Author: Carla Johnson

Carla is a world-renowned storyteller, an entertaining speaker, and a prolific author. Having lived, worked, and studied on five continents, she's partnered with top brands and conferences to train thousands of people on how to rethink the work that they do and the impact they can have. Her visionary expertise has inspired and equipped leaders at all levels to embrace change, welcome new ideas, and transform their business. Her new book, RE:Think Innovation, will be available on June 29, 2021. Follow Carla on Twitter at @CarlaJohnson.

By carla-johnson published January 17, 2020

Crush Your Content Goals With a Team Built on Talents, Not Tasks [Video]

If you build your content team around tasks and roles, you’re not enabling members to perform at their natural best. It’s time to end the infighting with a strengths-based approach to building teams – one that balances their innate talents and clears the way for innovative ideas to thrive.

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By carla-johnson published August 29, 2019

No Product Ready at Launch? Content to the Rescue (B2C CMY Finalist)

Editor’s note: We’re sharing insights from Content Marketer of the Year finalists on the blog before we announce the winner at Content Marketing World in September. This is the first year we will name a Content Marketer of the Year in two categories – B2B and B2C.

How does a company launch without products and still manage to hit $12 million in sales in its first year? You guessed it: a brilliant content strategy.

Today, that company, venture capital-funded Away, has sold more than a million pieces of luggage and is valued at more than $1 billion.

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By carla-johnson published August 28, 2019

Content Leader Takes Team From Silo to Powerful Presence (B2B CMY Finalist)

Editor’s note: Since we shared insights from Content Marketer of the Year finalists earlier this year, we’ve named a winner in both B2B and B2C categories. Laura Hamlyn took the B2B title based on her leadership in building a strategic content marketing team at Red Hat.

For a company that prides itself on its community-powered approach to providing enterprise technology, Red Hat found its content team isolated and siloed.

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By carla-johnson published August 21, 2019

Ryan Reynolds Pours Content Success at Aviation Gin (B2C CMY Finalist)

Editor’s note: We’re sharing insights from 2019 Content Marketer of the Year finalists on the blog before we announce the winner at Content Marketing World in September. This is the first year we will name a Content Marketer of the Year in two categories – B2B and B2C. 

You probably recognize Ryan Reynolds as an in-demand actor even though his most profitable movie appearances involve a superhero mask and layers of makeup.

Now you can know him as a 2019 B2C Content Marketer of the Year finalist. That’s because Ryan has applied the same energy, determination, and commitment that propelled the foulmouthed Deadpool to success to his work with the challenger brand Aviation American Gin. He acquired a stake in the company and became its creative director in 2018.

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By carla-johnson published August 15, 2019

How This Marketer Electrifies ‘Energy is Good’ Stories (B2B CMY Finalist)

Editor’s note: We’re sharing insights from Content Marketer of the Year finalists on the blog before we announce the winner at Content Marketing World in September. This is the first year we will name a Content Marketer of the Year in two categories – B2B and B2C. 

Corrado Paolucci is working to change how people think about energy’s complex role in the climate change saga.

His work as the content strategy and newsroom manager at Eni, an Italy-based global energy company, earned him a place on the list of finalists for 2019 B2B Content Marketer of the Year.

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By carla-johnson published August 8, 2019

3 Lessons From an Editor of the Largest U.S. Publications (B2C CMY Winner)

Editor’s note: Since we shared insights from Content Marketer of the Year finalists earlier this year, we’ve named a winner in both B2C and B2B categories. Neil Wertheimer took the B2C title based on his commitment to journalistic integrity and to the AARP audience. 

Neil Wertheimer tells it like it is. Driven by a passion to create positive change for people through the journalism he oversees, he makes sure the content his team at AARP creates inspires, educates, and empowers the organization’s enormous, diverse, and savvy audience of over 38 million members.

Neil considers it his mission to use the power of words to benefit the world around him. That’s evident throughout his body of work as deputy editor of AARP The Magazine and the AARP Bulletin, which together deliver a one-two punch against stereotypes about aging. His work overseeing the day-to-day development of those two publications – the two largest-circulation magazines in the United States – led to his recognition as the 2019 B2C Content Marketer of the Year.

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By carla-johnson published July 26, 2019

Smart Content Strategist Goes Way Beyond ‘Dummies’ for Salesforce (B2B CMY Finalist)

Editor’s note: We’re sharing insights from Content Marketer of the Year finalists in the blog before we announce the winner at Content Marketing World in September. This is the first year we will name a Content Marketer of the Year in two categories – B2B and B2C. 

All content, all the time. If that’s not Heike Young’s personal slogan, it probably should be. Print. Digital. Audio. Video. Research. Blogs. Podcasts. Webinars. In-person events.

Every piece she creates reflects a research-driven focus on the customer and fits into a cross-platform plan supported by her homegrown toolkit for employee engagement. Her work at Salesforce, where she’s senior manager of strategy and insights, landed her on our list of B2B Content Marketer of the Year finalists this year. 

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By carla-johnson published August 31, 2018

How Content Takes the Stage to Change Brand Perception [Example]

how-content-takes-the-stage-change-brand-perceptionEditor’s note: Beverly Jackson is a finalist for 2018 Content Marketer of the Year. We’ll share insight from CMY finalists in the blog before the winner is announced at Content Marketing World in September.

When was the last time you went to a casino? When was the last time you went to Las Vegas just for the gambling?

Though plenty of people do, a much larger set of people don’t put gambling or Las Vegas at the top of their what-to-do-for-fun lists.

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By carla-johnson published August 24, 2018

How LinkedIn Spun to the Top of Search for LinkedIn Marketing

linkedin-top-search-linkedin-marketingEditor’s note: Jason Miller is a finalist for 2018 Content Marketer of the Year. We’ll share insight from CMY finalists in the blog before the winner is announced at Content Marketing World in September. 

Less than five years ago, social media giant LinkedIn wasn’t the top result for searches related to LinkedIn for marketing. Sites that covered social media best practices, such as Social Media Examiner, outranked it.

Using a progressive content strategy built from a single type to a symphony of multimedia jams, the LinkedIn’s Sales and Marketing Solutions group claimed its search spot and developed a healthy following along the way. As head of content and social media marketing for the group, Jason Miller orchestrated it all, and earns a 2018 Content Marketer of the Year nomination.

Taking a spin through his set list may inspire hits of your own.

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By carla-johnson published August 17, 2018

Xerox Prints New Vision With Marketing

xerox-new-visionEditor’s note: Bertrand Cerisier is a finalist for 2018 Content Marketer of the Year. We’ll share insight from CMY finalists in the blog before the winner is announced at Content Marketing World in September.

When you imagine the future of work, what comes to mind? Does your futuristic workspace include printers? Does it even use paper?

If not, you’ve got a good idea of the messaging challenges the global marketing team at Xerox faced. How do you convince the changing workforce that a company known for its printers should be part of that future? And that those very printers can do more than churn out paper?

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