As most of our clients already know, we’re constantly updating and maintaining our services, team, and processes here at Express Writers.
Quality is first and foremost at our heart.
One reason I haven’t sought an outside partner or funding source is that running the company 100% by ourselves allows us to make fast, agile changes to our processes.
These processes can instantly allow our clients to experience more customized, high-quality services–and turn on a dime to change or fix any issues, if they come up.
Our personal commitment and involvement at this level is one major reason why we don’t even consider ourselves a competitor against many other “content vendors,” like Textbroker and WriterAccess, to name a few.
You want cheap content on a budget? We’ll hold the door open for you, and recommend one of those vendors.
You want quality web content for your blog, website or your clients’ sites? That’s when you come to us.
As the CEO, I haven’t earned my place in the top content marketers worldwide by chance or through cutting corners. Quite the opposite. It’s been a long, grueling journey, full of learning experiences and challenges. I learned and grew, as I wrote and published multiple bestselling books in my industry, led my company, and built/rebuilt our processes.
This April, we’ve made some changes in our Content Shop that we want you to be aware of. What’s at heart? You guessed it–quality.
We want to continue to serve our clients with the best content (not the cheapest). Continue reading for a short memo on our internal, and external, changes.
Express Writers’ Expert Copywriting Update & Internal Process Improvements: 3 Major Changes to Our Writing Levels
Here’s a rundown of the major changes we’ve gone through this year. There are more–we literally improve our processes daily–but these are the biggest ones.
1. General Content Creation Level Update
As you probably know by now, we’ve always offered three levels of content at Express Writers:
General (no longer offered publicly, at request only on a case-by-case basis: our lowest-cost writer level for easier subjects)
Expert (expert writers with specific industry experience, from legal to tech, finance, engineering, and beyond)
Authority (our “boss” content level: the one you order when you want long-form blogs that net serious rankings and gain in Google)
As of March 2018, we completely removed the public link to our General product level from the Content Shop. For every client interested in this level, our support team can personally hand them the link to this service after verifying that general level will be a fit for them (most sites need expert content at a minimum to see ROI from the content produced). Just open the chat in the right-hand corner of our site, or drop an email to request our General level.
2. Expert Copywriting Product Update
Our team has grown in the last month! By now, we have a library of more than 70 expert writers that have individualized experience in a wide range of industries. This is an increase of more than double in our team size across the past four months.
And this week, we revamped how we offer Expert content.
Instead of more than 20 “products” (individual product URLs for each industry topic our writers cover), we combined all our expert topics into one simple category:
You’ll see the Expert Category in our Content Shop has drastically reduced to lesser “items” – but with the ability to tell us your specific industry before you place an order, we’re able to focus on customizing our content solutions for your needs more than ever.
As our team grows, and we add more support specialists, this will be a fantastic way we can continue to focus on your specific topic and make sure it goes to the perfect-fit expert in our team.
3. HR Improvements
One of the main cores I had at heart when I launched Express Writers, was hiring every writer personally. I wanted to find the best writers. Today, seven years later, I still continue to hand-pick every writer.
This year, we’ve refined that process. I continue to carefully vet and look for industry expertise that can match every one of our client’s industries and topic areas. Our new step added to this process is having our Content Director, Hannah, hold a phone interview call with every writer that allows us to get to know our writers on a personal level, and find out their interests and favorite topics to write about, too. We also keep a running database about every topic under the sun that our experts have real-life experience in. These changes have already improved how writers work within our team, and boosted client satisfaction rates.
Need content that pushes your brand forward online? We’re your team. Talk to us today.
Today for the Write Blog, we interviewed one of our full-time writers, Austin. Austin first began his career as a pro writer when he left his hometown of Los Angeles, California to travel the world and document his experiences along the way. He has toured with rock bands in Europe, written technical documentation for Australian engineering concerns and executed social media strategies for major international brands across the globe. A talented writer, Austin has been a long-term member of Express Writers for over a year, working full-time as an Authority Writer, Content Strategist and all-around gifted copywriter.
What were your earliest writing memories?
