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Our Editor Went to the Digital Summit Detroit 2019 Conference: Top 3 Insights

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Our Editor Went to the Digital Summit Detroit 2019 Conference: Top 3 Insights

This is a guest blog from our staff editor, Jillian. Ah, marketing conferences! If you’re anything like me—you cherish these days away from the office to soak up as much knowledge as possible (while also frantically writing notes and wishing the speaker stayed on the slide for one second longer). It’s an adrenaline rush like no other. Why are marketing conferences so great? It’s the one time where hundreds of professionals line up to collaborate, share insights, and seek advice from each other to help grow and push the limits of what more can be done to improve digital strategy. The Digital Summit in Detroit, MI was a fantastic event that hosted marketers across Michigan and surrounding states. It offered a conglomeration of thought-leadership and application-based seminars on various topics like content marketing, UX + design, social media, mobile strategy, and more. Alongside working as a part-time staff editor at Express Writers, my day job is in the B2B finance industry, so I loved the fact that I could choose bits and pieces of different marketing strategy sessions to take back with me as I returned to work. With Digital Summit conferences launching across the country, here’s a breakdown of my favorite insights and moments from the week to help breakdown what I learned. Rand Fishkin, Seth Godin, and Dennis Rodman: Main Takeaways I Couldn’t Escape [bctt tweet=”Our staff editor, Jillian, went to Digital Summit in Detroit this year. Learn her top three insights while at the event Plus, catch highlights from speakers like @randfish, @ThisIsSethsBlog, @dennisrodman and more!” username=”ExpWriters”] The summit had an eclectic mix of digital marketers known throughout the industry and local Michigan-based pioneers. I enjoyed this combination because not only do I want to learn from top trailblazers that have a larger scope on where trends are moving, but I also want to hear from those who are invested in my city. The keynote speakers, Rand Fishkin and Seth Godin, were exceptional and delivered insights that were both action-packed and focused on the future. Seth Godin called his keynote a ‘multi-part rant’ and it was refreshing. Dennis Rodman… was Dennis Rodman. However, I thought his perspective of building your personal brand to be your most authentic self was on-theme with the rest of the conference. His advice to the crowd: “I don’t need to like you to win. Hate me or love me as long as I’m doing my job that’s the most important thing.” Dennis Rodman, Keynote Speaker Unquestionably, my favorite speaker was Rand Fishkin. His seminar and keynote ‘The Four Horsemen of the Web Marketing Apocalypse’ was incredibly forward-thinking by looking at how social media and search engines are interfering with web traffic and what marketers can do to combat it. Every speaker’s session seemed to be speaking towards the same common theme to create an experience that I could piece together and build a strategy on. A few top trends include: Working with digital platforms that kill organic reach Creating empathy and authenticity in a digital landscape Developing employees who are brand advocates Brian Fanzo, Fyre Festival: 10 Marketing Lessons Your Business Can Leverage Let’s dive into these top themes a little more. [bctt tweet=”Our editor, Jillian, went to Digital Summit Detroit 2019 and watched the top keynote speakers in the industry from @randfish, @ThisIsSethsBlog, to… @dennisrodman?! Know the three best insights from the conference. ✨” username=”ExpWriters”] Top 3 Memorable Insights from Digital Summit Detroit 2019 1. Working with Digital Platforms That Kill Organic Reach Have you noticed your recent social posts are underperforming? What about overall less organic traffic to your website? According to speakers, this is an epidemic many marketers are now facing. On social media powerhouses Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube, they want users to stay on the platform and strongly frown upon outlinking. For example, the only location users can even add an URL on Instagram is in the bio. Social platforms reward profiles who have high engagement streaks. Consider using a formula to earn brand exposure and new followers: Engaging non-promotional post Engaging non-promotional post Promotion post with a link Engaging non-promotional post and so on In terms of pesky organic website traffic, we have Google to blame for that. Google provides a searcher quick snippets of information so a website is no longer needed (think Google Maps, Google My Business profile, etc.) In fact, 48.96% of all searches on Google never result in a click. Yikes! To get ahead of Google and rank, the speakers suggested going after long-tail keywords and focusing on click volume rather than search volume. Let competitors pay the high ad price without benefiting from any ROI. 2. Creating Empathy and Authenticity in a Digital Landscape Things move fast in the digital landscape and we have about 8 seconds to capture our consumer’s attention before we get scrolled or swiped on. The presenters were focused on helping attendees not only create content that’s authentic but also build a credible brand DNA that consumers remember. Carlos Gil, What Marketers Can Learn About Social Media From DJ Khaled and Drake Here are a few memorable points: The conversation is more important than the like. Build relationships and create a community that is relatable because earning fans is far more important than customers. Invest in brand awareness at the top of the funnel and focus on organic traffic before paid advertising. It’s important to be liked and trusted first. Double down on a video and audio marketing strategy. Consider different formats like live videos, voice search, and podcasts. 3. Developing Employees Who Are Brand Advocates I thought this topic was interesting and paralleled with the ‘influencers who don’t influence’ phrase that I repeatedly heard throughout the conference. While I don’t think influencer marketing is going away anytime soon (it’s predicted to become a $6.5 billion industry), the average consumer is smart and tired of seeing ‘celebrities’ rep products to fake accounts. Kellee Montgomery, The Power of Employees: Your Secret Weapon to Amplify Brand Messaging What’s … Read more

Joe Pulizzi’s MKTG 2030: 7 Laws of Content Marketing (& Other Takeaways From Content Marketing World 2019)

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Joe Pulizzi's MKTG 2030: 7 Laws of Content Marketing (& Other Takeaways From Content Marketing World 2019)

