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!

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.

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!

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…

We get this, but too often, publishers don’t. When Writing Copy for Dummies came out in 2005, I had to argue with my publisher over an opportunity to have a chapter published as an article in a well-respected marketing magazine. “You can’t just give it away!” they said. I said that the article would whet the appetite for the book. “But why would anyone buy it if they’ve already read it?” they replied. As you can see, this discussion was much like talking to a small child. I had to spell out the obvious and explain that, 1) magazine readers would only get a small portion of the damned book and 2) the increased exposure would help sales. In the end, I could only permit publication of just a few pages worth of material. Sigh.

If the publishing world collapses, it won’t be because of ebooks or the Web or because young people “don’t read”; it’ll be because publishers refuse to look beyond an aging marketing/distribution model that hasn’t changed since the Great Depression.

According to the promo copy, “Creating high-value content—and publishing it under your own brand or company name—is an excellent way to boost online traffic, generate customer leads and create a rabid following. Join PR University and a panel of branded content experts to learn what works, what doesn’t, and what mistakes to avoid so you can start your branded content program ASAP.”

According to me, and based on a preliminary conference call with the panel, you should expect a probing conversation about all things content. This WILL NOT be a cheerleading session. (That’s what LinkedIn groups are for.) Instead, we’ll get serious about what it really takes to make a content strategy work, who should get involved, and who should step aside and let the train leave without them. Expect surprises, unfamiliar insights — and perhaps the sacrificial blood of a few sacred cows.

This year, we’re revisiting the Playbook — but not alone. We’d like your contribution. We want to know which of the 42 content tactics or “plays” you would rank in the top five. We want to know if you’d like to suggest a play we missed. Finally, if you have a content sample you think we should feature in the Playbook, we’d like to see it.

That’s it! Just three questions. You’re in, you’re out. You’ll find the Content Marketing Playbook survey here.

Out of the hat of survey completions, Joe will pick one lucky winner who will win one free ticket to the Content Marketing Institute in Cleveland,  September 6-7 2011. To enter, complete the survey before January 25.

Thank you!

"I see a future cluttered with crowded and decreasingly relevant social media..."

My buddy Joe Pulizzi has just released the 2011 version of his 100+ Content and Social Media Predictions available here. My prognostication appears on page fifteen.

Since Joe sent out his request for opinions way back when (a month ago?), my opinion has changed somewhat. One reason: the impact of a marketers survey serving as the foundation of a report I’m writing with a client. I can’t quote from it until it’s released, but I can say it reveals some very interesting things regarding the respective roles of mobile marketing and social media…

So, my altered opinion for 2011: as mobile grows in significance, marketers who experience the very immediate and measurable impact of mobile apps and sites will lose patience with the amorphous promises of social media — and budget allocations will adjust accordingly. Frightened social media gurus, feeling the virtual earth move under their feet, will backpedal by telling us about the importance of “integration,” of considering mobile as just one part of a 360 degree customer relation strategy.

But customer actions will tell a different, truer story of their own. As mobile consumers use real time data and connectivity to make purchasing decisions on the spot, many of our brand-building investments will prove irrelevant. What will matter?

• Price, location, convenience, offers
• Giving consumers immediate access to the information they want
• Customer opinions: influencing what customers have to say about our products/services will grow in importance

What will not matter or matter less?

• Building pseudo relationships that have little meaning to consumers
• Pumping out content for the sake of pumping out content
• Adding more noise to an already noisy, crowded environment that demands too much of a consumer’s time and attention; frankly, they’re in “Hollywood” mode: don’t call us, we’ll call you

Disagree? Let’s plan to meet again a year from now and see how things actually turned out…

I started out writing consumer catalog copy, then moved into healthcare communications and B2B direct marketing. Today, most of my work is Web-content related. Things changed and my business has changed with the times. Ten years from now, who knows what I’ll be doing? How about you? You can’t predict the future, but you can prepare for it by rejecting overly-narrow specializations and embracing flexibility.