Everyone can write, but not everyone is a writer

I take issue with the notion that everyone in this world is a writer. Sure, everyone can write; and technology today is an enabler of that for sure. But I would like to draw a distinction between someone who is able to write (e.g. has a keyboard) and someone who should be called a writer.

Full disclosure: I think of myself as a writer.

 

While many people can express themselves in writing, errors that may seem somewhat trivial (for example, incorrect grammar or misspellings) can cast a negative light on the author and his or her company/employer/brand. And please keep in mind that spell check isn't called grammar check for a reason.

Don’t worry, this isn’t going to get nasty or overly rant-ish. My goal here is simply to convince you that:

1. People who write well are more valued than those who don’t
2. People who don’t write well (but who try over and over again anyway) can harm their own reputation and that of the brand they represent
3. People in #2 can still write, they should simply look for help

Everyone does write, right?

In our 24/7/365 world, everyone will be asked to write. I get that. But that doesn’t mean you have to go it alone. As alluded to in #3 above, if you’re asked to write and know you’re not a writer, just be honest with yourself and seek the advice and counsel of someone who is.

One of the best parts of working with writer-types is they tend to be very helpful people. If you were to ask, it’s completely likely they will want to help you and not want anything in return. Not payment, not credit. Writers are just like that.

Two different types of writing

Everyone blogs or sends emails. I get that, too. But it’s a very different thing to write as part of your daily job. For simplicity, let's assume most writing will either be personal or professional.

Personal writing

Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, email or a blog, most of us are writing in our personal lives. I am not suggesting that you hire a professional writer to do this for you. (<--- Please re-read that last part again for emphasis, if you would). What I am suggesting is that it may be worth it to your personal brand — and we all have one of those — to understand some basic grammar rules so you don’t stub your toe. Here are a few resources I would suggest adding to your bookmarks:

            AP Stylebook

            The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation

            Purdue University online writing lab (Owl)

Professional writing

If you write as part of your job, that’s a different animal. Regardless of whether you write a report that only your boss will see or social media posts for a Fortune 100 company seen by thousands of followers, you want to put your best foot forward. (Did I just use two separate foot-related references? Wow, I guess I did. Sorry about that.)

Most organizations will have some sort of a style guide or other brand guidelines that will include writing standards. Get to know these standards. Know them well. Know them like the back of your…foot.

Even in the smallest organizations, many companies will also have at least one person who writes extremely well. There may be several people. You know who they are; these are the people others go to when they want to make sure everything looks and sounds good. Find one of these people and rely on them.

A word of caution about grammar: Be careful you don’t mistake a person who takes great pride in being a self-professed ‘Grammar Nazi’ for a great writer. In the Venn diagram of life, most writers know grammar well, but not all ‘Grammar Nazis’ know how to write well. Slippery slope, that one.

So, in the great debate of whether everyone is a writer or not, I hope you will consider the difference between those who may be able to write and those who put in the work to do it well.

If you’re in the first group, find someone in the second group…they will help you. If you’re in the second group, you have an obligation to help those in the first.

It’s just what we do.

What can peach ice cream teach us about marketing?

Every summer, United Dairy Farmers (UDF), a Cincinnati, Ohio-based convenient store chain, proudly rolls out its Homemade Brand peach ice cream and its happy customers (my mother-in-law included) lap up the stuff a half-gallon at a time.

It’s actually pretty good. But here’s the thing: there’s a marketing lesson to be learned here, specifically about supply and demand.

Don’t worry, this isn’t a UDF commercial or some kind of case study and I don’t own any UDF stock. UDF only offers its peach ice creamin the summer because that’s when peaches are in season. But…

What if brands could create this kind of demand without having to worry about whether peaches are in season or not? Or cherries, or pumpkin. You realize I’m not talking about ice cream anymore, right?

These aren’t your marketing professor’s examples

This is typically where people would trot out the age-old iPhone example, so I’m not going to do that. Instead, I would submit there are brands that could do this kind of supply-side marketing better (and Apple isn’t one of them).

There are a million examples of successful brands building anticipation by keeping supplies constrained. Hostess Twinkies, anyone? I don’t want to go there.

This is the opposite of a case study.

Who doesn’t do this well today, but could? As a group, laggard brands (that is, the opposite of innovative brands) may make up as much as 16% of all brands and, some would argue, are necessary in the marketplace. But laggard brands have to eventually evolve or die, right?