Content Marketing World 2019 was another incredible event in Cleveland, with nearly 4,000 content marketers in attendance, terrific keynotes and sessions, and amazing conversations. Oh, and the best conference swag. (I admit to being the attendee that got in line four times to win a sloth for my five-year-old. The fourth time in line, I ran into a Write Blog reader from Belgium, who said that our blog was one of only two that she reads because of how comprehensive each post I publish is. What an absolute delight to hug and talk to her! Bonus: We both won a sloth for our littles, and I even picked up one of two last stuffed narwhals from another booth!) It was an amazing week. I took Jessica, our Client Specialist from Express Writers, with me; and this year, I had the honor of going for the first time as a speaker. My session, co-presented with Jason Schemmel, was A Masterclass on Creating and Publishing Authority-Building SEO Blogs. I’ve gone to CMWorld three times so far, and this was my first year as a speaker. My favorite talk at CMWorld this year, hands-down, was Joe Pulizzi’s keynote, MKTG2030. I also took away some insights from a few private parties I was invited to attend, one of which was hosted by LinkedIn, and from listening and watching on the Expo Hall. Here are my Content Marketing World 2019 insights. Joe Pulizzi’s MKTG 2030: 7 Laws of Content Marketing (& Other Takeaways from Content Marketing World I don’t know if you’ve already guessed or noticed this, but I am a major fan of the “godfather” of our industry, Joe Pulizzi. He tells it like it is, is incredibly insightful in content marketing, and to boot, he’s 100% genuine, kind, and authentic as a person. Seriously, you can’t find anyone more “down-to-earth” than Joe. He embodies good content marketing. It’s no wonder that it has become a yearly tradition of mine to get a picture with him. I also have a running joke with CMI staff. How do I make it to one of the top retweeted/favorited tweets for the #CMWorld hashtag on Twitter? I just tweet Joe. It’s true. That’s what I did last year, and my tweet had over a hundred likes. The same thing happened again this year. ? “The #1 reason content fails is not because of strategy, consistency, value, patience… it’s because someone internally has no clue what you’re doing.” @JoePulizzi #CMWorld ???????? ? ? pic.twitter.com/QPmiwCgsvr — Julia McCoy | ? #CMWorld Speaker ‘19 (@JuliaEMcCoy) September 4, 2019 MKTG 2030: 7 Laws of Content Marketing Joe Pulizzi’s keynote kicking off CMWorld on Tuesday, September 3 was titled MKTG 2030. Inside, he covered what he called the “7 Laws of Marketing:” Law #1: The Law of They Have No Clue What You’re Doing The #1 reason content fails is not because of strategy, consistency, value, patience… it’s because someone internally has no clue what you’re doing. This rings true for me in so many ways. I had to turn away a Content Hacker client (my elite new consulting agency/personal brand) recently because of this very fact. They had no clue regarding high-ROI, valuable content. They massacred the hook I’d carefully compiled and trampled over every recommendation I made. I’ve seen this happen repeatedly in our industry. It’s sad. The answer, Joe says, is to sell internally to the executives budgeting for content. These people should be the focus of your “selling.” We need to turn the tables, Joe said, and be the ones marketing the worth of content to executives. Need some help convincing your manager or clients on the worth of content? See our content marketing statistics mega-list. Law #2: The Law of Self-Sustainment Joe is in love with Buzzfeed. They’ve achieved $130M in revenue in household appliances, and in 2019, their goal is $260M in revenue from Tasty appliances at Target and in other stores. By 2020, half a billion in revenue will be produced in non-media revenue by Buzzfeed. They are a #contentmarketing champion to learn from, Joe says. Joe also talked about Cleveland Clinic, which publishes Health Essentials, generating revenue through research, advertising, syndication, and sponsorship. There are multiple ways to drive revenue once you build a loyal audience. The most innovative brands drive five, six revenue lines through content. [bctt tweet=”By 2020, half a billion in revenue will be produced in non-media revenue by @Buzzfeed. They are a #contentmarketing champion to learn from, @JoePulizzi says. Read @JuliaEMcCoy’s #CMWorld recap” username=”ExpWriters”] [bctt tweet=”There are multiple ways to drive revenue once you build a loyal audience, @JoePulizzi says. The most innovative brands drive five, six revenue lines through content. #CMWorld #CMWorld19 recap by @JuliaEMcCoy” username=”ExpWriters”] Law #3: The Failed Start-up Law Joe says that it’s much wiser and also less risky to buy an existing audience than to build from scratch yourself. (If you know our story, you know we’ve been working for eight years to build ours. Building a strong audience and presence from scratch hasn’t been easy!) For example, hardware maker Raspberry Pi recently bought two magazines from a company called Dennis Publishing. Smart move. Law #4: The Law of Ryan Seacrest I found this meme that emphasized every single point Joe was making: Joe says he comes home and tries to relax to a show, and every time he turns on a show, there is Ryan Seacrest. It’s getting old. What the heck is Ryan doing, hosting shows he has no business hosting? As in standing in for Regis on Live with Kelly and Regis, and appearing again in a few hours hosting American Idol. Joe says he can’t enjoy cable TV without seeing a constant stream of Ryan Seacrest. Well, as content marketers, Joe said we’re making the common error of trying to be Ryan Seacrest. We want to do all the things, but no one is doing them well enough. ? The way to succeed is by focusing on one or two … Read more

How to Use 5 Types of Content to Grow Your Online Authority (Recap of My Live Talk for #SocialMediaBootcamp in Austin, Texas)

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How to Use 5 Types of Content to Grow Your Online Authority (Recap of My Live Talk for #SocialMediaBootcamp in Austin, Texas)