Like many introverted pre-teens, at the age of 10 or 11 I kept a journal where I’d write down my thoughts and occasionally try my hand at poetry.
Shortly thereafter, I migrated to the then-popular LiveJournal platform and share these thoughts with the small handful of close friends who took an interest.
Back then, everyone had a Myspace account, but keeping up a LiveJournal took a bit more effort, and it was a far more convenient way to share opinions and tell stories.
What (or who) were your early influences in writing?
I’ve been an avid science fiction fan since I was first introduced to Isaac Asimov. My father gave me The Foundation Series as a birthday gift. Asimov’s influence is easy to identify in both my creative and practical approaches to writing.
In particular, one quote of his made a huge impact on my creative goal as a writer:
“I made up my mind long ago to follow one cardinal rule in all my writing—to be clear. I have given up all thought of writing poetically or symbolically or experimentally, or in any of the other modes that might get me a Pulitzer prize…”
I’ve also adopted many elements of his famously hyper-productive workflow – Asimov wrote almost 500 books during his lifetime, which calculates to an average of one full novel every two weeks for 25 years. I haven’t quite reached that volume of output, but if I had received George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones that year, this interview would not be online until the year 2050.
What kind of topics get you excited/passionate to write about and why?
I find inspiration in anything new, innovative, or otherwise under-explored. For the most part, this happens in the tech sector, where entrepreneurs and startups are constantly coming up with fresh and exciting challenges to the status quo.
But this can happen anywhere, in any subject. Usually, I try to address this frame of reference in almost everything I write – synthesizing the well-established facts of the past with the new insights of today to create a better perspective of tomorrow.
Do you have any daily/typical writing rituals?
I continuously engineer just about every aspect of my daily writing routine to reduce inefficiencies and keep myself focused. Most of these rituals prevent decision fatigue from tiring me out throughout the day. For instance, I work at home, but always dress to a tee beforehand. Music is almost always playing (loudly) while I write, but only specific albums and playlists on repeat – radio host banter would get in the way and break my concentration. I keep my office immaculately clean for the same reason.
I don’t smoke cigarettes, but I do hold an unlit antique tobacco pipe in my mouth while writing. That’s just a personal idiosyncrasy I suppose stems from popular depictions of writers like Ernest Hemingway or Mark Twain. Somehow, it just feels appropriate.
What books, tools, websites have helped your writing the most?
This is a small list of resources I reference the most:
Kevan Lee’s list of copywriting formulas. This is a great tool, not just for introducing articles to readers, but for introducing just about anyone to anything.
Google Scholar. I’ve found that more often than not, great sources form the crux of great content. Finding better, more recent, and more complete data about a subject than anyone else practically guarantees that you’ll be able to deliver a clearer and more compelling argument about it.
Practical Content Strategy & Marketing. Can’t go wrong with this one. This book offers a bird’s eye view of content strategy as a discipline and then goes deep into what defines a successful approach, step-by-step.
Buzzsumo. This tool is extraordinarily useful for synthesizing topics and strategies out of already-popular content. Used in the right way, it can be your go-to topic generating tool for almost any industry.
Importantly, these are all technical resources that help get content made. For the creative work of actually writing content, I rely on two philosophical disciplines more than anything else:
Aristotelian Rhetoric. A lot of motivational speakers, speechwriters, and life coaches will claim to teach you the secret of how to convince anyone of anything, but few, if any, do anything more than paraphrase Aristotle. When it comes to persuasion, the definitive work has been written and its about 2,400 years old.
Critical Theory. This one is a little less user-friendly, but it’s incredibly useful when you need to disprove something, or otherwise poke holes in people’s existing prejudices, principles, and belief systems. Handle with care. Don’t try this at home.
What is your favorite article that you wrote?
My favorite project so far was a white paper for a cryptocurrency designed to operate in the healthcare sector. The level of research involved can only be described as legendary – decades of aggregated healthcare spend in multiple countries compared with each nation’s respective changes in fiduciary policy and the effects of those changes, transformed into a projection of future trends and used to argue for the need for a new form of currency to compensate for the discrepancy in inflation rates between fiat currency and healthcare products and services. Psychedelic stuff.
