Content Marketing Archives - Page 2 of 3 - WeGrowMedia

Most of Your Website Visitors Never Even See Your Homepage

In a guest post for Jane Friedman, I share reasons why you may be spending too much time worrying about what your website homepage looks like:

“For many sites I have worked with, fewer than 20% of visitors even see the homepage. Instead, they spend their time on blog pages, the About page, events pages, or other “interior pages” of the website. Why? Because most people find your site via search engines, social media, links from other websites, or newsletter. This is why search engine optimization, social media, and related topics are so powerful and commonly discussed when trying to develop your audience. They provide context by which to engage people.”

Read the full post here.

Thanks so much to Jane Friedman for hosting this piece!
-Dan

Author Entrepreneur Case Study: The Happiness Project

I’m offering a course on how to become an Author Entrepreneur, turning your book idea into a business. What does this mean? Someone who has as much business savvy as creative vision. Today, I want to present a case study of a successful author entrepreneur, and pull out key lessons for others looking to follow in her footsteps.

Gretchen Rubin

“[Gretchen Rubin] has created her own cottage industry devoted to happiness (and to promoting book sales)”
– via The New York Times

Think about that: if five years ago, you told your friends and family that you are writing a book on the topic of happiness, and planned on building a “cottage industry” around it, what would they have said? Likely, they would have brushed off the idea, perhaps reminding you of the thousands of books already written on the topic, and businesses that provide products and services in this area.

But Gretchen Rubin’s success story is instructive for anyone hoping to become an author and entrepreneur. Why? Well, let’s look at three blog posts of hers to put things in context:

Happiness Project Blogs

So it took 3.5 years to get to publication, and only one month to get to the top of the New York Times Best Seller list. But this simple example obscures what she has built. Consider what she announced on the DAY of publication of her book:

Today show scheduled for January 8
Starred review in Publishers Weekly
Named one of the “10 Must-Read Books” for 2010 by Oprah’s Book Club
An American Public Media Marketplace radio interview
Woman’s Day year-long Happiness Project
Amazon Top 100 – I hit #80!

Just look at this set of logos:

Logos

Most authors would dream of this after a career of writing, but that is what Gretchen received on the very first day her book was available on store shelves. How did she do it? Because she isn’t just an author, she is an author entrepreneur, someone who has as much business savvy as creative vision. Let’s dig into how she has extended the value of her book into the “cottage industry” that The New York Times describes.

How can you get involved in The Happiness Project? Let me count the ways:

Read the blog
Buy the book
2011 Happiness Challenge
Join or start a Group to embark on your own happiness project
Happiness Project Toolbox
2012 Page-a-day calendar
Daily quote email: “Moments of happiness”
Monthly newsletter
Be a super-fan
Get a bookplate or signature card
You can email her for a copy of her Resolutions Chart (Email her at gretchenrubin1@gretchenrubin.com. Just write “chart” in the subject line.)
Videos
You can hire her for a speaking engagement
… and the usual social media channels: Twitter and Facebook

While the book is the center of the brand, she is clearly thinking beyond it. She is connecting, partnering, and continue to expand her vision of what this can be. There are no limits to form – this is more than a book.

When you view her content, you see the many ways that she extends the term “happiness” to other issues about identity, achievement, and things we struggle with to become who we want to be, lead the life we hope to, and create achievements we are proud of. You see topics such as marriage, clutter, parenthood, creativity, relationships, body, work, and others.

She is constantly delivering new ways to break into the material, to get MORE involved. You see her repackage content as things such as “Twelve Personal Commandments” or “Four Splendid Truths.” Overall, you get a sense that this is just the beginning – that Gretchen is building a business and a vision with a very long time horizon. This is about so much more than selling a book, this is about building professional relationships, connections with her audience, and something akin to a movement.

She always trying to drive deeper engagement – the end of every blog post includes an action you can take to get more involved in the Happiness Project, be it buying the book, signing up for a newsletter, or joining a group.

