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The Friday Fix - April 3, 2015

Today is Good Friday, and it is a good Friday indeed given that it’s also Friday Fix Day!  You may want to put on your thinking caps because this week, we get into some psychological principles as they pertain to content marketing from ideas on selling to why snug deadlines can indeed be a good thing.  We also explore two authors’ tips on how to effectively employ a mobile marketing strategy.  By far, my favorite post of the week is the one that vindicates grammar aficionados as it is revealed that bad grammar really can hurt you.

Is Poor Grammar Killing Your Content Marketing?  Study Says 69% of Brands Fail to Make the Grade
You know how your friends sometimes pick on you for being a little crazy about grammar?  Well, Amy Gesenhues is here to vindicate you because poor grammar and writing quality seriously negatively impacts an audience’s reception to your product.  Specifically, they start to lose trust in your brand, possibly because they feel that the lack of attention to detail and to quality transcends into the product or service provided.  It’s not a logical sequitur, but it’s how people think; thus, if grammar isn’t your thing, hire someone for whom grammar is their thing. 

Very Tight Deadlines will Improve Content Marketing
I wasn’t sure what Graham Jones was going to provide to support that tight deadlines are indeed advantageous, but he explains that without letting our instincts and subconscious brain take over every so often, we tend to hesitate and not act at all, which leads to no content for many.  Graham further supports these ideas with a bit of psychological analysis and with evidence from the quality of work that journalists –who chronically work on deadlines, produce.  So, take Graham’s challenge by putting yourself on a tight deadline and see what happens.

Photo source: Wikipedia

Photo source: Wikipedia

4 Psychological Principles that Will Make You Better at Content Marketing
Speaking of the role of psychology in content marketing (from the stand point of the content creator), Kelsey Libert provides advice on how to glean better results with your content marketing pitch to others.  The first two principles are freedom of choice and paradox of choice.  See what Kelsey says to understand when it’s best to use each, and to see what the other two selling principles are.
 


Content Marketing’s Growing Popularity Creates both Difficulty and Opportunity
In this piece, Kyle Harper explores where content marketers stand on the issues (what are their primary concerns?  What are the greatest challenges, etc.?).  Using a survey from Ascenda2 as support, Kyle provides what’s normal by the numbers and concludes that both targeted branding and outsourcing content are important for overcoming challenges.  Read on to see how he draws that conclusion. 

Content Marketing? 3 Things You Should Write Before Your First Blog Post
Casey Wright reminds us that content marketing is about more than just jamming out a relatable blog post; in fact, it’s more than just having an editorial calendar.  Casey says that you also need a syndication roadmap and sales funnel in place before hitting the pedal.  He makes a compelling case for these points, possibly the best of which is the unstated on in that by having these three things in place, you’re not wasting precious time or content.

5 Tips for an Effective Mobile Content Marketing Strategy
I know in the past, Friday Fixes have highlighted pundits who’ve talked about the prevalence and importance of mobile content in this day and age.  Steve Olenski brings the subject back into focus with ways you can make your content work with mobile technology.  This means having a quality product accessible around the clock on any mobile device because as Steve points out, people are on their phones 24/7, so it’s essential to produce quality all of the time.

iPad

5 Steps to Kickstart Your Mobile Content Marketing Strategy
Speaking of mobile marketing, Marla Schimke also chimes in this week but with a slightly different approach to success than Steve Olenski.  In this piece, Marla focuses less on making sure technological aspects of the mobile strategy are in place and more on the branding and audience outreach aspects.  That said, both Marla and Steve highlight the importance of constant access via quality technology, which kind of makes you think that they might be onto something

#Marketing 101: Developing a Content Marketing Strategy
Whether you’re new to content marketing or just want a refresher, Michael Davis takes you back to school in this week’s post on developing a content marketing strategy.  As with the relevance of mobile marketing, we’ve also talked in past Fixes about the importance of a content strategy (which is different from content marketing).  In this post, Michael breaks down the process; he provides examples and rationale for the importance of each stage concluding with the essence of a cohesive effort. 

The Content Marketing Industry Blurs the Line between Traditional Media, New Media, and Brands
Starting with a reflection on what publishing and brands used to be like and transitioning into how publishers are branding and brands are publishing, Joe Breed effectively captures the thrilling madness that is the state we are in today.  In today’s content culture, the mold has been shattered, and the result is a refocus for media companies and brands that are now their own content-creation hubs.  See what Joe has to say on the establishment and future of the new status quo.

Content Marketing is NOT about Content
Bryan Del Monte’s article is as disruptive as his pieces title, which claims that content marketing isn’t about content; it’s actually about media and the ownership of media. Bryan passionately argues against renting or borrowing space; he explains how ownership (an example he uses is that John Deere owns agricultural machinery) has a larger more lasting impact than any kind of ad campaign.  Further, he explains why certain brands (like Apple) simply cannot be displaced among their audiences by certain brands.

The Eight Most Powerful Types of Visual Content Marketing
From infographics to videos to images, visuals play a significant role in content marketing, as we’ve discussed in the past.  As Bryan Del Monte points out, our brains are able to process images that we see for mere seconds; these images have a huge impact, which is why visual content marketing can often play a greater role than text-based content marketing.  So, what are the great eight in terms of visual content marketing?  Click to find out.


Amy Delcambre is a freelance content and travel writer from Mobile, Alabama with a Master's in Creative Writing. When she's not painting the page with nouns, verbs, and adverbs, she's slaying grammar beasts as a freelance editor and saving the world one sentence fragment at a time teaching university writing classes. In her free time, Amy enjoys cooking, traveling, and testing which plant species best survive prolonged neglect.

Connect with Amy:  LinkedIn

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The Friday Fix - March 27, 2015

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