A favorite client that you worked with?
There’s a fellow whom I know only as “Sean”. One of my most memorable projects with this client involved long-form content about space travel, artificial intelligence, and robotics.
Then he comes back around in a month or so and wants in-depth content about golf, or a listicle of the best waterparks in the United States. He’s a box of chocolates – you never know what you’re gonna get.
What is the oddest writing assignment you’ve ever had?
Probably all that stuff about golf. Product descriptions can get pretty weird, too. Sometimes you’re looking at some everyday item you’ve never thought of as the product of a commercial enterprise – like cable ties or threaded washers – and you have to rack your brain for a few minutes to come up with pain points customers may wish to see addressed.
How does your writing career help you either creatively, personally, or financially?
Creatively, there is something profoundly satisfying about generating value using only one brain, ten fingers, and twenty six letters. Seeing the words you write actually inspire people to take action is a wondrous experience. If my writing career is a means to an end, that’s the one I’m looking for.
Personally, being able to set my own hours and work from anywhere on the planet is hugely empowering. This work environment instills in me a sense of liberty that is hard to find anywhere else.
Financially, writing has been a lifesaver. Initially, it started out as a convenient option for scraping out a living in inconvenient circumstances. It blossomed into a full-fledged career that is now generating enough profit to finance other initiatives – things I’ve always wanted to do but never had the combination of time and money to really dedicate myself towards. It’s a beautiful thing.
Today for the Write Blog, we interviewed one of our full-time writers, Diana. Diana is a journalism graduate, award-winning filmmaker and online content specialist. She dedicates her work to crafting content that connects people with stories and ideas that matter. When she’s away from the laptop, you can find her navigating through South America’s mountain trails or planning her next large-scale environmental project. Diana joined our team earlier this year and has become an integrated part, training closely with Julia for a course support role, and writing a myriad of content types for our clients.
How did you first find out you liked to write?
My dad is a writer and I’ve always been a big fan of him in many ways.
So when I was about nine years old, I decided to submit a story for the Remembrance Day competition at my school. The story ended up winning first place and was announced at the annual ceremony.
If you can remember being nine years old, winning basically anything was the best thing ever.
So clearly, I exploded — and became totally obsessed. Soon after, I got a hold of my dad’s old briefcase, filled it with blank notebooks and begun writing long-winded mystery stories for a good length of time (Nancy Drew was my other hero).
What (or who) were your early influences in writing?
After my long-lived Nancy Drew/Harriet the Spy phase and survived my too-cool-for-school chapter, I was introduced to a handful of influencers in University.
Besides my incredible journalism/writing professors and mentors, there were some other special people I surrounded myself with:
I ABSORBED Kurt Vonnegut. Like I wanted to take his work and inject it into my body somehow.
Douglas Coupland and Rawi Hage were fairly prominent in my life, too.
David Sedaris was pretty much my long-distance, secret mentor for my short story work.
Hunter S. Thompson was my muse.
Charles Bukowski, Leonard Cohen and Sylvia Plath were my sad, soulful weekend mentors.
At this time, I was also regularly writing lyrics for a band I was in.
I think this may have been one of the greatest influences for my writing: The self-disciplined study of lyricism and poetry. It gave my writing a certaindepth and flavour.
Henry David Thoreau was a game-changer, though.
I think I’ve read Walden 4 times.
This, combined with tree planting expeditions and my insatiable love for scriptwriting eventually led me to creating work for a purpose, rather than simply the joy of storytelling.
What kind of topics get you excited/passionate to write about and why?
I love characters. Profile pieces, especially on zany people, make me giddy.
I also love every aspect of writing for environmental topics. I try to learn as much about environmental issues on the side to help my craft in this field.
Honestly though, any topic that has the potential to influence further development in either myself or the world at large has me pretty pumped.
This can include:
– content marketing
– social enterprises
– psychology and self-development
– new cuisine or farming practices
– specific technology
Do you have any daily/typical writing rituals?
