L to R: Nick Barber, Rob Ciampa, Lisa Kilborn, me

Last night, I had the prvivilege of moderating a panel discussion on rich media at the Microsoft NERD Center in Kendall Square. (See: The New PR – How to Use Rich Media to Create Winning Campaigns)

Worst part of the evening: Getting hopelessly lost in Kendall Square. Kendall Square is like Hogwarts, except that instead of shifting staircases, there are shifting streets. One expects little gnomes from Google and Microsoft to leap out and demand passwords. I circled the Square for three quarters of an hour, narrowly avoiding one traffic accident, almost hitting one runner (would we really miss one less smug runner in Cambridge?) and incurring the wrath of one driver who invited me to perform a physically impossible act of auto-eroticism.

Best part of the evening: The practical insights of the panelists themselves. In summary:

• Lisa Kilborn of Zmags showed us how her company turned a simple survey about consumers’ use of tablets for holiday shopping into an infographic that landed 80 million hits plus favorable plugs from Guy Kawasaki and Seth Godin. Nice!
• Nick Barber of IDG played a couple of clips from CES that demonstrated the new reality of video: today, editorial and production are a Zen-like one. Got a camera, got a laptop? Then you got everything you need to make compelling videos on the spot, fast. No need to drag out crews of cameramen, audio techs, post-production gangs, etc.
• Rob Ciampa of Pixability delivered some of the most memorable soundbites of the evening, including an exhortation that we should no more “outsource our social media than outsource sex.” (To each his or her own, I say.) With three videos at very different levels of production value, Rob demonstrated that video is NOT one kind of rich media, but actually covers many kinds of communications tactics (viral, “personal,” brand-oriented, etc.), each with its own virtues depending on audience and context.

All in all, a great evening and I deeply appreciated the warm welcome and hospitality I recieved from the PRSA’s Jackie Lustig and Denise Hutchins!

Joining me are some very cool people:

• Nick Barber of IDG
• Rob Ciampa of Pixability
• Lisa Kilborn of Zmags

I hope you’ll extend the list of cool people by attending yourself!

Get Sugru, get content.

As we plan our marketing strategies, we generally think of content as something we deliver before the sale as a means of generating leads, attracting interest, building communites, yadda, yadda, yadda.

But what about after the sale? Or within its fulfillment? As in delivering quality content when you deliver the goods?

That’s exactly what Sugru does when it fills its orders. Sugru is this incredibly neat, nerd-tingling, air-curing rubber compound that can stick to just about every surface, be shaped into just about anything you like, and cures within 24 hours to a water-resistant, flexible solid.

Now I, myself, am not a nerd, but I know some nerds…

OK, I’m a nerd. So I ordered some Sugru. Less than a week later, I got a nice litte surprise with my packets of Sugru: a 7 Steps to Becoming a Sugru Guru booklet.

My Sugru order featuring the surprise booklet.

When I opened the booklet  I thought to myself: this is so freaking smart. Now the idea is nothing new — after all, Kraft and General Mills and the like have been offering recipes for years as a means of stimulating demand while increasing customer satisfaction. But Sugru has gone the extra mile with its content execution. Here’s what I admire about the booklet:

• The medium is the message — the friendly, frolicky graphic design mirrors the promise of the product: using Sugru is easy and fun.

Design message: using Sugru is fun.

• The booklet is brief, yet loaded with simple, practical tips that make success (and therefore satisfaction) more likely.
• The booklet’s 7th and final tip encourages deeper engagement — users are invited to enter pictures of their projects into a monthly contest with neat prizes.

Get deeper into the Sugru.

Good stuff, right? If you’re delivering products to consumers, perhaps you should be packing it with some content, too.

Coincidence? You be the judge...

It’s one of the most iconic images in rock-and-roll history: the 21st century schizoid man looking over his shoulder, In The Court of the Crimson King.

So imagine my surprise when I found the much more obscure gem on the left, a Verve jazz relic by one of the few drummers ever who could challenge Buddy Rich over a different kind of kingship, that of best big-band drummer of all time: Louis Bellson.

The album cover similarities are obvious, but let me explain why I don’t think they can be dismissed as mere coincidence:

• On both covers, the face fills the entire “frame” of the image
• The color palettes are virtually the same, composed of reds, violets and blues
• Check out the similar shapes in the eyes, cheeks and nose
• The killer: Look at the teeth, mouth, dimples and most of all, the tongue.

Observe, especially, the teeth in the lower right-hand corner of the mouths and the shadow of the tongues, on the left side, in both images — they’re just too much alike to be an accident.

Me, I’m convinced: the King Crimson artist used the Louis Bellson cover as his model. We have discovered the crimson king.

Updated for 2011, it's the new and improved Content Marketing Playbook. Yeah!

Come and get it! A little more than a year ago, Joe Pulizzi and I released the first edition of the Content Marketing Playbook to much acclaim.

We’re baaaaack!

