Dear ,
This past weekend was the last true weekend of summer in the U.S.
So my husband and I headed upstate to visit friends.
Just beyond the fashionable ex-urban weekend communities their weekend home awaited us,
Deep in the Catskill woods, I write you as the light peaks in the attic windows.
Outside, the pines reach out their green-fringed fingers to greet us.
Several years ago, our friends bought a fixer-upper cabin as their escape from the city. There they indulged in their non-work passions including getting the house in shape.
At some point, they wanted more from the cabin than painting and minor repairs provided.
So they took the renovation plunge.
As any homeowner knows, once you start to renovate, you don't know what you’ll find below the surface.
Translation:
M-O-N-E-Y P-I-T!
Having survived 3 iterations of rehabbing their Greenwich Village apartment, our friends thought they knew what could happen. Yet they still had faced expensive surprises.
By Summer 2016, their new home emerged. And they celebrated with extended family over July 4th’s long weekend.
Two weeks later, lightning struck—literally! And their home burned to the ground unnoticed until the next morning.
By the time the fire department arrived the next day, only the brick chimney remained.
The good news:
No one was hurt.
To collect the insurance money, our friends had to inventory everything they lost. Since they hadn't kept track of what they had, this was difficult.
After the insurance company and the bank resolved the financial details of the fire. our friends could build “the house of their dreams”from scratch.
Having just renovated the house, they knew exactly what they liked and what they wanted to change. More importantly, they built a house with state-of-the-art energy efficiency.
Today, the house retains its exposed locally sourced wood structure. But it's furnished it with used eBay finds and IKEA basics. Next to the house, the husband planted native flowers and built a woodshed by hand from plans bought online.
So—you’re probably wondering:
What does this dream house in the woods built of sustainable materials have to do with your marketing and life?
Actionable Marketing Lessons:
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Audit your marketing materials and content on a regular basis. Find out what you have (and might not even know about!) Go further and check with other information-creating departments across your organization.
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Analyze the materials you collect. Determine their use, whether you still need them, whether they need updating, new presentation and/or branding, and schedule redistribution. Also check the structure of the content especially non-text items.
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Decide where gaps in your content exist.Add this necessary content to your editorial calendar.
Pro-Tips For Your Personal Life:
In terms of your marketing, after auditing your content, take a break.
Before renovating your marketing assets based on your content audit, assess your marketing strategy.
Why?
To ensure your marketing remains on track to attain your current business objectives!
So, check your business goals. Are they still relevant and do they have associated metrics that translate into financial terms?
Also assess the following related strategic marketing elements:
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Has your target audience and/or customers changed? Consider the impact of voice-first and marketing AI.
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Has the context of your business changed? Include direct competitors, major players, suppliers and distributors. Consider global and national events. Also, check the media platforms and devices you use to distribute your marketing and communicate with your audience.
Beyond being inspired by my friends’ new home, why am I telling you this?
Because these ideas and tactics are at the heart of my Content Marketing World presentation!
Entitled: Continuous Content Distribution Playbook, I am presenting on Wednesday, September 4th at 10:15am, in the Hope Ballroom E in the Hilton. If you’re attending Content Marketing World, please join me.
Unlike my friends, don’t wait for your content marketing strategy and existing content to disappear!
Examine your content marketing and marketing more broadly Now!
Why?
Beyond recent global political events, there’s been a SEISMIC MARKETING SHIFT! So re-evaluate and update your marketing or risk loosing your relative market position.
Again if you'll be at Content Marketing World, please attend my content distribution session. (As an incentive, I’m
offering my session attendees additional resources to help them improve their content marketing!)
BTW—If you haven’t gotten your Content Marketing World ticket yet, you still have time to do so, Use COHEN19 to save $100.
Here’s my Content Marketing World Schedule:
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Tuesday, September 3 – I’ll be at the Convention Center from 2:00pm to 4:00pm and at the Opening Party.
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Wednesday, September 4 – Please attend my Content Distribution Session at 10:15 am (after the opening keynotes!) in the Hilton's Hope Ballroom E. I will stay after my session until everyone has their questions answered and gets to take photos with me!
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Thursday, September 5 – I'll be at Content Marketing World all day. Please join me at Erika Heald’s live #BigTopTweetup after the last keynote in the Hilton.
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Friday, September 6 – I will be at the Convention Center for a few hours in the morning.
While you’re in Cleveland, find time to visit the ArtLens Gallery at the Cleveland Museum of Art. It is hands-down the best example of the use of marketing AI applied to content in the world! (And, for a New Yorker to say this is a big deal.)
BTW—Did I mention that the Cleveland Museum of Art (unlike most similar quality museums in the world) is FREE to enter? Even better the museum has extended hours until 9:00pm on Wednesdays and Fridays!
If you’re a speaker at Content Marketing World, please complete this form so that I can help promote your session.
Also, please reach out by responding to this email to let me know that you’ll be at Content Marketing World so we can meet IRL.
To help you prepare for Content Marketing World, read this article:
Later this fall, I’ll be at the following events:
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: Cynthia, Allison, Sonam, Kokoyi, Sal, Zahra, Meghan, King, Gimba, Wilson, Brahim, Ron, Tatjana, Brandi, Marie, Cristina, Jenny, Susan, Arun and Chris. 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.
Does your content marketing have unwanted weight?
To help your CMO get measurable financial results, read this article complete with tips.
P.S. It includes a personal secret about Heidi!
Must-See CMWorld Session:
Can your potential audience hear your marketing message?
Not sure?
WHAT did you say?
Did you know that over half of US adults will use a voice-first device by 2020?
Read this article to make sure that you reach voice-first visitors.
Must-See CMWorld Session:
Are you using marketing AI?
Not sure?
Then read this article. It'll give you the inside scoop on how to make the case for marketing AI at your firm.
RELATED READING:
Check out Chris Penn, George Stenitzer and Jeff Coyle’s different sessions on Marketing AI at Content Marketing World on Thursday, September 5th.
Must-See CMWorld Session:
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