Open Source Blogging

My friend Gavin Heaton put together this very funny video regarding the book Age of Conversation 2. First, take a look at this video (frankly, a good example of a low-cost way to make a point that's worth passing on). Second, buy the book. Mine arrived a few weeks ago and it's worth the read…especially if you are trying to figure this whole "social media" thing out, or you need to convince upper management about what is going on in social media and content marketing (and why you need to … Continue Reading

At the heart of all sales transactions is trust.

The greater the trust, the more likely the sale. Without trust, there is no sale. In today’s business world, where more and more relationships are being developed and maintained over the Internet—the need for establishing trust and building confidence with buyers may be stronger and more powerful than ever. One of the resulting challenges for marketers is to find ways to quickly establish rapport, and then build upon it. How can you best do that? By listening to … Continue Reading

At the heart of all sales transactions is trust.

The greater the trust, the more likely the sale. Without trust, there is no sale. In today’s business world, where more and more relationships are being developed and maintained over the Internet—the need for establishing trust and building confidence with buyers may be stronger and more powerful than ever. One of the resulting challenges for marketers is to find ways to quickly establish rapport, and then build upon it. How can you best do that? By listening to … Continue Reading

We're excited to announce the fourth installment of the Junta42 Top 42 Content Marketing blogs. Congratulations this month goes to Lee Odden and the team from Top Rank Marketing, whose Online Marketing Blog just squeaked by Brian Clark's Copyblogger (which held the #1 position for the last two updates).

This quarter's update included a record 187 blogs, up from 172 last quarter. In addition, the Junta42 Top 42 are now featured as part of the content marketing category at Alltop.com … Continue Reading

I was presenting a speech in San Diego last month to a group of online marketers called "Becoming the Media". After the presentation was over, an online marketing executive came up to me and asked the following:

"This may be a stupid question, but what does it really mean to create valuable, relevant and compelling content?"

First of all, this is an amazingly insightful question.  Most people really don't understand what creating relevant and valuable content actually means - either for themselves, their companies or their customers.

Creating relevant, valuable and compelling content is all about just one thing (ever see … Continue Reading

If you've been following this blog, you've heard me talk about The Age of Conversation project. Well, the time has finally come - Age of Conversation 2 officially launches tomorrow, October 29th.

I, along with an amazing 274 other marketing thought leaders, are participating in this much heralded book sequel that is a literal treasure-trove of content for anyone in looking for insight into the business communication processes and thinking of the future.

Trying to figure out the marketing of today and tomorrow?  This book will reveal the … Continue Reading

Just read this article by Steve Tobak on bnet entitled "What You Need to Know about Branding." Very cool article and worth checking out.  In the article, Steve contends that there are five key points that every manager needs to know about branding, and IMO he is dead on.

As I was reading the final three points, I wanted to take out the word "branding" and replace it with "content marketing." And so I did.  See below.

Content marketing strategy is not a one-off; it’s a component of your overall corporate strategy. … Continue Reading

Today I visited Larry Lessig. He’s the founder of Creative Commons. A professor of law at Stanford University. And does many other things.

He is one of those guys who is just interesting to talk to. Why? Whip smart and has a view of things that very few other people have.

On the way over to the interview I kept thinking back to our Washington DC visit. Both Republicans and Democrats told me they wish there were someone in the White House that they could talk to about tech and science issues. That seemed to support Barack Obama’s tech policy, … Continue Reading

Each Sunday, The Simple Dollar reviews a personal productivity, personal development, or business/entrepreneurship book of interest.

One of the most interesting aspects of writing a great deal is that I’ve found that writing works much better if you break it down into littler pieces. First comes the brainstorming: what basic idea is behind this piece? What basic elements do I need to convey? Then, organization: what order should these pieces go in? How can I make an orderly progression from the basic understanding … Continue Reading

We shot most of the interviews on our two HD camcorders, but they are a lot harder to work, especially when we had to do five interviews in one day, like we did on Wednesday. We now have a new rule: no more than three interviews on any one day. Five almost killed us, especially since two of them weren’t in the same place so we needed to take taxis across town (and after doing all that work we had a party where 500 people showed up to see me and Gary Vaynerchuk — thanks to Andrew Feinberg and Nick … Continue Reading