search engine optimization, but that can’t be all you think about. Andy Crestodina of Orbit Media does a fantastic job with his content, both from an SEO perspective and from a readability standpoint. Check out his tips on how to write a blog post that ranks.

2) Legal Makes Me Write Boring Content

This is the marketing writing equivalent of “the dog ate my homework:”

“I have to create boring content because of the lawyers…”

I’m a lawyer, so I can say with authority that there is no law against writing fun, accessible marketing copy for your audience!

What lawyers require of marketers can vary quite a bit. Some lawyers (allegedly) require the company name to appear in every single headline and subject line for all content (blog posts, white papers, emails…even tweets).

• Or they require that copy be entirely devoid of human-sounding language.
• Or they apparently take offense at breaking up walls of text into multiple paragraphs.
• Or they insist that the company mission statement appear in boilerplate form in every post. And on and on.

Even if lawyers actually did say these things, don’t take that as the final word on the subject. Lawyers are not unreasonable. They are risk averse, to be sure, and with good reason. But try asking what they’re really worried about when they say something that would restrict your ability to create effective marketing content.

For example, if a lawyer says that your brand name has to appear in every single headline, ask why. Suggest that, instead, you design your website so that the company name is clearly evident at the top of every page, and the byline and bio for every contributing writer includes the company name.

If a lawyer says you can’t use images in posts, ask why. If the issue is potential copyright infringement, suggest that you use employees’ own photos, or get a subscription to a stock photo service, or hire a photographer or videographer for the company so you can create original content.

One other thing: make sure you understand what your lawyer is actually saying. Often, people have misunderstood a lawyer’s advice about a specific situation and assumed it applies to all content.

For example, if your legal team axes an article because you make some unsubstantiated negative statements about another brand and they’re concerned about trademark defamation, that doesn’t mean you can never mention a competing brand in your content. It just means you need to approach that situation more carefully, and be sure to back up your statements with objective proof.

Don’t assume that a lawyer’s no in one case applies across the board. Ask for clarification.

3) Our Brand Isn’t Sexy or Fun

This obstacle rears its ugly head in many forms, but the underlying meaning is the same: we create boring content because our product is boring. And doesn’t that make you sad?

Traditional, B2B brands may not be “sexy,” but you solve real problems and make people’s lives easier. Focus on the human side of what you do as a company (and why you do it), and you’ll feel a wellspring of creativity rise within you.

If you need examples of fun B2B content, here are a few of my favorites:

• “The Perfect Gift for Valentine’s Day,” from Cisco
• MailChimp: “Did You Mean MailChimp?”
• CB Insights Newsletter: (Fantastic subject lines, fun memes and gifs, real business insights.)
• Scanning electron microscopes case study

So don’t give up. “We’re not sexy” is no excuse for perpetuating a dry, joyless brand image by writing dry, joyless content.

4) That’s the way we’ve always done it.

This might be my favorite. Because no one can ever remember why they started writing pieces this way. They’ve just “always done it.”

This happens especially when a company has a large portfolio of products or services (see also: “solutions”). Marketing can get into a rut, creating the same content pieces for every product every time. And always under tight deadlines, so the opportunity for creativity feels minimal.

But not so fast!

Planning ahead doesn’t have to be constraining: having a content calendar gives you time to think creatively about how you’ll write those pieces and what additional content you could create to promote them.

Instead of slogging away at another white paper, product landing page, or targeted email, stop for a minute and take a fresh look at it.

Consider each content piece from a completely new perspective.

• If you were the target reader, where would you encounter this piece of content in your buying journey?
• What question or need would you have that would bring you to this piece of content?
• How would you feel after reading it? Reassured? Confused? Bored?

If you’re too close to the content to do this, tap a friend or colleague in another department (not another marketer on your team) to answer those questions for you.

Ask yourself if this piece of content improves the customer experience or not. And be honest: is the emotional reaction you’re getting to this piece of content the one you’re trying to invoke? If not, blow this thing up. Start over, this time from a reader-centric point of view.

The end of boring content

Marketers in every type of company in every vertical can (and should) write content people will actually want to read. And here’s the best part!

So many marketers are still churning out dry, boring content, devoid of personality, lacking force and color. This is your opportunity to stand out just by having a voice! People need information before making a purchase (especially in a complex sales cycle like you often see in B2B).