And this works for everyone involved. There are countless reasons for media to cover her, topics that she can speak to, and ways to deepen her connection with her audience. There are many more products and services she can offer, brand extensions she can create with partners, and the like. I wouldn’t be surprised to see workbooks with titles such as “The Happy Wedding,” “The Happy Pet,” or “The Happy Baby.”

If any of this speaks to a goal or purpose you have – if you would like to become an author entrepreneur – then please consider signing up for my 8-week online course:

Let me tell you about it:

The course provides the following:

8-week online course.
A structured curriculum, with a new lecture delivered each week, taking you step by step through the process of how to develop your writing career and the company behind it.
Weekly homework assignments that I provide feedback on to ensure that you walk away from the course having executed on the ideas we discuss.
A forum where you can ask questions, learn about what is and isn’t working for the other class members, and get past the biggest challenges you are facing.
Weekly Q&A conference calls where I answer your questions and the entire class can share insight into their experience.
An online classroom where you can access the material and learn about the other students.
BONUS: Guest Q&A calls, where publishing, business, and marketing expert takes your questions.

The price: $795.
Class begins on September 21 and ends on November 15.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.
Thanks!
-Dan

Promote an IDEA, Not a Product

I often hear this advice given to those engaging in social media:

Talk 95% about others, 5% about yourself.

Today, I want to dig in to what that might look like for an individual or brand. When considering this, I think people often INTEND to talk about others, but two things get in their way:

Their runway is short. They have a new product launching soon, and they desperately want to begin promoting it now.
They are so excited about their own work, and they assume others will be too.

This is where people tend to ADVERTISE instead of ENGAGE in social media. So how can one do both? Talk about others, while also helping to establish their own brand? Let’s ask this question within a specific context:

Should Apple should spend 95% of their time talking about others, and 5% talking about themselves?

What would that look like? Maybe something like this:

How others create beautifully designed and functional objects. These could be case studies, videos, interviews, or merely reflections on other companies that do things well.
Stories of people’s creative process: how they whittle away the unnecessary to create their work. This could focus on people from history or current day artists or designers.
Creative uses of their products: how their customers use Apple products to create vibrant businesses and creative work.
The problems in the world that Apple sees, and a focus on those who are solving them. EG: The need for green design and smaller packaging in consumer products.
Their passion for design – where they see great design elsewhere in the world.
Those who have inspired the world (and Apple) along similar values.

Apple has done some of these things in specific places, but not the exact 95/5 ratio.

There are in-between areas, where a company such as Apple talks about both others – and themselves – at the same time. So when you see those old “Think Different” ads, they featured others: Jim Henson and the like. So technically, Apple is talking about “others.” But really, they are trying to align themselves with an IDEA, then get you to buy into that idea, and by doing so, you are aligning yourself with Apple. It’s the whole:

If A = B and B = C, then A = C

…thing. So in the example above:

If the creative spirit = Jim Henson,
And Jim Henson is in an Apple ad,
Then Apple must = the creative spirit

When you promote ideas larger than yourself, you give people infinite ways to find a way in. It aligns to preconceived notions they may have had, or experiences that were meaningful to them in the past. That someone has a childhood of memories about how free and excited Sesame Street made them feel, and now as adults, those feelings are being tapped into to shape our viewpoint of Apple products. That, as someone building the image of your brand, you are somehow channeling an idea that is buried in their mind, surfacing it, and getting them to say: “YES!” to something that just happens to be two inches away from your brand.

There is a halo effect to that.

That if you believe what Jim Henson believed, then you and Apple are alike. They are friend, not foe. That, just maybe, we can trust Apple. You aren’t that tribe on the other side of the river: “other.” You are from the same place, going in the same direction.

There are also in-between areas such as a math tutor broadcasting the message: “I am so proud of my student who just got into Harvard. Nice to see our hard work together pay off.” So here, the teacher is talking about someone else, but also talking about the value of their own work, and aligning themselves with the reputation of Harvard.

The Apple ads above are quite old. Nowadays, Apple does this by showing off innovative apps for their iPad and iPhone devices. Sure, they are promoting others, but in doing so, promoting the capabilities of Apple’s own devices.

