I started on Twitter in 2007 as @MarketingProfs, sharing headlines from the site and representing the brand there. Then 5 years later I resuscitated @AnnHandley on Twitter as a personal ID—a handle I’d been squatting on for years but never used. Why the second account? I guess the easiest answer is that it seemed… […]
Media
Calling BS on Facebook’s Edict That Writing Is Dead
Facebook is predicting the end of the written word on its platform. And perhaps suggesting that words more broadly are doomed. “The best way to tell stories in this world, where so much information is coming at us, actually is video,” said Nicola Mendelsohn, who leads Facebook’s operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. […]
What Marketing Can Learn from the Most Outstanding Meal I’ve Ever Had
What if we thought about Marketing the way this restaurant thinks about dinner? One of the best things about being a marketer is that your work intersects almost everything. (It’s not like being a professional shepherd, say. The disjoint is greater between the work of sheep-herding and the rest of the world.) One of the […]
The Secret to Marketing Event Success (Spoiler Alert: Muffin Tops)
“The past is always tense, the future perfect.”―Zadie Smith Want to win a trip and full pass to the MarketingProfs B2B Forum? Enter our essay content here! Registration just opened for the MarketingProfs B2B Marketing Forum. That’s a boring name for a conference, isn’t it? Which is why we affectionately nicknamed the B2B Marketing Forum, […]
6 Things You Can Learn from an Unfunny Marketer’s Funny Redemption
Fifteen years ago, my friend Doug Kessler swore off any attempt at “comedy” after an attempt at funny dissolved into flat-out failure. Doug, who runs marketing agency Velocity UK in London, recalls the white-hot shame of it all: “We wrote a script. Sent it to client. We expected some review and back and forth… but […]
Scrappy Video Content Marketing: What If We Didn’t Try So Hard?
What if we stopped trying quite so hard with our video content marketing? What if we just told our true stories honestly and simply, and with empathy for the very real problems our customers have? A video from a tiny Arizona startup busts some common myths about using video as part of a content marketing […]
Breaking Out of Boring: Tell Unexpected Stories
What does a brand known as buttoned up and boring do to broaden its appeal? I get this question a lot. One great model for inspiration is LinkedIn, which has become the poster child for a staid brand evolving its brand by telling unexpected stories. In the early 2000s, UK musician Matt Henshaw was living […]
Make Your Customer the Hero of Your Story: ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ Video
The Fault in Our Stars opened this past weekend to become number-one at the box office. Which thrills me – because I’m a fan of the young adult novel the movie is based on and of its author (and video blogger) John Green. But more importantly: It thrills me because good writing deserves to find […]
Honey Maid Takes On Haters, and Now I Want Graham Crackers
A month ago, the graham cracker brand Honey Maid launched a new program that aimed to redefine “wholesome” by telling the stories of interracial, single-parent and gay families. The idea was to align the 90-year-old Honey Maid with a modern yet steadfast narrative on what makes for wholesome. Families might’ve have changed, Honey Maid suggests. […]