But they get to choose the sources of information they consult, so make yours the easiest to digest source:

• Use simple language
• Focus on the reader’s needs
• Have as much fun as is appropriate given the industry and your brand personality

Still skeptical that you can sidestep these obstacles and write marketing content people will truly want to read?

Use A/B testing. See which type of content performs better in terms of getting people to complete your call to action. You’ll be able to identify the highest performing content and do more of what works

And bonus: you’ll have the data you need to persuade higher-ups at your organization to dedicate more budget to creating that type of content.

Kerry O’Shea Gorgone is a writer, lawyer, speaker and educator. She’s also a Learning Designer at MarketingProfs. Kerry hosts the weekly Marketing Smarts podcast and gets people to open up about their cool collections, weird hobbies, and inspiring side hustles on Punch Out With Katie and Kerry with co-host Katie Robbert. Find Kerry on Twitter.

Image by PublicDomainPictures-14 from Pixabay.

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Most marketers are asleep … and they don’t even know they’re asleep. This is probably a natural human state — homeostasis. We tend to want to maintain our habits and the status quo. Who wants to disrupt yourself?

But if you’re a marketing professional, there is no status quo. To succeed today, you must be a change junkie, and that means fighting hard for personal relevance. You have to disrupt yourself.

Sound strange? Perhaps. But embracing chaos is also an essential life strategy for a marketer today.

I think a key to my long-term success is that I have been in a constant state of professional reinvention. Here are five ways I’ve learned to disrupt myself.

1. Disrupt yourself by teaching

I’ve found that teaching a class — especially at the grad school level — is an energizing challenge and a mandate to stay relevant.

The students I interact with at Rutgers University, mostly mid-to-senior-level marketing leaders from large companies, are incredibly challenging. If it’s a current marketing topic, I am bound to have a question about it in class. There is a strong symbiotic relationship between teaching, content creation, and consulting that is keeping me at the top of my game.

You might think that teaching at a college level is unobtainable to you, but what about holding local classes and workshops? Hosting lunch and learns at your company? Staying in tune with the needs of people in the trenches will keep you fresh and tuned-in to trends in the field.

Think about how you would benefit and refresh your perspective if you had to prepare content to teach somebody else about an important marketing topic.

2. Networking

I spend a tremendous amount of time alone. I have a remote office literally out in the woods behind my home. It’s a superb place to think and write but my greatest inspiration comes from discussions with others — so I have to seek that out.

Any time I visit a city I urgently seek connection with others and outside views. When I visit New York, it’s not unusual for me to have four or five back-to-back meetings with friends and thought leaders to absorb new ideas.

I’ve also created a forward-looking retreat for marketing leaders called The Uprising. It’s going to be epic but it will also provide fuel for my own personal relevance as I bring smart marketing people together to envision our marketing future.

Smart conversations fuel personal disruption.

3. Constant Evaluation

I am in a constant state of self-evaluation — Am I “locked-in” to anything that is inhibiting my progress in the context of this changing world?

For example, I am currently evaluating:

• Time spent on blogging versus podcasting or other content forms. I have been “locked in” to blogging for 10 years. How should this time be adjusted?
• I have written seven substantial books. My last book was over 300 pages long. People seem to appreciate my books but is there a new way I can deliver content that would connect to my audience in different ways?
• What happens to my speaking career in a recession? I can tell you exactly what happens. It dives. How do I adjust now?
• What do I need to know about Fortnite? WeChat? TikTok? These are powerful new media forces.
• I can’t possibly be a generalist and survive. There is too much change. What are my specialties? What do those need to be in the future?

I am constantly thinking about “what’s next?” Normally over the quiet winter holiday period I spend a deep amount of time re-evaluating my direction. Disrupt yourself by routinely questioning everything.

4. Connecting to the new leaders

Where do I need to go next? Here’s one place to find the answers: People much younger than me.

Disrupting yourself requires a mindset of humility. I am part of the first generation in history who looks to the next generation for guidance and counsel, instead of the other way around.

I’m not a guru. I’m a student and my teachers are under 30 years old and often under 20 years old.

Look at what’s going on out there and get on board. What you’ll find isn’t weird. It’s the future.

