Lucy Aria's Blog: September 2017

Saturday, 30 September 2017

Keys to a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign

For entrepreneurs, crowdfunding is more than just raising money.

source http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/entrepreneur/latest/~3/CTUzlEip8Qk/300684

This Week in Content Marketing: Mayo Clinic Invests in Voice Search With Amazon

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

This week, Robert ponders the nature of choosing and pursuing your true talent. In the news, Google buys HTC, talent is drying up in advertising, and the Mayo Clinic finds a way to dominate Alexa’s voice search results. Our rants and raves cover predictive analytics; then we close the show with a This Old Marketing example that’s full of Fluff.

Download this week’s PNR: This Old Marketing podcast

Show details

(00:01): An advertising blast from the past: “I’m a Toys-R-Us Kid.”

(00:30): Robert muses on this week’s theme: Are you talented?

(06:55): Welcome to Episode 202: Recorded live on September 25, 2017 (Running time: 1:02:46)

(09:48): Special offer for Content Marketing World video on demand – You may have missed the show, but don’t miss out on all the insights. Videos of 100+ sessions from Content Marketing World 2017 will be available for a limited time through our video on demand portal. Register for access and use the coupon code CMIFRIENDS100 to save $100.

(10:37): Content Marketing University – Fall enrollment for Content Marketing University ends today. Don’t miss out on the industry’s premier training and education program. Register today, and use code FALL100 to save $100 off a year’s worth of access.

Content love from our sponsor: Ahrefs (11:32)

Ahrefs is a powerful SEO tool set that has many amazing tools for content marketers who’re looking to grow their traffic from Google. With Ahrefs tools you can easily find out what people are searching for in Google, so you can create content around the most popular search queries. You can also discover content that got the most shares or earned the most backlinks, so you can piggyback from it and get the same results. And finally, you can easily research your competitors and find out which content brings them the most traffic from Google.

Here’s an exclusive opportunity for PNR podcast listeners: Any listener who tweets using the hashtag #ThisOldMarketing between the dates of September 30 through October 28 will be entered into a drawing to win an annual Ahrefs account plus a signed copy of Joe and Robert’s new book, Killing Marketing. One randomly selected participant will be drawn each week – four winners in total.

The quick hits – Notable news and trends

(14:01): Google sets its sights on the iPhone with HTC deal. (Source: The Verge)

(22:30): The ANA warns of an ad industry talent crisis. (Source: Adweek)

The deep dive – Industry analysis

(34:12): The Mayo Clinic offers first-aid assistance on Amazon’s Alexa. (Source: Becker’s Health IT & CIO Review)

Content love from our show sponsor: SnapApp (40:40)

Today’s buying committees are diverse: Millennials are already taking their seats among Generation X and Baby Boomers at the buying table, making navigating the already complicated buying environment even harder, thanks to their different preferences. Though this shift might seem minor, it greatly impacts how marketing teams operate, sales teams engage, and how purchase decisions are ultimately made.

SnapApp and Heinz Marketing recently conducted research to answer the question: How do different generations like to buy? Their report, “The Millennials Are Here! How Generational Differences Impact B2B Buying Committees Today” looks at the differences between the rising Millennial buyer, their Generation X and Baby Boomer counterparts, and how B2B marketing and sales strategies can address the gaps between them. Read the report.

Rants and raves

(42:54): Robert’s rant: Robert has long been searching for an article on predictive analytics that doesn’t make him want to roll his eyes. Unfortunately, after reading this article from Business2Community, he is still struggling with the idea that we need to get better at analytics in general before we can hope to start thinking about how to use them in a predictive capacity.

(45:43): Robert’s commentary: Despite his disappointment with the predictive analytics piece, Robert was encouraged to find a measurement-related article in The Wall Street Journal that he considers to be a marketing must-read. He completely agrees with the article’s assertions that marketers are missing out on a tremendous opportunity by overlooking the growth potential and spending power exercised by the Millennial and Gen-X “cord-cutters,” whose activities aren’t being adequately tracked by the current incumbent TV planning and measurement tools.

(51:11): Joe’s commentary: Last week, I gave a presentation at a mid-market consultant company near Cleveland. It was a joy to see that all their senior marketing players were present, including their CEO. Our session ended with the question I’ve been asking lately: What if everything we know about marketing is wrong?” After our discussion, we concluded that the absolute worst thing that can happen from taking a strategic approach to content is that you’ll come away with a greater understanding of why your company is spending so much time creating content.