I meditate.
I go through stints where I don’t do it as often, but it’s clear how it affects my concentration and therefore my writing.
Meditating every morning before looking at screens improves the overall productiveness of my day significantly.
Clear/calm mind + blank paper + coffee = real potential.
What books, tools, websites have helped your writing the most?
I’m kind of old school.
I believe the simple discipline of reading and writing a desired topic/style can boost your abilities.
Currently, I’m trying to improve my content writing, so I’m reading Julia’s book while following various blogs.
I use Feedly to help me stay updated with specific styles of content I’m focusing on — which is actually the most high-tech I’ve ever been in this respect.
What is your favorite article that you wrote?
It was called, “Massacre on Dundas Avenue.”
It was an investigative piece on why there were so many dead squirrels littering the main roads in my town.
The article was a result of a casual observation that led to a broader issue — an approach I feel makes for the best articles.
A favorite client that you worked with?
Dr. Graham’s Homes, which is an orphanage and school in Kalimpong, India. I wrote a number of the graduate’s testimonials for their main site to encourage essential funding.
The stories these students shared were truly inspiring, some of them almost chilling. Being given the chance to take these stories and mould them into something tangible was an honor.
What is the oddest writing assignment you’ve ever had?
I covered a radio story on the inside life of a trailer park, which was actually a few hours away from where the TV show, Trailer Park Boys was shot.
The assignment required me to go door-to-door and interview residents of the area, which proved to be both terrifying and awe-inspiring. The range of characters was vast, but one common theme that carried through was the residents’ ability to effortlessly entertain guests.
How does your writing career help you either creatively, personally, or financially?
My writing career not only pays the bills and my ability to travel (which includes its own benefits), but it encourages me to evolve on a personal level.
I believe that constantly working on a craft, whether it be art, carpentry, music or writing, enhances your ability to expand in a myriad of ways.
It helps you practice humility, and when done well and enjoyably, can be beneficial for your spirit and overall well-being.
The craft of writing helps you connect with people and ideas.
It supports continual learning, curiosity, and encourages open-mindedness.
Needless to say, invaluable gains.
Let’s talk a little about the state of content marketing as it stands today. 91% of content marketers are using content marketing. That’s higher than all previous years to date.
Content creation is the #1 activity in content marketing that gets outsourced.
45% of content marketers are more successful than they were the previous year:
And 78% quoted bettercontent creation as being the number one reason for their improved success.
Yet only 4% of these marketers rate themselves as extremely successful.
CMI adds: “As they have in the past, respondents who have a documented content marketing strategy report higher levels of overall content marketing success compared with those who have a verbal strategy only, or no strategy at all.”
Yet, despite this guaranteed success rate, only 37% of marketers still have a documented content strategy.
Here’s a quick slide of those statistics from the CMI report:
What exactly is IN a documented content strategy?
Here’s eleven top cores I’d direct you to consider. Note that it is much more than just a keyword report, or a topic calendar.
Audience Persona (you’ve identified your audience so specifically that you have a name and a face)
Your industry standout factor (Content Differentiation Factor)
Your messaging, voice, and tone (Brand Style Guidelines)
SEO keyword reports with high-value, high-opportunity keywords (researched consistently)
Content creation plan & creation team in place
Content types to create
A content creation budget
Editorial calendar with staff collaboration
Social media platforms to build a presence on
Guest blogging opportunities identified
Content updating, tracking and maintenance plan in place
That’s a lot.
You want to be in the 4% of content marketers that are “extremely successful,” right?
Then you need all eleven cores turning in your content wheelhouse.
But, here’s the issue.
You’re probably facing two questions right about now.
How the heck do you do all those things ^?
Where the heck can you find a support team, that is quality controlled, to outsource all those things ^?
How & Why Our Mission These Days is to Solve Industry Problems & Help Brands Succeed By Offering the Best Content Strategy Services
Here’s the thing…
I’ve been focusing on this “big industry picture” since late 2016.
It all started when I began to look at these CMI Benchmark reports, and even asked myself “why are our blogging clients not renewing their order every month?”
