In his 2003 Australian best-seller Death Sentence: The Decay of Public Language, author Don Watson rails against lifeless, plastic corporate-speak. He complains that too often, organizations hide behind their words, instead of connecting with their audiences with an authentic voice. While he was writing about traditional communications, his point is [More]
"The Internet wants to be free": has been the internet anthem for decades. It has been sung by the academic world in the spirit of sharing knowledge, in the anti-spirit of corporate greed by anarchists, and by the "inbound marketing" crowd as a magnet to attract prospective clients. But at [More]
When you make a purchase decision, what is the one thing, more than anything else, that gives you confidence that the other party can (and will) do what they promise? Yes, statements of work, contracts, and case studies all play a role. But what about references and testimonials? References are those conversations [More]
While the internet - and now AI - has changed the world of publishing fundamentally, the world of writing has been fundamentally shifted as well. Consider who is actually doing the writing: Professional writers are educated in the craft of investigation and written expression, and spend an entire career learning [More]
Engagement and community both seem to be the ultimate goals for those involved in the Social Media game. Yet building it seems shrouded in mystery; ask many successful community managers, and it is a combination of secret sauce, luck, and a strategy that has been built after-the-fact to explain their [More]
The world is changing: it's getting smaller. Ironically though, the smaller it gets, the more choice there seems to be. In the early 1800s, a trip from Toronto to New York would involve horses, or a stagecoach, 12+ days, and significant risk and expense. In the mid 1800s the trip [More]
Back in the early days of journalism, there was a clear distinction between the "news" and paid advertisements. It was considered of the highest ethical imperative that journalists could not be "bought" or even influenced, by an advertiser looking to make a large ad purchase, or a threat to pull [More]
What is the difference between a successful marketing campaign and an unsuccessful one? Yes, ROI is certainly the standard answer, but it is also completely insufficient. A single marketing campaign is not very different than a car going uphill, battling gravity, with a driver giving a single pump of the [More]
How fast can you "consume" content? Or better yet, how quickly can you scan it? Likely pretty quickly, if you are reading. Since most people consume by scanning - not reading - experienced bloggers (and website writers) understand the need to chunk content into smaller bits: Headings and subheadings Short [More]
You may have considered how content can be used to attract new members, new clients, or new partners. But for all of the talk about Inbound Marketing, you have reservations due to two simple questions: If the content is so valuable, why should we give it away for free? And [More]
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