This Old Marketing example of the week

(55:44): Marshmallow Fluff: Robert has long been a fan of Fluff – that ubiquitous marshmallowy spread that has lent its gooey sweetness to fluffernutter sandwiches and other tasty treats around the world for the past 100 years. But after discovering this profile piece on the Skyword blog, he has gained a new-found respect for the company’s skill at creating sticky content efforts, too. According to the company’s official history, H. Allen Durkee and Fred L. Mower purchased the recipe from its original owner and began manufacturing Fluff in 1920. The business did reasonably well for years; but its marketing efforts hit a real (sugar) high once it entered the golden age of radio. Instead of creating standard radio ads that interrupted programming, Fluff decided to create its own music-and-comedy variety show centered on three sisters, called the Flufferettes. Furthermore, in each episode of the show, a fictional “Boston scholar” named Lowell Cabot Boswell would mention that he had a very important book coming out, which listeners at the time believed to be a historical text. However, it ended up being a Fluff cookbook: The Yummy Book – which featured recipes for cakes and other sweets made with Fluff, and is still available today.

Flufffestival

Image source

For a full list of PNR archives, go to the main This Old Marketing page.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

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The post This Week in Content Marketing: Mayo Clinic Invests in Voice Search With Amazon appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

source http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2017/09/mayo-clinic-voice-search/

Learn About Wireframes Before Hiring a Web Developer

You have to be able to explain your vision if you expect your web developer to share your vision.

source http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/entrepreneur/latest/~3/ICWKdYE7dz4/299015

Friday, 29 September 2017

5 Steps to Prime Your Creatives to Produce Outstanding, Clutter-Busting Content

steps-prime-creatives-produce-outstanding-clutter-busting-content

If you’re like me, you’ve had a moment where you thought your content was outstanding, in the true sense of the word – you really thought it stood out above the competition.

Then you looked around and discovered your unique, original, and unmatched ideas were run-of-the-mill. Suddenly, you felt like you were attending the fourth-grade talent show and realizing your kid was just one of 30 equally precious snowflakes with misguided trombone aspirations.

Let’s say you do produce original and engaging content. If so, you’ll likely discover an insane pace of imitation. The minute you create a standout piece, your competition is only three months away from turning that originality into part of the clutter. Your content is only as good as its ability to consistently stand out as original and engaging – and stay that way.

These realizations inevitably lead to a recognition that your team’s creative engine is the real competitive advantage for content marketers. As the marketing lifeblood, it needs to be in peak shape, primed to furiously churn out unorthodox taglines, compelling visuals, and innovative angles that will keep you ahead of the pack.

Yeah, your creatives have your brand’s marketing life in their hands.

Here are five essential steps to prime your creatives – designers, videographers, writers, etc. – to crank out outstanding, clutter-busting content that keeps your content ahead of the competition.

1. Lose the productivity vs. creativity paradigm

Tension between productivity and creativity is real, but the either-or mentality is a paradigm in need of a shift. It’s not a zero-sum game. You can have more of both productivity and creativity.

Don’t make productivity & creativity an either-or mentality, advises @MarcusWorkfront.
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Adobe’s State of Create: 2016 study found that 83% of U.S. respondents felt increasing pressure to be productive rather than to be creative. This reflects a false trade-off many perceive in the professional world – that productivity and creativity are mutually exclusive and somehow counter each other.

In the same study, 81% of respondents said investing in creativity increases employee productivity – overcoming the either-or paradigm. Although more than 75% recognized the value of creativity to society and the economy, only one-third felt they were living up to their creative potential. Take all these stats and you start to see how destructive the productivity vs. creativity paradigm can be to productivity, organizational effectiveness, morale, and retention.

81% of U.S. respondents said investing in creativity increases employee productivity via @adobe.
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HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: The 3 Behaviors Driving the Most Creative Content Marketers

2. Make room for creativity-feeding distractions

While Lean Sigma Six project management is a popular option for cutting costs and inefficiencies in businesses, it doesn’t quite work for creative pursuits. In fact, business psychologist Craig Knight explained to us how research shows lean work spaces depress key work variables – including productivity. “No animal, not just homo sapiens, thrives in a psychologically impoverished, high-surveillance space,” he said. “A rat in a lean cage, a chimpanzee in a lean enclosure, and a human in a lean office are all beasts at their lowest ebbs.”