Another interesting example can be seen in 37 Signals. Their homepage does indeed talk 95% about THEMSELVES.

But… their wildly popular company blog does talk about others. It shares a range of things about their viewpoint as a company, who inspires them, about trends that they feel threaten the things they value. In fact, most of the posts are somehow related to themselves, but it’s not always directly promotional. They are taking a layer off, bringing you inside to connect with their ideas, their employees, and those in their community. And you know what: it works. It’s an incredible resource because of HOW they talk about things. They aren’t promotional, they are exploratory, they are creating a worldview.

In your own use of social media, it would involve ReTweeting others as much as sharing your own observations; It would mean including @names liberally; It would mean sharing the INSPIRATION for what you do, not just the sales pitch for what you do.

That, when you talk about ANYTHING, you are promoting an IDEA, not just a product.

I think this is why I (and many others) constantly use Apple as an example. Sure, they are always promoting a product for us to buy. But, they also try to show us what great design is, that it is more than a list of features, that what you remove is as important as what you add.

Steve Jobs talks about this in the 1990’s:

“The focus is about saying no. And the result of that focus will be some really great products, where the total is much greater than the sum of the parts.”

When engaging in social media, this is something to keep in mind. That what you share, that how you interact reflects on your brand and overall message in subtle ways. That when someone says: talk more about others than about yourself, they mean to support, help and give more than you ask or take. And that this will come back to you in thousands of small positive ways.

It is a long term strategy. In that same Steve Jobs video that I mentioned above, he talks about the investment Apple is making in the future. This was at a time when Apple stock shares were at a historical low: in the teens. He said: when the press have a shortsighted view of what Apple is building, and they undervalue the stock, go out and buy it. The stock is now in the high 300s, and the company is one of the greatest turnaround stories in the history of business.

If you want to build something of lasting value – the foundation of a legacy – talk more about ideas rather than making an overt sales pitch.

Thanks!
-Dan

Media Companies Need To Be Developing iPad Apps Today

Yesterday I spoke at the “Custom Media Day” event in New York. About 110 people were in attendance, all from a variety of roles in large and small media companies.

One theme that came up again and again was the iPad. And it is clear to me that the iPad – today – is an opportunity that needs to be addressed. If you wait, it becomes a threat. Media companies should have learned this in the past 20 years – they waited to establish web-centric organizations, product lineups, and revenue streams, and suffered because of it.

Custom publishers have often relied on print media such as magazines as a core part of their business. Sure, we’ve all asked about whether “digital slates” would shift the marketplace, but those questions were often framed in a distant future.

Now, everyone’s perspective is changing. Because of the iPad, we KNOW the future will include this new medium. Those who are more apprehensive are asking “if” they need to address it now, or “when” will the adoption rate be significant enough to begin developing content for the iPad.

Of course, the answer to those questions is: the time is now. If you wait for everyone else to transition their business to include products and content for the iPad, it is not only a product differentiation they have over you, but an organizational differentiation. Start building those muscles from an organizational standpoint – considering how content is different, how sales is different, how interaction is different, how marketing is different.

Do experiments now – even if they are small scale and don’t deliver any business value. It’s better to learn in that manner now, than to wait, and bank the future of your company on your very first iPad venture 2 years down the road.

Here are some ways to consider why the iPad is an opportunity you need to address today:

It is a new medium, one that will require different types of products, content, and interaction. Learn what those differentiations are to your current lineup of products and services. Don’t look along traditional lines, such as only judging what magazine apps are doing on the iPad. Look at lots of games, at sketching apps, at productivity apps, at anything that requires interaction. Understand how these iPad work individually, and within the framework the iPad experience. Don’t look at how you replicate what you do now, look at what needs and behaviors make sense to address.
Understand how the competition will be able to outmaneuver you before they do. 20 years ago, newspapers would never have considered a free service such as Craigslist a threat. They would have cited bandwidth limitations, internet adoption rates, trust about online commerce, the cost of servers, and the inability for one man to scale a local service into a national phenomenon. And, while they may have been right when it comes to facts on paper, they essentially bet on all the wrong horses. That has cost the newspaper industry billions, taking away a primary source of revenue. Sitting on the sidelines with the iPad simply gives others room to explore and accept the possibilities before you do.
The biggest change the iPad will bring is not external to your company. Too many media companies underestimate the challenge of organizational change. This has a huge cost not just in dollars, but time. Most media companies are still grappling with how to evolve for the web. We are 15-20 years into the Internet age, and you still hear about reorganization after reorganization as media companies try to align their offline strategies to online strategies. Don’t underestimate the role of developing the mindset, skillset and organizational structure your employees need. Investing in the iPad will inherently be about investing in your employees.