Last week on Friday, I had the honor of speaking at Jessica Campos’ event, a Social Media Bootcamp right here in Austin, Texas. It was exciting for two reasons: for one, it was at The Capital Factory, a dream speaking venue in downtown Austin. For another, I had a fantastic host: Jessica is the founder of Marketing for Greatness and a well-known local marketer here in Austin, Texas. She worked hard at putting together a memorable event, and invited me to come and speak personally. Jessica hosts many networking events locally, and is a great person in real life just as much as she is in marketing. I love being around her. I said yes to Jessica’s invitation, and the rest is history! This amazing lady worked her network marketing magic and sold out the room – we had 50 seats, and more than 50 in attendance! It was my largest live audience yet. I’ve had the idea for a session on how to build authority online using the five foundational types of content for a while, and I decided to explore that for Jessica’s bootcamp. It was the perfect complement session to her opening talk on holistic social media marketing practices. This talk was born: Building Authority Online & Where it Begins: 5 Types of Content You Should Be Publishing to Grow Your Brand. After my talk, it was exciting to hear terrific real-time feedback from attendees. Two senior-level marketing executives that worked in Austin came and found me to tell me how much my talk resonated with them. “Everything you were saying about content made SO MUCH SENSE! Our ads aren’t working, nothing has been working, and we know we’ve needed a new channel for a while.” It was clear they were excited to find a way out from old practices that weren’t working. That was a thrill to me to hear! I loved knowing I’d been able to make a difference for someone. In today’s blog, I’m recapping the talk I gave, including the most important takeaways and lessons. Buckle in! [bctt tweet=”Check out @JuliaEMcCoy’s recap of her talk on building #authority online through #content, live at @capitalfactory in #ATX for @jessicamcampos’ #socialmediabootcamp ” username=”ExpWriters”] Social Media Bootcamp LIVE in Austin, Texas (Hosted by Jessica Campos) Here’s a look at our fun day in Austin at Jessica’s bootcamp, put together by my designer in a collage. Keep scrolling for top takeaways, a recap of Jessica’s and my session, and some special shoutouts! Jessica Campos: Social Media Practices That Bring Real Results in Your Business Jessica Campos started off Friday’s Social Media Bootcamp with a fantastic, action-packed session. She talked about the reality of “marketing” on social media, and how it’s not okay to just “turn to the person next to you, and ask, Would you like to lose ten pounds?” — and she had the whole room nodding and laughing. If it’s not okay to do in a waiting room, why do it on social media? She shared with us the typical journey of one of her warm leads: the person left her website open in their tab for days, closed it, came back through a Facebook ad and then clicked over to the blog, left the site again and came back to the contact page in another few days. And repeat. I relate! We cannot predict our buyer’s journey. Jessica shared how the marketing funnel is dead, and what’s replaced it: the loyalty loop. (As most of you already know by now, I completely agree that the funnel is dead. I’ve written about that here.) Jessica also shared how to discover your audience using tools like Facebook Insights and Google Analytics’ user behavior, two great tools for finding out real information about your audience. Using the whiteboard to write out the frameworks she shared, Jessica covered several areas that made up a “sandwich,” or “burger” to help us remember how to build a solid social media marketing strategy: The importance of data and knowing what your leads and ideal audience is actually doing and thinking of Building avatars to represent and get to know your ideal audience Creating a culture to attract your tribe and people Writing a manifesto to represent who you are with a brand voice to differentiate yourself from the masses Focusing on growing your influence online to attract people to you and your brand Jessica also did a real-life marketing analysis with one of the attendees, Lori Stinson, an agent and owner for logistics and supply chain company DSV. It was awesome! With Lori next to her, Jessica built avatars to represent Lori’s ideal audience, an experienced, established company out in California. One method I loved was when Jessica told Lori that LinkedIn was going to be her best bet to earn social media leads from. Several members of the audience also shared terrific ways Lori could create fun marketing campaigns to pull in the eyes and ears of her ideal people. Around noon, Jessica wrapped up her session, and we all had a lunch break. Then, it was time for my session. Special Shoutout to Jeff at Chubby Diaries & @YoungMommy (Christine Young) on Twitter I want to take a quick moment to give some well-deserved shoutouts. Jessica asked Jeffrey Jenkins, a local entrepreneur, travel influencer, speaker, and the founder of ChubbyDiaries.com, to attend and record media for us (as content creators, Jessica and I are all about maximizing our event presence). He took our photos and the raw video (coming soon to my YouTube channel!). Special shoutout to Jeff, who was a fantastic help! Another shoutout to Christine Young, supermom to 7 and blogger at FromDatestoDiapers.com, for live-tweeting during our event! She captured some fantastic takeaways live during our bootcamp. Great ideas = great content. Take time to brainstorm ideas, research topics, gather data, and formulate topics for posts. #socialmediabootcamp — Christine Young (@YoungMommy) April 26, 2019 Building Authority Online & Where it Begins: 5 Types of Content to Grow Your Brand (Recap of My Live Talk) I started my session with these important facts about today’s buyer: 81% … Read more

The 7 Do Not’s of SEO in 2019 and Beyond (Search Engine Journal Webinar Recap)

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The 7 Do Not's of SEO in 2019 and Beyond (Search Engine Journal Webinar Recap)

SEO to content is like paleo chocolate frosting to a paleo chocolate cake. (Ever had one of those? They’re decadent, AND good for you. ) It seriously is that important–and impactful–in content marketing. SEO-focused content marketing has powered our own organic marketing at Express Writers for years. Without good SEO practices, your content will miss out on the possibilities of earning traffic and leads through organic user searches. The opposite, bad SEO, will make readers and Google look a little like Steve Carrell in this scene in the 2014 movie, Alexander and The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day: Not good. That’s why, this April, I presented a webinar for Search Engine Journal on the top seven bad SEO tactics to abandon forever – ones that are dragging down your search rankings, confusing users (see above photo), and leaving your content in the dust. We had an amazing turnout for this webinar. Over 300 people tuned in live! Here are the slides from my webinar, and here’s the YouTube replay. For those who missed it, or those who want the highlights, keep reading – I’m recapping the major points, here, too. ✔ Before we get into the bad SEO tactics and practices people are still using, we need to answer one question… [bctt tweet=”Get your own content marketing all geared up for the ROI you’ve been waiting for with the help of good SEO. Watch @JuliaEMcCoy’s @sejournal webinar about the 7 Do Not’s of #SEO in 2019″ username=”ExpWriters”] Why Does SEO and Google Matter? Two reasons: 1. Most Internet Users Rely on Google About half of the world’s population uses the internet. That’s no joke. Of those internet-users, about 60% begin their browsing with a Google search. Over 3.5 billion Google searches happen in a day. Plus, Google dominates the market. Almost 60% of all web traffic begins with a Google search, according to the data from SparkToro and Jumpshot. Image: Backlinko 2. Google is All About the User Most web traffic comes from Google, and Google is all about that end-user. From their Search Engine Evaluator Guidelines to their Webmaster Central Blog, the user experience takes center stage. When your SEO and website experience tick off human users, you tick off Google, simultaneously. Therefore, good SEO practices are all about keeping users and Google happy. The better you do, the more highly you will be ranked in search (and loved by users!). With that out of the way, let’s get into the bad SEO tactics that will make your two most important audience members (humans and Google) confused, annoyed, and fed-up. [bctt tweet=”SEO-focused content marketing has powered our own organic marketing at Express Writers for years. Know why SEO matters with @JuliaEMcCoy’s @sejournal webinar about the 7 Do Not’s of #SEO in 2019″ username=”ExpWriters”] 7 Just-Plain-BAD SEO Tactics You Shouldn’t Be Using Anymore 1. Using Your Target Keyword the Wrong Way An outdated SEO practice we need to do away with is targeting one keyword per page – especially similar or semantically related keywords. Instead, it’s better to target both focus keywords and secondary, related keywords in the same piece of content. This will align your SEO strategy with modern semantic search, which is what Google is focusing on moving into the future. Semantic search looks at a page’s overarching topic vs. individual keywords to determine whether it’s relevant to a user’s search query. On the right side of this diagram, each keyword is targeted individually. A better SEO practice is to target related terms like these within the same piece (left). Using a focus keyword + variations, related terms, and synonyms all within the same high-quality content piece signals to Google AND users that the page is topically relevant to the search query. 2. Developing Thin Content That Doesn’t Go the Distance Short, thin content pieces are not SEO-worthy. If you want a page to rank, you need longer, in-depth content. How do we know? Look at the data: From BuzzSumo’s analysis of over 100 million articles, long-form content (over 3,000 words) was most-shared. A Backlinko study came to the same conclusion – long-form content = higher search rankings. To write longer content, focus on answering the user’s question(s) thoroughly and deep-dive into your topic. 3. Posting Content Whenever You Feel Like It You can’t post content erratically if you want to rank higher in search. Many studies have shown that consistently publishing high-quality content leads to more ranking opportunities. For one example, a HubSpot benchmark study found that companies that posted over 16x/month earned the most traffic and leads. That doesn’t mean you need to start blogging like a madman (or madperson), though. If you push out tons of posts but your quality sucks, you still won’t get anywhere. That leads us to bad SEO tactic #4… 4. Focusing on Quantity Vs. Quality Pushing out blog posts just to get them on the web is never a good idea for SEO. Quality matters more than quantity for rankings and readership. If you can’t feasibly publish fantastic blog posts on a consistent basis (say, 2-3x/week), cut back. One amazing post per week or month is better than 3 mediocre or crappy ones. Tip: Check out the top 5 search results for your focus keyword in Google. Try to create a post that’s better than anything in that top 5. 5. Publishing Duplicate Content According to SEMrush, a study of over 100,000 articles showed the most common SEO error is something we can all easily avoid: duplicate content. Nearly 66% of the articles in the study suffered from this problem. It happens when multiple pages appear very similar or match 100%. Usually, this is unintentional, but some people do plagiarize content. Either way, you will be penalized. Luckily, this mistake is easy to avoid. Do it by running all of your content through Copyscape before publishing. Rewrite any pages that have a percentage match. 6. Using Shady Tactics like Link Buying If you really want to get on the wrong side of Google, link schemes and link … Read more

