Marketing has been around for a long time and there are people who are really good and it and understand why and how it works - as small business owners we need to tap into this knowledge - I like this post 'cos it hammers home one of the key things you need to be thinking about when using content to market your business..
by Rolf Gutknecht, Agent of Change (c) 2012 I had a phone conversation with a prospective new client (I’ll name her Amelia) last week and during our talk, I mentioned having seen a cable TV ad th... 
Good comments from Jan - I still think this is a huge business opportunity for all business owners - in a sea of information - you've gotta develop trust - not just in the efficacy of your product - but in the efficacy the content that surrounds your product - whine all you like - sure there's too much to do - but I'd drop your Facebook activity and stick it into curation - just saying...
I selected this article and interview in its entirety (video) that Bill Sheridan did with Steve Rosenbaum because everytime I hear Steve speak about the importance of curation it reinforces the importance of curation and why your business can't afford not to do it.
Steve gave a keynote to DigitalNow on April 28, 2012 and talked about the importance of curating vital information for your clients.
Here's what caught my attention:
**A flood of information - but the opportunity lies in identifying and delivering the really important stuff for your clients
**Authority is no longer bestowed to content creators, "Curators are today's trusted authorities"
How do you become a trusted authority?
**Have a voice - What is your brand's promise?
**Provide context - What keeps your clients up at night? Are you listening to them online?
**Offer a point of view - Your point of view is your unique sales proposition. People don't buy your products, they buy why you're selling them.
**Tell your clients why you selected this information and why it's important on a consistent basis and you'll become indispensable
Here is an article from 2011, still very relevant today that I found very helpful that goes a little more into detail about context,
The article is "If Content is King, Context is Queen" written by Amy Manus for ClickZ
Read Bill Sheridan article & see video here: http://bit.ly/JrJ5B Via janlgordon 
This is the kind of "list" post I can actually relate to - instead of some asinine bullshit list of things so obvious your newborn could have told you - this distills a huge amount of information into accessible chunks that you can use - really - well worth the read...
I recently survived a milestone - I've answered more than 1,000 SEO questions since our Q&A relaunch. These are 9 lessons that I've learned from those questions. 
Good article with some very relevant stats - particularly in the comments - bottom line - you've gotta work out what you want to achieve on facebook before you dive in - and for many small business owners - the numbers won't add up...
Facebook brand pages can rarely be considered communities based on these five reasons identified by Jessica Malnik. ![10 Proven Ways to Make Your Tweets More Trustworthy [STUDY] | Twitter Tips And Updates From Buffer | Content Marketing for Businesses | Scoop.it](http://img.scoop.it/qQj4xOlkTnO6KGo_iCFYdzl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBVaiQDB_Rd1H6kmuBWtceBJ)
Not just another "10 ways to re-cycle crap" post - there's some good analysis and take aways here - worth the time it takes to read it.... 
Great set of rules to help you identify outreach targets - and outreach targets who actually want to hear from you ;-)
What an awesome album cover eh? O.k so this is one of those things that can be used in a million ways so I'm passing on just one way to skin an SEO, guest blogging cat. 
This is probably true at corporate level - but most of the small businesses I work with are still struggling to get their heads round the concept...
Let's face it, content marketing has gone mainstream. That kind of sucks, really, because it used to be a hugely powerful differentiator in most markets. 
These are great articles from SME - super informative and easy to implement - it's just that Google+ seems such an odd bird - still relevant for business but I just can't see it competing with the consumer juggernaut of facebook
New Google+ changes: learn how to implement these changes to customize and create a simpler, more beautiful Google+ page for your business. 
See how big WordPress has grown in all different area's of the CMS market, based on the stats in this infographic! 
Further proof of the importance of mobile for email marketers is provided by new stats showing that more than a quarter of emails are opened on phones and tablets. 
If you're serious about marketing your business with content - you should be aware of the content is this article
Trying to get people into Video is often about getting them over the intial "basic" hurdles - this 2 minute video is good if you're just starting out.
Vimeo is a respectful community of creative people who are passionate about sharing the videos they make. Use Vimeo if you want the best tools and highest quality video in the universe. 
As a customer I'm a huge fan of Groupon - have been since my wife first introduced me to half price meals - but as a business owner - it never made much sense. Over time it just made less sense - not least in the weakening of the brand values - let alone cash flow - seems that others are catching on...
Questions over the long-term viability of the daily deal model and Groupon's finances emerged well before the company went public. |
I'm a big fan of Newfangled - they write for grown ups and don't assume that you're stupid - nice! This is a good primer as to why you have a website and what you want it to achieve - it resonats a lot with my client conversations...
Websites can have many unique purposes, but there are really only four simple reasons for creating them: Describing Expertise, Building Your Reputation, Generating Leads, and Nurturing Sales. 
Nice simple infographic that explains bounce rate, gives some indutry comparisons and some advice on what to do if yours is a little high... Only works with posuitive and negative words - but still - good to know when you're thinking about how to layout that blog post you've been slaving over...
Do you find yourself having a more emotional response to these words … … than to these? A study found that people have more of an emotional brain response to words in larger fonts than in smaller ones. 
Online recommendations are now considered to be more important than traditional word-of-mouth, according to a survey by Eccomplished. 
I'm working with an international group developing a mobile app right now - the focus is on people's behavior and it is fascinating to watch how the smart phone is shattering many established views on how human beings want to interact with content...
Consuming content in frequent, small portions means more touchpoints for marketers... 
More evidence that word of mouth and "digitally enhanced" word of mouth are critical to your small local business 
High smartphone penetration among 25- to 55-year-olds leaves room for growth at the opposite ends of the age spectrum... 
This is awesome - and yes - I did like it... 
Following on from the recent stat that over 27% of newsletters are now read on mobile platforms comes this information that says7 out of 10 people read an email on their mobile device before they get to their desktop - and here's the kicker - 70% of them deleted the email if it wasn't formatted correctly for mobile!!! Formatting key to swaying mobile email users... 
Facebook is rolling out Offers which allows someone who likes a business or brand on Facebook to receive special deals. This can be beneficial to Page Owners. 
Come on - don't be camera shy - you can do it - think of the money!
Users not only click on more ads with video or rich media, but also tend to visit brand sites long after seeing the associated ad... 
Is mobile finally here? Probably - by the looks of these figures...
I had the privilege of speaking at the BE-Wizard Web Conference in Italy recently. |
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