Brian Clark says, “Phil Connors is having a bad day … over, and over, and over. The arrogant Pittsburgh weatherman has once again been sent to cover the annual Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. He soon discovers that visiting once a year wasn’t all that bad, given that he’s now living this particular Groundhog Day again, and again, and again. It all begins at 6:00 a.m., the same way each day. The clock radio clicks on with Sonny & Cher’s I Got You Babe, followed by the declaration, “It’s Groundhog Day … and it’s cold out there!” After the initial shock... [...]

Sonia Simone says, “You may have noticed that our content this week shifted forward a day — we took Monday off to honor the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Then on Tuesday, we started talking a lot about connections — especially the connection with our audiences. Brian kicked things off with a post about one of my favorite topics — our ability to attract the kind of customers and clients we want, by thinking carefully about the type of messages we create. The first step is to get very clear about who your people are (and aren’t). Brian has some specific exercises for you on how... [...]

Robert Bruce says, “Let’s go deep for a moment. Below the surface, not in the 20th-century French existentialist sense, but to a much more simple understanding of depth that can actually start to make things happen for your content marketing strategy … whatever it is you’re trying to do online. As Mr. Sartre once said, “Words are loaded pistols.” I happen to believe that is a true statement. But today, without a largely invisible foundation that amplifies your words, they may as well be as impotent as an unloaded .38 Special. Here are three simple “subterranean” lessons I’ve... [...]

Brian Clark says, ““Hello, I’m a Mac.” “And I’m a PC.” You remember Apple’s “Get a Mac” series of commercials that ran from May 2006 to October 2009? The commercials were short vignettes featuring John Hodgman as the sweet-yet-bumbling PC and Justin Long as the creative, hip Mac. Those 66 short spots were named the best advertising campaign of the previous decade by Adweek. The success of the long-running campaign leads one to believe that Apple certainly knows who its ideal customer is. Of course they do … because they chose their ideal customer, right from the birth... [...]

Sonia Simone says, “Last week, Brian Clark announced he was going to be joining us regularly this year on the blog. On Monday, Brian actually came back to the blog. (We’re very happy.) He offered us a post that outlines three simple steps to crafting a content marketing strategy that works. Since “simple” steps aren’t necessarily “easy” steps, look for lots more details from Brian in the weeks to come. But this one will get your engine started. I also published our “Content Excellence Challenge” prompts for January. I hope you’ll join us on these — they’re two fun (and... [...]

Sonia Simone says, “We all know how we feel when we run into creepy, pushy salespeople, right? Manipulated, pressured. Slimed. In fact, the last thing we want to do is make a purchase from that person. High-pressure salesmanship rarely works online. It’s so easy to just click away. That’s the promise of content marketing — to deliver a relevant business message without becoming a total saleshole. And yet, too many companies pump out massive volumes of content without seeing real results. Where are they going wrong?”. The One-Two Punch of Authenticity and Strategy Copyblogger  [...]

Jerod Morris says, ““Why are we sending this email to this list again?” Kim asked. I was incredulous. “Umm, because we never sent it a first time,” I thought to myself. Still, before responding, I decided to check. Glad I did. It turned out we had indeed sent the same information to the same email list a week prior. And I was the one who wrote that original email. So why had I forgotten about writing it to such an extent that I wasn’t even hit with a pang of remembrance while planning and writing a second, similar email? It seems I was losing control of one of my most basic and... [...]

Brian Clark says, “Strategy … we all know what it means, right? Just for grins, let’s look at a simple definition: A plan of action designed to achieve a major or overall aim. Clear enough. So why would the majority of content marketers have no documented strategy, according to Content Marketing Institute? And by “documented,” I mean a plan that you literally write down. This is what happens when you document your strategy, again according to CMI’s research: You’ll be far more likely to consider yourself effective at content marketing. You’ll feel significantly less challenged... [...]

Sonia Simone says, “In case you missed our “warmup” last month, this is the official kickoff for our 2017 Content Excellence Challenge. January resolutions are fine, but we’re more interested in helping you make consistent, ongoing improvement. Every month, we’ll give you a pair of prompts that we can all work on together as a community. The first prompt each month will be creative — prompts intended to improve your craft. The second will be productive — prompts intended to improve your productivity. We’d love to have you join us for every pair of prompts, but of course you’re... [...]

Sonia Simone says, “You never know what a fresh calendar year can inspire someone to do. They might start a new business, lose a zillion pounds, organize the sock drawer. Or, if it’s Copyblogger’s founder Brian Clark, they just might come back to the blog with a vengeance … and a commitment to write a bunch of new content for us. In case you missed it, Brian did that last one this week. He hit the blog on Monday morning with a post about why so much content out there is so … uninspiring. And he talks about what we can do to break through and start creating something worth reading... [...]