Top 100 Questions: What is the future of content marketing?
The future of content marketing - Winners will: Listen before they yell. Show before they tell. Teach before they sell.| Crystal Clear Communications
The future of content marketing - Winners will: Listen before they yell. Show before they tell. Teach before they sell.| Crystal Clear Communications
Top 100 Content Marketing Questions - In workshops, marketers asked over 2,100 questions on content marketing. Here are the Top 100 answers.| Crystal Clear Communications
Content marketing can learn much from buyer personas: the who, what, why, when and how of making decisions on medium- and high-consideration purchases.| Crystal Clear Communications
Most marketers I know are enjoying some much-needed time off before the new year begins. Yet, as much as we all love time to ourselves, as soon as we’re back at work, the pace will be quick, and the demands will soar. What’s the number one thing marketers can do to prepare for 2025? Learn … Continue reading "Marketers: Are you ready for 2025?" The post Marketers: Are you ready for 2025? appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
As holidays and New Year’s Day approach, give yourself a gift that will serve you well for many years to come: the gift of learning. It’s one of the few gifts that can last a lifetime. Marketing managers from several companies inspired me to write this blog by sharing valid complaints about their departments: “I … Continue reading "Give yourself the gift of learning" The post Give yourself the gift of learning appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
I’ve written before that employees are your best brand ambassadors. To protect your brand, every employee needs to represent your brand consistently. And that means every customer should have a great experience every time they interact with your brand. I was recently in the hospital, and while I know every medical professional has their own … Continue reading "Do your customers get a great experience every time?" The post Do your customers get a great experience every time? appeared first...| Crystal Clear Communications
Do salespeople buy into your marketing strategy? How about the scientists and engineers in research and development (R&D)? And do you find support from executives in the C-suite? Weak internal buy-in is a common obstacle to B2B marketing success. Here’s how to fix that. How B2B marketers can improve the odds To clear the path … Continue reading "Do salespeople buy into your B2B marketing strategy?" The post Do salespeople buy into your B2B marketing strategy? appeared first on Crystal Cle...| Crystal Clear Communications
Whether you’re participating in a news media interview, giving a presentation, or simply sitting in a meeting, there’s always a chance you will get hard questions. How you answer can affect how your audience hears and perceives you. Most of us use some type of stalling technique when we’re asked hard questions. Common techniques include … Continue reading "The smart way to answer hard questions" The post The smart way to answer hard questions appeared first on Crystal Clear Communicat...| Crystal Clear Communications
At a conference I attended last week, I paid close attention to all the presenters and the audience’s reactions. Some of the presenters engaged the audience and clearly captured their attention. Here’s what I noticed about those speakers: They used the word “you” frequently, so the audience knew the content was about them. They had … Continue reading "Presenting? See what great presenters have in common" The post Presenting? See what great presenters have in common appeared first on...| Crystal Clear Communications
In commodity markets, multiple vendors sell exactly the same things. But not all brands are equally successful. How come? What factors drive customers’ preferences in commodity markets? How does a successful brand differentiate itself from all the others? In a visit to a street market in Sommières, France, I noted two vendors selling olives, sun-dried … Continue reading "Stand out in commodity markets" The post Stand out in commodity markets appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
Are you busy? I’m busy. Almost everyone I know is busy. As busy people, we don’t have the time or patience for long-winded speakers. In every meeting I attend, I hope the speakers will be concise. Yet most of them aren’t. Many of them take 5-6 sentences to state what could be explained in 1 … Continue reading "Are you as concise as you could be?" The post Are you as concise as you could be? appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
Perhaps you’ve heard journalists and influencers asking tricky questions that politicians struggle to answer. What can marketers learn from politicians about answering tricky questions? Marketers face tricky questions in times of crisis If you’re a spokesperson for your company or brand, here are seven tips to help you prepare to answer even the toughest questions. Rehearse … Continue reading "7 tips on handling tricky questions" The post 7 tips on handling tricky questions appeared fi...| Crystal Clear Communications
I received a request last week. It was in the middle of a long email and didn’t feel like a direct request. In fact, there wasn’t a single question mark in the email. Almost halfway through the email, the sender wrote, “I wanted to ask how you feel about (project X). I know how I … Continue reading "Are your communications getting through?" The post Are your communications getting through? appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
“Confused clients don’t write checks.” One of my mentors used to say that sentence often in his workshops. It’s true. How do you feel when you read confusing marketing content? I’m betting it doesn’t persuade you to purchase from the company that published it. I asked several marketers why they sometimes publish confusing content, and … Continue reading "Marketers: Is your content confusing your audience?" The post Marketers: Is your content confusing your audience? appeared fir...| Crystal Clear Communications
