Dear ,
First, I want to express my sorrow and horror at this
weekend’s shootings in El Paso and Dayton.
Going forward, it’s my deepest hope that we find a way to prevent these senseless deaths and injuries of innocent people.
Last week marked the 200th anniversary of the birth of Moby Dick author, Herman Melville.
A few summers ago, my husband and I visited his home, Arrowhead, located in the lush Berkshires of western Massachusetts.
Since I’ve never read more than 100 pages of Moby Dick, I’m not surprised that contemporary reviewers flamed it.
Yet, after writing Moby Dick as a whaling story, Melville spent the next year rewriting it based on inspiration from classic works including Shakespeare. (Hat tip: Austin Kleon)
If we followed this thinking, how much of what we write today would we change if we viewed our creative effort's long term value rather than as a short term deliverable.
I also wonder if this is why Melville burned early drafts of his novels and his correspondence. (BTW—Do you take a Maria Kondo approach to the early versions of your content or do they linger unread in folders on your computer?)
In my upcoming Content Marketing World presentation entitled, Continuous Content Distribution Playbook, I discuss sustainable content.
As content marketers, our objective is to keep this road-tested, de-risked content visible over time, not just a month or two after initial publication.
To accomplish this, continually audit your existing content marketing so it:
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Remains up-to-date,
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Is improved with new examples and data, and
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Gets transformed into other content formats and for other platforms.
Further, Melville’s wife, Elizabeth, hid Billy Budd in a bread box to preserve it. It wasn't discovered until 1919 when Melville’s granddaughter granted Columbia Professor Raymond Weaver permission to study Melville’s papers.
Actionable Marketing Lesson:
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Examine the information and content that already exists across your organization outside of marketing. Include product descriptions, customer service, sales and HR. Where appropriate, transform and update this information into quality content marketing.
Interestingly, while in Cleveland for MAICON19, I experienced synchronicity with another 19th century author.
So what does The Pickwick Papers have to do with content and marketing?
With this series, Dickens created a blockbuster novel that kept his audience wanting more! Pickwick Papers was the Harry Potter or Star Wars of its time, with the introduction of Sam
Weller, an English “everyman”.
Published as a serial in a monthly magazine, The Pickwick Papers sold
1.6 million copies during Dickens’s lifetime. Since Dickens wrote The Pickwick Papers as work for hire, he didn’t benefit from the book’s long term revenues.
So Dickens changed how he sold his books and retained the future publishing rights to become the richest author up to that point. Further, Dickens created and published different versions of his books at different price points for his
audience.
Actionable marketing tips:
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Offer consistent content on a regular basis to keep your audience engaged. Take a page from Dickens and write with a strong voice that engages your audience.
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Test tangential content. Like adding the character Sam Weller to The Pickwick Papers, create content related to proven successful content to find article topics and audience segments.
- Transform content to be relevant to different audiences and other contexts. Take a page out of Dickens’s play book—it’s a great way to keep your content distribution going.
Like its namesake Pickwick and Frolic has marketing lessons.
In 2002, owner Nick Kostis envisioned reviving a district on East 4th Street reflecting its entertainment history. Today, Pickwick and Frolic combines eating, drinking and live entertainment on the
site of The Euclid Avenue Opera House of the 1800s.
Actionable marketing tips:
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Have a company vision that is bigger than just generating sales. Kostis wanted to help revive a Cleveland neighborhood to bring back its former glory!
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Tap into the power of your founding story. This lesson is key to your branding and your content marketing!
Shout out to new
readers:
Kim, Oksana, Sharon, Michael, Mike, Kylie, Gabby, Komal, Lindsay, Emma, K.C., Diane, Mary, David and Philip. Welcome and thank you for joining our community.
Heidi Cohen,
Actionable Marketing Guide
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?
CMWorld 2019 features over 150 sessions covering two dozen tracks. I'll be there along with 200 other speakers from around the world.
Register today. Use my code: COHEN19 to save $100.
Can your audience and prospects hear you?
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Wonder whether your CMO needs Artificial Intelligence Now?
This article explains the data problem AI solves and provides solutions and case studies to make the case to your C-suite.
Need inspiration to create regular servings of content on a recurring basis?
Take a page from Late Night Television writers to craft monologues, interviews, recurring features, man-in-the-street and on-the-road content.
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