5. Disrupt yourself through the right content

I do a lot. I’m always on the move. So I have to be judicious about my time and the content I consume.

Facebook is a waste of time. Sitcoms are a waste of time. Superhero movies are a waste of time but I watch a lot of them any way. Just being honest.

In general, I am laser-focused on the type of content I consume to keep track of what’s coming next.

• I rarely spend time reading an entire business book because 90 percent of them are one idea plus fluff. Once I get the idea, I move on.
• When I speak at a conference, I look carefully at who else is speaking and make a point to attend as many interesting sessions as I can. Many people are shocked that one of the speakers is in the audience taking notes. Why wouldn’t I be there? I don’t have all the answers.
• Blog posts and videos that are “tips and tricks” will not push you forward toward personal disruption. They will only get you through tomorrow. Look for content creators who are focused on NEXT.

Three examples of people I follow who push me to think about next include:

1. Azeem Azhar and his Exponential View newsletter and podcast
2. The newsletter from Benedict Evans
3. Anything from Andy Crestodina at Orbit Media
4. I’m fascinated by Gen Z trends uncovered at JUV

Disrupt yourself by having the discipline to consume meaningful and relevant content.

Disrupt yourself by internalizing change

I want to conclude with an important piece of advice. Learning about change is not enough. You have to internalize it. That can be hard to do.

When I was writing my latest book, there was literally a moment when the implications of all this consumer research dawned on me. I sat back and thought, “I don’t know what it means to be a marketer any more.” That was a moment of internalizing change.

I was able to write this book and help people because I didn’t resist the change or ignore it. The new realities of our world slowly became part of my professional DNA until I was disrupted for good.

To disrupt yourself, you can’t just read about the changes in the world, at some point, you have to become the change.

Make sense?

Mark Schaefer is the executive director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions. He is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books and is an acclaimed keynote speaker, college educator, and business consultant. The Marketing Companion podcast is among the top business podcasts in the world. Contact Mark to have him speak at your company event or conference soon.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram.

Illustration courtesy Unsplash.com

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By Mark Schaefer

“It’s not the best content that wins. It’s the best promoted content that wins.

Andy Crestodina is one of the people I admire most in this marketing space. He is brilliant, articulate, and kind. His Content Chemistry book is a masterpiece.

But like even the best of friends, we disagree from time to time, and he encouraged me to disagree with him today, which I will do with gusto.

Let’s start with the rest of the quote from Andy:

“It’s not the best content that wins. It’s the best promoted content that wins.

“The New York Times doesn’t have a list of the best books. They have a list of the ‘best selling’ books. That list is about sales, not quality.

“Sadly, you’ll never find the best article on any topic. You’ll only find the articles that were well promoted. The articles that got traction in search, social or word-of-mouth. You’ll never read the best books or hear the best songs. You’ll find only those that were both good and well promoted.

“It’s the marketers job to promote the best work. To share, link to, send and talk about the good things. It’s the only chance we have to bring the best to the most.” 

Andy implies that there’s no value in content alone. It has to do something … move through your customers and potential customers for it to work. On this we entirely agree. In fact I believe in this so much, I wrote an entire book on strategies to get content to move through an audience called The Content Code (which includes a chapter on promotion).

But the part of Andy’s quote that makes me stumble is “The list is about sales, not quality.”

There are some situations where quantity is more important than quality, but 95 percent of the time, creating content and promoting it is not enough. The content has to be spectacular. Here’s why:

You can’t trick your customers

Andy’s quote suggests that simply promoting content might be enough to make it successful.

You might be able to promote your content in a way that it compels somebody to click on a link. But spending money to boost a post cannot compel anybody to read it or share it. For people to actually consume the content and share it — your only goal — you have to produce something that’s share-worthy. If the content isn’t good enough to share, you’re wasting your promotional dollars.

Relevant, consistent, superior

In my college classes, I’ve taught that shareable content must be “RITE:” Relevant, Interesting, Timely, and Entertaining.

Over the years, I’ve amended that somewhat to emphasize Relevant, Consistent and Superior.

