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Posts Tagged ‘content marketing’

5 Reasons You Need A Map

Friday, May 7th, 2010

Not NAP! I said MAP, with an “m”.

Travel and tourism folks, be advised: everyone wants a map of your area. Everyone. And there’s little debate as to whether you should use digital or dead trees.

Use both.

Provide digital maps for their ease of use. Provide paper maps for their familiarity. Just as long as you are the navigator, the one that shows up with map-in-hand.

But since we’re primarily digital guys, we want to focus on those. I personally think everyone can use them. And below are 5 reasons why:

Layers
One great benefit of having maps online is being able to layer activities and destinations. Almost all the maps that you find online will have some layers that you can add and subtract, giving users the ability to refine their browsing as they search. Also, it’s a way for readers to aggregate information the way they want to. Here’s a good example (with cool auto zoom!) from the Butler County, Ohio CVB.

Personality
Maps don’t have to be just the same old boring, “here’s how to get from A to B”. Modern marketing is all about drilling down and communicating with your audience, right? Well, use your map to help do that. Check out this map from the Kansas Sampler Foundation. Chicken Fried steak map? You bet.

Membership
Maps are great ways to give members of your organization more exposure than just their write up on your page. For businesses, a map can help increase visibility for service partnerships. For DMOs, it’s a great way to showcase your area and at the same time provide more value to businesses you work with. Here’s a map of state parks in the region that we did last year for the Southern West Virginia CVB. On this site, we went with a separate map for every member category.

Tons Of Info
Another reason you need maps: They can share an amazing amount of info over a wide variety of categories, with locations thrown in gratis. Ever try to do that with text? I can tell you, it sucks. And I’m a writer. Give me a map any day. Don’t believe it? Check out this map of the northern U.S. and Canadian Rockies, and imagine trying to display all that information with just words.

Off The Beaten Path
Maps are being introduced with more and more functionality, including online maps that go way beyond driving directions. Many DMO’s have good reason to create all kinds of maps that get to the road (or path) less traveled, and now it’s easy. Or easier. These excellent examples of hiking maps from Backpacker Magazine are interesting, informative, and provide exactly the kind of content their readers expect. Tourism operators can be thinking of ways they can do the same thing.

Three big key points to keep in mind for tourism maps:

Google is king for functionality.

Non-tech folks can make simple maps for themselves and embed them easily, and more functionality can be added by pros.

Drill down as much as possible when you create your layers.

Go for specifics; it will appeal to a smaller audience, but it’ll include more people who are really interested (as with most new media).

Geotag everything.

The more information you have associated with a piece of content, the easier it will be for people to find you, and find what they’re looking for. Here’s the wiki on geotagging.

So, those are some of the ways people are thinking about maps. How about you? Feel free to share some examples.
Big thanks to #tourismchat and Anne Hornyak for the inspiration for this post, and for all the participants for providing links. #tourism chat is on Twitter every other Thursday at 3pm EST.

Tags: content, content marketing, content strategy, maps, tourism, Web Development
Posted in Content Creation | 4 Comments »

I Laughed, I Cried, I SOBCon-ed

Monday, May 3rd, 2010

Here is what I envisioned: I would post the definitive, penultimate, consummate recap blog post about SOBCon 2010.

After all, it was my first time attending the conference. Who doesn’t want to get a “totally new and fresh perspective” from someone as new and fresh (not to mention witty) as myself? It would be like looking at SOBCon with brand new eyes!

As the newbie often learns, there’s a better way to do it. One of my favorite SOBCon panelists, Steve Woodruff, posted the official-and-conclusive best SOBCon recap yesterday with “The Official Post-Conference Re-Cap Blog Post Template”.

I was disappointed that I only got the chance to briefly introduce myself to Steve during the conference. Now I’m crushed. Yes, the post is brilliant, but there’s more.

What he had to say on the panel about battling depression mirrored my own experience. I know that I’ve never heard anyone so open and honest about it, and neither have you (here’s his background post, “Clearing Clouds”). How refreshing. And BTW, this is the first I’ve ever said anything about my own battles with depression. Steve’s example showed me that I really have nothing to hide.

So, you want to turn “transparency” from buzzword to real life? Follow Steve Woodruff’s example.