Here are some brands I believe have an opportunity to evolve and enhance demand by constraining supply:

·      JC Penney seems like an obvious choice here. They have the infrastructure and brand awareness, but seem to focus on the wrong things lately (like price). Could they disrupt by managing demand differently?

·      Couldn’t McDonald’s have some fun with something almost everyone loves — like their world famous french fries?

·      What about credit cards? AMEX has had success being a bit more exclusive, but no one seems willing to challenge them; opportunity for Capital One?

·      Best Buy is constantly being ‘showroomed’ by people who try products in the store, then buy online from someone else. Could they constrain access to the product in some way (perhaps charging a refundable trial fee)?

·      Denny’s grand slam breakfast is plentiful and relatively cheap. What if it were ever-so-slightly harder to get…say only certain days a week or a certain time of day?

·      Airlines. Ugh. Enough said.

·      H&R Block has struggled to keep up with user-friendly competitor TurboTax. Could Block somehow leverage its face-to-face advantage?

The point here is that there are many ways to promote a brand, but some of the less obvious ways — to zig when others are zagging — can be quite effective.

How can this help your brand?

What do you offer everyday that may be more attractive if you offered it a little less often? I mean, let’s not be jerks about it or anything, but a little demand creation, if you will, can be a good thing. Building some intrigue and mystique can be just what a brand needs, especially in low involvement or mature industries.

What can you do to differently to build anticipation for your brand?

Are you leveraging your content as an asset?

Acting — not just thinking — like a publisher is the way to go

For many years, there has been discussion around the idea that a brand has intrinsic value as an asset. According to Brandchannel, some companies, including L’Oreal, Gucci and Prada have captured the value of their brand directly on their balance sheets.

Actually, this is nothing new. In fact, here’s what the chairman of Quaker said about the value of brands at the turn of the century — not the turn of the last century, mind you, but in 1900:

"If this business were split up, I would give you the land and bricks and mortar, and I would take the brands and trade marks, and I would fare better than you."

So the valuation of a brand has been around for a while. But what about the value of your content as an asset?

Okay, back to reality. I don’t believe content will find its way on a company’s balance sheet anytime soon. But I do think brands should be looking for ways to leverage their content as an asset as opposed to thinking of it as just an expense.

Every brand will do this differently, of course, and that makes perfect sense. But we all need to think and act like publishers.

Sure, everyone says think like a publisher, but what does that mean?

When a publisher wakes up in the morning, they aren’t thinking about their product (the magazine they publish, for example), they’re thinking about what will interest their readers. What’s going on? What problems do my readers have today that I can help them solve? That’s how publishers have been thinking for hundreds of years.

But how does a publisher act?

Publishers break down their issues into sections, right? You should, too. But the sections that might work for one brand (think Popular Mechanics) won’t work in others (like Southern Weddings). This is where each brand will need to get specific — content that might appear in the Outdoors section of Popular Mechanics would be very different than the Outdoors section (if there were one) in SW.

Since I work in the exciting world of insurance and financial services, where all of our sections are typically the same, (you know, auto, home life…) we needed to create a program that includes three much more important sections: content marketing, content management and content distribution.

Wait, aren’t those all the same?

We don’t believe so. These three elements are interrelated, certainly, but they are also quite different. Here’s how we define them:

Content Marketing is the creation/curation of timely, useful, brand-guided stories that engage a targeted audience, earning their trust and enthusiasm and, ultimately, attracting or retaining customers (whew!). We like to call this ‘story manufacturing.’

Content Management is system-based governance/technology that helps handle, curate, tag and store content, enabling search and easy retrieval while remaining channel agnostic. This is ‘story warehousing.’

Content Distribution is the delivery of brand-guided stories in owned, earned and paid media that ensures the right people get the right message at the right time and in the manner they prefer. This, of course, is ‘story distribution.’

The main point here is not for others to use these definitions, but to encourage you to find your own.

In order to leverage your content as an asset, I believe you need to define the key components of your content program — you know, those sections of your publication — so everyone is on the same page in your organization, regardless of whether everyone is three people or 30,000.

For us, it helped to separate these key elements so we could discover what we’re doing well, where we need to get better and we’re able to work on them concurrently. For you, it may be better to have one element. Or 10. The idea is to find a way to talk about content in your organization that will inspire others, because you can’t do this thing by yourself. It’s big.

