Strategy, Research & Planning

• 

  Data is Not Knowledge: Content Marketing Requires Context

  Your website had 16,000 visitors last month. Great news, right? Not if you typically average 40,000 monthly visits. Nor if they only visited on page on the site before bouncing, spent less than 20 seconds on the site, and didn’t interact with the site in any way. Unless, of course, those numbers are all better…MORE >

• 

  Are All Digital Marketing Channels Mediocre?

  If you look at the data a certain way, you might think that all digital marketing channels are mediocre. The data looks that way because digital marketers typically try a number of channels before finding the small handful that work well for them and their audience. When polled, of course they’re going to rate those…MORE >

• 

  Media Publishers and the Future of Content Marketing

  Are media publishers doomed? I’m certainly not the first person to ask that question, and I’ll say right up front that I absolutely do not have the answer. But it is an interesting question to consider from a content marketing perspective. Think about the music industry and how it’s changed in the past few years:…MORE >

• 

  The Future of Content Marketing

  Not to mention the future of media publishing and advertising. My recent article on the Target Marketing website dives into what content marketing, media, and advertising may look like in the not too distant future. I don’t want to give anything away, but I do not quite manage to predict the future in the article….MORE >

• 

  Let Your Ideal Client Design Your Website

  You think your website is the be-all and end-all. You and your team sweated blood creating it. You think your prospects and clients will love it. You’re wrong. To quote Jakob Nielsen, the usability expert, your clients and prospects think that “Your website is like a speck of dust in the universe.” Which isn’t to…MORE >

• 

  Effective Content Marketing Across Channels

  In baseball, there’s an old-timey expression – “hit ‘em where they ain’t” – which serves as advice to a player about to step up to bat. The goal is to hit the ball where the defensive players aren’t. This is about the worst advice in the world for content marketers, unless we turn it on its head….MORE >

• 

  4 Digital Marketing Ideas for 2017

  You swear you’re going to do them, but they never get done. Not past February, anyway. So maybe we shouldn’t call these resolutions – because they could be the key to your content marketing success in 2017. My latest piece for Target Marketing is posted on that site. In it I look at marketing automation, how…MORE >

• 

  Experience vs. Expedience in Digital Marketing

  My latest piece for Target Marketing Magazine is up on that site. This time around, we look at how to find the balance between creating a great user experience and not getting in the way of those user who want to get to the info they need quickly and without marketing fluff. Experience vs. Expedience…MORE >

• 

  Effective Audience Segmentation for Digital Marketing

  My most recent article on effective audience segmentation for digital marketing is available on the Target Marketing website. If you’re looking to move your segmentation beyond, “We sell this product to these customers and that product to these other customers,” you may find the segmentation ideas worth investigating. They include Industry Customer Size Client Role…MORE >

• 

  Smarter Website for More Effective Marketing, Part III

  Wrapping up this three-part series on the Biznology website that I started in August, this month I took a look at the metrics you should be tracking to measure your site’s effectiveness. (And I once again owe a tip of the hat to my colleagues Scott Hornstein, Wayne Cerullo and Phil Shelp, whose help was invaluable.) The…MORE >