Despite all the shiny new things at the Mobile World Congress, content is still the key to marketing success. BARCELONA — Robots, connected cars, virtual reality rides and 5G devices are the shiny things that line the show floor here at the Mobile World Congress (MWC). But content is still king, said Vice Media CEO Shane Smith. "What are you going to fill the pipes with? All of the data and algorithms in the world can only take you so far," he said during a morning keynote at the event, which attracted more than 101,000 attendees from over 200 countries and more than 2,200 exhibitors. But content has to be reimagined for the always on, multiple screen world in which the same viewer might want to watch Michael Phelps win a gold medal, find out his age, see who he is dating and then tweet about it all a […]

If you thought your research days were over when you graduated from high school or college, think again. If you create any kind of content as part of your role, your arguments should be well-supported with data. Why is research so important? It makes your claims credible, your content authoritative, and helps you earn more social shares and backlinks. In fact, an analysis of over one million articles from Moz and BuzzSumo revealed that research-backed content generates more shares and more backlinks than other content types. The thing is, finding the research to cite is tough sometimes. The original source data can be hard to track down and citations might be incorrect or missing, among other issues. For all of you content creators, bloggers, SEOs, and market researchers, we feel your pain. So we put together a comprehensive list of sources with original research data about all things marketing. […]

The Internet is a noisy, overcrowded place. Building momentum for your brand is often an uphill battle, and getting your audience to buy in can be daunting. So, how do you get people to take you seriously? How can you go from being just a little fish in a vast ocean to becoming a recognizable brand or even a household name? One strategy that’s proven to be effective is influencer marketing. The number of brands using this strategy has grown exponentially over the past few years. In fact, “interest in influencer marketing has risen more than 90x from 2013 to the present.” Here are some other stats to give you a better idea of the state of this strategy at the moment: “Influencer marketing content delivers 11x higher ROI than traditional forms of digital marketing.” “Twitter users report a 5.2x increase in purchase intent when exposed to promotional content […]

So, Copyblogger has been running for about 11 years now. And in all that time, we’ve never written a post about Arnold Schwarzenegger, unless you count that one time I compared long-form sales pages to the Terminator. Until this week. Entirely independently, Brian Clark and I both used the Governator to illustrate two different points about smart content creation. On Monday, Brian broke down persuasive analogies — citing a particularly effective analogy Schwarzenegger used to make an environmental point. On Tuesday, Stefanie brought a little relief by making some excellent points about why you lose business to your competitors … and how you can start to crush them. Like grapes. And on Wednesday, I explained Jonah Sachs’s idea of “ freaks, cheats, and familiars ,” using good old Arnold as an example to demonstrate all three. On Unemployable, Brian talked with Robert Bruce about the difference between good marketing […]

In 2009, whether you were a golfer or not, you likely heard about Tiger Woods. It started with a drama-filled Thanksgiving night with his wife. It ended with a public apology the following February. The superstar’s wholesome image unraveled publicly as one mistress after another came forth. Soon his marriage was lost, sponsorships gone, and fans bewildered. We were left wondering: Who was the real Tiger Woods anyway? Was everything we thought about him just a sham? Woods didn’t need a consultant to help him with his brand. He needed a therapist. He stated this himself in a somewhat bizarre 14-minute public apology. He also could have benefited from a crisis communications expert. But most importantly, Woods needed to figure out his identity – who he was and who he wanted to be. Identity is the foundation for authentic living. Many companies need to refocus on identity as well. […]

It’s no surprise that after all the time and energy you put into creating a blog post, you want it to generate the reads and engagements you feel it deserves. Researching, developing, and writing blog posts is only the first half of content marketer’s jobs. The other half of the day consists of making sure that all of your hard work creating the post doesn’t go to waste. Promoting your blog posts on the right platforms and through the right channels is vital if you want your content to be read. But promotion is a tricky subject. And most of the time, it includes paid social advertising campaigns that are poorly managed and don’t see strong results. With this as the norm, it’s no surprise that some content marketers have started re-posting their blog content on other domains to maximize its visibility. While this may seem like a good […]