I Gave a 4-Hour Workshop on Content Writing to A Healthcare Firm. Here Are My 3 Takeaways

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I Gave a 4-Hour Workshop on Content Writing to A Healthcare Firm. Here Are My 3 Takeaways

This March, I had the honor of teaching my first paid content writing workshop. (I’m stepping out of my comfort zone by taking my first in-person speaking engagements this year. Till now, I’ve done webinars, podcasts, and lots of video. This January, I gave my first 20-minute live talk to a mastermind here in Austin, and it went well!) The March workshop was in Irvine, California, for a healthcare company called NextGen Healthcare. Sarah, Manager of the Marketing Content Strategy, asked me to come and teach a full half-day class on one of my favorite topics — strategic content writing techniques for web, blog, email, social media and downloadables (whitepapers, content upgrades, etc.) for a B2B audience. The workshop was on March 26, and it went very well! For several reasons. First, the team of people that were there! (*cue Hallelujah chorus*) Teaching is easy when you have such a great crew as students. These people were simply amazing. Smarties, each and every one! Secondly, it was great to have a live audience while teaching content — tunnel vision, farewell! I was able to see, hear and discover what people that work in a leading industry firm actually find difficult in content marketing, what they struggle with, and on the flip side, what they actually enjoy doing and are good at. I think I walked out with as much new inspiration and knowledge as I (hopefully) left my attendees with. Here’s a recap of my workshop experience. First, what went into the workshop; and secondly, some key takeaways from the conversations I listened in to. [bctt tweet=”Content marketing expert @JuliaEMcCoy gave a live content writing workshop to a healthcare firm in California. Read her top takeaways from the experience #strategy” username=”ExpWriters”] What Went Into My 4-Hour Content Writing Workshop It was fantastic to work with Sarah Andrade, who is the Manager of Marketing Content Strategy (that’s a mouthful) at NextGen Healthcare. She found me through our site at Express Writers, and sent me a warm, friendly email requesting my presence teaching the workshop and offering full payment. Content creation is my jam, so when Sarah at NextGen Healthcare found me, despite a short timeline (in two weeks!), I said yes to taking on content creation for the half-day workshop. It was an amazing experience. I can’t say enough good things about the content team themselves. Brilliant people, all of them! Sarah (the marketing manager who found and recruited me), Allison, Carrie, Michael, Holly, Eleen, Jaime, Cathryn, Michelle…and everyone else whose names my post-speaking mushy brain sadly didn’t hit save on. Seriously, it was a rockstar team. They checked all the boxes: Engaged, interested, and passionate about their jobs (the whole room was engaged and came alive when we paused for Q&A) Already knowledgeable in a variety of areas (from SEO all the way to how to post content on Instagram with the paragraph breaks — Allison and Jaime had a finger on SEO, social and content trends) Great at content (Michael, Carrie – rockstar content writers, serious OGs, I’d hire them — and I hire 1-2% of the writers I meet!) Here’s what the final outline of my workshop looked like: NextGen® Healthcare Content Creation Workshop Sessions & Outline Sarah gave me full liberty to construct the whole half-day workshop. So, with Sarah’s help, I came up with 20-25 minute speaking sessions, broken up by Q&A content creation workshops. Here’s the final outline of workshop I constructed and gave. I was able to get through all the sessions between a time span of noon to 5 p.m. We ended up spending a great deal of time in Q&A, which I loved. Session 1: Introduction to Modern Content Writing & Content Types — Learn It! Q&A and Homework Share Session 2: How to Craft Engaging, Optimized Blogs — Learn It! Q&A and Blog Content Creation Workshop Session 3: How to Write Engaging Web Content — Learn It! Q&A and Web Content Creation Workshop Session 4: How to Write Emails — Learn It! Q&A and Email Writing Workshop I spent a few back-to-back 10-hour days working on the content to get it all done, right after Sarah found me. In less than 10 days, I’d created 200+ slides, four PowerPoint presentations, four cheat-sheet PDF takeaways for each attendee, and two recorded videos for the class demo-ing how to use BuzzSumo for content analysis, and SEMrush for keyword research. If I had more time, I would have made the content even more tailored to their audience and conducted more research on their high-level audience – but, I was able to customize it fairly well. My designer did an amazing job on the presentation design (psst… this is something we offer in the Content Shop!): Here are a few of my favorite slides from the session (and I think everyone’s favorite, from the joyful and positive feedback that erupted after I presented the ‘icky face’). I took an overly stuffy home page tagline from the website for NextGen Healthcare, and rewrote it for the class: The ‘homework’ everyone was asked to do prior was a suggestion of Sarah, and I thought it was a great idea. We came up with three items (1. Bring your questions, 2. Bring a piece of content from NextGen to reform, 3. Bring a piece of content that makes you feel something – curious, inspired, joyful, etc.), and everyone that attended the workshop was all about it! Pretty much all of them had done their homework prior (again, so impressed with this team). In the homework Q&A time, lead writer Michael shared how much he took inspiration from Andrew & Pete, two content marketers that recently made a Top 100 Marketer list. I love Andrew & Pete myself. They’re outside-the-box thinkers who boldly and creatively go where few marketers go. Overall, it was an amazing group, and the experience of teaching a workshop was wonderful. 3 Takeaways & Inspirations Gained from Teaching My Workshop I was inspired by the live conversations I listened to, … Read more