Which is exactly what I intend to do with this post. He wrote a template; I love templates! And I know he meant it with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek, but I’m running with it. So here goes, with Steve’s template as a point of reference…

I Laughed, I Cried, I SOBCon-ed

I had a wonderful time. That’s a blunt way to start, but if I’m summarizing the whole SOBCon experience, I can’t be any more plain than that. It was awesome. Fabulous. If I was a guy that used exclaimation points without irony, I’d use them, without reservation, about SOBCon 2010 (!).

Terry Starbucker and Liz Strauss started the whole thing off with the word “love”. And I have to say, never having been before, I thought that was setting the bar, um, kind of high. You know what I mean? I was thinking business. Community building. Learning. Not love. I was wrong. My thanks to them and the sponsors for hosting, sharing, and teaching some love.

Here’s what I learned: Action makes the difference. Nearly every speaker echoed this sentiment in some way, most by example. Sheila Scarborough and Becky McCray did it with a session on how they invented and launched their business Tourism Currents. Extreme Leadership author Steve Farber did it by diagramming his Greater Than Yourself program. Chris Brogan did it by being Chris Brogan. And reformed Master Of The Universe Hank Wasiak did it best for me by giving away these 4 beautiful, actionable words rooted in Asset Based Thinking: Tell The Truth Fast (it’s the “fast” part that makes all the difference).

One real shocker was the uber-prevalence of a totally new technology in the digital marketing world: paper and pen. It starts up every time (another @sheilaS-ism). Going to have to check it out when it’s out of beta. Other than that, not much to report, except that I got silly putty all over my iphone case and had to get a new one (long story).

(skipping optional paragraph 5, if you’re following along at home -Ben)

Oh, and one more Chris Brogan thing: You can’t eat a hug. Chris was pretty up front about his ramen-noodle, living-on-a-prayer past which I didn’t know about (I think I was the only one there that didn’t maybe? I don’t know), and I love the paradox in his work that’s central right here: the more you give, the more you get, even when you’re dirt poor.

I didn’t get to hang out with nearly the number of people I wanted to (I’m looking at you, Julie Roads). But rather than focus on the misses, I’m going to say that I was amazed that I got to spend time with a ton of brilliant folks (Shashi Bellamkonda, Lorelle Van Fossen, Dave Barger, Jay Jay French (!), Steve Sherlock, George Kruger, Mary-Lynn Foster, Estrella Rosenberg, Angel Djambazov) including the incredible Glenda Watson Hyatt. I walked back to the hotel with her from the party on night 1, and read through her I’ll Do It Myself blog later that night. Holy. Moly. If you don’t know her, you should. And SOBCon 2011 can’t come soon enough.

Anyway, there’s a community out there for everyone, and I’m pretty fortunate in that I think I found mine at SOBCon.

Remember, you can’t eat a hug. But you can come pretty close. Thanks, SOBCon.

Tags: blogs, business relationships, content, content marketing, Digital Marketing, Inspiration, leadership, marketing strategy
Posted in Thanks | 5 Comments »

Quiet, Please

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010

I used to have a bad, bad problem with putting my foot in my mouth.

I mean really bad. I’ve asked fat women if they’re pregnant, inquired about the status of dead spouses, and mocked the developmentally disabled for being drunk.

And I’m a nice guy. I genuinely meant no ill will. But due to circumstances that I wasn’t able to perceive, I was left looking like, for want of a better term, a total jackass.

Check that. There is no better term for want of.

But, just so people understand, I’m not malicious, or stupid. It’s just that, when your foot goes into your mouth, you look both malicious and stupid.

Now imagine reliving that one embarrassing moment when your toes pass your teeth and your foot lodges ankle deep in your primary speaking orifice forever, with thousands of people watching. They share your horrible experience as an example to others on behavior and ettiquite. Did I mention that this moment lives on forever?

Oh. Yes I did. Twice. In italics.

So here’s a tip that my social inept brain learned to send my social media brain: be quiet.

Quiet solves so many problems, it’s amazing there isn’t more empty space on the internet. But that’s a question for another post.

