Lucy Aria's Blog: This Week in Content Marketing: The New York Times Shows That Email Is the Next Best Thing

Saturday, 24 June 2017

This Week in Content Marketing: The New York Times Shows That Email Is the Next Best Thing

NYT_email-next-best-thing PNR: This Old Marketing with Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose can be found on both iTunes and Stitcher. If you enjoy our show, we would love it if you would rate it or post a review on iTunes.

In this week’s episode

Robert ponders whether saying “I don’t” is a viable alternative to saying “no.” On the news front, we offer an overview of NerdWallet’s content-first approach, which has taken the company from zero to over $500 million in revenue, and outline how The New York Times is killing it in the email game by opening up new marketing opportunities that focus on retention and loyalty. Rants and raves include net neutrality and YouTube’s ad crisis; then we close the show with an example of the week from Mobil.

Download this week’s PNR: This Old Marketing podcast

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Show details

(00:01): An advertising blast from the past: “The Ginsu Knife”
(00:50): Robert muses on this week’s theme: Can we say no by saying yes?
(05:33): Welcome to Episode 188: Recorded on June 18, 2017 (Running time: 1:06:48)
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The PNR perspective on notable news and trends

(15:15): How NerdWallet used content to build a $520 million company. (Source: The Hustle)
(27:30): The New York Times has 50 different email newsletters, helping it amass 13 million subscriptions. (Source: Digiday)
(34:31): Why we should all double-down on trust marketing in the “fake news” era. (Source: AdWeek)

Rants and raves

(44:47): Robert’s commentary: Tech companies like Amazon, Etsy, and Reddit are calling for an internet-wide day of action on July 12 to preserve net neutrality. If ever there was a cause that marketers should band together to support, it’s this one. (Source: CNET)
(48:33): Joe’s rave: A few months ago, we discussed YouTube’s “ad-friendly” decision to prohibit certain “controversial” artists from monetizing their video content. Some members of the YouTube community have responded by cleverly adjusting their content to keep their ad revenues flowing. (Sources: YouTube video 1, YouTube video 2)

This Old Marketing example of the week

(53:53): Mobil’s Pegasus Magazine: Though I recently took Exxon-Mobil to task for its self-focused mission statement, Robert just came across a cool effort from Mobil that, if resurrected, might redeem this reputation. Published from the 1960s until the mid ’80s, the company’s Pegasus Magazine became a creative juggernaut of its time by incorporating the works of rebellious artists and ideas from subversive writers and personalities into its theme-based editorial. As described in this Eye Magazine article, the editorial team often had to battle with the company’s top brass just to get the controversial content approved. The magazine was developed to build relationships with high-powered clientele by promoting the image of Mobil as a forward-thinking organization. The effort serves as a shining This Old Marketing example of what can be achieved, in both form and content, within the constraints of corporate publishing.
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