How to Write & Publish Authority-Building SEO Blogs (SEMrush Webinar Recap)

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How to Write & Publish Authority-Building SEO Blogs in 2019 (SEMrush Webinar Recap)

A few weeks ago, on February 11, I gave a talk for SEMrush on one of my favorite topics – writing and publishing authority-building blogs and SEO content. We had hundreds of viewers live, and lots of great questions! To help out those of you who couldn’t attend, and for those who were just too busy for the almost two-hour talk I gave (!!), we’re recapping the entire webinar here on the Write Blog. ?? I cover everything you need to know, including why inbound content ROCKS, and how to create strong content that gets results, step-by-step. Ready to learn? Let’s get into the nitty-gritty, including why ads are dying and why inbound marketing/blogging is the way forward in 2019. [bctt tweet=”Read the recap of the live talk @JuliaEMcCoy gave for @semrush in February, on #authority building #SEO content ?” username=”ExpWriters”] The Talk: Secrets to Writing Authority-Building SEO Blogs in 2019 Like video content better? Watch a replay of the 1.49 hour session on YouTube: The Recap: Secrets to Writing Authority-Building SEO Blogs in 2019 As promised, here’s our written recap of the top takeaways from my talk! Why Blog? The State of Advertising is Dismal The state of advertising is pretty bad when you look at the conversion numbers. Compared to 3 years ago, conversion rates on advertising have dipped ridiculously low. In 2016, the average return on ad spend (ROAS) was 11.88x. Today, that number has dropped to 0.66x. (Read all about the dreary state of advertising in this recap of The Ad Strategist’s report.) By comparison, blogging and content marketing look awesome. Seriously: Inbound is THE future of marketing. For instance, did you know Google is the most-visited website in the world? YouTube and Facebook hold the next two top spots, but they still aren’t anywhere close to Google’s traffic numbers (nearly 3.5 billion searches per day!). When you build authority SEO content on your website, you build your Google authority simultaneously. That’s because Google will crawl your blogs and rank them, giving them a position in the search engine results. Since Google grabs so much traffic, that could be beyond powerful for growing your web presence. BUT – To build authority, your content has to be amazing, strategic, researched, and well-crafted. Your content platform (your website) must be user-friendly and well-designed. You have to do it all (or, if you’re a smart delegator, make sure it all gets done). Don’t worry, though – where there’s a way, there’s a will. And there IS a way. Follow me! [bctt tweet=”To build authority, your content has to be amazing, strategic, researched, and well-crafted. Your content platform, your site, must be user-friendly and well-designed. @JuliaEMcCoy” username=”ExpWriters”] How to Write and Publish Authoritative, GOOD Content: 6 Strategic Steps It’s time to dive into authority-building content creation. Get ready for greatness! 1. Make Sure Your Website is Right A useful, user-friendly website needs to be the bottom layer of your online presence cake. Without this crucial piece in place, you won’t see any real results from your content. A strong website is what makes your content eligible to rank in the first place. Our site at Express Writers gets nearly 4,000 organic visitors daily from our blog and content rankings (we currently rank for over 16,000 keywords). Those numbers wouldn’t be possible without a strong website serving as the foundation. What does a strong website look like? Using our site as an example, the top 5 elements are illustrated below. Strong sites are built on trusted platforms, like WordPress, which is one of the most robust SEO  out there. They load quickly – under 2 seconds is ideal. According to Google, as page load time increases from one second to 10 seconds, a site visitor is 123% more likely to bounce. The page copy is simple, clear, and easy to read. CTAs are also clear, strategically placed, and stand out. Sites should have cohesive branding and design that don’t mess with site speed and page load times (no heavy images or videos!). Communication apps, pop-ups, and chatbots are minimized so they don’t annoy your visitors. 2. Map Your Blog Topic to Your Goals Before you even start writing or outlining, your goals should mark your content trajectory. [bctt tweet=”Before you even start writing or outlining, your goals should mark your content trajectory. @JuliaEMcCoy #blogging” username=”ExpWriters”] How will your blog help you advance to your goals? Will it increase your brand awareness? Build trust and loyalty with readers? Capture leads and grow your following? Whatever you hope to achieve, make sure each blog you put out aligns with either an overarching goal or a smaller goal that paves the way to bigger successes. Answering the following questions can help further nail down your goals for each blog you write: Who are you writing this blog to? What questions can you answer for them on this topic? What format will this content take? Is it suited for a long-form, in-depth blog post, or does it lend itself better to a visually stunning infographic? Remember, blogs aren’t your only option for content creation. When will you publish the blog? Can you strategically tie it to a season or holiday? Where will you publish? To build authority, you should focus on publishing most blogs to your website. However, posting to guest blogs from time to time can give your brand more exposure. 3. Do Strategic Research After mapping your blog content to goals, the next step is to dive into strategic research. First up, that means keyword research. Don’t start with any random industry keyword, though – begin with your audience’s pain points and research keywords that hit on their problems. You want to find keywords that tie to the questions they’re asking in Google so you can position your content as a solution they’ll find in search results. Using a tool like SEMrush during keyword research is immensely helpful. It will give you vital data about your keyword including keyword difficulty (KD) and related … Read more

I Gave My First Live Talk on Profitable Content in Austin, Texas. Here’s How It Went.

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I Gave My First Live Talk on Profitable Content in Austin, Texas. Here's How It Went.

