Nick Nelson

Trust Factors: Why Your Brand Should Take a Stand with Its Marketing Strategy

Nick Nelson on Sep 16th, 2019
B2B Marketing, Digital Marketing

Earlier this year, Salesforce made waves by announcing a policy that compelled retailers to either stop selling military-style rifles and certain accessories, or stop using its popular e-commerce software.

For a massive brand like this to take such an emphatic stand on a divisive social issue would’ve been unthinkable not so long ago. But in today’s world at large, and consequently in the business and marketing environments, it’s becoming more common. This owes to a variety of factors, ranging from generational changes among consumers to a growing need to differentiate.

But, like so many other trends and strategies we see emerging in digital marketing, I think it mostly comes back to one overarching thing: the trust factor.

Trust Factors: Why Your Brand Should Take a Stand with Its Marketing Strategy

Ghosted: What’s a Content Marketer to Do When Your Audience Goes Silent?

Nick Nelson on Sep 4th, 2019
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing

The all-encompassing digital takeover has completely changed the way we communicate and interact as people. Naturally, in our professional realm we tend to tie this back to marketing, but the reality applies to just about every aspect of human relations.

This includes dating and courtship, of course. The terms of engagement (so to speak) have transformed wildly. Whereas romance still can and does sprout through chance meetings, or encounters at the bar, or mutual college friend circles, it’s increasingly common for these fated connections to take place through online matchmaking sites and dating apps. (I would know — I’m marrying an amazing gal this weekend who I originally met on such an app!)

Ghosted: What’s a Content Marketer to Do When Your Audience Goes Silent?

Wow Your Crowd: The Recipe for Creating Exceptional Content Experiences

Nick Nelson on Aug 28th, 2019
Content Marketing, Content Marketing World, Marketing PR Conferences

Have you been to a stadium concert lately? The big ones touring the country tend to pull out all the stops. It’s not just a singer on stage — they are usually supported by a giant jumbotron as backdrop providing flashy visuals, along with fog machines, laser lights, platforms rising out of the ground, special guest cameos… the works.

Why is this? Because the bar has been raised. When fans plunk down the big bucks for tickets to see Drake or Carrie Underwood or The Rolling Stones, they expect more than seeing their favorite artists performing on stage. They expect an unforgettable experience that stirs all the senses.

via GIPHY

Wow Your Crowd: The Recipe for Creating Exceptional Content Experiences

Content Marketing Interview: Annie Granatstein on Creating Emotionally Engaging Content Experiences #CMWorld

Nick Nelson on Aug 26th, 2019
Content Marketing, Content Marketing World, Interviews

We are all products of our environments, and the experiences we carry are invariably influential to the way we approach and think about our jobs.

Recently we shared an interview with Margaret Magnarelli, who spent nearly a decade as a magazine editor before moving into a content marketing leadership role. With her background in journalism, she offers important perspective for marketers everywhere.

The same is true for Annie Granatstein, who lives at the center of the convergence between investigative journalism and brand marketing. Annie runs The Washington Post’s BrandStudio unit, which takes The Post’s award-winning proclivity for immersive digital storytelling and leverages it on behalf of brands and advertisers.

Content Marketing Interview: Annie Granatstein on Creating Emotionally Engaging Content Experiences #CMWorld

Wow Your Crowd: How Influencers and Media Integrations Can Add Pizzazz to Your Content Act

Nick Nelson on Aug 22nd, 2019
Content Marketing

Some performers take the stage all by themselves, with no props or partners to lend support, and capture their audience with a riveting solo act. Hilarious standup comedy routines and enlightening TED Talks exemplify this ability in action.

As a content marketer, there are occasions where a well written piece will take off on its own, with no help required beyond a powerful message presented clearly. But more often, spicing things up with added elements of interactivity or visual pizzazz provides a necessary added boost in today’s busy digital environment. And incorporating the right strategic partners is a reliable way to increase your program’s reach and impact.

Wow Your Crowd: How Influencers and Media Integrations Can Add Pizzazz to Your Content Act

Content Marketing Interview: Margaret Magnarelli on Applying Journalistic Integrity to Content Strategy #CMWorld

Nick Nelson on Aug 20th, 2019
Content Marketing, Content Marketing World

Content marketers come from all sorts of different backgrounds, with each bringing its own distinct and valuable perspective. Recently we shared our chat with Andrew Davis, whose history in television inspires him to think like a TV executive when strategizing his content. Today we’re highlighting the insights of Margaret Magnarelli, whose ingrained journalistic mindset fuels a commitment to putting her audience — and their trust — above all else.

Prior to joining Morgan Stanley as Executive Director for Audience Acquisition and Growth Marketing, Margaret served as Vice President of Marketing for Monster, and before that she spent nearly a decade on the editorial staff at Money Magazine, rising from Senior Editor to Assistant Managing Editor to Executive Editor.

Content Marketing Interview: Margaret Magnarelli on Applying Journalistic Integrity to Content Strategy #CMWorld

The 10 Commandments of Modern B2B Marketing – Dave Gerhardt, Drift #B2BSMX

Nick Nelson on Aug 14th, 2019
B2B Marketing, Marketing PR Conferences

Drift is widely regarded as a pioneer in modern marketing, and their Vice President of Marketing Dave Gerhardt has been instrumental in establishing this reputation.

