Specialists go deep. Generalists go wide. Both are valuable.
Continue reading “How to Write About Anything: The Generalist Content Creator’s Advantage”
The right publishing frequency is the one you can sustain indefinitely—not the most ambitious schedule you can manage for a month.
Continue reading “The Long Game: Why Consistent Content Beats Viral Every Time”
By Linda Pophal, MA, SPHR · Strategic Communications, LLC
A case study is a detailed, evidence-based account of how a specific client or customer achieved a measurable outcome using a product, service, or approach. Case studies are told in narrative form to help prospective buyers understand what results are possible and how they might be achieved in their own context. A well-written case study is one of the most persuasive content formats available to B2B marketers because it combines social proof (‘someone like me has done this’) with specificity (‘here’s exactly what happened and what it produced’).
I’ve written a lot of case studies over the years for clients across industries, in formats ranging from one-page snapshots to 3,000-word deep dives. Over that time I’ve read even more: the ones clients show me as examples of what they want, the ones competitors publish, the ones that show up as thought leadership assets in B2B sales cycles.
Continue reading “How to Write a Case Study That Actually Converts”
By Linda Pophal, MA, SPHR · Strategic Communications, LLC
Interviewing subject matter experts for content marketing is the practice of conducting structured conversations with domain specialists like executives, practitioners, researchers, or clients to gather original insights, stories, and perspectives that form the foundation of high-quality written content.
Done well, the expert interview is the single most powerful tool available to content marketers for producing material that is genuinely authoritative and distinctively voiced.
Continue reading “The Art of the Interview: How to Get Better Stories from Subject Matter Experts”
Whether you’re writing a brochure, copy for a newspaper ad, a script for a radio announcement, or a page or blog for your web site, there are some tried and true techniques that can help you make sure that your copy gets the results you’re looking for.
Think about writing copy as making a sales pitch to a customer. Your goal is to persuade that customer to do something–most likely to purchase your product or service. Here’s how: Continue reading “10 Copywriting Tips to Get Better Results”
A business contact of mine asked me recently about my thoughts on the value of blogs for generating revenue and the opportunity that may exist for writers to generate content for blogs.
Personally, I think the whole field of blogging is Continue reading “Blogging Best Practices”
Content is king, as the saying goes, and that’s certainly true in a digital world. Consumer appetite for content is at an all-time high and continuing to grow. That’s great for organizations that have well-oiled content creation teams in place to meet the demand. For others, though, developing content on a regular basis that is high-quality and focused on issues and topics that resonate with their audiences can be a challenge. The gig economy can help. A wide range of freelancers and contract content creators are available to organizations to help produce content for any format. Continue reading “Best Practices for Finding Freelancers: Top Go-To Sources of Talent”
While publishers continue to battle for audience, relevance, and engagement, some niche publishers are quietly making an impact—and money—from narrowcasting. Consider, for example, the following:
Emu Today & Tomorrow, a magazine for emu farmers
Twins, a magazine for parents of multiples, which launched in 1984
Spudman, a publication for potato farmers
The Chimney Sweep News, serving a decidedly niche market of chimney sweepers as the name suggests
These and other publications are finding success by casting a narrow net to appeal to smaller, more exclusive market segments. Publishers can draw inspiration and insight from the retail sector.
Continue reading “What Niche Publishers Know That Mass Media Overlooks”
Social media marketing is an inexpensive and effective way to engage with your target market and position yourself as a thought leader. But to make it an effective tool, you need to be diligent in keeping your content up-to-date and post regularly. An infrequently-updated blog or social media page with stale posts can actually do more harm than good to your brand and engagement efforts. But many small business owners struggle to find the time to keep their social media profile up to date.
One solution to this is to use a content calendar.
