Content marketing and keyword rich blogs – a happy marriage for now

Posted on November 14, 2012 by markkolier

Since I do a great deal of writing, some of what I write is to be considered ‘content marketing’. A term that only a few years ago was non-existent. Wikipedia defines content marketing in the following fashion:

‘Content marketing is an umbrella term encompassing all marketing formats that involve the creation and sharing of content in order to attract, acquire and engage clearly defined and understood current and potential consumer bases with the objective of driving profitable customer action. Content marketing subscribes to the notion that delivering information to prospects and customers drives profitable consumer action. Content marketing has benefits in terms of retaining reader attention and improving brand loyalty.’ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_marketing

When talking with clients and prospects about some of the things we do in terms of creating content they are invariably interested mainly because it’s a term heard all the time and admitting unfamiliarity would not be cool. Most people think of content marketing as video content (short and long videos), podcasts (which are dying rather quickly don’t you think?), white papers, and webinars.

Not too long ago content marketing was promoted almost exclusively in the area of public relations. Press releases, magazine article pitching, appearances on television and radio were managed by professionals experienced in approaching their contacts with various angles. Today content is also promoted in social media by both professional PR people as well as rank amateurs (and a slew of people that fall somewhere in between).

Surprisingly blogging is not mentioned in Wikipedia’s content marketing definition. It’s surprising since the ability to place keyword relevant search terms in a blog in order to increase traffic and conversions, (something I do not do my own blog here) can be a great way to bring people to your website via content that is truly of interest to the reader (or viewer). Keyword-rich blogs are already popular for good reason. Many times these keyword rich blogs are not actually read by anyone, yet they still deliver powerful marketing assistance in the form of site links that help raise natural search listings.

Does it sound a bit shady to you? It shouldn’t. In a search world dominated by Google (more than 76% of searches are on Google.com), it’s no secret that getting on the first page of Google is a huge difference maker. It’s quite possible, even likely, that when it comes to keyword-rich blogs, much of the ‘content’ is of low-quality in and of itself – and few people, if any will read it. Yet if the links are relevant and the content original, Google (at least for the present) ‘sees’ it as worthy and the Google spiders ‘like’ that kind of content.

What I have found is that because I always want to write something that would be of interest to an actual reader I have to go above and beyond for our clients in weaving keywords and interesting content together as seamlessly as possible. It’s not easy but I anticipate that as Google improves its ability to discern low-brow keyword marketing blogs that are low quality from the alternative – high quality blogs with interesting content that contain keywords, the low quality blogs will lose their ability to command advantageous organic search results in terms of page rankings.

It takes good old fashioned research and craft to write things that people actually want to read and find to be of value. For those of us writing quality content keyword-rich or not, we look forward to the time when low quality keyword rich blogs go to the bottom of the rankings.

Hopefully sooner than later.

Posted in Communication, Marketing stuff | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

3 things in social media that should bother you like they bother me

Posted on November 12, 2012 by markkolier

It may end up being a rant but I’ll take that risk. There are things about social media that bother me. We marketing folk are supposed to adore social media and all the cool things we can do to help engage people and make money while doing so. Consequently I spend a fair amount of time working with and using social media. Twitter, Linked In and Facebook are always open and I am engaged in all of them on and off throughout the day. Maybe that’s why I’ve increasingly become aware that there a number of things that get under my skin and I bet I’m not alone. Here are three for starters but I’d love to get your own social media pet peeves (I actually hate that term) to share.

1) Twitter. I most often tweet from my desktop or laptop. Quite regularly I will copy and paste a link to tweet and add a comment. The tweet shows I have 3 characters still to use of the 140 available (What if Twitter allowed 150 characters – revolutionary!), I send the tweet and get an error message that I’ve used too many characters. I delete a few and it shows I have 9 characters to use. Tweet and the message again says I have too many. This really is aggravating. Really. Aggravating.

2) Linked In. Every time I’ve altered something in my profile, the default I have broadcasts that ‘update’ to everyone in my LinkedIn first level connections. I recently added a position to my profile and LinkedIn deemed this a ‘new job’ for which I received congratulations from thoughtful friends and colleagues. While I had added something to my profile, (it was neither a new job, since I only added it to my profile then but had actually started several months ago), I did not intend nor want to send a notification to all of my connections. By the way just FYI this would not be helpful to multiple job holders, particularly if your current boss gets wind of your ‘new position or job’. Note to LinkedIn – please allow me to toot my own horn when I choose to, thank you very much. Asking me would be much appreciated and a better customer practice. By the way did I mention that I pay for my access?

