Media

Over the past few weeks, I've been talking to some of those "old school" traditional media folks-- niche magazine editors. If you read the headlines, you might think these people are a dying breed, but in fact, they're alive, well and talking regularly to your customers and clients. If you're starting out with a new content marketing plan, or working content marketing principles into your existing plan, you can learn a lot from how these folks (and those who get paid to build relationships with them) operate.

Have you ever languished in one of those endless strategic planning meetings designed to hash out your organization's core values statement? Or the marketing pow-wows aimed at defining your key messages? You know the ones. Those meetings where you can just feel the life being sucked out of you.

Maybe it's just me? My experience is that many of these well-meaning marketing-focused efforts end up being a waste of valuable time, energy and brainpower.

Before you stop reading and click away, hear me out.

Recently, I heard David Meerman Scott give an interesting keynote at the Marketing Profs digital conference. While all of his presentation was worth listening to, the part that had me cheering (and if you follow me on Twitter, you heard me) was the simple recognition that words like "cutting-edge" and "robust" are overused. Not necessary. Meaningless.

As I get organized for the new year, take a look at this post I wrote for the blog Social Marketing 2.0 this week.

Social media is arguably the hottest topic in marketing these days. Not everyone’s doing it, nor should they be. Yet there are a number of reasons why it’s important: User numbers are rising. It’s inexpensive compared with traditional marketing and PR tools. And it’s changing how we communicate whether we’re on board or not.

The marketing mix, often referred to as the 4 Ps, is almost as old as marketing itself. (Quick review: Product, Price, Place, Promotion.) It's the bare bones, and optimizing how these essential ingredients work together is what marketing is all about.

Well crafted copywriting relies on a targeted version of the 4 Ps, too. Lately, though, I've noticed several marketing pieces that completely miss the boat on one of these four critical ingredients. How to make sure it doesn't happen to you?

Use this checklist the next time you're writing copy:

Has the economy got you down? If the folks I’ve been talking to are any indication, there’s no across-the-board answer to this question. No doubt about it, some businesses are feeling the pinch. But others are surprisingly robust. And everyone, it seems is looking straight ahead, positioning themselves for the eventual uptick.

This is not a political post. But I've been closely watching this election season. And it's clear that, although we Americans like to insist that we're not influenced by the "marketing" of our candidates, there's little evidence to support our claims.

The brand matters.

Article marketing may be a hot topic among Internet marketers, but it's really just an old idea. One of the best ways to showcase your expertise in an authentic way is to write articles and place them where your clients and your peers are likely to read them.

This is one area where everything old is new again.