Thanks!

-Dan

The Fallacy of “Going Viral”

Many individuals and businesses approach the web and social media with the hopes of ‘going viral.’ What this means is that they hope for a sudden and huge amount of attention to something they release – be it a company, product, blog post, video, Tweet, etc.

They hope to build in a day, what it takes even the most successful – YEARS – to do. Sure, it happens, but today I want to chat about why going viral is not the best strategy for moving your career or business forward.

I have talked to so many young people over the years who desperately want to be a famous singer, musician, or band, so I want to use the music industry as an example here. They are convinced that if the right person sees their talent, that they will be signed to a label, and then if the world sees their talent, they will be adored and famous.

Some writers feel this way too, that if they could just get an agent or publisher to stop for a moment and recognize their talent, that it would lead to a book deal, and instant success.

But it doesn’t work that way, at least not 99% of the time. Here are a few examples from the music world:

One of my all-time favorite bands is Blur – they were HUGE in the 1990’s in England, and experienced a fair amount of success in the US. Awhile back I heard an interview with their bassist Alex James, as he reflected on their success, surprised at how much work it took to get known, and then once they were famous, how much work it took just to stay on top. Constant interviews, radio spots, gigs, and appearances. They had to struggle in the beginning, and he felt that it never got much easier. It was always WAY more effort than he would have expected for the simplest step forward.
Lady GaGa: “We’re supposed to be tired. I don’t know who told everyone otherwise, but you make a record and you tour. That’s how you build a career.”
Another favorite band – The Swell Season – took a similar approach. The band won an Academy Award for a song they wrote for the film Once. Singer Glen Hansard has said that the award merely gave them an opportunity to convince people of the value of their work. Their success was not ‘done’ when they won an Academy Award. They have been touring the world for the past two years, playing show after show, trying to convince people of their value. The award alone did not establish their future, it simply gave them an opportunity to try to do so.
I was listening to a radio broadcast from this year’s Glastonbury Festival, and they interviewed Jesca Hoop, one of the performers. She said that last year she played one of the smaller stages in the tents, and there were two people in the audience: her manager and (I think) her manager’s friend. Then, when the manager & friend came ‘backstage,’ she was playing to no one. This year, she played again, and had an audience. It makes you think – after such a poor experience last year – it’s somewhat amazing she showed up. But that’s what you do to build your career. You keep showing up.

You build your fan base one fan at a time (see Debbie Stier’s article on this.) You build your credibility one day at a time. Why is everyone so hung up on ‘going viral’ – what is wrong with a lifetime of growing, of connecting, of succeeding?

When people win the lottery, or a musician suddenly gets huge, or someone does ‘go viral’ – what happens? They are surrounded by people who seemingly adore them, but didn’t even know who they were a week ago. The world is seen through rose-colored glasses, as success was easy, and every new expense seems like an investment to help fortify this new lofty position.

Plenty of lottery winners end up broke, end up unhappy, and confused. Many zero-to-hero musicians become one-hit wonders, spending decades trying to recapture that very brief moment of success. They become trapped in that moment, a lounge act.

Likewise, the loyalty of a fan base built over time is stronger than sudden success. When you go viral, everyone becomes aware of you at the same moment, they are all fans with a loose connection. Easy to get, easy to lose.

One thing that has changed, is that many can build their credibility and fan base via the web. A musician or writer doesn’t have to leave the house to engage with new and existing fans.

Thanks!

-Dan