Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

Writing a business book is good pr and marketing for a brand. Bloggers have the best opportunity to write a business book.

 

...What usually gets in the way of publishing a book on any medium is confidence. Here’s a word of counsel…ignore the naysayers that bloggers who write books are not authors. Instead, think of what’s good for your business.

 

How do you market your products and services?  Would it be advantageous to have a book, how-to manual, e-book for free on the website, or e-book for sale online to market your business? Did you nod in agreement? Indeed.

 

One more time…writing a business book is good public relations for your company!  Here’s how:...

When faced with creating a conversion-focused SEO landing page, what should our copy focus on? There are so many things we can do — so many directions we can go — that it becomes hard to know what to choose.

 

Do I go with statistics or stories? Facts or feelings? Data or discounts? If one of these is good, isn’t a mix of all of them better?

 

Blending Content Types Doesn’t Work

We know we’re blending when we start adding adjectives to our sentences. “Our solution is the most cost-effective, easy-to-use, colorful, highest-intensity, waterproof, process-oriented available on the market.” We know we’re blending when we want to put one more “value proposition” on a webpage, even when we don’t have room. “Hey, let’s use a rotating hero image!” The beauty of it all, though, is that search marketers don’t have to blend. We can use keywords as a guide to help us get started on our copy....

Awards season continues with the announcement of the American Society of Magazine Editors’ finalists for the National Magazine Award. The organization this week honored 62 publications in 23 categories, with winners to be revealed in New York on May 2. The National Magazine Awards have long honored the best of narrative journalism, especially in the Feature Writing category. This year, ASME combined the features bracket with the Profile category. Here are short excerpts from each of the seven finalists in “Feature Writing Incorporating Profile Writing:”...

... Among his keen insights on the craft, synthesized from the interviews, is a theory of how the creative process works, outlining the four stages of writing: There would seem to be four stages in the composition of a story. First comes the germ of the story, then a period of more or less conscious meditation, then the first draft, and finally the revision, which may be simply ‘pencil work’ as John O’Hara calls it — that is, minor changes in wording — or may lead to writing several drafts and what amounts to a new work. Cowley illustrates each of the four stages with anecdotes from the interviewees....

"The most damning revelation you can make about yourself is that you do not know what is interesting and what is not."

Kurt Vonnegut has given us some of the most timeless advice on the art and craft of writing — from his 8 rules for a great story to his insights on the shapes of stories to his formidable daily routine. But hardly anything examines the subject with a more potent blend of practical advice and heart than Vonnegut’s 1985 essay“How to Write with Style,” published in the wonderful anthology How to Use the Power of the Printed Word (UK; public library).

Vonnegut begins with an admonition against the impersonal sterility of journalistic reporting — something particularly important amidst contemporary debates about how personal the writerly persona should be — and a meditation on the single most important element of style

When you're frantically trying to stay in your marketing prime, remember: Some marketing advice stands the test of time.

... But sometimes, it's helpful to step back and remember that some marketing advice is timeless. Tools change, methodologies develop, but there are some core marketing truths that can stand the test of time. And sometimes, one person can be the source of a ton of timeless marketing advice.

Today we wanted to highlight one such person: David Ogilvy. Widely considered the Father of Advertising, Ogilvy was the founder of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide and a prolific writer. Even though his books were published decades ago, his advice is still applicable today. So we rounded up his best advice for marketers to help inspire you on this dreadful Thursday morning. Here's what Ogilvy has to say...

Attention! Here is an invaluable guide for creating content that gets noticed. So if you want to engage, enthral and entice, read on...

 

Tom Barton, UK head of communications at IT business and consulting services company Capgemini, says a question he is asked nearly every day is “Can you help us produce great content?”. His number one rule is to think about your audience. “Picture a person reading your writing and ask yourself who they are and what they want to know. It is unlikely they are going to be too dissimilar to you, so try to make it personal. Making it great is making sure it is useful to your reader. And for it to be useful, it must be clear and provide something practical to take away, whether food for thought, or a tip which can be implemented easily. It should also be unique – don’t write something that’s too similar to content found easily elsewhere.” To make sure your content is king, follow this expert guide....

In 1962, Time magazine called David Ogilvy “the most sought-after wizard in today’s advertising industry.” In his years as an advertising executive and copywriter, Ogilvy created some of the world’s most successful and iconic marketing campaigns, including the legendary Man in the Hathaway Shirt, plus notable efforts for Schwepps, Rolls Royce, and the island of Puerto Rico among many others.

 

As content marketers, we can learn a lot from the legendary Mr. Ogilvy He was, after all, one of the pioneers of information-rich, “soft sell” ads that that didn’t insult the intelligence of the prospect. For example, consider The Guinness Guide to Oysters, an early form of what the kids are now calling native advertising — from 1951....

Excellent learning... One of the simplest ways to boost your conversion rate is by tweaking your headline copy. If you don’t believe me… just look at KISSmetrics.com, I was able to boost my conversion rate by 40% just by adjusting the headline copy. That’s right… 40%. So what was the original headline? It was… KISSmetrics helps you get actionable metrics for your business. And the new one is… Google Analytics tells you what happened, KISSmetrics tells you who did it. So how can you boost your conversion rate through headlines? Well, there are a few simple strategies you can test....