• Relevant — Stay tuned to the needs of your audience and serve them with generosity.
• Consistent — Ideally, you want to become a habit for your audience. Consistency conditions an audience to look forward to your content and of course this has SEO benefits, too.
• Superior — In a recent post, I explained why content in any niche must always be superior because the switching costs are so low. The attention span of your audience is precious and limited. You need to fight hard to earn the attention through constant improvement. You don’t have to be “Game of Thrones,” but you have to be the “Game of Thrones” in your category — something that is insanely great compared to your competitors.

Simply creating and promoting content without tending to these three considerations would be a waste of your time and money.

Your customers are your marketers

Technically, Andy is correct  — You could probably buy your way on to The New York Times bestseller list. Certainly weird, but true.

However, with a book or any other form of content, your long-term success increasingly depends on authentic and organic advocacy from your readers, listeners, and viewers. What happens to an author when the book sucks? Negative reviews. Will they share it? No. Will they buy your next one? No.

To win in marketing today, we must adopt an entirely new mindset. Two-thirds of our marketing is NOT our marketing. It’s coming from our audience who are talking about us, referring us, and leaving reviews:

This data comes from seminal research conducted by McKinsey analyzing more than 125,000 customer journeys across 30 industries. Here’s the uneasy truth about this new reality. See that big slice of the pie chart? You can’t buy your way in. You can’t promote your way in, you can’t SEO your way in, you can’t tweet your way in.

You have to be invited.

And once you’re invited, something magical happens. Your company’s traditional marketing efforts can stop because your customers become your marketers. They carry your story forward.

How does that happen? How do we get invited?

Isn’t that the single most important topic we could be asking today? Shouldn’t every marketer on earth be obsessed with that goal?

I believe it is … which is why that is the topic of my forthcoming book, Marketing Rebellion, which will be available in February.

Oh my goodness. I am such a tease.

Mark Schaefer is the chief blogger for this site, executive director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions, and the author of several best-selling digital marketing books. He is an acclaimed keynote speaker, college educator, and business consultant.  The Marketing Companion podcast is among the top business podcasts in the world.  Contact Mark to have him speak to your company event or conference soon.

Illustration courtesy Unsplash.com

Book links are affiliate links.

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By {grow} Community Member Andy Crestodina

Blogging is work. Finding time is hard, and pushing back deadlines isn’t easy. 29% of B2B marketers report that “producing enough content” is a challenge (source: B2B Marketing Survey). So why not outsource it?

Great! Let someone else do the work. But delegators beware. Ethical issues pop up when you outsource your blogging, especially when the goal is SEO. As usual, search is on the front lines of marketing ethics.

The ethics of outsourcing content isn’t black and white. There’s a spectrum of SEO ethics, ranging from the easy (but shady) to the difficult (but pure).

Link Spammers

The last few years have been tough for SEOs, especially those who relied on link networks, article spinning, and directory submissions to build links. Google’s rank-crushing (but cute-sounding) algorithm updates, “Panda” and “Penguin,” changed everything. So SEOs turned to guest blogging as a reliable, repeatable way to build links to client websites.

But when the search pros start writing, things get weird. For the first time, clients are able to review the work and not just the rank. They want to read the content for which they paid. And since SEOs care more about the links than the writing, the quality of the writing is low. All too often, the content and the host blog look suspiciously irrelevant, even if they are good for rankings.

It’s unethical because the writer doesn’t care about the writing. In fact, they don’t care if the content is ever seen by human eyes. All that matters is GoogleBot and the juice that the link provides.

The Ghost Writer

The next step on the spectrum is the ghost writer. Since the idea for the content actually originates from you, it’s more legitimate. In this case, you write the topic sentence, the opening paragraph, and/or an outline.

Yes, it takes time to discuss topics, but the SEO vendor does most of the work, researching the topic, finding host blogs, writing, and editing. In the end, they may put your name on it, which is where ethics come into play. The topic is yours, but not the tone. Although it’s not written in your voice, you’re signing your name to it.

The Co-Author

This approach is a true collaboration between you and the SEO partner. You know the industry, so you provide the ideas, but you also do the research and write the first draft. The quality is higher, but quality takes time. The post is two-thirds done when you hand it off.

The SEOs do the editing and optimizing. They’re good at this because they know how to research keywords and SEO best practices. They also know (hopefully) where and how to pitch the piece as a guest post.