So, if you haven’t already, go figure out the sections of your content publication and start acting — not just thinking — like a publisher today!

I don't like events (and why that doesn't matter at all)

Events. Yuck.

I don’t like recommending them. I don’t like managing them. I don’t even like attending them (except Content Marketing World, of course). But none of that matters, because I don’t matter — I’m not the target audience.

I believe a lot of marketers, perhaps unintentionally, apply their own filters to the tactics they recommend for brands: ‘Hmm, let’s see, what would I like?’

Wrong.

It may seem unavoidable to add your own preferences, but it’s not. We all just need to remember that it’s not about us. It’s about the audience (and the audience is rarely us).

So, to pay some penance for lo these many years of event-hating, I’ve captured three reasons why you may want to include live events in your next marketing plan.

1. Live events continue to rank highly with consumers as one of the best ways to learn about you and your brand. Experiences, like events, are becoming more and more important as people continue to be bombarded with digital brand messages.

2. It’s a sensory experience. People can touch, smell, see and even use your product at an event. You can’t get that from an online demo or webinar. As efficient as technology allows us to be today, there’s just something about interacting with a brands product or service that can’t be replicated, especially for large/expensive purchases like cars and equipment.

3. Events let you be you. Perhaps like nothing else, events allow a brand’s personality shine through as your own people (and please, involve your own people at shows) can demonstrate your brand’s style, not just your products. It’s even a great way to recruit new people!

So, the next time you’re asked to recommend a marketing tactic for your brand or the brand of your client, consider a live event. Just don’t ask me to manage it (if you want it to be successful).

Oh, and don’t forget to use a #hashtag!

The content marketing elevator story (or how to tell your mom what you really do for a living)

If you’re like me, you spend your day explaining to others what you do. At home or at work, most people just don’t understand Content Marketing. Of course, this joining of two nebulous terms (content and marketing) doesn’t help much, either.

So I thought I would share some of the ways I’ve explained it in hopes that it might help you…or at least give you a laugh. And, to make it fun, let’s do it in David Letterman Top Ten style (with apologies to Dave, of course).

Here we go…

So, you work in Content Marketing…what do you do again?

10. I’m a Content Strategist. Look it up.

9. I help brands tell their story — one cat video at a time.

8. I write in 140-character increments all day, trying to attract followers to our brand. In fact, this is actually 140 characters. The problem is I can’t stop. Send help.

7. I can make anything into an acronym at a moment’s notice.

6. I’ve noticed I’m starting to wear more orange to work. Hmmm.

5. You know that video the sales group did for their annual meeting that vaguely resembled The Price Is Right? Yeah, that wasn’t me.

4. I’m part writer, part producer, part psychologist.

3. Yes, I can help you tell your story. No, I can’t help you get a book deal.

2. I’m sorry, I’m afraid I can’t ‘put in a good word for you with Google.’

1. While traditional marketing is about telling people how you can help them, my job as a content marketer is just to help them.

Three kinds of crazy in Corporate America: who to avoid (and what to do if you can’t)

I’ll admit it; I work for an insurance company. A big one. And it’s a great place to work, generally. But working as a creative person in corporate America does come with some baggage, as some may know.

One advantage of working in Corporate America for many years (other than being old) is that I can offer you some advice on how to avoid some of the kinds of people who can bring you down. You know they’re out there, but how can you spot them? And what to do when you do?

Not to worry, the old guy will now dispense with the knowledge you need.

There are three kinds of people who can and will drive you crazy in corporate America and you should avoid them at all costs:

There are people who want your job, but aren’t qualified for it.

These people are known as Wannabes.

There are people who know they don’t qualify to do what you do, yet still tell you what to do. These people are known as Managers.

And there are people who are trying to do your job, but really can’t.

These folks are known as Hacks.

Let’s break each of these types of people down so you will recognize them and know what to do when you see them in the wild.

Wannabes are relatively harmless people who really just want to do the fun stuff. They may want to write or design or make video or be a photographer. Problem is, they aren’t any good at it. This may be because they are just too young or because they should be doing something else. It doesn’t matter to them, they just want to play.

What you don’t want to do is spend too much time around a wannabe. Sure, we all want to help people (and we should…to a point), but wannabes can be a big time and energy drain if you let them. Some of the worst of this variety may even try to claim your work as their own — be careful of this bunch. They can drag you down with them.