I’ve written two books… created an agency that allows me to work from wherever, whenever… and have been named a leader in content marketing (of which I’m so honored!). What comes easily to me is writing. What doesn’t come easily is speaking. I was brought up in a cult from which I escaped shortly after starting my business. The mindset I was forced into, all my life growing up, didn’t keep me back from much — except public speaking. (Life in a cult, my escape, and how I grew a successful agency from nothing is all part of a memoir I started writing in 2017. It will be finished this year. Want to hear about it? Click here.) I’ve turned down several organic invitations to speak on stage in the past, even though I have managed to get comfortable with video. So, this one thing held me back — until last week. I broke through one of the last and biggest barriers standing in my way. Right before Christmas of last year, I decided to accept an invitation to speak as the guest of honor at Jessica Campos’ (Marketing for Greatness) mastermind luncheon right here in Austin, Texas on January 9th, 2019. It was a big moment for me. Just saying yes was something I never would have done in all my seven years of entrepreneurship. That “yes” was a defining moment. Jessica is a genius marketer and a good friend of mine here in Austin that I respect a lot. I met her through her local networking events and her Facebook group for Austin entrepreneurs. Saying yes to her was a no-brainer. It made me feel more comfortable speaking at her venue because I already knew and liked her. She let me pick the topic, and so I picked the one I love the most: profitable content. I collected my 6-step framework to profitable content which I’ve developed 100% from scratch, after learning and implementing content marketing for the past seven years and finally getting to a place of success after a lot of trial and error. I’ve taught this framework online, by invitation, for Stukent and other publications. It’s also the base of the course and book I built across all of 2017. So I took my favorite topic ever — and one of the most original concepts I’ve ever developed — and turned it into a new session geared for entrepreneurs at a “starting point” level for Jessica’s lunch. When I got up to speak, not only did I feel 1000% comfortable with my topic, but I also found myself thoroughly enjoying sharing it to a live audience. Jessica told me something that stuck: “I think webinars are harder. If you did that, you can speak live. The energy of a real, in-person audience around you helps a lot.” She was right! [bctt tweet=”Read and watch @JuliaEMcCoy’s first-ever live talk given in Austin, Texas on how to build profitable #contentmarketing. ” username=”ExpWriters”] I Gave My First Live Talk on Profitable Content in Austin, Texas. Here’s How It Went If a picture speaks a thousand words, a video speaks a million words — right? My talented friend and videographer, Joel Valle, recorded my session for my YouTube channel as I spoke. Without further ado, here it is. It’s up to you how well you think I did! Click to pop open in a new window and watch on YouTube. I’d absolutely love to hear your thoughts in the comments! Psst… I’d be honored if you would subscribe to my YouTube channel. (It will be worth your time: I’m committed to a weekly video every Monday featuring practical advice on a hot content topic in my #ContentMarketingMemos.) 3 Speaking Tips that WORKED for Me If you’re thinking of approaching your first speaking gig, here are the speaking tips that worked for me the most. I thought this would be useful to add to today’s recap. 1. You Don’t Have to Be an Extrovert to Speak (In Fact, Being an Introvert or Writer Can Help You Deliver an Impactful Message) First, despite all my fears, there was a small spark in my heart that told me I should try speaking. Each of my family members has spoken publicly or are comfortable with it. And by all — I mean all! My father, mother, aunt, uncle! The internal spark of desiring to speak grew when I listened internally, focused in on quiet time, meditated, and prayed. I’ve also talked to many live speakers across the years, down to walking the floors of Content Marketing World in 2018 and finding the keynote speakers to ask them for their tips. (Lee Odden told me at karaoke night that he’s spoken on more than 200 stages, is a MAJOR introvert, and is still nervous about it and doesn’t love speaking! Even though he kills it and is in demand! Ann Handley, the winner of the first Hero Award, CMI’s Hall of Fame Award, told me she’d paced her hotel room in solace all day, practicing the speech she was giving on stage that evening. And she’s also given so many speeches.) Everything I was told convinced me of something. Being an introvert did not discount my chances of speaking. I was excited to learn that possibly, being an introvert could even equate to “awesome speaker.” Could it be?! In a pre-Write Podcast conversation, Brian Fanzo told me a story about award-winning keynote speaker Scott Stratten. Brian looks up to Scott as a speaker so much, and Scott is a major introvert. Scott won’t go out for drinks with Brian after killing it on stage because he’d rather decompress in his hotel room. Brian also told me something else: Because I’m a good writer, I possibly have an advantage over many other average speakers. I can easily create content that rocks, and he said that’s the struggle for many speakers. Chris Strub has also encouraged me to stop letting the “introvert” perspective limit me. He’s even included me on his list of 50 women speakers, which I was very … Read more

8 of Our Biggest Takeaways & Marketing Lessons from Content Marketing World 2018

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Biggest Takeaways and Marketing Lessons from Content Marketing World

This year, I went to CMWorld — again. (It was so great last year that I decided to go again in 2018! And I plan on going in 2019, too.) I brought our Content Director with me. And we had a blast. Content marketers getting together, talking about content, is always a good thing in my book. The event happened Tuesday, September 4 — Friday, September 7, in beautiful Cleveland, Ohio. Hannah and I attended the kickoff party at the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame, the keynotes and sessions in the Main Conference Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and took flights home Thursday night. Besides the sessions and speakers, it was absolutely wonderful to see friendly faces while there — hug friends, meet online friends IRL, talk content, and chat over breakfast and dinner. I walked away with some great insights from the event. Here are my major takeaways from this year’s trip to Content Marketing World. Have you heard? My Expert SEO Content Writer Course is now open for beta launch — for a limited time only. Save your seat here! CMWorld 2018: 8 Biggest Takeaways & Content Marketing Lessons This year’s keynote speaker to start the event was Andrew Davis, and to wrap up the event was Tina Fey, aka Liz Lemon, a huge attraction for many of us marketers. (Also, YAY for #girlpower and bringing a woman to deliver the main and final keynote! Kudos, Content Marketing Institute team.) Before Andrew Davis opened with the first keynote, Robert Rose and Joe Pulizzi took to the stage. And it was awesome. 1. Today’s Most Important Marketing Element is Trust First: Robert Rose introduced the “player” to fit well into this year’s theme at CMWorld, Game On. Player 2 in today’s marketing, he revealed, is trust. As marketers, he said, we’ve entered the game of talent, trust, and technology. AI is out there. Tech is sophisticated. But the values we have will come from talent driven by trust. The media trust isn’t there. We’ve got to create it and deliver on it, as marketers. 2. Record, Repeat, Remove & FOCUS for More Success in Marketing Joe Pulizzi took to the stage next, amidst many whoops of joy from the crowd (I may have added to the noise — he is, after all, one of my all-time favorite content marketing heroes). We all miss him, ever since he ended the PNR With This Old Marketing Podcast and stepped down from CMI after it was acquired by UBM. Of course, even if he did sell CMI, he sure didn’t let go of any of his stylish orange outfits. Two new things I learned about Joe: He majored in rhetoric His favorite book: Stranger in a Strange Land (I bought it and plan to read it!) Joe said that on his first few months off (the first time in years he’s had that much time off!), he studied success. And here’s what he learned. First, he asked this of all of us: Have you made a positive impact in the world? During his sabbatical, Joe studied success, and he found that most of us have programmed our brains in a way that precludes success. We have a great opportunity to start with a clean slate. Success (in marketing and life in general) only takes three things: Record Repeat Remove These three things will make us successful. They will also make our marketing successful. Joe said that if we lead our mission statement with “making money,” we’ve got it wrong. We need to serve. Serve our audience first. [bctt tweet=”#CMWorld 2018 highlight: @joepulizzi saying ‘If we lead our mission statement with making money, we’ve got it wrong. We need to serve our audience first.’ @JuliaEMcCoy ” username=”ExpWriters”] He recommends we review our goals every night and when we wake up in the morning to be successful. Why marketing fails: Our recorded goals aren’t big enough We do not put in enough repetition (consistency) We don’t clear the garbage that stops us from achieving our goals Joe said that in all the content marketing strategies he’s helped implement, and the ones he’s studied, the minimum time was 9 months, average 18 months or longer, of implementing content to see success. [bctt tweet=”Out of hundreds of #contentmarketing strategies studied, @joepulizzi said at #CMWorld that the minimum time is 9 months, average 18 months or longer, of implementing content to see success. – @JuliaEMcCoy” username=”ExpWriters”] Joe recommends focusing in on the right things and cutting the clutter. When he hears, “Not enough time to hit my goal,” he answers: the average American watches 3 hours of TV a day, which becomes a decade at 80 years old. We have the time, it’s what we choose to make time for. [bctt tweet=”.@joepulizzi says that focusing is key to success in #marketing and life. He recommends we clear all distractions to make an impact. #CMWorld #recap @JuliaEMcCoy” username=”ExpWriters”] Content run amuck was the most common error when he and Robert Rose consulted and helped brands build content marketing strategies. Focus. Choose one thing. Even if it’s a big, scary goal. In 2009, no one knew what content marketing was. Joe wanted 150 people to come to the first CMWorld, and 600 did. Whatever you do, if you believe it to be true, it’s true. — Bill Durham. 3. Forget About Snackable Content: Create Binge-Worthy Content that Focuses on the Curiosity Gap A repeated takeaway I heard in many sessions this year at CMWorld was this one: comprehensive content > bite-size / snackable content. In fact, I heard many marketers recommend that those two words — bite-size and snackable! — should die. Andrew Davis, a highly-rated speaker at last year’s CMWorld, took to the stage as the opening keynote for Content Marketing World 2018. He’s a bestselling author and keynote speaker. And what he shared was terrific. First, Andrew asks, have you heard this from marketers? “I wanna gut it and create snackable content.” Andrew recommends that we forget about creating “snackable content.” Quit blaming the goldfish and focusing on the short … Read more