How did I fall in love with reading? I’m wondering, what made me fall in love with reading? It’s become a lifelong habit. In our family, reading started early. Before I went to kindergarten, Dad taught me to read. I sat in his lap as he read the comics out loud from the daily newspaper. … Continue reading "I Love to Read – Do You?" The post I Love to Read – Do You? appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
When I do first-hand buyer persona research, I ask participants if thought leadership matters when making purchasing decisions. The answer has unanimously been “yes.” I’d argue that thought leadership is more important than ever, given that buyers do almost all their research before contacting Sales. In fact, marketer and author Joe Lazauskas says, “6sense research … Continue reading "Thought leadership matters in marketing" The post Thought leadership matters in marketing appeared ...| Crystal Clear Communications
In marketing workshops with business to business (B2B) marketers, one persistently asked question is: How can Marketing and Sales work together well? Often, Marketing and Sales fight like cats and dogs over every scrap of resources. Yet in other companies, Marketing and Sales become allies who work together to win customers and revenues. That’s the … Continue reading "Smart marketers build bridges to sales" The post Smart marketers build bridges to sales appeared first on Crystal Clear Co...| Crystal Clear Communications
Marketers make a lot of marketing promises to clients and prospects: great service, amazing value, innovation. It’s our job. Delivering on these promises builds trust, enhances reputation, and ensures customer satisfaction – all essential for long-term success. When companies don’t deliver on their marketing promises, they risk a hit to their reputation, loss of customers, … Continue reading "Marketers: Does your company deliver on your marketing promises?" The post Marketers: Does yo...| Crystal Clear Communications
“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place,” said the Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw. Leaders, presenters and managers often find this to be true: what you meant to say is not what the audience took away. For your message to land with audiences, it must be: Clear, even … Continue reading "Seeing through the illusions of communications" The post Seeing through the illusions of communications appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
Every year, usually in the fall, marketers create their strategic marketing plan for the following year. They get the plan approved by leadership, hoping to execute every activity on it in the year ahead. And then what happens? We are more than halfway through 2024, and many marketers I know have been so busy executing … Continue reading "Marketers: Is it time to review your strategic marketing plan?" The post Marketers: Is it time to review your strategic marketing plan? appeared first on ...| Crystal Clear Communications
I’m more and more fascinated by the book Made You Look by Carmen Simon, Ph.D. It’s joining my collection of reference books for marketers. Dr. Simon enables marketers to learn from cognitive neuroscience. She’s bringing big new ideas about persuasion to the table. One idea is that “Collaborative attention inhibits individual memory.” Since this idea … Continue reading "Are you the first to speak up?" The post Are you the first to speak up? appeared first on Crystal Clear Communica...| Crystal Clear Communications
Language and symbols evolve over time. We continually create new words and symbols and new uses for old words. For example, when I was a child, emojis didn’t exist. The Oxford Dictionaries named an emoji the “word” of the year in 2015. Today, emojis are everywhere – even in business-to-business (B2B) marketing materials. But just … Continue reading "Marketers: Are you using emojis in your content?" The post Marketers: Are you using emojis in your content? appeared first on Crystal C...| Crystal Clear Communications
If your company agrees to be acquired, you’ll find yourself at a career crossroads. Since you never know in advance when an acquisition could be in the works, ask yourself now: Is your résumé up to date? Do you have the most current contact information for the people in your network? Who is willing to … Continue reading "Merger or acquisition pending? Questions to ask yourself" The post Merger or acquisition pending? Questions to ask yourself appeared first on Crystal Clear Communicat...| Crystal Clear Communications
Employees are your best brand ambassadors. It’s critical that they understand and engage with your message, so they can clearly tell your story. But how do you train your employees on your message in a way that it sticks? Simply making a Message Map and showing it to your employees is not enough. Research suggests … Continue reading "Are your employees on message?" The post Are your employees on message? appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
I recommend a new book about marketing and positioning your brand, called The Brand Benefits Playbook: Why Customers Aren’t Buying What You’re Selling – And What to Do About It. Written by marketing professors Allen Weiss, Ph.D., and Debbie J. MacInnis, Ph.D., the book is chock full of marketing zingers that too often ring true: … Continue reading "Marketers Focus on Benefits to Position Brands" The post Marketers Focus on Benefits to Position Brands appeared first on Crystal Clear Co...| Crystal Clear Communications
Research shows that shorter words are better. Even highly educated people prefer shorter words that are faster to read and easier to understand. Yet content marketers still use long words that are harder to digest. The other day I was editing some copy for a client, and I changed the word “utilize” to the word … Continue reading "Marketers: Are you overusing “utilize”?" The post Marketers: Are you overusing “utilize”? appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
