The following is a guest post courtesy of Russell Sparkman from Fusionspark Media, a new media communications company based in Washington state. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Russell on a number of projects, most recently their amazingly successful New Media 2012 conference. As you will...

Really interesting study on content marketing and custom publishing research led by King Fish Media with help from Hubspot, Upshot and Junta42. (Note: the study requires name and email to download and the 20-page eBook can be downloaded here). Here are the highlights from the 189 marketing professionals...

Let's face it.  Content strategy is not easy.  Actually, it's pretty difficult. Those that regularly read this blog know I've been covering it more recently: Content Strategy Comes Before Social Media 20 Questions to Ask Before Launching a Content Marketing Project The B.E.S.T....

Well, first the bad news. After months of trying to work this out, the winner of Junta42’s $4200 in 42 Days Contest, 48HourPrint, decided not to move forward with their project. (for those of you who don’t remember, every project match that went through the Junta42 system over a 42 day period...

Somewhat interesting Bloomberg video from Ad legend Jerry Della Femina on the future of advertising and ad agencies. The key points: The advertising industry is not run by creative anymore, but the bean counters. The “good-old days” for advertising is over – where they used to make...

Had an interesting conversation with Texterity president Martin Hensel regarding lead generation programs (specifically for BtoB markets) and how they are changing before our eyes. Now, all lead generation programs are different, but they basically run this way (yes, very simplistic to all you lead generation...

As usual, Seth has done it again. I’ve taken Seth’s questions to ask on launching your next website and adapted them a bit for content marketing. As you put your next content plan together, use these questions. You won’t be sorry. Enjoy! What is the goal of the content marketing project? In...

Had the pleasure of giving this presentation for Virtual MENG (Marketing Executives Networking Group) yesterday on social media and content marketing. Some key takeaways from the presentation: The key to social media is understanding that no one cares about you.  They care about themselves. If...

Just finished this last post on content strategy before content marketing, then saw this perfect post from Seth Godin. It really puts what we are trying to accomplish with content marketing in perspective. Seth maps out six specific steps when it comes to success. Let’s take these steps and relate...

Core point: Don’t start executing on your content marketing until you have a sound content strategy. Yes, easier said than done, but so many of us get infatuated with a tactic before really planning out what should happen and why. You wouldn’t build a car without a step-by-step plan, but...

Following in the footsteps of their previous white paper on marketing trends (The End of Advertising as We Know It), IBM Global Business Services has developed another dandy for your reading pleasure called The Changing Face of Communication (download the PDF here). The report was designed specifically...

Almost a year ago I came upon a custom magazine called thinkMoney from the company thinkorswim.  It’s just one of those custom magazines that I like to keep around and refer to on occasion.  Design, content, calls-to-action…they are all working in the same direction. (fyi, thinkMoney won...