How do you identify an effective space in the content arena for your brand? Take a journey with your audience. We developed the audience journey as a tool for content marketers. Its sole purpose is to align your brand’s content with the needs of your audience. It is based on the hero’s journey – a […]
How to Take an Audience-First Approach to Your Content Read More »
Content marketing is at a critical inflection point. For it to serve as the fuel and infrastructure for modern marketing departments, some things need to change. Brands are not getting much of a return on that investment. We know this thanks to a survey of 252 marketing leaders at Fortune 500 conducted by BrightEdge (one
Let’s think more like George Lucas. In 1973, he wanted to make a sci-fi movie, but Hollywood studios weren’t big fans of science fiction. So George negotiated a deal with 20th Century Fox to forgo up-front payment for his services on Star Wars. In exchange, he retained the sequel rights (and eventually merchandising rights). George
8 Big Questions From Content Marketing World to Ask Year Round Read More »
Editor’s note: You may have missed this article when CMI published it in 2015. We’re publishing this update because well-crafted personas are so essential to successful content marketing. “Personas? I already know who my audience is, so do I really need to create one more document that no one will likely use?” Like all content
How to Create Content Personas That Help Everybody Read More »
Editor’s note: Kira Mondrus is a finalist for 2017 Content Marketer of the Year. We will be sharing insight from all CMY finalists in the blog before the winner is announced at Content Marketing World this September. Mediocre content marketing is often built on the shaky foundation of assumptions and generalities. Creating detailed personas and
CMY Finalist Advice: Create Personas Before Content Read More »
Each year at CMI, we survey marketers about how they use content marketing and how they find success internally. The insights are useful, but what we also want to know is what’s going on in the minds of the people who consume the content? So, we were happy to join forces with SmartBrief when approached
There’s something to be said for thorough, extensively researched buyer personas. When you’ve taken the time to answer 150 questions about your target customers, there’s no way the content written for them and the way you market to them won’t resonate. The data backs this up. Katie Sweet, writing for IBM’s THINK Marketing blog, shares
Editor’s note: Andy Vale is a former content manager at Audiense. No matter the business, bold choices often come with big risks. And in television, where shows can easily cost millions to produce and audience reaction can be tough to predict, risk aversion is a high-stakes science. After a career filled with major writing credits
Not that you or I ever do it – plop down on the couch, put up our feet, click on the TV, and gorge ourselves on a full season of, oh, say, The Americans. Netflix has mastered the art of prompting us – I mean, prompting people – to binge on its streaming content. Nick
What would you give to read your customers’ minds? In his talk at the Intelligent Content Conference, self-proclaimed “search guy” Wil Reynolds shared some tips for getting as close as possible to mind-reading by using resources – some timeless, some modern – that are hiding in plain sight. “If you look just at the keywords
What Are Your Customers Thinking? Search Secrets Hiding in Plain Sight Read More »