3) Facebook. Oh Facebook. Where to begin? I don’t play games on Facebook but cannot imagine that if I did I’d want to broadcast in Games Feed that I just played Scrabble, Sims Social, or Rock You Poker. And yes I realize that users have the ability to change the protocols in the privacy settings as to what gets broadcast to whom. But how about not having screaming on the rooftops to everyone as the default setting? And while I don’t pay for the ‘privilege’ of Facebook, I am going to go out on a limb and state that I think you are making out ok by leveraging my behavioral data. Just sayin’.

How about it? Will you share some of your own personal social media aggravations?

Posted in Communication, Community, Customer Experiences, Social Media | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Watching The U.S. Election Coverage was not a great viewer experience

Posted on November 9, 2012 by markkolier

I did not think that I would have any more to write regarding this week’s election once I sat down to watch the election returns Tuesday night. I always have enjoyed watching the Election Day returns. On Tuesday evening I started watching CBS and then bounced to NBC, ABC, FOX, CNN, MSNBC just to see what and how the various stations were handling it. For the most part the major over the air network approaches are similar with local breaks off the network every half hour.

The New York Times reported http://nyti.ms/WInBGH that this year 66.8 million people between 8 and 11, watched one of the 13 www.Nielsen.com networks that broadcast coverage. That’s down slightly from the 2008 election.

CBS (comes on first on my cable system TV when the box is turned on – no small thing), with Scott Pelley and the beautiful Norah O’Donnell (a reason to pay attention and I know she’s smart but even on TV I get mesmerized by those blue eyes) was doing a good job until the network went to local news at 11PM after NBC had just called the Presidential election for Barack Obama. Note to CBS – you totally blew ELECTION NIGHT coverage by running yet another story on Sandy (and other local stories) during a local break while NBC and ABC were eating your lunch. To make matters worse the clumsy hand over back to the network from capable NY local broadcaster Maurice Dubois was – awkward to say the least and unprofessional at worst. I wonder if there’s any correlation that CBS had far fewer viewers than NBC (the ratings winner) and FOX NEWS (not FOX network).

When I think about Election Day television coverage over the years it really has not changed all that much. The studio talking heads juxtaposed with in-the-field reporters on site at various campaign headquarters constitute dynamic television since the reports are changing constantly. That’s also a reason to watch. But I can’t stop thinking that the whole set-up could use a major refreshing.

That there was little evidence of social media included in the election coverage was surprising. Following the discussion on Twitter is a half-hearted attempt to seem like networks are attempting to engage their audience. Tweets would not have to be running constantly but most interesting tweets (as interpreted by the network) could be interspersed from viewers every 10 minutes in a box on the screen. Viewers have been known to stick with a network using this kind of tactic.

I also question whether local news breaks are even required and why relevant information in the local market could not be scrolled on the side of the screen (since election results scroll on the bottom) twice an hour. People are accustomed to busy screens (see MSNBC and FOX Cable News).

Overall I think the nature of election coverage could really use a refreshing. What do you think?

Posted in Customer Experiences, Film and television, Media | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

What might China have done if the U.S. Election had been delayed one week?

Posted on November 7, 2012 by markkolier

It’s now Wednesday and the day after the U.S. Election and the day before the announcement from China as to who will make up the members and new leadership of the PRC Politburo or standing committee. Barack Obama has been re-elected by a slim margin in the popular vote but a larger margin in the archaic Electoral college.

As you know there are no elections in China so the ‘announcement’ is (is The Announcement like Lebron James’ The Decision’?), more of a matter of a revamped distribution of power than anything else. Also of interest is that the Politburo in China normally has 9 members but indications are that there will now be only 7 members making them just that much more powerful.

There was some discussion in the U.S. (which did not appear to be all that serious) regarding postponing the election due to the impact of Hurricane Sandy on the eastern U.S. With all the talk from both U.S. candidates on China I started thinking about what might have happened had the U.S. actually postponed the election until after the announcement from China of the new committee members. When the PRC in China announced the date of November 8th for new members on the standing committee, it was not by accident that the date was two days after the U.S. election.

Had the U.S. postponed the election by three days or more would China have delayed its announcement of the new committee? The matter of who is elected in the U.S. Presidential race is of great interest to the Chinese. Had Mitt Romney won the election would that have changed the makeup of the PRC standing committee? Would another hardliner or more hard liners have been included?