SXSW 2018: 3 Session Takeaways (Lessons From Kristina Halvorson, Content Panel with Slack, IBM & Visa, & Shark Tank Guest Judge Alex Rodriguez)

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SXSW 2018: 3 Session Takeaways (Lessons From Kristina Halvorson, Content Panel with Slack, IBM & Visa, & Shark Tank Guest Judge Alex Rodriguez)

This year, I finally made it to SXSW. I live 25 minutes away from the event, and it’s always been a wish of mine to make it there. The interactive ticket isn’t cheap at over $1,000, so that held me back for a while. This year, I decided to go all in and do it. I’ve been warned by many locals that the event is a total madhouse, and I was worried. Luckily, my experience was mostly pleasant. I attended brand marketing sessions only, none of the music festivals, so I can’t speak for those crowds: but the marketing, startup and brand sessions were extremely smooth and easy to attend. If you’re looking to attend the event, it might help you if I list a few important things I learned about attending SXSW: Registration and session lines at SXSW are run well. Yes, crowds and crowds of people start gathering in-between events, but the lines move fast. I was pleasantly surprised by this. When I was at a session in the Austin Convention Center, SXSW volunteers held up big signs with the session name that showed you where the line started. The line ended up going down three hallways with hundreds of people single-file, which looked daunting. But the minute the doors opened, there was more than enough room to hold everyone, and we all got seated easily. Absolutely, definitely, use the SXSW map they give you at registration. Really – study the map and let it guide you. Once you know where the buildings are, and most of them are blocks away from each other, things get really easy. I walked to the Dell Experience, tiny house of smart, and a session inside the Convention Center all within two hours after studying the map and knowing which direction to walk in once I left each building. It was super easy and simple to get in to each of the separate events. SXSW traffic really IS terrible. Use Lyft. I took Lyft both ways, from home to the event, and got around easily that way. With the app, I could literally request a driver sitting at the curb I was walking down. Downtown, you’ll end up crawling from block to block if you drive. Not just because of the surge of 90,000 extra people in Austin, but also because many roads get blocked off. If you’re just going from session to session, it’s far easier to walk than drive. Okay, now that we’re past how I learned to actually navigate and get around at SXSW, let’s move on to the good stuff: three sessions I attended and some major takeaways. Ready? SXSW 2018: 3 Session Takeaways (Lessons From Kristina Halvorson, Tech Content Panel, & Shark Tank Guest Judge Star Alex Rodriguez) Let’s dive in to the sessions I attended and what I learned from them. The Truth About Content: Broken Dreams & the Big Fix with Kristina Halvorson Kristina Halvorson is a world-leading expert on content strategy, founder at Brain Traffic, and author of Content Strategy for the Web. (I have a dog-eared copy of her book.) She was ridiculously funny and down-to-earth in the presentation she gave at SXSW. I seriously loved attending her session. And I got to meet her afterwards! Here were some of my favorite takeaways from her presentation, The Truth About Content: Broken Dreams and the Big Fix. “Content strategy is not 1,400 articles dumped on the floor of your site.” She literally showed hundreds of toys dumped on the floor in a pile for the slide representing this tatement (My Little Pony toys, specifically – Kristina’s a huge fun of MLP). I loved this reference, because just sometimes, I’ve come across a client or two that thought this was the right strategy. FYI. It’s not. “Nobody cares about your content because you didn’t ask them what they cared about in the first place.” ???? [bctt tweet=”“Nobody cares about your content because you didn’t ask them what they cared about in the first place.”” username=”halvorson”] “Content strategy must: Define Prioritize Integrate Systematize Measure” “Blend the editorial side and experience. You can’t have one without the other.” Great content is nothing without great usability. These two really do go hand-in-hand. How do we get better at content? Kristina shared five keys: 1. Reset. Example: Coca Cola went from a lifestyle publication and got clear on being a publication for a drink. Their website now makes SENSE! They actually dis-invested in content marketing and simplified. What can you simplify for your end user? 2. Get aligned. Many businesses only know TACTICS. Know your vision, mission, goal, objectives, etc. The RACI chart can help. 3. Actually know your audience. Pay attention to them. Exceed their expectations. Many times they don’t want to be challenged. They want to find the coupon on the site. (GREAT point.) It’s not just in SEO Research. You should be talking to your audience. Do website polls. Phone interviews. Get your support team involved in knowing your audience. Don’t just know their name and age, know their needs. 4. Establish common systems and standards. Content structure must have a taxonomy. A governance plan. 5. Beware the silver bullet. Silver bullet = AI. But guess what? Your tech did not fix the content mess and lack of strategy. The AI prediction does not cover this. “AI can mine and repurpose the best stuff.” An actual human will fix it, not AI. AI is coming, and it requires three things: 1) a reliable source of data and content. 2) accurate info suited to the application: know what you’re using it for and your end goals. 3) a framework for organizing. We’re not even there yet as website owners running a clean website. Content first? No, humans first. In Q/A time, I asked Kristina this question: “What’s the biggest no-no that brands just starting out with content strategy do?” Her answer was right on: “Businesses start with tactics instead of very clear business goals and objectives … Read more