Every year, content marketing investment and marketer buy-in goes up. But the strategic success hasn’t really gone up at all.
Today, only 4% feel they’re very successful at content marketing in 2018.
You know what’s worse? Take a look at previous years’ records.
In 2016, 88% of marketers were doing content marketing – now, 91% are. In 2016, 32% had a documented content strategy: today, 37% do. In 2016, 6% rated themselves as highly effective.
Today, only 4% feel they’re highly effective. That’s -2% from two years ago!
In my firm, I’ve seen success rise for my content marketing year-after-year.
I know by now that it is all about consistent content, and I also knew, after five years of trial and error, beyond a doubt the value of great content in content marketing – provided you get consistent and you know what you’re doing. When my brand went past 1,000 published blogs, I wrote about the results after looking through our sales forms. It’s rather mind-blowing. 500+ inbound lead inquiries from those 1,000 blogs, closed with a sale at an 80-85% rate. Those were high-value leads: just one converted at $75,000.
The success I’d experienced by using content marketing to power 99% of my own business success (for six years!) is the very reason I created a content strategy course.
I go through all the cores I just mentioned, and teach strategists at all beginner levels how to be successful.
How to be in the top 4%. By doing this, I want that industry metric to expand.
Expand from 4% to 10, 20%.
If brands get extremely effective at their content marketing, BIG things will happen for that brand.
They’ll get known: appreciated: earn a loyal, tight-knit fan base: and see sales roll in every day.
Hand in hand with the course are the content strategy services I’ve built in my content agency, Express Writers.
I started writing the core training for our “content planning,” “keyword research,” and “content consultation” 5 years ago–and that inspired the industry-wide course I launched last year.
We’re a content creation agency first and foremost, but truly: what is great content if you don’t have your fundamental strategy mapped out?
Recapping the Main Changes to Our Content Strategy Services for 2018
We revamped and improved each strategy service we offer (list of changes below), for the year.
On top of that, I launched new internal training for our Strategists, straight from the cores of my 6-week, intensive content course at www.contentstrategycourses.com. All this happened in the last three weeks here at Express Writers.
All of our content strategy services are now available from this one product link, Content Strategy, instead of multiple links for keyword research and the other variations inside this one service.
Keyword research has now become more finely tuned and available in two variations: Keyword research for blogging, keyword research for web page topics. We’ll research longer-tail keywords for your blog, that offer a high likelihood of ranking: and wider opportunities for your site, where you’d want to rank overall for bigger, bolder keywords.
Content planning and content planning blocks has turned into Topic Research, for web or blog. You’ll receive an editorial calendar with high-ROI topics analyzed, as well as a core keyword to use in the topic: and what’s more, we now research influencers for your topic area as well and give you an exported list in the Excel editorial calendar. Our topic headlines are highly-scored, and carefully analyzed by our Content Strategists.
We use some of the best tools on the market: SEMrush, BuzzSumo, Hawkeye by Scoop.it, and Mangools’ KWFinder. Our team Content Strategists are fully trained from my content strategy course cores on how to deliver keywords and high-ROI content topics.
Our Topic Planning is available in three variations:
See an example of a Topic Planning package, complete with editorial calendar.
What’s more, we now offer a follow-up call with you + our Content Strategists to make sure you’re able to get the most from your topic planning. This will help our clients understand how to use their keywords and topics in the best way for on-site ROI.
Interested? Click here to book a call with one of our staff members to talk about your content strategy needs, or view the new product by clicking on the image below.
Let Us Power Up Your Content Strategy
We can’t wait to serve you with the best content for more success in your content marketing, this 2018.
If you’re looking for training for your agency, my Content Strategy Course could be a fit. (We’re relaunching a new and improved site late February, 2018!)
Need done-for-you strategic content marketing services?
We love serving custom, high-quality content to seasoned brands and agencies.
If that’s you, we’re a great match! Talk to our team today about your content needs.
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 your customer will pay more attention to you. What is your aspirational anchor? What is your intent for the future? What kind of hunger do you feel about work today… and what is your unfair advantage? Use these as both a filter for endless advice and your differentiator in your content.”