Conventional marketing wisdom says: repeat your main message three times so the audience gets it. The saying goes: Tell them what you’re going to tell them. Then tell them. Then tell them what you told them. In her insightful new book, Made You Look, cognitive neuroscientist Carmen Simon, Ph. D., decided to test this idea … Continue reading "Do you repeat your main message enough for people to get it?" The post Do you repeat your main message enough for people to get it? appeared first on...| Crystal Clear Communications
Blog ideas can come from anywhere, and today I’m enjoying the fact that I got two blog ideas from one episode of the YouTube talk show Hot Ones. In addition to sparking a blog about presentations, Conan O’Brien also inspired me to write about why it can be risky to rename your product. O’Brien has … Continue reading "Before you rename your product, think about your audience" The post Before you rename your product, think about your audience appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
Too many marketers are expected to present completed work to internal clients — business unit heads, sales region leaders, product managers and others. As a result, marketers spend lots of time creating, polishing and perfecting ideas before sharing them. When an idea is deemed ready, it’s often thrown over the wall into another organizational silo. … Continue reading "Presenting completed work vs. co-creating marketing" The post Presenting completed work vs. co-creating marketing appea...| Crystal Clear Communications
Once again, I didn’t set out to write a blog about presenters while watching an episode of the YouTube talk show Hot Ones. (My previous blog inspired by the show is here.) All I wanted to do was watch the host interview Conan O’Brien as he ate a series of hotter and hotter chicken wings. … Continue reading "Presenters: Don’t let the audience in on your doubts" The post Presenters: Don’t let the audience in on your doubts appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
People in your audience can absorb only one message at a time. That’s why your Message Map needs to build around one main message, the heart of your message. The heart of your message is the one thing you want people to know about your brand, your best answer to their question: What’s in it … Continue reading "Three ideas for your marketing message" The post Three ideas for your marketing message appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
In my last blog, I wrote about how talking to your customers directly about their information and research habits helps you discover the best way to market to them. In speaking with many business-to-business (B2B) buyers across several industries, one thing is clear regardless of industry and title: Marketers must personalize content. Every single person … Continue reading "Marketers: If you want to reach your buyers, you must personalize your content" The post Marketers: If you want to rea...| Crystal Clear Communications
To break through to everyone in your audience, use Message Maps to simplify your message. Your messages are most powerful when you speak heart to heart. That’s because people make most decisions emotionally – including buying decisions – whether or not they recognize that. Serving up facts and reasons alone won’t change people’s minds. Marketing … Continue reading "Speak heart to heart" The post Speak heart to heart appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
Marketers spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to reach their target audience. Will they read a newsletter, will they click on an ad, do they use LinkedIn? So, we research the average open and click-through rates on different types of digital assets. Here’s an idea: Why don’t we just ask our … Continue reading "Marketers: Let your audience tell you how to market to them" The post Marketers: Let your audience tell you how to market to them appeared first on Crystal Clear Communic...| Crystal Clear Communications
Here’s a hard question marketers need to ask: What’s the one thing your brand wants to be known for? People will remember only one thing about you. When I first ask marketers this question, most respond with a short list of attributes that make them different from competitors. Marketers want to be known for unique … Continue reading "What do you want to be known for?" The post What do you want to be known for? appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
Since AI became easy and accessible through ChatGPT, it’s led many of my clients to ask: Is it okay to use AI to create content? The answer: To create content; no. To make sure you haven’t left anything out of your content; yes. As my colleague Harry Semerjian, Principal at Infinium Marketing Group, puts it, … Continue reading "Marketers: Are you using AI to create content? Be careful" The post Marketers: Are you using AI to create content? Be careful appeared first on Crystal Clear Com...| Crystal Clear Communications
When content seems boring, often it’s because the content is too abstract. To get readers to sit up straight in their chairs, spice up your content with concrete language. Instead of describing the world from 40,000 feet, get to work at ground level. Bring the joy of life to readers by tickling all of their … Continue reading "How to change boring content into brilliant content" The post How to change boring content into brilliant content appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
When your clients are willing to speak for you, it builds trust and credibility in your brand. Even better, it can generate leads that turn into revenue. It’s one of the most treasured marketing tactics. Yet many organizations have trouble getting their clients to speak for them. Here are some of the reasons clients hesitate … Continue reading "Are your clients willing to speak for you?" The post Are your clients willing to speak for you? appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