Is it possible that by the U.S. delaying the election that might have resulted in China tipping its hand by delaying its announcement? Does China view that there would be a marked difference in how it will interact with the U.S. in an Obama administration versus a Romney administration? I would suspect that the PRC feels it has a reasonable understanding of how President Obama and his administration process issues. That would not be the case with a Mitt Romney White House although I can’t say I know exactly how China perceives differences between the two.

Of course we’ll never know but it would have presented an interesting dynamic. As an American I am probably overestimating the interest the PRC actually has in the result of U.S. elections.

But it’s something I was thinking about. Do you think the PRC might have delayed its announcement had the U.S. delayed Election Day?

Posted in World Poltics | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Count me in but are you ready to work in the cloud?

Posted on November 5, 2012 by markkolier

In the aftermath of the storm called Sandy it was difficult for many U.S. east coast residents to work last week – normally or not. While my family and I were in large part spared from being without power at home (only lost cable/internet for a day or so), our office in Connecticut was without power for almost the entire week and internet service did not return until this Monday morning. While I (and my wife) were able to work at home neither of us had access to our files stored on our server at the office. There were many times last week when having all of our data in the cloud seemed like a REALLY good idea.

It was merely an inconvenience that I had to view my various email addresses on the individual email servers as opposed to having all flow into Microsoft Outlook as my email client. But not being able to access documents, spreadsheets, and presentations were the main issues with hampering my productivity. Fortunately for me (not for everyone else), many of my fellow east coasters were in much worse shape than I was and were not waiting for things to be sent from me since most were dealing with more pressing issues like food, shelter and lack of gasoline.

I suspect that inadvertently the concept of cloud computing got a huge boost last week. I realize that cloud computing is not for every company or individual, (those concerned with protecting and accessing sensitive data for customers are not likely converts) but count me in as a soon-to-be cloud users. I’ve already written about never buying another laptop http://wp.me/pn6jX-GD again. It’s just an extension of that thought to say that I am planning to never buy another computer server again.

Am I concerned that if the entire internet goes down I will then have no access to all the files and content I have created? Well yes but if the entire internet goes down I think the problems will be much larger than my accessing business files so I think I will be ok with taking my chances on that one. VPN’s (virtual private networks) have acted as a quasi-cloud for a number of years and while they are still viable for some companies I think going in that direction is a step backward for me and my colleagues.

There are a number of very practical and relatively inexpensive cloud data storage solutions like Microsoft 365 http://bit.ly/SnNZym , Carbonite www.carbonite.com, SkyDrive www.skydrive.com , Dropbox, www.dropbox.com and the iCloud to name a few. I am going to investigate them all and am interested in any opinions from readers out there that are using any of the above platforms or can offer others ones with which they’ve had experience.

I’m so ready for computing in the cloud. Are you?

Posted in Best business practices, Living in the World Today, Mobile Communication, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

My old friend James Bond is back – 50 years of protecting a great franchise

Posted on November 2, 2012 by markkolier

Skyfall http://www.skyfall-movie.com/site/ is the latest installment (#23 for those keeping score at home) in Ian Fleming’s James Bond series.  While I do not consider myself fanatical when it comes to James Bond movies, I’ve seen them all and seen them all more than once.   I cannot ever recall having someone tell me they do not like James Bond movies.  They may not be huge fans but they will watch them – be it in theaters or on television.   It has been fifty years since Dr. No (1962), the first (and some say best) in the series.  What impresses me most is the brand stewardship of the Bond franchise over those fifty years.

There were a few clunkers along the way (The Living Daylights, Moonraker), and a few Bond portrayals that did not work out – Timothy Dalton being at the top of that list and for me Roger Moore was a little too cheeky although The Spy who loved me remains one of my all-time favorite Bond films (the Barbara Bach effect I suspect).

Overall the Broccoli family has done a very good job of stewarding the Bond franchise – not too often, not too infrequently.  In fact Bond movie theme songs are a franchise unto themselves (Adele is going to have a huge hit with the new theme from Skyfall).  

When people go to see a Bond movie they pretty much no what to expect.   A good villain (Javier Barden is the villain in Skyfall), beautiful women, and a great stunt or two.   What I also think is a great tactic is that there are very different characterizations of Bond from each of the actors.    It keeps things interesting and keeps people coming back for more.

Stewarding a brand over a fifty year period is no easy task.  I think the 007 franchise has done it and continues to do it about as well as any brand.

So a few questions:

1) Which is your favorite James Bond movie?

2) Without using search can you recall in which movie(s) George Lazenby portrayed 007?