What to do: Just smile and wave…and keep moving

The second group is known as Managers. We’ve all seen this type and have learned that we can co-exist with them. But they can be especially dangerous in the wild spaces of the creative world. Creative Managers (like their oxymoron cousins Jumbo Shrimp and Military Intelligence) can’t really occur in nature. Yet, there they are.

Typically, they are from one branch of the creative tree (i.e. writing or design) but try to cross over into the other — unsuccessfully — usually because their boss, also a Manager, told them to do it.

You may even work directly for someone like this. It’s okay, we all have at one point. The key thing to know here is, while they’ll never admit it, they know you’re good at what you do. Use that to your advantage (you know, kind of like never showing fear to a dog, except different).

What to do: Do what they ask, but also do what you know is right. They will usually pick the latter because it makes them look good.

Finally, there are the hacks. These people mean well, really they do, but they weren’t invited to the party. They are crashers. And no one likes a party crasher.

Typically, this is the owner’s son (or nephew, or daughter) who can have any job in the place and decided to bless your area with their presence. Oh, joy. Get along with them, but certainly don’t heed their advice. And, whatever you do, don’t encourage them. Do not tell them they have good ideas if they don’t, this will only embolden them to do it again. And again.

            What to do: Ride it out, they will get bored and move on.

Don’t forget, working in Corporate America isn’t as scary as you might think. You get to go home every night, usually in time for dinner, and you get to see the kids (sorry, kids).

And who knows, if you keep your wits about you and watch out for the three groups mentioned above, you may just make this thing into a career.

Good luck!

All of your content isn’t digital. Why is your content strategy?

I get it. The world is going digital. And mobile. And social. I understand consumers want it that way. Heck, I’m a consumer and I want it that way, too. But, if you’re involved in helping to promote a brand, there’s something more important to consider:

Digital isn’t the only way people experience your brand.

And, unless you're a digital-only brand (if there is such a thing), you’re probably selling yourself short if your content strategy is only focused on digital.

A brand is the sum of all of the experiences people have with you, so each one of these experiences is important and should be as consistent as possible. That means digital experiences, but it also means off-line experiences, too. These could include things like the in-store experience at Nordstrom, the vacation experience at a Disney Park and event-based experiences like Content Marketing World.

Every brand needs to have an overall content strategy to help guide the content that’s being created, regardless of how it’s consumed. (<--- Tweet this)

To be clear, I’m not talking about simply adding in-person tactics and events to your existing digital content strategy. I’m suggesting that you take a step back and re-think your content strategy to make sure it’s broader than any specific tactic.

Lots of examples are out there. Ignore them.

Many folks have advice for how to develop a content strategy, but be careful; these are often just a list of digital tactics. It’s nice that these exist for comparison’s sake, but it’s a bit like filling up your gas tank before you have a driver’s license…things are a little out of order.

Your content strategy also needs to be specific to your brand. Whether you work for a Fortune 100 company or you’re a one-person shop, your content strategy needs to be yours, not someone else’s. Just like singing cats and talking babies, the fact that you can find content strategy templates on the Web doesn’t mean they actually exist.

Remember it’s a guide, not a novel.

An overall content strategy should serve as a guide for the people creating content for your brand, whether it’s your marketing department, a customer service person, an ad agency or your receptionist. But this doesn’t mean you need to run out and create a three-inch-thick rulebook for everyone to follow. People don’t like to follow rules, they like to have guidelines.

You do need to have standards for content, especially in larger organizations or for those relying on external vendors for content creation. But remember the people you’re talking to in your strategy are the ambassadors of your brand. Guide them, don’t preach at them.

So, what’s in it for you?

There are many benefits to creating (or reevaluating) an overall content strategy. Here are just a few of them:

• It can serve as a barometer to help measure the consistency of your content across touch points (rather than relying on opinions, personal preferences)
• You gain efficiencies from having everyone on the same page
• Your brand looks smarter in the marketplace, giving people confidence in you because they know what to expect
• Referrals will increase as a result of this confidence
• Most importantly, your audience will be more loyal to you when they enjoy and appreciate a consistent experience

If you don’t have a content strategy now, commit to creating one. If you do, take a fresh look at it: does it reflect your brand regardless of how people want to interact with you?

Creating an overall content strategy for your brand will give those who choose your brand the consistent experience they expect and deserve.

And they will reward you with their loyalty.