I do. If you write, you do. Writers need editors. This blog answers two entwined questions about writers and editors: How can writers become even more effective when working with editors? How can editors work with writers better? Ideally, great writers and editors team up and pull together, instead of working at cross-purposes. Great writers … Continue reading "Who needs an editor?" The post Who needs an editor? appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
As marketers, our goal is that everything we produce is accessible to our target audience. That’s why we make message maps and conduct A/B testing to help ensure resonance and accessibility. But is that enough? Next time you’re in a meeting, look around. One in every five Americans has some kind of reading disability, according … Continue reading "Marketers: Do you care about accessibility? Then stop with the 2-minute read." The post Marketers: Do you care about accessibility? Then stop...| Crystal Clear Communications
When you deliver your brand message consistently, it breaks through and gets remembered by people in your audience. That’s because consistent messages land in your audience’s hearts and minds. It’s especially true when your message maximizes reward and minimizes effort for the audience. Consistency creates a path to credibility To get audiences to trust your … Continue reading "Consistent messages create credibility" The post Consistent messages create credibility appeared first on ...| Crystal Clear Communications
I’m willing to bet that most of you create a company or product/service message, often in the form of a Message Map. But are you taking the critical next step and testing your message before using it in marketing content and campaigns? Since you only get one chance to make a first impression on your … Continue reading "Marketers: Are you testing your message before using it?" The post Marketers: Are you testing your message before using it? appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
I’ve played guitar for 50 years, but I started to write songs only a few years ago. Here are ideas borrowed from songwriting that can make your content sing. Make your content hooky Songwriters continuously search for musical or lyrical hooks that make their songs stand out. To listeners, a great hook can be so … Continue reading "Teach your content to sing" The post Teach your content to sing appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
Marketers and salespeople spend a lot of time trying to get buyers to switch vendors and choose their own company’s solution. We create buyer personas, conduct account-based marketing (ABM), and do a plethora of other activities aimed at getting our prospects to purchase from us. And then we get frustrated when they don’t. I believe … Continue reading "Marketers: Your buyers aren’t switching vendors. Are you?" The post Marketers: Your buyers aren’t switching vendors. Are you? appear...| Crystal Clear Communications
When your message offers people a benefit, they want to make sure they understand what you’re saying. Plain words reach a bigger audience Always speak your audience’s language, so your message is easy to get. Only about 1 out of 4 marketers speaks the language of their audiences and decision-makers, according to a Forrester study, … Continue reading "Do you speak your audience’s language? " The post Do you speak your audience’s language? appeared first on Crystal Clear Communicat...| Crystal Clear Communications
The good news: most established companies have some sort of business continuity and crisis communications plan. Hopefully your company has one. The bad news: once companies create a plan, few ensure they’re actually ready to handle a crisis. There are a lot of steps you can take to prepare for a potential crisis. But if … Continue reading "Three tips to help your employees spot a crisis" The post Three tips to help your employees spot a crisis appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
Here’s a summary and review of Ben Guttmann’s new book, Simply Put – Why Clear Messages Win – and How to Design Them. Everyone is a marketer in some form, asserts Guttmann. “The entire act of marketing boils down to just two things: what you say and how you say it,” Guttmann writes. The real … Continue reading "Ideas to simplify your message" The post Ideas to simplify your message appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
Recently, many of my clients seem obsessed with search engine optimization (SEO). Sometimes to the point where they sacrifice good, readable content that will engage their audiences. We all know SEO is important, especially if you’re trying to move up in search engine rankings. We also know that good content is key to engaging your … Continue reading "How do you balance SEO and good content?" The post How do you balance SEO and good content? appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
Facing a life-threatening illness, Ahava Leibtag combed the Internet for every single bit of information about her condition. But the content she found didn’t help because: It was too hard to understand. It took a purely clinical point of view. It completely lacked empathy. And some content contradicted other content. Eventually, Ahava discovered a research … Continue reading "Who understands healthcare content?" The post Who understands healthcare content? appeared first on Crystal Clear...| Crystal Clear Communications
Happy New Year to all our readers! I hope you had a happy and healthy holiday season and start to your new year. I’ve never been much for New Year’s resolutions, but I do like to reflect on the year to see if there is anything I’d like to do differently in the year ahead. … Continue reading "Happy New Year! What will you do to be happy and healthy in 2024?" The post Happy New Year! What will you do to be happy and healthy in 2024? appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
