In 2007, the mention of content marketing brought as many blank stares from small business owners as the mention of a website did 10 years before. In fact, in 1997 when we started our small business magazine in Southwest Florida, few owners had websites, let alone an online marketing strategy. In 2009, most small businesses do have websites and the term, ‘content marketing,’ has gone from obscure to fashionable. How to go from clueless to compelling to transform prospects into buyers When I say fashionable, I mean that the usage of the phrase has skyrocketed

In fact, visitors searching our site for the phrase “content marketing” increased by 85% in 2009 over 2008. Six Steps to a Successful Small Business Content Marketing Strategy Why Being Visual Can Bring Beautiful Business Results Top 10 Lessons It’s been a very good year for content marketing. Social media certainly loomed larger in the past 12 months but interest in content marketing strategy accounted for the majority of the most popular posts.

have written before about the importance of adding visual elements to content so it was particularly gratifying to find that Mark Smiciklas had represented my article, Six Steps to a Successful Small Business Content Marketing Strategy simply and clearly with a big graphic accompanied by five bullet points. Inspiration from ‘Visual Blogger’ Mark Smiciklas of Intersection Marketing It’s hard to make things easy.

Even a micro business can use video effectively to communicate with its customers online. Here Are Kathy’s 6 Secrets to Video Success for Small Business: Kathy Saenz of Neighborhood America Shares What It Takes to Make Video an Effective Content Marketing Tool But, as we amateur carpenters know, you can wind up with a mess instead of a masterpiece unless you understand how to use a potentially powerful tool well.

Tags: Business Design Video dirty jobs dirty work mike rowe presentatio Well-developed and designed presentations are finally getting the recognition they deserve. The influence and visibility of Garr Reynolds’ blog have helped change the perception that presentations suck, and made people aware of just how powerful a presentation can be. Attracting really good designers to work for Duarte has been tough, because

It’s particularly gratifying to watch so many small businesses and independent professionals putting content marketing to work. 10 Lessons Small Businesses Can Learn from Smart Content Marketers This week, several client meetings reinforced a vital truth: Content marketing isn’t an arcane theory taught in expensive graduate schools that only billion dollar companies can use. In fact, great content marketing is much more about brains than big bucks.

Business of Software Blog The business of software. Building long term, sustainable and profitable software businesses. Home About Subscribe « The one, two of product marketing | Main | The story behind the Hudson River plane crash reconstruction » March 30, 2009 How to get a speaking slot at a conference Over the past three years I’ve received hundreds of e-mails from people who want to speak at the Business of Software conference I run with Joel Spolsky. Over time, I’ve reached conclusions about the best

gave each participant a handout on business vision, which I am sharing with you here. ...Tags: Tags: Business Vision business vision marketing pla Yesterday, I had the pleasure to participate in a round table talk, with four other 6-figure freelancers, at Magnet, Canada's magazine conference. There were about 60 or so aspiring and veteran freelance writers - 10 at a table - and the 'speakers' spent 10 minutes at each table answering questions.

The just released study on business use of social media from the folks at Business.com is must reading for content marketers who are active, tentative or hesitant about social media. Their research, 2009 Business Social Media Benchmarking Study makes it clear that even small business owners need to take social media very seriously indeed. The study was designed to assess If you’ve been dragging your feet on social media, it’s time to take both of those feet and jump right in. Based on 2,948 valid responses to the online Business Social Media Benchmarking

Five Reasons an e-Book Should Be a Core Component Of Your Content Marketing Strategy Of course, I’m assuming that you already have a website and are probably doing some business blogging. 6 Reasons Why Your Blog Is Your Most Important Social Media Tool It’s much more powerful than those young whippersnappers–Twitter and Facebook Thanks to free or inexpensive blogging tools, any individual can be on the same technological footing as the New York Times or Business Week. Proving again that our readers like to dig into a variety of topics under the broad content marketing umbrella.