Certain types of distraction can contribute to the creative process. An illustration professor of mine was fond of saying, “You cannot create in a vacuum.” While I know some physicists would argue the scientific validity of this statement, it is certainly true for creativity. “Good” distractions lend inspiration, give your hardworking brain a break, and provide material from which to draw inspiration for your next piece of content.

Certain distractions lend inspiration & can help the creativity process, says @MarcusWorkfront.
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If you visited the work spaces of the special effects artists who fuel the top-grossing sci-fi summer blockbusters – perhaps the most insanely talented but unrecognized creatives on the planet – you might think you took a wrong turn into the studio’s junk closet. The walls are plastered with movie posters, album covers, and disembodied ghoul heads. Shelves overflow with latex appendages, action figures, clusters of paper clips, and modelling clay transformed into miniature monsters in moments of boredom.

Just like rats are happier “scampering under the floorboards, living in a nest of old socks, than living in cages,” humans are happier, and more productive, when given freedom to define their own creative environment. Knight summed it up, “Allow humans to develop their own space and – compared to a lean space – well-being can increase by up to 40%, productivity by up to 32%.”

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 7 Ways Limitations Can Boost Your Content Creation Productivity

3. Eliminate unproductive distractions

Bad distractions should be identified and eliminated in order for creativity to flourish. Which are the bad ones? Choose any of the squares on this Un-Productivity Bingo card we created.

unproductivity-bingo

Hardwire your processes to head off unproductive distractions, like dropping in unannounced for status updates, making creatives manually enter information into spreadsheets, or holding regular meetings where everyone takes turns reporting.

Map your workflow in detail and eliminate the unproductive, non-creativity-inducing tangents. Incorporate into your workflow the tools to automate manual communication and reporting tasks to free up time and space for creativity.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 7 Productivity Killers for Marketers and How to Fix Them

4. Be thorough gathering requirements

How does the old saying go? “Necessity is the mother of invention?” Creativity may want to run free, but it produces its finest material within established parameters and with specific problems to solve.

Creatives produce their finest materials w/ parameters & specific problems to solve. @MarcusWorkfront
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Constraints drive genius, according to David Sturt, executive vice president at O.C. Tanner, an employee recognition and rewards solution firm. In a study of 1.7 million award-winning people, he found those “who create new value on the job are often inspired by their constraints.” He explains that constraints provide “a starting point and some blocks to work with – a problem to solve, an innovative twist to be revealed, or a person to please.”

Delivering well-defined requirements up front minimizes frustration once the creative process starts – as long as you don’t pull the proverbial rug from under your creatives by changing project goals, vision, timelines, or scope. Embrace the creative brief and stick to the plan.

The responsibility to define parameters falls squarely on the shoulders of the content manager. Gather information on project background, goals and targets, audience, timelines, and core messaging at the start and force requesters to commit to those requirements before any creative work begins.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: The Content Marketing Book of Answers: Managing Your Content

5. Close the feedback loop

Like the rest of us, most creatives are not satisfied with merely creating a great-looking or well-read project – they want that content to do its job. Perform its purpose. When they know how well or poorly their work is doing, they are driven to make tweaks and adjustments to help it succeed.

In fact, feeding your creatives performance data on the work they’ve done has a similar effect as defining parameters and guidelines (Step 4). The more well-defined the challenge, the more they focus their creative powers on overcoming that challenge.

Harvard researchers even identified that the single most important factor to drive creative and productive performance is making progress in meaningful work. A focus on progress also increases employee engagement – and with a 2017 Gallup poll showing that only 33% of U.S. employees feel “engaged” in their work – a vital responsibility for managers.

If you want your content to stand out and actually do what it is meant to do, then prime your creatives to produce clutter-busting content with these five steps. Fuel the creativity and engage your team to produce content. Who knows, you just might hit it out of the park, like the lone fourth-grader who stole the talent show with one as original as Darcy Lynne’s singing ventriloquist.

Editor’s note: We appreciate Workfront’s support of Content Marketing Institute as a paid benefactor. This article was reviewed and edited independently to ensure that it adheres to the same editorial guidelines as all blog posts.

Spur creativity and productivity every day through CMI’s newsletter with tips, trends, and insight to help your content marketing programs. Subscribe today. (If daily is too often, try the weekly digest.)

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post 5 Steps to Prime Your Creatives to Produce Outstanding, Clutter-Busting Content appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

source http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2017/09/creatives-outstanding-content/