As 2023 draws to a close, I’m reflecting on what lessons I learned this year and what I’m looking forward to in 2024. While the basic rules of marketing and communications haven’t changed, new technologies, lean budgets, and choosier buyers continued to both inspire and challenge marketers. As always, communicators and marketers adjusted from lessons … Continue reading "Marketing and communications lessons and predications to help you succeed" The post Marketing and communications les...| Crystal Clear Communications
Thank you for being among thousands of marketers who read our blogs. Your reading habits revealed which topics you’re most interested in this year. These are the blogs you read most: our top 10 from 2023. Our book review and summary of Carmine Gallo’s book The Storyteller’s Secret help you create persuasive messages. “Ideas that … Continue reading "Marketers Prove Curious about Messaging, Content, and Presentations in 2023" The post Marketers Prove Curious about Messaging, Content, ...| Crystal Clear Communications
In today’s fast-paced world, many marketers work more than 40 hours per week. I don’t know about you, but if I’m going to spend that much time at work, I want to be doing my best work. Yet I hear many marketers complain that they don’t have time to do their best work. Over the … Continue reading "Marketers: Are you doing your best work?" The post Marketers: Are you doing your best work? appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
If you’re a writer, or you work with writers, here’s a big question about the future of writing: · Should children learn handwriting in school? · Or is learning to type on a keyboard sufficient? States clash on cursive On this issue, the United States acts like the Divided States. Come January 1, 2024, California … Continue reading "Should writing be utilitarian, beautiful, or both?" The post Should writing be utilitarian, beautiful, or both? appeared first on Crys...| Crystal Clear Communications
A little over a year ago I wrote about balancing brand awareness and lead generation. I was inspired to revisit this topic after conducting a buyer persona project for a business-to-business (B2B) client. I interviewed more than 15 salespeople across the client’s organization, and the same exact phrase came out of every person’s mouth when … Continue reading "Can you succeed without brand awareness?" The post Can you succeed without brand awareness? appeared first on Crystal Clear Commu...| Crystal Clear Communications
Did you ever work for a supervisor who didn’t understand your particular marketing discipline? It can become super-frustrating when you know more than your supervisor about your field. It puts you in a horrible position: having to teach them about the right way to do your job, an awkward starting point for any conversation. I … Continue reading "Does your boss get content marketing?" The post Does your boss get content marketing? appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
It happens to all of us. You’re in a meeting, and the time to make your point is coming soon. You’ve made your Message Map and feel prepared. And then you see a text message on your phone, a bug on the meeting room floor, or an executive in running shorts out the window, who … Continue reading "How do you stay on message when you’re distracted?" The post How do you stay on message when you’re distracted? appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
“We have been lied to … told to get the right message to the right person at the right time,” says author and marketer Nancy Harhut. What marketers haven’t been told is that the message needs to be delivered “in the right way … a brain-friendly way,” Nancy adds. At the Marketing Profs B2B 2023 … Continue reading "Is Your Marketing Brain-Friendly?" The post Is Your Marketing Brain-Friendly? appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
Is your organization the same today as it was a few years ago? The answer is probably no. All companies evolve over time. So it’s only natural that you should evolve your message too. Whether you’ve added new features to your solutions and services, expanded to serve a new audience or market, or changed the … Continue reading "Your company evolves. Should you evolve your message too?" The post Your company evolves. Should you evolve your message too? appeared first on Crystal Clear Comm...| Crystal Clear Communications
AI: “It’s magic. It’s stupid. It’s evil.” That’s how author and speaker Andrew Davis described artificial intelligence (AI) in his keynote that opened the 2023 Marketing Profs B2B conference. Andrew warned marketers not to give up on AI by expecting too much too soon. He reminded us that, at first, people try to use new … Continue reading "Are you underestimating AI?" The post Are you underestimating AI? appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
Even when you have a clear, compelling message that will resonate with your audience, you can still prevent it from getting heard. Why? Because you’re human. And humans have habits. Whether you’re giving a presentation, participating in a meeting, or simply having a conversation with a coworker, you may have habits that prevent you from … Continue reading "Are you sabotaging your message?" The post Are you sabotaging your message? appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
Happy October! As autumn asserts itself with shorter days and colder nights, it’s time to look ahead to the last quarter of the year. Yikes! We have only three months to realize our 2023 goals. Now is the perfect time to revisit and perhaps reevaluate your annual goals. Ask yourself: How’s your year been going? … Continue reading "Are you hitting your goals?" The post Are you hitting your goals? appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
Regardless of your organization, good internal communications are essential. Why? Because employees are your most important asset. When engaged and informed, employees are your best brand ambassadors. And if they’re not, they can be brand detractors, slow your productivity, and increase your turnover rate. Yet many organizations struggle to provide internal communications that engage and … Continue reading "Are your internal communications boring?" The post Are your internal communication...| Crystal Clear Communications