The gist here is that, just because you have a cursor, it doesn’t mean you have to curse. Er, speak. There are some rules of thumb to remember in social media concerning the sound of silence…

No One Looks Good In A Fight On The Internet Notice how movie villains always have the polite lines in the evil scenes? There’s a reason for that. The context around what they’re saying makes them darker. Thing is, the internet rids speech of context. There’s no inflection, and there isn’t enough text in social media to give context to speech (It’s why people use emoticons, BTW). That’s why, when arguments happen on the internet, it’s so easy for others to ridicule. Avoid arguing online.

The Internet Is A Great Place To Have An Opinion And it’s a terrible place to tell someone that they’re wrong. Part of it, again, is context. The other part of it is space. People have social media space, just as they have personal space. You wouldn’t get all up in someone’s grill, as the common parlance has it. So don’t do it online.

Better To Remain Quiet And Be Thought A Jackass than to start typing and remove all doubt. It’s an old saying right? Well, how do you think sayings get old? They’re true. And online, it goes back to that whole forever thing. If you say something inappropriate, it eventually gets forgotten (usually. certain restrictions apply). But if you post something inappropriate, it’s out there for as long as you’re online. Longer.

The echo chamber of the internet sounds the loudest when it says this one word: Listen.

Tags: content, content marketing, getting started in social media, social media mistakes, twitter
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

4 Ways Web Writing Is Like Dog Training

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

I know the internet is run by cats and all, but I’m a dog lover.

I’m just naturally that way. Maybe it’s from when my brother’s cat did a 90 MPH run over the couch on my face. Or when my wife’s cat pooped in my Christmas present.

I can’t make something like that up.

And I’m a big enough person to admit that it’s me, not you, cats. As a species, you can’t be be trained, mostly, and you’re just too demanding of me, wanting me to hold my legs still so you can rub against them. What’s up with that?

Maybe that’s why I’m a web writer (stay with me). Writing for the web is a lot like training a dog.

Here’s what I mean…

-It’s Going To Be Messy At First Take a look back at my earliest posts. I’ve always been a writer, but I most definitely have not always been a web writer. “Text is messy as hell,” says content strategist Christina Halvorson. Maybe she was talking about new web writers. You never know.

-For Best Results, Use Comfortable Surroundings I can’t say that I started off liking my text editor, or even wordpress. I’m a Pages guy (insert Mac fanboy crack here). It took a while for me to get used to working, not just writing, in different formats. But now that I have, I can stare at a black page in pretty much any format and chew it up (get it? With the whole metaphor and everything?)

-Repetition, Repetition, and Something Else To be a writer, you’ve got to write. Don’t ever create a blog post that says, “Sorry for not posting in so long.” If you do, then the terrorists win. And in this case, when I say terrorists, I mean cats.

-Lots Of Treats, All The Time Writers need praise way more than they need criticism. And that’s going to come from yourself, not the masses. Sorry to break it to you that way. Don’t beat yourself up as a web writer. It’s just not worth it. Know how many blogs there are? 14 million or so. If your voice is important at all, it needs to be important to you. So don’t go hitting yourself on the nose with a rolled up newspaper (remember those?). You’d look dumb.

I’m brilliant for even coming up with this metaphor. My dog is 14, and isn’t trained at all. But he does everything I ask him to. I guess he’s pretty much trained himself.

Like most web writers.

Tags: blogs, content, content marketing, Copywriting, motivation, writing
Posted in Content Creation | No Comments »

How To Write Like James Dean’s Face

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

James Dean was a man of few words, and it showed. When he made a point (“You’re tearing me apart!”), you knew it. No questions.

If you know what your point is, here’s what you should do:

Put it at the top. First. Up front.

In practice, it’s tougher than it sounds. Most people (and too many marketers are included in this group) aren’t comfortable writing or designing this way. There has to be some pre-get-to-the-point staging for them.

This is especially true when given a canvas such as the web and a palette like web design. So many options. Businesses get tempted to throw everything up on a screen to see what sticks.

Everything is a terrible option. When you choose everything, what you neglect is focus. Instead of having a point, you have a blob. If your blob is big enough, yes, you can take over the world with it. Just like in the movies.

You’re not the blob. You’re not trying to take over the world. Your business can’t use that method, so you have to focus.

But isn’t that a brilliant paradox? The more you try to say, the less effective you are at saying it. It’s an old adage, but sometimes it just hits you over the head.