4. Michele Linn of CMI, Creating the Ultimate Content Marketing Team (45-Minute Session)
Favorite takeaway:
[clickToTweet tweet=”‘Creatives with skills outside their specialty are highly marketable. Don’t just hire a ‘writer.’” @michelelinn ” quote=”‘Creatives with skills outside their specialty are highly marketable. Don’t just hire a ‘writer.’” @michelelinn #CMWorld”]
Michele mentioned that originally she’d thought about making the presentation about “roles,” then realized that every marketer she spoke to in researching her presentation topic had a different role title. Role titles didn’t matter as much as the skills and actual responsibilities. Michele also shared a great Cameron Conway quote: Behind every great content marketing effort, there’s always a driven, well-organized team.
5. Amanda Todorovich of Cleveland Clinic, The Inside Story of How Cleveland Clinic Health Essentials Drives Consistent Web Traffic and Builds an Audience (45-Minute Session)
Amanda, with the approval (and cheerleading) of the health clinic’s CMO, took the Cleveland Health Clinic’s online presence from zero traffic to an on-track goal of hitting 5 million hits per MONTH this October. They publish 15 blogs/day, and right now, the number one way they win new patients is through their content, with multiple blogs set up where they post content to. Way to go, Cleveland Health Clinic–and Amanda!
Amanda says: Look at your content AND your audience as an asset. She recommends dropping the stale monthly reports and reporting back when you see a change, improvement, follower movement–which could be a daily occurrence. Also, patience is key. It’s taken them years to build their tremendous presence and audience.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Look at your content AND your audience as an asset. -@amandatodo from Cleveland Health Clinic #CMWorld” quote=”Look at your content AND your audience as an asset. -@amandatodo from Cleveland Health Clinic #CMWorld”]
6. Garrett Moon of Coschedule, Going Beyond Content Marketing: Turning Traffic into Leads (45-Minute Session)
This session by Garrett from CoSchedule held some great tips.
“Drive profitable customer action. Attract an audience that is excited to discover your product. What do your customers really care about? To get leads, you must understand your customer.
Focus on having a content core. Have one clear CTA message in your content, never two. Place them in the top and bottom. Use the HelloBar and package your content with value. Instead of just asking your readers to subscribe, give them something for free that’s of value along the way.
Goal setting and tracking is important. Understand how to measure your lead generation, and remember that different phases of business mean different goals.”
[clickToTweet tweet=”Find a topic that your customers care about and map it to an angle that provides value. @garrett_moon #CMWorld” quote=”Find a topic that your customers care about and map it to an angle that provides value. @garrett_moon #CMWorld”]
7. #AMA – ASKMEANYTHING – How Marketers Can Deliver Better Speeches and Presentations, with Cathy McPhillips, Donna Moritz, Scott Stratten, and Tamsen Webster (Lunch & Learn)
Favorite takeaway:
“Speaking can be deeply uncomfortable. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Passion trumps polish EVERY TIME.”
[clickToTweet tweet=”Passion trumps polish EVERY TIME. @tamadear” quote=”Passion trumps polish EVERY TIME. @tamadear”]
8. Joseph Gordon-Levitt Keynote – Hollywood, Media and How to Collaborate to Build Something Truly Great
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, film star and director, built hitrecord.org from scratch, a community of collaborators and work together to get paid for their creative skills (over $2.5 million has been paid out to their creatives). Favorite takeaway:
Although Joseph’s speech was awesome, my favorite short-liner would have to be Joe Pulizzi clearing up what “content marketing” means to Joseph.
Joe Pulizzi (talking about what Joseph does): So what kind of marketing category does that fall into? Joseph: Brand marketing. Joe: Why not content marketing? Joseph: Well, what is the difference between brand and content marketing? Joe: Brand marketing is marketing that serves the brand. Content marketing is marketing that serves the audience. Joseph: Okay, then, I guess I do content marketing.