Marketers can learn 7 lessons about persuasion from a new book by Lee Hartley Carter, Persuasion: Convincing Others When Facts Don’t Seem to Matter. 1. Facts Are Never Enough “At a biological level, brains aren’t hardwired to look for facts. Instead we rapidly and automatically process opinions we agree with as if they are facts,” … Continue reading "7 Lessons on Persuasion: Book Review" The post 7 Lessons on Persuasion: Book Review appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
My business partner George Stenitzer and I write frequently about how Message Maps can help your organization get its story heard. In fact, George recently wrote a blog that talks about the many different ways a Message Map can help your company. But did you know that Message Maps can also help you outside your … Continue reading "How to use a Message Map to succeed in everything" The post How to use a Message Map to succeed in everything appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
To help you keep things in perspective, collect inspiring quotes that serve up delicious ideas. Here are 12 inspiring quotes for marketers and writers. You’ll discover fresh and ancient viewpoints about curiosity, inspiration, compassion, reading, writing, talent, playing, planning, naivete, categories, teamwork, and love. Today’s quotes come from Plato, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Benjamin Franklin, Albert … Continue reading "12 quotes to inspire you" The post 12 quotes to inspire you app...| Crystal Clear Communications
I didn’t set out to write a blog on how actress and producer Viola Davis can help you reach your audience. I set out to watch an episode of the YouTube talk show Hot Ones. If you’re not familiar with the show, the host interviews celebrities as they eat a series of hotter and hotter … Continue reading "Viola Davis on how to reach your audience" The post Viola Davis on how to reach your audience appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
Book review Amplify Your Influence: Transform How You Communicate and Lead “We all have ideas to share with the world,” writes René Rodriguez. Leaders, speakers, presenters, teachers and marketers need a playbook to maximize their influence. Amplify Your Audience: Transform How You Communicate and Lead is a new book that’s a worthwhile read for leaders, … Continue reading "What presenters need to know about audiences" The post What presenters need to know about audiences appeared...| Crystal Clear Communications
One of Marketing’s key jobs is to help Sales sell. But companies, and therefore marketers, have different attitudes and approaches to where marketing ends, and sales enablement begins. I’ve written before about providing Sales with a toolkit. I believe marketers in organizations that lack a sales enablement function may need to take a few extra … Continue reading "Marketers: Are you enabling your sellers?" The post Marketers: Are you enabling your sellers? appeared first on Crystal Clea...| Crystal Clear Communications
7 ideas to take away This is a book review of How Minds Change, The Surprising Science of Belief, Opinion, and Persuasion, a new book by David McRaney. How Minds Change offers useful ideas for marketers, communicators, and leaders about communications and persuasion. Among them are these 7 takeaways: Disagreement is a natural human condition that … Continue reading "How Minds Change: book review" The post How Minds Change: book review appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
Most marketers I know have a love-hate relationship with these three words: Search Engine Optimization, more commonly called SEO. That’s because while SEO helps your target audience find you, it can also be tricky to navigate. There’s also the constant struggle to balance marketing content with the right number of keywords while staying true to … Continue reading "Marketers: Do you have a love-hate relationship with SEO?" The post Marketers: Do you have a love-hate relationship with SEO...| Crystal Clear Communications
A client in a workshop asked, “Once you co-create your Message Map, what to do next?” Delivering the right message for your brand is crucial. It helps you connect with people so they listen to your brand’s story. You hook audiences with your message in 7 seconds by using Message Maps. Co-create to achieve the … Continue reading "Spread your message to succeed" The post Spread your message to succeed appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
Is your company an innovative leader in your market or industry? Of course it is. And I bet most of your competitors say they are too. Yet many companies continue to put overused words such as “leader,” “innovative,” and others in their marketing materials. It’s time for all of us to stop using overused words … Continue reading "Marketers: Stop being “leaders”" The post Marketers: Stop being “leaders” appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
The single most valuable content asset you can create for a brand is your content base. A content base is a piece of content that dominates your market landscape, towering above competitors to make your brand stand out. Create a content base A content base consists of one content type, built on one main platform, … Continue reading "Why you need a content base" The post Why you need a content base appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
You can succeed after marketing budget cuts. Because so many companies see marketing as an expense, rather than contributing to revenue, marketing budgets are often the first to get cut. These cuts can happen at any time during the year. Even though marketers know that what they do contributes to revenue, it’s often tough to … Continue reading "How to succeed after marketing budget cuts" The post How to succeed after marketing budget cuts appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
