Artisan Blog 
When you’ve got a new service, a new product or some exciting news, it can be tempting to go running headlong into “how should we get this out there?”Well-meaning business leaders do it every day.We grab everybody for a brainstorm meeting. We request plans of action. We start assigning people to marketing tasks.We run with it.But more often than you might think, we get so caught up in how we let people know, how we should market this, how we can get some press on this, that we shoot ourselves...
Once you've done the work of creating solid, informative content that your clients and customers can use, it only makes sense to want to get the most bang for your buck, so to speak.It's not complicated to re-purpose, re-use and gain more return on your content investment. But it does require planning. It requires a bit of thought on the front end to create content that lends itself to several uses. It requires a little strategy and creative thinking.To get started, try the following approaches...
Recently, I read an interview with David Patton, VP/EIC of international public relations firm Waggoner Edstrom, in which he talked about the rise of what many of us in the marketing world call content marketing. I prefer to call it content-driven marketing or (more simply) talking to your people.For most businesses, that’s what it’s really all about – meeting your audience where they’re at and providing them with something that’s interesting to them. Something that will make their lives easier...
I read an interesting blog post this week. It said that professional marketers and communicators haven't realized we're playing a game that no longer matters.The debate was fascinating. And I disagree.Marketing is not dead. Brand is not dead. The idea is silly. Even "traditional advertising" is not dead.The most basic principle of marketing is simple. And it's timeless if you actually want to sell what you're selling: Know who you are selling to, understand what they want and need, and put...
Few words get tossed around in business meetings in the way that "branding" does. And yet, a lot of the time, everyone at the table has a different interpretation of what "branding" even means.In fact, I just had this experience twice in two weeks.It's worth going around the table and getting some definitions. More than a brilliant logo and tagline, branding is innate to your business. It's foundational. It's the mission, the vision, the delivery, the way you communicate, the reputation you've...