In the end, it might make sense to give writing credits to both authors. But only one can get credit in Google as the author. Google Authorship doesn’t allow for more than one author. If you want full social media benefit, put the rel=”author” tag on the link to your own Google+ profile.

Thought Leaders

You know the subject. You know your audience. You care the most. This means you have the best opportunity to find the right topic and shape it with your voice. Through your content, you can become respected for your ideas. That’s what a thought leader is.

It’s the highest quality content. It’s the well-researched articles, the passionate op-eds, the detailed reference guides. This is time-consuming, “cornerstone” content. Not the kind of thing you write everyday.

As a thought leader, you’ll get all the social benefits: a growing following, better traffic through sharing, and new connections. You’ll be an author in the eyes of Google (you’re ready for Authorship and Author Rank) and in the eyes of your peers (you may end up getting invitations to speak at events).

The trick is to find the time…

Take the high road (or the highest road possible)

No one likes a link spammer. So go as far to the right of the chart as time will allow. I suggest combining your options.

1. Be a thought leader …when you can. Set aside time to write every week. If inspiration strikes, carry the idea all the way through to completion. Let your SEO or marketing partner help you promote it. If you don’t manage to finish the piece…
2. Leverage your SEO partners …but collaborate. Leverage your own time by sharing ideas, information, and connections with them. Let them finish the work so you can keep the content wheels turning.

I’m sure you’ve got a few thoughts by now. What do you think? Should SEOs even try to create content? Will brands ever find the time to write? I’m looking forward to the comments on this one…

Andy Crestodina is the Strategic Director of Orbit Media, a web design company in Chicago. He’s also the author of Content Chemistry, An Illustrated Guide to Content Marketing

Top image courtesy BigStock.com

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There’s a saying in the manufacturing world: “There’s good, fast and cheap. You can choose two.”  No business can offer all three.

It’s true throughout the service industry and in all forms of production. It’s why you can’t order a sirloin steak for $5 at a drive-through window. It’s simply a law of business, like the law of gravity.

I thought of this after reading one of Mark Schaefer’s posts last month, How the physics of social media is killing your marketing strategy. It was a straight-forward post with a powerful message: We’re entering an era where the content is being produced faster than ever, but our attention spans are not. Comparing this to colliding forces in physics, Mark points out that it’s going to get a lot harder to “maintain mindshare.”

He suggested three possible responses:

1. Create increasingly spectacular content (be more amazing).
2. Create content at a lower cost (reduce the time invested in generating content).
3. Place your content in front of existing audiences (PR, News-jacking, guest blogging).

Sound familiar? These align with the three possible approaches in business. When we think about Mark’s recommendations, we see that they align with strategies which, in turn, align with specific tactics. Let’s take a look …

You can be GOOD

Produce the best content you can, even if it means staying tightly focused on a few topics. Survive by becoming the trusted authority on a narrow topic.

• Conduct and publish original research.
• Write the ebook/guide that answers prospects’ questions.
• Produce infographics, videos and epic posts.

High quality content with specific focus is just what Google loves, so this strategy works well with search optimization.

You can be FAST

Produce content quickly and efficiently, by delegating and curating. Survive by producing lots of content and making lots of connections.

• Email interviews to thought leaders, turn their responses into posts.
• Source topics and content from sources inside your company.
• Solicit guest posts from influencers through guest blogger outreach.

Since you’ll be involving more people and keeping frequency high, this strategy works well with social media.

You can be CHEAP

Publications have pre-packaged audiences that you can leverage by paying close attention to the changing interests of the press and popular blogs. Survive by being at the right place at the right time.

• Find the sites where your audience spends time, and submit guest posts.
• Nurture relationships with editors and journalists. Establish yourself as a source.
• Watch HARO and Reporter Connection. Respond quickly to relevant topics.

If you’re able to jump in when the timing and topic are right, this strategy works well with PR.

Adapt and survive

Yes, there is a crush of content coming. But you can avoid getting sucked into the black hole if you have a plan. Consider your goals and your strengths, and then choose your survival strategy.

Which survival strategy are you using? (Please don’t tell us it’s a combination of all three!)

Andy Crestodina is the Strategic Director of Orbit Media, a web design company in Chicago. He is also the author of an upcoming book called “Content Chemistry: The Illustrated Handbook for Content Marketing.” You can find Andy on Google+ and Twitter.

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