#audienceapplause
9. Jay Baer, How to Get Promoted by Creating Less Content, Not More (45-Minute Session)
I apologize – this one isn’t going to be a one-liner takeaway.
I was inspired by this particular session by Jay Baer so much, that I’ll be writing a standalone blog on a guest blog platform just around what I took away from listening. This was a powerful wake-up speech that every content marketer should know about. Stop doing crap volume content – it’ll kill you, eventually. Here are a few key notes from the session.
First, Jay shared core statistics that are pretty crazy:
76% of marketers plan to create more content than ever this year
Yet more than half of all content gets LESS THAN 4 social shares
And more than 75% earns no links
Being relevant to your audience is the hugest content need today. Content fails when it doesn’t matter enough to trade time for information.
Jay identified a wonderful solution by building multiple personas. He introduced a “5x5x5 topic archaeology:” determine 5 key questions that must be answered for your audience to progress through the sales funnel. Create a persona for each stage of the funnel. 125 questions (5×3 stages of the funnel) will net you 60 questions. Then, you can figure out the content type to create to answer their questions. FAQ, blog, etc.
Think of creating consistent content shows. On your site; and in other places. Thematic content is key. Stop creating content randomly. Jay’s Social Pros podcast has ran for 7 years. Whiteboard Friday. With shows, you stop random nature of creating content. Your audience will tune in. Easier to test and optimize. Repurposing content is easier this way, too.
The most persuasive content is created by real people, not brands. The more content customers and fans you create, the less you have to create. More trust, less work.
Robots that can write well, WILL happen – they are happening now. In just a few months they could replace your job. Add the secret sauce of humanity to keep your job as a content marketer. Have a laser focus on relevance, trustworthiness, memorability…not volume.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Add the secret sauce of humanity to keep your job as a content marketer and stand out against the robots. @jaybaer ” quote=”Add the secret sauce of humanity to keep your job as a content marketer and stand out against the robots. @jaybaer #CMWorld”]
3 Key Lessons I Learned From Successfully Networking and Attending CMWorld 2017
At CMWorld 2017, I walked away with several potential new clients and three, maybe four, course sponsors.
How did I make THAT happen?!
Let me be specific, so you don’t think these were just “leads:” we walked away with at least two new client relationships (brand new, direct emails and contact info exchanged, and “I will be hiring you” actually said to my staff member and I). We’re working on potentially two more of those, too.
With my course, I have meetings that I discussed and set from the conference floor with three executives that are definitely interested in sponsoring the course. Granted, when it comes to the course, these were people I have had connections with for years – yet I think meeting in person at CMWorld was a huge key to successful communication regarding it, and the trust factor just gets so much “realer” when you’re in person.
1. If You Want to Get a “Lead” That’s Worth Something, Don’t Pitch Cold. But, Look for Opportunities & Make Friends.
How interesting is this tip?
Dave, my client at Magnificent Marketing, who was at #CMWorld too, told me that pitching while at a party or doing dinner together just feels “slimey.”
I agree, but I think there’s a balance. The odds also seemed to be heavily in my favor to naturally find opportunities, since we were the lone content creation agency (everyone else was a consulting agency, marketer, SaaS creator, etc).
For example, I was standing in the middle of the Expo Hall (which is giant) and was talking to my friend, the Director of BuzzSumo, Steve Rayson. The minute I finished talking to him, two people came up to me. Turns out they led marketing at an agency, were looking for writers, and had read my badge while I was talking to Steve – “Express Writers.” They said they were in need of writers yesterday and we instantly exchanged information. This happened a couple times.
I think you should go prepared to pitch if you find someone that needs you, and you’re confident you can deliver. However, don’t just “pitch.” Look for the opportunity, make a friend, and then make the connection.
There was one booth there where the guy, an obviously seasoned and salty “salesperson,” walked up to me and tried to sell me on a webinar system I didn’t need. Within five minutes, he’d sent me a LinkedIn request with his calendar link to book a call.
That was a major, major turnoff. You’re at a content marketing event, where the theme was “audience comes first.” Never do what the overly-salesy sales guy did to me.
