Tips to Make Your Marketing Unique

October 10, 2011 By 10 Comments

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A unique and innovative businessman


I was sad to hear about the death of Steve Jobs last week.

As a life long Mac user, Steve has done a massive amount to shape my life and career. From the moment I got a Mac at university in Trondheim, I fell in love with computers that were easy to use, elegant and friendly.

Over the year’s I’ve had six lap tops, three desktops, a couple of ipods, iphones and now an ipad. Apple also drive my intenet network around the office.

The thing I admire most about Steve was his ability to stick to his guns. He launched coloured, flavoured computers in the 90s when everyone else was making sleek black slabs. He took on the music industry and changed the way we buy music, and then gave the phone a real kick up the backside withe launch of the iPhone. As I ride the metro here in Stockholm I’m amazed at the amount of iPhones I see. Just last week I sat opposite a teen, probably 13 or so, fiddling with his iPhone 4. The thirteen year old I once was could not have imagined the access to the world this lad had from the device in his pocket. Truly amazing.

As a business owner and someone that works with online marketing and content creation, I’m a firm believer in trying to find my own unique voice.

This podcast is all about finding your own voice too. [Read more...]

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Is Amateur Hour Over for B2B Content Marketers?

October 15, 2010 By 3 Comments

Mr Apple himself, Steve Jobs, recently upset a few people by claiming that people don’t want “amateur hour” on TV; they want “Hollywood movies and TV shows”.

Now I’m sure that Jobs was just trying to be provocative (and promoting his new toy at the same time); after all, Apple is the company who gave us desktop publishing, Garageband and iMovie. His comment still got me thinking though about B2B content marketing. There are, after all, stacks of companies that create a lot of in-house content that is a bit more homemade than the polished material some content agencies churn out.

Personally, I love it when a CEO makes a video with a Flip camera and really engages with the audience, talking about a particular issue. I really appreciate it when a corporation takes the time (and good sense) to communicate in a crisis via the business blog, answering questions and engaging in a more day-to-day tone, rather than stilted PR Speak.

Trouble is, I don’t think everyone is like me. Lots of people like glossed, stylish, well-made “professional” looking content. That’s my feeling at least after a few recent conversations.

A few things to think about:

Do stakeholders and customers really want to bother with:

  • traditional business blogs (as opposed to the “pro” blogs that are more like newspapers)
  • homemade YouTube flicks, shot with a Flip camera
  • poor audio podcasts
  • crummy PDFs that are a hassle to download?

Have we got to the stage where quality content – really well produced, well written, hi-fi material – is what companies should be aspiring to on the web now it’s no longer in its infancy and digital skills have rapidly taken off?
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The iPad Will Change Your Marketing Strategy

March 12, 2010 By 1 Comment

With the launch of the iPad on March 12, 2010 Apple started a new era in online content marketing.

Ever since the iPhone appeared Steve Jobs and Co have been getting you used to the idea of reading on a digital device, of having access to the Net in the palm of your hand, of reading online newspapers and magazines in the browser and books via Kindle iPhone app. Just ask the 33.75 million who’ve bought them.

apple-ipad

A game-changer for digital marketing?

When Apple ships the first generation iPad on April 3, that reading experience is going to get a whole lot more slicker. Marketing strategy folks around the world will no doubt sit up and pay attention.
As more people adopt the iPad, and Apple competitors come out with cheaper clones, we’re likely to see a massive growth in the number of people reading digital content in the palm of their hand.

Discover how I can help your content marketing campaign with outstanding content!

What the iPad Means to Marketers

With more and more people reading on digital devices like tablets –and this will come given our increasing preference for (mobile) digital over print– there’s a wonderful opportunity for your business to provide customers and prospects with a variety of excellent digital content.

Blogs and websites are great to read on a computer and we’re pretty happy to do so. And I’m sure they’ll be just as popular on tablet PCs like the iPad. But I think ebooks will boom in popularity.

For starters, the landscape delivery of well-designed ebooks (Joseph Jaffe’s latest offering The Customer Service Manifesto is simply gorgeous) makes for a better reading experience. I expect that to improve even more when the iPad lands.

Then there’s the launch of the iBook Store. This will probably do for text what iTunes have done for digital music. Imagine if you can get the latest copy of your favourite magazine from the iBook Store. No more queuing in the newsagents. No more paper to recycle. That’s a whole market waiting to explode onto tablet screens in homes all around the world.

Ebooks and Digital Marketing Strategy

[Read more...]

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