Recreate marketing by playing. Musicians play music. Athletes play sports. But marketers work. I wonder why. What if marketers reinvented marketing by playing, as musicians and athletes do? Great marketing sparks engaging, intriguing conversations. To me, great conversations feel more like play than work. How I love a lively conversation with a workshop full of … Continue reading "Recreate Marketing by Playing" The post Recreate Marketing by Playing appeared first on Crystal Clear Communica...| Crystal Clear Communications
The field of marketing analytics has been around for years, yet many marketers I speak with still feel they’re not getting the most out of their data. How do they know if their Message Map is working? Why aren’t there more conversions on their website? How do they get more engagement on social media? I … Continue reading "Marketers: Are you getting value out of your analytics?" The post Marketers: Are you getting value out of your analytics? appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
If you want to win an argument, you’ll love this new book, Win Every Argument: The Art of Debating, Persuading, and Public Speaking. British-American journalist Mehdi Hasan of MSNBC shows how to win arguments by taking the high road and/or the low road to victory. “There are very few things you cannot achieve when you … Continue reading "Book Review: Win Every Argument" The post Book Review: Win Every Argument appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
Recently I’ve had several clients ask me how to handle naysayers when presenting. Most of us have heard that presenting and public speaking are some of the world’s greatest fears, often ranking higher than death. Wondering how to handle naysayers can make presenting even more scary. Presenting internally and externally is one of the best … Continue reading "Are you afraid of naysayers when presenting?" The post Are you afraid of naysayers when presenting? appeared first on Crystal Clear...| Crystal Clear Communications
Ladder up your content marketing to capture your audience’s curiosity. When Sir Hugh Beaver, the Managing Director of the Guinness Brewery, attended a shooting party in Ireland, one of the hunters missed a shot at a golden plover. That missed shot led Sir Hugh and his hosts to argue about, “What is the fastest game … Continue reading "Ladder up your content marketing to capture your audience’s curiosity" The post Ladder up your content marketing to capture your audience’s curiosity ...| Crystal Clear Communications
Technology continues to enable marketers to do more and more personalization, but do your buyers feel included? Buyer inclusion is different than buyer personalization. Personalization means you’re tailoring your marketing to specific buyers, such as using their first names, sending communications the way they prefer to receive them, and possibly knowing what holidays they celebrate. … Continue reading "Marketers: Do your buyers feel included?" The post Marketers: Do your buyers feel incl...| Crystal Clear Communications
Book review: Jonah Berger’s “Magic Words” Here’s a great book on choosing the right words to make your message more persuasive: Magic Words: What to Say to Get Your Way. The author, Jonah Berger, is a marketing professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and has written several books, including Contagious. … Continue reading "Add Abracadabra to Your Message with Magic Words" The post Add Abracadabra to Your Message with Magic Words appeared first on Crysta...| Crystal Clear Communications
Too many companies’ messages use abstract words that don’t paint a picture in customers’ minds. The problem is: abstract messages fall flat with customers. For example, a service rep might say, “We’re shipping your order.” Or “We’re shipping your pants.” Or “We’re shipping your new black Levi’s jeans.” Guess which message resonates best with customers? … Continue reading "Your message probably is not concrete enough" The post Your message probably is not concrete e...| Crystal Clear Communications
On speaker panels, does the panelist order matter? If you’ve ever attended or spoken on a panel, you know it’s hard to make a panel presentation interesting enough to capture and hold the audience’s attention. Why? Because each panelist must speak on the same topic yet differentiate from the other speakers by saying something new … Continue reading "Panel presentations: Does speaker order really matter?" The post Panel presentations: Does speaker order really matter? appeared first on...| Crystal Clear Communications
Does your audience buy into your message – emotionally? Do people find your message compelling enough to recall and act on at decision time? Here’s how to get to yes. Always answer your audience’s first question first, “What’s in it for me?” Why? Because humans choose what’s in their self-interest. People don’t care about you, … Continue reading "Your message is probably not compelling" The post Your message is probably not compelling appeared first on Crystal Clear Communic...| Crystal Clear Communications
Americans are bombarded with too much information. We average over 7 hours of screen time daily, consuming more than 100,000 words daily. Worse, we remember only 20% of what we read and just 10% of what we hear. It’s easy to see why we marketers have a tough job getting through to buyers. And given … Continue reading "Marketers: Are you giving buyers too much information?" The post Marketers: Are you giving buyers too much information? appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
To hook your audience, you need a message you can deliver fast. There’s little time to grab your audience’s attention. That’s why it’s crucial to make your message concise. Create your 7-second message I recommend that you create a message for your company or brand that’s 7 seconds or 23 words long. Since this is the … Continue reading "Your message is probably not concise" The post Your message is probably not concise appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