Taking on his first role as a marketing leader, he helped grow the chatbot platform from a startup with no market recognition to a $10 million company in less than two years. He also co-authored the book Conversational Marketing along with Drift’s founder David Cancel.

While his company has experienced powerful growth and attained status as a leading innovator, the journey hasn’t always been smooth and seamless. Dave says there are a number of things he wishes he would’ve known before getting started, and he shared them on Tuesday at B2B Sales and Marketing Exchange in Boston, dubbing them his “10 Commandments for Modern Marketing” (with a stated emphasis on the word modern).

The 10 Commandments of Modern B2B Marketing – Dave Gerhardt, Drift #B2BSMX

CMO Maria Pergolino Charts the Path to Creating an Industry Category with Strategic Marketing #B2BSMX

Nick Nelson on Aug 13th, 2019
B2B Marketing, Marketing PR Conferences

What is the ultimate goal for any business or marketing unit?

There are many valid answers to this question. But I think the subject of Maria Pergolino’s REVTalk on Tuesday morning at B2B Sales and Marketing Exchange (B2BSMX) in Boston offers a worthy aspiration for just about any organization: creating a category.

Brands that are universally held in high esteem and pointed to as shining examples of marketing mastery – such as Uber, Salesforce, and Starbucks – often share this distinction. Their names ring synonymous with what they do.

As a seasoned marketing executive who’s overseen this outcome at a number of different companies over the years, Maria has developed acute expertise on category creation, and offered us a glimpse of her process.

CMO Maria Pergolino Charts the Path to Creating an Industry Category with Strategic Marketing #B2BSMX

Sandra Freeman of Engagio Explains How to Avoid the ABM Upside Down in B2B Marketing #B2BSMX

Nick Nelson on Aug 13th, 2019
B2B Marketing, Marketing PR Conferences

In the universe of Stranger Things, a widely beloved sci-fi horror series that debuted its third season on Netflix last month, avoiding the Upside Down is paramount. This dark and mysterious alternate dimension is filled with predatory creatures and unknown terrors of all sorts.

In the universe of account-based marketing (ABM), there is an equivalent to the Upside Down – according to Engagio’s Sandra Freeman, who gave a spirited Stranger Things-flavored REVTalk on Monday afternoon at the B2B Sales and Marketing Exchange (B2BSMX) in Boston.

“Our Upside Down is not knowing how our accounts are doing, and our sales reps not knowing what’s happening with our ABM program,” she said. “It’s that lack of visibility.”

Sandra Freeman of Engagio Explains How to Avoid the ABM Upside Down in B2B Marketing #B2BSMX

Sangram Vajre on Mastering ABM through the T.E.A.M. Framework #B2BSMX

Nick Nelson on Aug 12th, 2019
B2B Marketing, Marketing PR Conferences

When Andrew Gaffney, president of G3 Communications, took the stage on Monday morning to kick off B2B Sales and Marketing Exchange (B2BSMX) in Boston, he shared a fact that is more or less evident in the conference’s overall agenda: account-based marketing (ABM) is approaching ubiquity in the world of B2B organizations.

“What I’m hearing in talks with CMOs is that ABM is really just becoming B2B marketing,” Andrew said.

It was a fitting setup for the opening keynote that followed courtesy of Sangram Vajre, titled “ABM Is B2B: Why B2B Marketing And Sales Is Broken And How To Fix It.”

Without question, Sangram is a foremost authority on this topic. He hosts the ABM-focused #FlipMyFunnel podcast and is cofounder of Terminus, which offers a pioneering end-to-end ABM platform. In 2016 he published the seminal book Account-Based Marketing For Dummies.

Sangram Vajre on Mastering ABM through the T.E.A.M. Framework #B2BSMX

Wow Your Crowd: How Content Marketers Can Create Powerful Audience Connections

Nick Nelson on Aug 12th, 2019
Content Marketing

“Perhaps more than any other art form, comedy cannot exist for its own sake,” according to comedian Andrew Orvedahl in an essay published a few years back. “Comedy requires a bond between performer and audience. And if either ingredient sucks, comedy doesn’t happen.”

He’s right, but we could swap in content marketing for comedy and the statement would still hold plenty of weight. If your content isn’t connecting and resonating with your audience, it may as well not exist. This is one of the most critical skills of the discipline, and also one of the most difficult to harness.

Wow Your Crowd: How Content Marketers Can Create Powerful Audience Connections

Wow Your Crowd: How Content Planning Sets the Stage for Unforgettable Experiences

Nick Nelson on Aug 6th, 2019
Content Marketing

We’re coming up on the 10-year anniversary of the movie Avatar, which was released in December of 2009 and held the title of highest-grossing film worldwide for nearly a decade before being unseated by Avengers: Endgame earlier this year.

James Cameron’s signature cinematic spectacle presents a model worth following for any content marketer hoping to amaze their audience. We don’t need a $200 million budget, as Avatar had, but we should aspire to adopt the meticulous planning and strategic foresight that drove the film’s galactic success.

This was the leading subject in our new interactive CMWorld experience, Witness the Greatest Content Marketing Show on Earth, produced in collaboration with Content Marketing Institute to create ahead of next month’s festivities in Cleveland. The show-stopper theme of the conference, and this experience, is designed to place content creators in the mindset of an entertainer, where dazzling viewers is the foremost goal.

Wow Your Crowd: How Content Planning Sets the Stage for Unforgettable Experiences

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