Those are the times you should listen.

James Dean said more in the back of a convertible with a cowboy hat pushed down over his face than most people will say in a lifetime.

Less is more. Choose your words carefully.

Tags: blogs, business relationships, content, content marketing, Copywriting, Digital Marketing
Posted in Copywriting | No Comments »

It’s Basic Diction, Y’all

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

That’s right. I used “y’all”. And I’m not stupid for doing it.

English doesn’t have a good non-gender specific objective plural pronoun. Really. Seems like that’s something we wouldn’t have forgotten to include over the years. But there it is.

Plus, I’m from the south, so I get to pick and choose at will when I can use the word. It’s a thing we have- ask around.

A lot of people might write me off as soon as they see the word “y’all”. There are attitudes and stigmas and predispositions associated with it that no amount of persuasion can help.

But I use it anyway. Sometimes. If the situation is right. Call it artistic license. (And the same thing goes for grammar. Double.)

Correct word choice depends on more factors than calculus. Audience. Style. Tone. Structure. They all play a part in what words you use, and also whether you decide to go out there and dangle your participle for the whole world to see. Embrace it.

Because word police are cold, sad people whose mamas didn’t love them.

But they’re not entirely wrong. There’s a difference between the diction mistakes a writer makes intentionally and, well, all the other mistakes a writer makes.

So, like I said, I’m not stupid for using “y’all”. But I would be if I didn’t realize what goes into choosing the word. If I wrote an article for the WSJ that used “Y’all” without the quotation marks, the editor’s head would explode, Scanners-style. But if I included it in a column in the AJC, the Atlanta paper, I’m one of the family.

Same thing goes with your blog. Your word choice calls to the audience you’re looking for. Blogs are informal by nature. Put your sales writing in one at your own peril. Choose your words.

But choose them carefully. If your diction is screwed, so are you. Don’t say “It is readily apparent” when you should use “See?”

(Same goes with grammar, BTW.)

You can have the best design in the world, but if your words are all wrong, your site will suck.

Correction: Y’all’s site will suck.

Tags: blogs, content, content marketing, Copywriting, writing
Posted in Content Creation | 1 Comment »

Building In Glitches

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

For your web writing, I think you should build in some glitches.

A glitch is different than a mistake. A glitch breaks up the surface. A glitch makes people slow down. It’s a speed bump of text.

You can describe a writing glitch as anything that makes you human. I read a lot about transparency in web writing. I think those are glitches.

If your web writing is smooth and seamless, good luck. That type of copy has been written and distributed widely by the Fortune 500 for 70 years.

A better strategy is to break things up, give it a voice, and let the audience it speaks to find it.

To do that, you have to slow things down a bit.

Tags: blogs, content, content marketing, marketing strategy, web writing, writing
Posted in Digital Marketing | No Comments »

How To Make Great Marketing In One Easy Step

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

Care.

That’s it. If you care about your marketing, most of the labor is done. It’s what Seth Godin calls emotional labor, and in our economy, nothing means more.

If you care about your marketing, you’re necessarily going to manage the details. Caring creates more work, but if you really care, that’s what you’re looking for.

Your site is going to match your collateral pieces, because you cared enough to realize that design is your first impression. Your message will be the crux of who you are, because you hired a writer to help craft it. You cared enough to spend more time on your strategy than your tactics.

You blog because you care. You pile up your photostream because you care. You spend time using social media to connect people, not to sell, because you care.

In Gary Vaynerchuk’s presentation last week at SXSW, he cared enough to:

-Greet everyone coming into the auditorium at the door personally.

-Not use powerpoint.

-Call out a Johnson & Johnson marketer (in a friendly way) for having an agency tweet for them.

-End his presentation with some spontaneous rap and beat boxing at the Q and A microphones.

One point that really struck me about the emotional labor that Gary puts in was what he had to say about projects. He made the (totally believable in his case) point that once he decided to take on a project, he had already succeeded at it.

Not because everything always works out for Gary. Because he’s interested in the process. If you care enough about the process, the result is great marketing.

And we all know what the results of that are.

Tags: blogs, business relationships, business trust, content, content marketing, getting started in social media, marketing mindset, marketing strategy
Posted in Inspiration | No Comments »

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