3) Will you see Skyfall in the theater or wait to watch it at home or on a plane?

Posted in Advertising, Film and television, Franchises, Marketing stuff | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The days the East Coast world stood still

Posted on October 31, 2012 by markkolier

I had not planned on working at home just yet but necessity being the mother of invention, I am now living a possibility I only talked about.  And no I am not yet sure if I like it or not but am attempting to evaluate the experience as it happens.

Hurricane Sandy has come and gone (mostly), but the impact on 50 million Americans daily lives is sure to be felt for a long time.  I won’t post photos as there are so many vivid ones that can be easily viewed – as long as you have internet service.

From a corporate perspective, being that I no longer have employees on a payroll I feel much more at ease than if had a number of people that were being paid but not able to work.   There’s a big difference between understanding the human element of a disaster and having a company pay employees while they are unable to be productive.   And right now people cannot work normally, and may not on the U.S. east coast until next week.  I wonder if cases could be made for businesses applying for Federal Disaster Relief?

Professional service businesses have to find a way to keep performing during a crisis even if it is a huge undertaking.   How a business handles the crisis can pay great dividends if done correctly.  The converse is also true.

A friend of mine who operates a number of restaurants in and around Connecticut sent out the following message Tuesday morning:

To everyone in the greater CT area –

By 12:00 today we hope to have all of the Barcelonas the Bartacos open, with the exception of Bar Taco in Port Chester.  We will have working bathrooms, outlets available for charging, and free WiFi for internet.   Please feel free to come in and use them as you like.

No purchase required;  in fact, feel free to bring in your own food, if you like.

Wishing everyone a safe and speedy recovery,

Andy@Barcelona

I think that’s just about the perfect way to handle a situation and yes I know I am biased but glad that I have friends who think and act this way.

We are also dealing with our own challenges running the www.yourcover.com business since currently our offices and printing facilities are without power – with no timetable on its return.  While we can keep our customers informed, shipping out physical orders has been delayed and we are working on alternative solutions.

With no train or subway service to, from, or in Manhattan, it does not seem as if I will be in the big town for a while.   The disconnect between people is palpable and even if only a few days old, just a bit odd.    The world for many has become very small and insular.

It’s not quite the days the earth stood still, but I do believe the secondary impact from Sandy in loss of business and how far it will set people and companies back, will be greater than people yet realize.

These are the days the U.S. East Coast world stood still.   I’m already tired of standing.

Posted in Best business practices, Customer Experiences | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hey Sandy – how a catastrophic storm becomes a content marketing opportunity

Posted on October 27, 2012 by markkolier

On Friday I posted http://wp.me/pn6jX-GN about the barrage of campaign ads in advance of U.S. Election Day next week. While the political ad storm continues in full force, right now the East Coast of the U.S. is experiencing what some have called ‘Frankenstorm’ – a onetime hurricane named Sandy who is doing much more than saying ‘Arf’.

Through the lens of marketing I advance that there are some real missed opportunities. And I don’t think it’s because of professional restraint in not capitalizing on people’s misfortune. I’m not that much (or that kind) of a dreamer. Maybe it’s just that marketers have not thought about it yet.

News programs almost gleefully have been offering their coverage of residents from Florida to Maine preparing for the storm. If I did not know better I’d say that broadcast and satellite television/radio networks were working as content providers for local hardware stores (local True-Value or Ace Hardware for example), and big box DIY stores like Lowe’s and Home Depot. In fact I wonder why Lowe’s and Home Depot don’t have ads in the can ready to be brought out in circumstances like a would-be devastating storm to drive people into their stores? After all, they are not even paying for the content created by newspapers, networks, cable television and radio stations.

Under the auspice of protecting and informing the public the media plays the fear card for one primary reason. It gets people to watch, listen and talk about the latest ‘storm of the century’. Here we are only twelve years into the century and I’d bet that moniker has been used for at least three storms if not more and we have 88 years yet to go!

I don’t want to make light of what is and can be responsible journalism which informs the public of imminent and potential risks. And given the downside to being under-prepared, being over-prepared is always the better way to go. However the unbelievable amount of content being provided that could be leveraged to drive in-store sales of countless items (way more than just flashlights and bottled water), is shocking to me in its omission.

If I were helping a hardware store or DIY store I’d be writing articles, and linking to all kinds of relevant content having to do with storm preparations, reparations, ways to pass the time during the storm (with and without power). It would not be a bad idea to promote old-fashioned board games leading up to the storm.

