When the Best Practice Isn’t the Best Practice
The bottom line is that you can’t assume a best practice is the best practice until you test it. Take time to think about how you can test it well, setup some test, and adjust as necessary. Maybe you will confirm it and maybe you will find a new best practice.
Marketing Innovation in the Government
It isn’t often that I can write about marketing innovation in government. After all, the bureaucracy tends to suffocate innovation. Plus, it can be hard to make things like soil conservation cool.
Contenting Marketing Orange Chicken
Panda Express nails content marketing with their cooking video telling you how to make their orange chicken. Spoiler alert – $8.99/plate looks pretty reasonable.
Content Marketing is like Effective Networking
Content marketing is the online equivalent of effective professional networking. You are providing content, such as tooltips, white papers, how-to articles, studies, etc. to help people and demonstrate the value of your organization to them.
Should I Make an Infographic?
Infographics. They look cool and are trendy, but are they useful in communicating your point. Today, I will help you answer the question, Should I make an infographic?
5 Tips for Building Bridges in Politics
In this seasons of political hyperbole – even more so than normal – I feel compelled to write an article on how to build bridges in the world of public policy.
Listening on Social Media for Associations
The best communicators listen more than they talk.
The rule extends to social media, but, too often, organizations spend all of their time talking on social media.
Why I Learned to Code
When I was in high school, I was a computer nerd. We didn't have enough money to buy our own computer at home, but friends of the family gave me computers to use - a TRS-80, then a Commodore 64, and, I hit the big time my senior year with a Commodore Amiga. At my high...
Best Planning Tool for Content Marketing
When you sit down to start planning your content marketing strategy, you set your goals, objectives, messaging, and measurements. You figure out content buckets, team members, schedules, etc. You quickly realize there are a lot of spinning plates, so you need a way to manage all of them. Where to start?
PowerPoint Must Die
This isn’t about killing PowerPoint. True – PowerPoint has its limitations and annoyances, but what drives the mainstream hatred of PowerPoint isn’t the tool—it is how the tool is used.
What Nuclear Fission Taught Me About Target Audiences
Remember, it is tempting to use big words and complex subjects, but you will impress your audience more if they understand what you are telling them. Sometimes all they need to know is that you are boiling water.
Lessons from a Two-Year-Old: Ask Why
As we get older, too often we ask how rather than why, but we shouldn’t. (This is where you should ask, “Why?”) Understanding why before how helps us understand the reasoning, setting up opportunities to learn and also reevaluate the status quo.
Lessons from a 2-Year-Old: Use Clear Words
Our two-year-old started saying, “Huh?” if she doesn’t understand what you are saying. It is a keen reminder that she doesn’t have the depth of vocabulary we do. We reshape what we say in a hope she will understand us the second, or third, time. As writers, we don’t...
Public Policy & Content Marketing: U.S. Green Eggs Association
Many trade associations engage in public policy advocacy (aka lobbying), and it is an important benefit for their members. However, there is often a lost opportunity because content marketing is typically overlooked as part of advocacy strategy. The good news is that...
Lessons from a Two-Year-Old: Tell Stories
Our two-year-old loves stories. She loves it when we read her books, loves to “read” books to us, to herself, to her dolls, to her brother and sister, and, pretty much anyone who will listen. She isn’t unique. Kids loves stories. In fact, we all do. They...