Brendan Cournoyer is a content manager at Brainshark, a sales enablement platform provider that helps companies more effectively prepare employees, engage with key audiences, and advance business opportunities. For more musings on the world of content marketing, SEO, and more, follow Brendan on Twitter @brencournoyer. You can also find more tips and ideas on using online video content to enhance your marketing strategies by visiting the Brainshark Ideas Blog.
During a recent content marketing event in Boston, a panel member posed the following question to the audience: “How many of you believe revenue is the ultimate goal of marketing?”
While a number of hands flew up immediately, I was shocked by how many in the crowd remained motionless in their chairs (and as it turned out, so were the panelists). After all, if your marketing isn’t primarily geared toward increasing sales for your company, then what’s the point, right?Continue Reading
Recently, my friend Rob Yoegel of Monetate wrote a fine post breaking down some of the lessons content marketers can learn from publishers. As he points out, “Think like a publisher” has become a common mantra in the content marketing community — but that alone isn’t enough for most organizations.
As a former journalist and reporter, this subject always tends to hit home with me. When I first heard the term “content marketing,” my initial impression was that the goal was for companies to start taking over the role of content publisher, effectively cutting out the middleman that they previously relied on to advertise with and gain new leads. It also struck me as a golden new career opportunity for folks with journalism and online writing backgrounds.
I listen to a lot of podcasts. Whether I’m in the car, riding the train, or even just sitting on the couch in my living room, I enjoy hearing people share off-the-cuff opinions on interesting topics. Conversations are fun — that’s just me.
But I also create a lot of podcasts: Every week on OpenView Labs, we post a new podcast episode on varying areas of company development, often with the help of influential guests from around the industry. There are a lot of reasons why podcasting works. As CMI has pointed out many times, different people consume content in different ways, and it’s important to get your message and brand out across multiple channels. Podcasts can also help add variety to a mostly text-based content strategy.
So obviously, I like podcasts. That’s great. But why should you like them too? If you’re not already creating at least occasional podcasts or audiocasts as part of your content marketing efforts, here are three things to consider.Continue Reading
“The best part? It’s beatable.” – Kevin Spacey’s character, describing blackjack in the film, 21
A while back, those skilled in the art of counting cards were able to walk into a casino, mosey up to a table, and take the house for all it was worth. Eventually, as we know, the house caught on, and state-of-the-art surveillance equipment now makes such practices a lot harder to pull off.
But shift your focus to the realm of online publishing, and you just may find a similar scenario ready to play out with SEO.