Marketers often have too many priorities, which can result in marketing project pitfalls. From campaigns and events to social media and content, ensuring everything is on track can be tough. It’s even more complicated when the leadership team throws wrenches in your plans, such as asking for things sooner than originally agreed on! This can … Continue reading "Too many priorities? Here’s how to avoid marketing project pitfalls" The post Too many priorities? Here’s how to avoid marketi...| Crystal Clear Communications
Marketing and public relations pros know: inconsistent messages are an ever-present nemesis. A CEO says one thing, the head of Sales another. Employee communications say one thing, but the website contradicts that. Inconsistent messages are taboo – for every brand. They confuse people, and they waste your precious marketing and communications dollars. Make sure that … Continue reading "Your message is probably inconsistent" The post Your message is probably inconsistent appeared first on ...| Crystal Clear Communications
I had the luxury of spending last month in Nafplio, Greece, where I was embraced by the locals. Restaurateurs, shopkeepers, and even the gentleman at the printing place made me feel welcome. Almost every person I met offered recommendations and asked if I needed anything – and they didn’t just mean from their store. One … Continue reading "Are you earning brand loyalty?" The post Are you earning brand loyalty? appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
Your message is probably unclear to someone in your audience A great message reflects a deep understanding of the people in your audience. The better you know the people in your audience, the easier it is to write well for them. You can literally speak your audience’s language. But chances are that your message sails right … Continue reading "To enlighten your audience, use a clear message" The post To enlighten your audience, use a clear message appeared first on Crystal Clear Communica...| Crystal Clear Communications
The Golden Rule: Respect Your Audience. Have you ever attended a presentation where the speaker said something like, “Let’s see… what does my next slide say?” Or where the speaker actually read word-for-word what was on their slides? Unfortunately, I’ve witnessed countless speeches where these or similar scenarios occurred. And it really bugs me! Here’s … Continue reading "The Golden Rule of Speaking: Respect Your Audience" The post The Golden Rule of Speaking: Respect Your Audi...| Crystal Clear Communications
Everybody Writes book review In sixth grade, Sister Agnessa taught grammar as a strict disciplinarian. Make a mistake and she’d rap your knuckles. I was terrified of her, mainly because she’d taught my mom and dad in sixth grade. She seemed older than Genesis. Her grammar lessons still stick with me. But as a newspaper editor, … Continue reading "Make your writing shiny sparkly – Everybody Writes" The post Make your writing shiny sparkly – Everybody Writes appeared first on Crystal...| Crystal Clear Communications
Many years ago, I came home one evening muttering about a salesperson I worked with. My life partner let me vent for a few minutes, and then, after I calmed down, said, “Honey, you do realize that marketing is just sales with better grammar.” I laughed out loud. While that sentence is not exactly true, … Continue reading "Keeping the peace between Marketing and Sales" The post Keeping the peace between Marketing and Sales appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
All the brouhaha about AI, Chat GPT, and DALL-E 2 prompted us to turn to an expert – Paul Roetzer, founder and CEO of the Marketing AI Institute. He’s the author of Marketing Artificial Intelligence. Stunning news about AI for marketers Many Chat GPT users still don’t understand AI – even if they think they … Continue reading "Paul Roetzer: StrAIght Talk on Marketing AI" The post Paul Roetzer: StrAIght Talk on Marketing AI appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
I recently wrote about tips for determining the size of your marketing team. Given the state of the economy and the fact that many organizations view marketing as an expense, many people responded and asked for tips on working with a small marketing team. Marketing teams must handle a variety of tasks: content marketing, tradeshows … Continue reading "Working with a small marketing team" The post Working with a small marketing team appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
As we look at a potential recession, clients continue to ask me: what is the ideal size for my marketing team? The answer is … it depends. Businesses need marketing to help raise brand awareness, develop a preference and generate leads. Therefore, I always recommend at least having a marketing department – regardless of size … Continue reading "What size should my marketing team be?" The post What size should my marketing team be? appeared first on Crystal Clear Communications.| Crystal Clear Communications
To create content audiences crave, start with a clear content marketing mission statement If you’re just starting to create content marketing, make sure the marketing team is aligned around a clear content marketing mission statement. Even if you’ve been working on your brand for a while, it’s worth revisiting your content marketing mission statement. Today, … Continue reading "Leapfrog Competitors with Your Content Marketing Mission Statement" The post Leapfrog Competitors with Your ...| Crystal Clear Communications
In my last blog, I shared success stories from marketing colleagues that we can all learn from as we head into 2023. And today, I’m sharing one of my most impactful learnings from 2022: I wasn’t always doing enough to ensure inclusion – that everyone in my audience felt seen, known, and understood. Personal Connections … Continue reading "Marketers: Does your audience feel seen, known, and understood?" The post Marketers: Does your audience feel seen, known, and understood? appeared f...| Crystal Clear Communications
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