Spotlight on Marketing

“Stories aren’t professional.” That’s what one of the participants said during the “Storytelling for Business Success” workshop that I taught recently for some staff at a bank. Here’s how I wish I’d responded.

Are your customers using your products or services in ways you didn’t expect and couldn’t have dreamt of? Asking for and paying attention to their stories might inspire you to develop some popular new products or services, lead to some profitable new revenue streams for you, and give you some terrific content to share.

This is Part 84 of an ever-growing blog series, with each post featuring links to 10 useful, funny and/or provocative articles/lists/blog posts/videos/sites I’ve come across about how to use twitter more effectively (and how NOT to use it).

“Screw the media. BE the media!” That was the most quotable quote and memorable message by Mark Ragan at the Content Marketing Boot Camp in New York City on February 12.

Once upon a time, business owners and marketers thought the only way to attract customers was by broadcasting pushy, one-way, disruptive, hard-sell marketing messages. Then marketers started using a strategy called Content Marketing, which was all about telling memorable, shareworthy stories to inform, inspire and engage with customers.

Once upon a time, marketers spread the word about their products and services by paying for advertising, sending media releases to journalists, blasting out emails, and using their websites to talk AT people. It was all one-way, pushy, disruptive and mostly unwelcome broadcasting. That doesn’t work anymore. “Content Marketing” means creating and using compelling content. It’s about being of service, having a conversation with people, and humanising your brand.

This is Part 17 in a series of blog posts I’ve compiled about how to write effective media releases and pitches, and how to influence journalists and bloggers (with integrity, of course) so you get the publicity you want.