Dear ,

Fall foliage was in full bloom in the Hudson Valley

My husband and I took the train north to Rhinebeck at its heart. 

We attended the New York Sheep and Wool Festival (NYSW), one of the largest fairs of its kind in the US. In addition to farmers who raise sheep and alpaca, an ever-growing number of yarnies who love the fiber arts attend. This includes knitters, crocheters, spinners, weavers and dyers. 

Even better the fall weather gives attendees a reason to make a special Rhinebeck Sweater to wear at the festival.

Also, there’s a Ravelry meetup on the grassy knoll at lunch hour. Ravelry is a social media site dedicated to knitters, crocheters and other fiber arts. It provides community and internal email functionality. As a result, I’ve connected with and later met in real life other knitters around the world.

As a digital marketer, I’m amazed by Ravelry’s functionality and reach. A knitter, frustrated that she couldn’t see how other knitters interpreted patterns, and her coder husband created and bootstrapped the platform to a global community. 

Free to use, Ravelry helps keep members to track projects, yarn and needles. By documenting this information with helpful notes and photographs, Ravelry has created a deep content hub. 

Actionable Marketing Tips:

• Offer a free online utility that provides value to your audience. This gets them in engaged with your content and/or business. For example, many yarn stores have a computer for shoppers to use to check Ravelry before purchasing. 
   
• Bring your audience and customers together in real life (IRL.)  I never cease to be amazed at how friendly knitters are. They build deep bonds based on their love of their craft. As a marketer, tap into the power of other organizations’ events to support the community.
   
• Highlight your Top 10 Articles or Questions. It’s pure Marcus Sheridan, They Ask, You Answer. Even better, collect your prospect questions and answers from every customer facing employee.  Transform them into usable content for specific departments in addition to marketing!  But don’t make the questions up! 

Last week, I spoke at MarketingProfs B2B Forum (aka: MPB2B) in Washington, DC along with some of my favorite marketing besties!

This year’s theme focused on Fred Rogers the man behind Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. One of the clips shown highlighted Mr. Roger’s testimony before a Senate committee prepared to cut the $20 million budget for public television in the US. Mr. Roger's plain words and understanding of people persuaded the committee and saved PBS's budget. 

Further, Mr. Rogers symbolized what we need to do as marketers and, more importantly, as human beings. We need to respect our audiences and the share of attention they grant us. 

Mr. Rogers shows us the way to transform our marketing from shouting "me, me, me" to the human connections we all need as people. (BTW–Here's Ann Handley's MPB2B recap.)

MPB2B speakers echoed this message. 

• Attention Pays author Neen James recommended listening with your eyes.
   
• Content Chemistry author Andy Crestodina pointed out that, for marketers, the power of social media is about building long term relationships with thought leaders and your community to yield more value over time. (BTW—if you’re in Chicago, attend Andy’s “Content Jam Conference” on October 28th & 29th. It’s worth the investment in your work, career and community. [Note: This is NOT an affiliate link.]
   
• Rabble Rouser Katie Martell inspired us to stop using the latest trends to sell our products. Rather, you must truly walk the talk. Because your customers can smell a fake a mile away!

Actionable Marketing Tips:

• Treat your audience as if they’re important and human. Even my 5 year old nephew knew that his name wasn’t “Resident”. 
   
• Reassess how you build community into your business and marketing. Engage’s Jon Miller believes this is an important function of B2B marketing post-purchase.  (BTW–Read his Next Big Prediction For B2B Marketing on LinkedIn. )

While I’m staying local in NYC, for the next few weeks:

Calling all content marketers in Chicagoland! There’s still time to get your tickets for Content Jam! It’s one of the best content marketing shows and is run by Andy Crestodina and his amazing team at Orbit Media.

Please let me know if you have any specific marketing topics that you would like me to cover in the coming weeks. 

If you’re running an event that you would like me to speak at, please let me know. (Just hit reply to reach me.)
 

Shout out to new readers: Wahidul, Akile, Vikas, Vicky, Guillermo, Gladimir, Scott, Mary, Josh, Tara, Rajendra, Pankaj and Jim. Welcome and thank you for joining our community.

Happy Marketing,
Heidi

PS: Do you have a friend or colleague who would benefit from reading the Actionable Marketing Guide newsletter? If so would you please forward this email to them?

FEATURED ARTICLE: How To Lose Your Marketing Gut

This article underscores points made at MPB2B Forum.

• Your marketing needs to be based on data
• Your content needs to provide value

 

FEATURED ARTICLE: Seismic Content Marketing Shift 

Are your once stellar content marketing results starting to decline?
Even though you’ve followed “best practice” tactics.

Content Marketing has changed.

 

FEATURED ARTICLE: Author Interview With Nir Eyal

Heidi Cohen talks to Nir Eyal about his new book, Indistractable, a valuable guide on "How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life."

Read Nir's previous book, Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products.

    

Heidi Cohen Around The Internet

• Big thank you to my friend Lee Odden and his team at Top Rank for naming me as one of the Top 50 B2B Marketers of 2019 (BTW- The Top Rank blog is worth your reading time!) #YouRock!
  
            
   
• Heidi Cohen was named a top digital marketer by Sociality.io in their post: The Ultimate List of Digital Marketing Experts.
   
• Big tip of my hat to George Stenitzer of Crystal Clear Communications for his must-read summary of the Content Marketing World highlights appropriately called: 4 Looming Questions.

 Click here to get this and previous AMG newsletters on the Web.

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Photo credit: Mr. Rogers photo courtesy of Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_Rogers'_Neighborhood

The fine print:

• Unless noted otherwise, all photos are ©2019 by Heidi Cohen
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