The latest edition of the Content Marketing Playbook includes new rankings by popularity (see what other marketers think are the top 10) and 5 new content marketing tactics.

We’ve updated the examples/case studies (more than 90 of ‘em) and have retained the sly humor that has entertained marketers worldwide. Or at least in Cleveland.

Download now the Content Marketing Playbook 2011 now. No gating, no registration. No kidding!

Fortunately, Kathyrn Roy of Precision Thinking has put together Sales Playbook Essentials in Brief to bring clarity where once dwelled confusion. In it you’ll find:

• • • • • • The what and why of playbooks
          • Different types and what they’re good for
          • Preparatory steps for creating playbooks
          • Design tips and suggestions
          • And best of all: a listing of traps to avoid

The download is free and un-gated (yay!) so go ahead and take a look for yourself. I’m confident you’ll it a model for what a strong ebook should be: useful, relevant and easy-t0-digest.

Yeah man, thanks for the referral!

In the last two days, I’ve received two automated email messages with the subject line, “Are you taking on new clients?”

Curiosity getting the best of me, I followed the link to a site called Referral Key. In the latest (and probably inevitable) iteration of social media networking, Referral Key offers a referral exchange platform that removes the inconvenient work of having to actually know people and understand their businesses before exercising professional judgment.

The promise? Hey, if you give rewards, you get referrals. If you give referrals, you get rewards. Whatsa’ matta’ wid dat?

Let me back up a bit to explain my own referral policy. Many people think I’m crazy, but…I won’t accept cash or percentages from professionals I’ve referred my clients to. Conversely, I won’t “reward” people (other than with gratitude, good will and maybe some in-kind services) for referring me.

Why? To maintain client confidence. Whether I’m the one referred or I’ve referred someone else, clients can be sure the recommendation was made, not on the prospect of obtaining a “reward,” but in the belief that the recommendation is in their best interest.

Which isn’t exactly the modus operandi of this referral model, is it? In fact, Referral Key extends the weakness of LinkedIn one step further: instead of exchanging contacts among people we barely know, we can now dilute our credibility even more by exchanging referrals with virtual strangers.

Put yourself in the client’s shoes: How would you feel about hiring professional talent based on an exchange that emerged from a social media site that encourages spam-messaging of your LinkedIn network base?

Call me crazy. Call me old-fashioned. But if you want a recommendation for marketing or creative talent based on my first-hand experience working with legions of professionals, call me on the phone. I may not have the right person for you in mind. But if I do suggest someone, it will be because I genuinely trust that person’s ability to help you. And nothing else.

Use secret code, KRANZVIP, to save $200 on registration fees!

As I promised in the previous post, you can save at least $200 on registration fees when you sign up for MarketingProfs University’s Marketing Writing Bootcamp.

I’m the drill sargeant for ebooks, but there’s a whole rogue’s gallery of thought-leader types running sessions on tons of other cool copywriting concepts and skills.

Get the details by clicking on the graphic. And don’t forget to use the code, KRANZVIP, to get your discount!

Call me a copywriting drill sargeant because MarketingProfs has signed me on to sign you up for its Marketing Writing Bootcamp. They’re offering a comprehesnive set of online courses; I’m on board to lead one of them, EBOOKS: Exploring the ebook: What, Why, and HOW on Wednesday, June 22, noon – 1PM ET.

Here’s what I’m doing:

In recent years, the ebook has emerged as a versatile new way to package and distribute content. Through real-world examples and success stories, this class will cover the critical elements that go into creating an ebook that your audience will want to read—and want to share. You’ll learn everything from selecting the best subject for your ebook to choosing and organizing its content, as well as the best ways to use ebooks to augment your digital marketing programs.

You will learn:

• What defines an ebook and how it works as a marketing tool
• How to generate perfect ebook content ideas
• Tips for structuring an irresistible ebook that gets shared
• How to close with a convincing call to action

Check it out on the Marketing Writing Bootcamp site. And watch this blog: in coming weeks, I’ll be able to offer you a discount code that will save you at least $200 on registration fees. Yeah, no kidding. So stay tuned…

Want to really know your buyers? Talk to this woman.

As I plow my way into my sixteenth year as an independent copywriter, I have no difficulty whatsoever identifying the single biggest, most common and most destructive mistake marketers make: failure to understand their customers. Without that understanding, products are misdesigned, campaigns are misconceived and messages are mistargeted.

Simply put, if you don’t know the hopes, fears, desires, dreams and workaday realities of your audience, you don’t know who you’re talking to. Or what you’re really doing with your communications.

That’s why I’m delighted to call attention to the work of a friend and colleague, Adele Revella, who’s recently launched a new website that presents a business she has been nurturing, shaping and molding for years: The Buyer Persona Institute.

Do yourself a favor and take a look. Adele offers free Buyer Persona Templates you may download and use for free. Caution: These templates are powerful and like anything powerful, can be misused. Follow Adele’s advice and apply them appropriately. Better yet, sign up for her custom workshops and learn how to use them correctly from the get-go.