CMWorld 2017: 9 Top Attendance Takeaways & 3 Event Networking Tips (What I Learned as a First-Time CMWorld Attendee)

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CMWorld 2017: 9 Top Attendance Takeaways & 3 Event Networking Tips (What I Learned as a First-Time CMWorld Attendee)

I’ve always wanted to go to CMWorld. Like, since I started out 6 years ago in the industry. If you know anything about me, you know that I started Express Writers back in 2011, at 20 years old, with $75: and through consistent content creation, I’ve been able to reach clients and grow to a team of over 40 writers, serving over 5,000 clients over the last 6 years. The sole marketing we do is content marketing. We are a realization of our services: literally, we ARE a content creation agency marketed and fueled by the content we create for our brand. This is done through my content on the Write Blog, my guest blogs on Content Marketing Institute, Search Engine Journal, and SiteProNews, to name a few. By now, we have over 4,000 organic keyword spots in Google. So this year, I finally went and gathered in a crowd of people that were my kind – over 4,600 content creators and marketers, at Content Marketing World in Cleveland, Ohio. I took one of my team leaders with me. The verdict? We experienced a dynamite week at CMWorld. I walked away with four potential new clients, three (maybe four) sponsors for my new course, AND some key lessons learned that I’ll be implementing for the good of my company and the web (seriously – I’m about to get a lot realer and create even better content in the days ahead – I’ve been strategizing and mapping since the moment I left). Here’s a recap. Keep reading for 9 main session takeaways – simple, favorite takeaways – and 3 critical lessons I learned as a content marketer attending #CMWorld, about the event in general and how to network effectively. CMWorld 2017 In Pictures How fun is this? Our designer took the 30+ pictures I shot at the event with some of my favorite content marketing people, and made an infographic collage! Enjoy. 🙂 [clickToTweet tweet=”Experience #CMWorld 2017 in pictures: #infographic of event pictures via @ExpWriters” quote=”Experience #CMWorld 2017 in pictures: #infographic of event pictures via @ExpWriters”] Arriving in Cleveland September 5 for CMWorld 2017: Day 1 Tuesday, September 5, started off the event with an amazing networking night where each one of us 4,000+ marketers hung out together at the Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. I’d never been, and it was incredible – a beautiful venue. Hannah, my Content Director at Express Writers, and I landed right at 6:55 pm. Hannah came from Albany, Oregon, and I came from Austin, Texas. The networking party was from 7:30 to 10:00 p.m. We dropped our bags off at our hotel and got ready to network and party! We ended up at the event around 8:15. The trolley left our hotel, Crowne Plaza, every 30 minutes. Which was awesome. We didn’t have to call an Uber or a taxi for the CMWorld events that happened close to our hotel. Content Marketing World had all the details covered – even a printout of where you were going ready to hand out at the hotel front lobby. In fact, CMWorld signs were EVERYWHERE. We saw cars sporting magnetic roof signs, like pizza delivery cars, for the event. Content Marketing Institute did an outstanding job on event marketing. Everything was set up to be extremely helpful for attendees, especially the new ones that weren’t sure where to go (me). At the networking event Tuesday night, we had an amazing time. I actually got to personally shake hands with and hug my industry hero, Joe Pulizzi! Funny story: Hannah and I ended up escorting Joe Pulizzi for the CMI staff up the escalator, both of us on each side of him! I also met the amazing CMI staff, who I’d emailed and tweeted with years prior to this week. It’s great to make a connection through email and/or Twitter, but there’s nothing like hugging in real life. I crossed paths with a lot more people I’d tweeted or emailed. The opening night party was loads of fun. 9 Session Takeaways from CMWorld 2017: Joe Pulizzi, Jay Acunzo, Joseph Gordon-Levitt & More The CMWorld event, true to awesome form, comes complete with a CMWorld app. CMWorld 2017 is downloadable through the iTunes store. It was an amazing way to manage the 150+ sessions that occurred from Tuesday – Friday during the week of the conference. You’re free to scroll through the sessions, pick the ones you want to attend, and add them to your agenda. Incredibly smart and useful. Here are some one/two-liner (some are longer) takeaways from the sessions I attended. Keep reading for some hugely critical tips I learned on networking for great results, too. 1. Joe Pulizzi, Welcome to the Content Marketing Revolution (Opening Keynote) Favorite takeaway: “You need a loyal and trusting audience. Traffic and shares are good: but without a loyal audience, nothing is possible. 9/10 marketers that are successful at content marketing, say that they focus on building an audience.” [clickToTweet tweet=”Without a loyal audience, nothing is possible. @joepulizzi #CMWorld” quote=”Without a loyal audience, nothing is possible. @joepulizzi #CMWorld”] 2. Linda Boff, GE, “Imagination at Work: Lessons in Storytelling from GE,” General Session Keynote Key takeaway: “Stories are right under our noses—we just might need to change the lens every now and then. Content that tries to sell, doesn’t.” [clickToTweet tweet=”Content that tries to sell, doesn’t. @lindaboff” quote=”Content that tries to sell, doesn’t. @lindaboff”] 3. Jay Acunzo, “Be the Exception: How Brilliant Marketers Find and Follow What Makes Their Stories Different in a World Full of Average Content,” General Session Keynote Key takeaway: [clickToTweet tweet=”Pay more attention to your customer than your industry, and your customer will pay more attention to you. @jayacunzo ” quote=”Pay more attention to your customer than your industry, and your customer will pay more attention to you. @jayacunzo #CMWorld”] “Be exceptional. Spend your time doing truly remarkable work and building something worth subscribing to. Pay more attention to your customer than your industry, and … Read more

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