2. If You Have Prior Influencer Relationships Built Up, When You Finally Meet, It’s Dynamite & Big Things Can Happen.
This seriously applies to meeting influencers.
Seriously.
Don’t go expecting big things and try to meet influencers you’ve never, ever talked to before.
Why? First of all, they usually have a crowd around them. Second of all, the connection won’t be as amazing as a moment that goes… “aha! So good to meet you, finally!” It’ll be a much less impactful connection if you’re a complete stranger when you meet them at the event.
So I’ve been podcasting (the Write Podcast) since April 2016, and through that channel, I’ve been able to meet and build relationships with some amazing influencers in the industry. Same for a Twitter chat I run, #ContentWritingChat. Before my podcasting days, I’d already met a few of the influencers virtually through live events, tweeting, etc. Some of these connections went as far back as 2012. So, before I even planned on #CMWorld, I’d tweeted, emailed, and talked consistently with these amazing influencers.
When we met, it was DY-NA-MITE. Like, “let’s sit down and talk opportunities” dynamite. I had a sponsorship meeting booked and two in the works before I left the floor on Day 2. We hugged, took pictures, and the conversation flowed, too. It wasn’t one-sided with me “asking.” We were truly friends before I even got there. And the ask was easy–the influencer and I both knew it was in our favor.
3. CMWorld Is One of the “Easiest” Conferences With Short, Walk-In Sessions & Everything Set Up For You.
When I planned my trip to CMWorld, I was honestly worried how 150 sessions and 100 speakers would go. I thought I’d be completely drained – I’d been to another conference with 45-60 minute sessions back on back and was drained quickly.
The app made it extremely easy to pick my sessions. I didn’t even have to look for signs or go somewhere – I just looked at the app.
I found that CMWorld was structured so well that the sessions were short (some at 20 minutes long) and the longer sessions still allowed you to come and go very easily.
The come-and-go nature of the event, and the constantly open Main Expo Hall with a giant, comfortable lounge, was perfect. Seriously, desks and chairs were everywhere incase you needed to take a quick minute to catch up on work, and the entire convention center was rented out for us – AND the next-door hotel!
Over 4,000 attendees and you could still find a quiet corner to make or take a call. (Except for the Expo Hall when it was time for Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s keynote. Forget even trying to walk through. It moved fast, though.)
In honesty, I attended less sessions than I thought I would, but the networking results were fantastic. I kept popping out early to go see who I could find at the Expo Hall, and then walking into other sessions.
The end result? I was engaged, happy, and the opposite of bored (what I would have felt if I was sitting in a session for more than an hour at a time).
Final Shoutout #1: Andy Crestodina Is An Influencer that Sets an Industry Example
One influencer that I made a new relationship with at CMWorld consistently stood out for his helpfulness, kindness, and all-around awesomeness – to me and everyone around me. Andy Crestodina.
There are a lot of amazing, helpful, kind people in content marketing, but Andy is hard to describe because of how much he goes above and beyond. I was thoroughly amazed and inspired by Andy’s above-average caring nature as a content marketing expert and influencer.
Here’s why.
We were standing in the expo hall. I had just met him face-to-face, and was telling him how much I enjoyed the book that he mailed me, at no cost, with a handwritten note – before I went to the event. (Seriously, wasn’t that nice?) I told him “so sorry I missed your session today! I ended up going to another.” Do you know what Andy said? “Skype me. Or catch me later. And I’ll give you the whole talk. It was short. I don’t want you to miss it. So I’ll give it personally to you if you want. Just let me know.”
Then, he texted me later on the second full day of the event, and got me into an amazing event hosted by Ivana of DIYMarketers.
Seriously! What influencer does that?! Content marketing has heroes. That’s all I’m going to say.
Final Shoutout #2: Thank You, Joe Pulizzi, Robert Rose, & the CMI Team!
I was honored to walk out with a handsigned copy of the newest book from Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose. This one will be on my bedstand table for a while.
Thank you, thank you Content Marketing Institute for a wonderful event!
For this content marketer, it was an incredible experience. I will be back!