It’s not my intention to be callous or uncaring. Perhaps a bit opportunistic – but I have to admit I’m surprised I’ve not seen the content produced for an event like ‘Sandy’ leveraged to help drive sales of necessary and unnecessary items.

In advance of a storm like this we all know that some people will experience tremendous problems with flooding, loss of property and other personal items. I truly hope there will be no loss of life. And when it comes to Sandy’s departure we can all take solace that the sun will come out tomorrow.

Posted in Advertising, Marketing stuff, Media | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Hang on Florida Election Day is almost here

Posted on October 26, 2012 by markkolier

Since I live in a state (Connecticut) which is in the greater New York City area, I and my fellow area residents are not subjected to the constant barrage of ads related to Election Day in the U.S. on Tuesday November 6th. It’s enough that in Connecticut residents listening to radio or watching television are being subjected to the constant and nasty on-air ads from Linda McMahon and Chris Murphy who are vying for retiring U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman’s seat.

I was in Florida two weeks ago and while the occasion was happy and the weather great, the seemingly unending string of television ads from Barack Obama and Mitt Romney was more aggravating than walking past three jackhammers operating in unison. With just about ten days to go until Election Day, the amount of money that has been and will be spent on the airwaves (at premium ad prices BTW) is staggering. The two campaigns will have raised a total of more than $2 billion much of that invested in advertising. Great for the networks and the ad agencies that create the ads, (none from ours or any that I know personally), but incredibly annoying for everyone else.

Most political analysts actually do agree on one thing – that less than 10% of the population remains undecided. This means that the registered voters who may be influenced by the ads number less than 17 million people. To me, it’s an appalling amount of money that will be spent – in particular when you think what that $300 million could do to actually help Americans – find work, build roads, or any number of constructive things.

The barrage in Florida is being replicated in the other ‘battleground’ states – Ohio, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Virginia just to name a few. I am thankful to not be traveling to any of those places in the next ten days.

Do you do what I do when you hear or see a political ad come on the air (be it radio or television) – turn it off or tune it out? I’m sick of it and have been for quite a while and (thankfully) can only imagine how Floridians might be feeling.

Hang in there Florida the noise will stop soon. Maybe just not soon enough.

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Will I ever buy another laptop again?

Posted on October 24, 2012 by markkolier

On Tuesday October 23rd Apple introduced its smaller tablet called the iPad Mini. Later this week Microsoft is launching its new tablet called the Microsoft Surface. It will run on software called RT (not the forthcoming Windows 8) at first but eventually I believe it will be moved over to Windows 8 as well. I think it’s no small coincidence that both of these new products are being introduced to the world in the same week.

Why do I wonder if I will ever buy another laptop again? The statistics only begin to tell the story. Reports of declining computer shipments (both desktop and laptop) already point in the direction of the demise of ‘traditional’ computers. A tablet with a completely virtual keyboard (when oh when?!) with full wireless, wi-fi AND cloud storage for $50 will be the future (in fact there have been some futurists that predict the Google Nexus will be $49 as soon as next year). The integration of voice-recognition technology improving on the likes of Siri or Google Voice will make tablet ‘computing’ (when will we stop calling it ‘computing’? – and what will it be called if not computing?), an even better experience than could have been imagined ten years ago.

David Pogue’s column in today’s New York Times http://nyti.ms/WIB7IY offers an even-handed review of the forthcoming Microsoft Surface. I agree with Mr. Pogue that it is very odd that the biggest problem with the Surface is the software integration itself. Microsoft offering below par software is unheard of but that seems to be the consensus with regard to the Surface. It will get better fast and the release has as much to do with being out a shade earlier than Apple’s new iPad Mini than anything else. I do feel that the Surface’s inability to connect to the internet via cellular networks (like the Amazon Kindle) is a big detraction.

Think about things not five years from now but three years from now. Cloud storage of documents and applications will be much more acceptable, Tablets will have matured beyond where they are today, portability will continue to be more important (who wants to carry around a 5 pound laptop brick?) and hopefully the ability of all tablets to connect to the internet will go beyond wi-fi access. That is to say that cellular connection ability will have to be part of all tablets until wi-fi is ubiquitous and that future still seems to be more than a few years away.

I expect that I will be able to hold out from buying a new laptop. At present I am using a laptop that is indeed more like a brick – heavy, limited and what I really use it for is to connect to the internet and for remote log-ins. The new tablets can do all that and much more. The typing thing is still critical to me but I know the options improve every day.

How about you – are you done with laptops forevermore?

Posted in Innovation, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments