It's Spring! Time to Content-scape

Only a few weeks ago I sat looking out my window at a yard covered with several feet of snow. The white blanket has finally melted away but it's revealed a lawn beaten by a long, hard winter. It's not very appealing right now, but after a few weekends of cleaning, raking, and feeding, it'll be back to its familiar, green self. Unfortunately, you won't get a similar stark wake-up call when it comes to your content. But if you take a close enough look, you'll likely find things aren't quite as lush there either. Time to get to work on that too. 

Spring is a time for growth - an appropriate time to re-evaluate your business and make some positive changes. While you're getting ready to landscape your yard, plan to do some content-scaping as well. Both tasks can seem overwhelming, but they don't have to be. Take small steps now to make a big impact later.

Here are three things you can do to get started.

1. Evaluate your tools - Start with your basic tools. Thankfully I found my rake buried behind the snow blower. Good start.

How about your content marketing tools? Determine what you have for eBooks, white papers, case studies, and other engaging content that can attract leads and new clients. Begin with a simple inventory of what you have and what you think still works. 

2. Do a cleanup - The next step is a good cleanup. I need to pick up the leaves I missed last November and rake the dead grass that's stifling new growth. No worries. I'll just get the leaves this first weekend.

Same thing for your content. When was the last time you did a thorough clean up on your web site? Are you still showing that case study from four years ago for a product you don't carry anymore? Is your most recent blog post dated last August? None of that will help promote growth or be of interest to visitors to your site. Start small. Get rid of anything that's out of date, irrelevant, or would lead a visitor to think you haven't been paying attention.

3. Start planting - You reap what you sow and this is the season to seed and feed that lawn. That'll be the biggest payoff when it comes back to life in a few weeks.

Time to plant some new content as well. The cleanup was good, but if you don't replenish your site with fresh material, it's going to look pretty barren. Generate new content by posting a recent customer success story, a white paper on a hot topic in your industry, or an eBook that provides valuable information that your prospects can use in their businesses.

Landscaping and content marketing can be hard work, but the rewards are well worth it. I'll be enjoying my lush, green lawn this summer and hopefully you'll be proud of a healthy crop of new prospects and customers.

So what are you doing to promote your growth? Could your content use a good spring cleaning?

Anatomy of a Meltdown: Lessons in Crisis Management

Have you seen my website lately? Neither have I. Actually it's back up now, but due to a massive crash at my hosting company - IX Web Hosting - my site was down from Sunday morning through Thursday afternoon. That's right. Four days.

In my prior life as VP/GM for a global supply chain company, one of the first things prospective customers would grill us on was our IT disaster recovery plan. Apparently IX didn't get the memo.

Don't get me wrong. I understand nothing in life is perfect and "stuff" happens, but to be down that amount of time in this day and age is mind boggling and inexcusable. Luckily only my site is on IX and my email is on a different service so my business was only marginally interrupted. Many other IX customers weren't so lucky, as the screams of pain on the IX incident status page illustrated.

Despite the angst - and thousands of dollars in lost revenue from many customers - there are valuable customer service and crisis management lessons to be learned from this mess. I'm not just talking about the technical aspects of proper backup hardware and an effective recovery process. That's a subject some one else can handle better than I can. I want to focus on the way IX handled the crisis from a customer perspective - not good to start, better near the end. Here are my takeaways from the event.

1. Communication is key - No matter how bad the situation, always be open and honest about what happened and what you are doing about it. To their credit, IX had people handling the irate messages on their status board on an ongoing basis. Unfortunately, for the first couple of days of the incident, it appeared management was simply pushing these poor people up out of the trenches and into the line of fire without any ammunition.

Customers wanted to know what was happening and more importantly, when they were going to be back on line. The only answer these unfortunate folks were armed with was "we do not currently have an ETA." After a couple of days of that response, angry customers were doing everything but marching on IX with pitchforks and torches.

Finally on Tuesday, two days after the crash, IX posted a schedule for when each server would be restored and a way to determine which server you were on. Mine was scheduled for Thursday at 3 pm. I wasn't pleased, but at least I knew where I stood. Telling people what was actually going on and how long it was going to take had to be painful for IX, but it let customers know the end was near. My site was actually up a couple of hours earlier than promised, so there's that.

2. Focus on the problem.  In the first hours following the crash, the IX folks got sucked into dialogue about compensation and arguments over up-time claims. That did no good for either IX or the customer base. The message needed to be "all our effort right now is on solving the current problem."

3. Be honest. Quickly.  IX eventually put up a pretty detailed explanation of what caused the outage, but until they did, people were spewing all kinds of sinister theories. Sabotage, terrorist activity, disgruntled employees, plagues of Egypt. The lesson here, despite what Colonel Jessep said in A Few Good Men, is that people CAN handle the truth. And if they aren't told the truth, they will invent scenarios and theories that would make the folks at TMZ blush.

4. Provide corrective action. The damage that this crash caused to IX's business will be enormous. They might be able to stem the exodus of customers if they quickly come out with a detailed plan on what they are going to do to prevent this from ever happening again. When we had a problem at our supply chain company, customers would ask, "How did this happen? You're ISO certified!" I would respond that indeed we were but that certification didn't come from the Vatican. We were not infallible. However, we would correct our processes and guarantee that the problem would never happen again. IX still hasn't explained this final step. Their incident status page simply says "resolved" and the latest on the company blog is a Happy Holidays post from December 26th.

My reaction during the outage was that I was going to move my site off of IX as quickly as possible. Now that it's back up, I'm not so sure. If IX can provide a clear, reasoned plan on what happened, why it happened, and what preventive measures they plan on putting in place for the future, maybe I'll reconsider.

Have you had to deal with a serious issue from either the customer or vendor side? How did you handle it?

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Upon Further Review…5 Tips for Effective Proofreading

The photo above received a lot of play in the Boston newspapers several months ago. Four letters. Two wrong. Not good. It's bad enough that someone painted the sign incorrectly, but then a crew went through the trouble of actually hanging it up. Mind boggling.

A couple of weeks later during one of our all-too-frequent snow storms here in the Northeast, I drove past a restaurant with the following message displayed on its outdoor sign:

"Closed Due to Inclimate Weather"

Which prompts the question: Whatever became of proofreading?

As a copywriter, I'm deathly afraid of submitting or posting copy with typos or missing words. Writing is my stock in trade so if I can't deliver error-free copy I'm not going to be instilling much confidence in my clients.

I don't think people - whether professional writers or not - realize the impact that misspellings and other mistakes have on their readers.

In my prior life as VP/North American Operations for a global manufacturing/fulfillment company, I had the pleasure (?) of reviewing hundreds of resumes. The first things I looked for were typos. If I found one, the applicant was on thin ice. Two, he or she was slipping into darkness. Three? They hit the discard pile.

And that was even before I got into the meat of the person's background. I just felt that if the applicant couldn't take the extra time needed to proofread probably the most important document in his or her life at that time, how conscientious of a worker would they be? In my mind, not very.

Whether you're sending an email, writing a blog post, or preparing a business plan for investors, the content you put out directly reflects on you. It goes a long way toward forming your reader's opinion of you - for better or worse. Your content must be credible to be effective. And nothing destroys your credibility faster than a careless typo or two.

Here are five tips you can use to make sure your copy is correct before you hit the send or print button.

1. Sleep on it - My first rule is to never proofread anything the same day I write it. After spending several hours composing a piece of content, I'm just too close to it to be able to switch gears from creation to detail checking. It's almost like snow blindness. I just can't see the words anymore. I have to let the piece simmer overnight, get some separation, and then attack it with a fresh set of eyes the next day.

2. Proofing is hard (copy) - I know it's not very green of me, but I nearly always print out a hard copy to proofread one of my pieces. This is a technique I picked up from my days as a proofreader in a printing company many, many years ago. I was trained to use a ruler to block out every line but the one I was proofing. The most important thing in proofreading is focus. By highlighting one line at a time, I force myself to focus only on the words on that line. I suppose I could try to use that technique on my iMac screen but I don't think it would work as well.

3. Don't trust spellcheck - President Ronald Reagan once said when discussing negotiating with the USSR that we must "trust then verify."

I feel the same way about spellcheck. As we all know, if you spell something wrong enough that it becomes another word, spellcheck will let you proceed on your merry way without displaying the deadly red squiggly underscore. SpellCorrect has made the problem worse by changing a word you want into something else entirely without even letting you know. And you're well aware of the trouble with homonyms like "there and their" or "too and to." Spellcheck will never catch those mistakes. This is one area where technology can't help you.

4. Strunk and White are your friends - I know. Seeing those two names gave you nasty flashbacks to high school English. I'm sure many of you have a pristine, uncracked copy of Strunk and White's Elements of Style stored somewhere in the attic or basement. If you're going to be doing any writing, do yourself a favor and dig it out. It was originally written over hundred years ago by William Strunk and then updated by E. B. White. It's just under 100 pages and is the best reference book you could ever have.  It's basic training for writing covering proper usage, form, words and expressions. I refer to it at least once a day.

5.  I can't hear you - Once you've written your piece, let it sit over night, and proofread it thoroughly, you're done right?  Wrong. Go over it one more time. This time without the ruler but instead read it out loud. This may make your fellow house members think you've lost your mind, but this is a critical key last step. Reading aloud will help you catch the rhythm of the piece and alert you to missing words, double words, and clumsy phraseology. I promise that you'll find at least one more thing that needs correcting.

Finally, for those of you furiously rereading this piece to uncover a typo so you can rub it in my face, I have a treat for you. I intentionally included one for you to find so you wouldn't be disappointed. It happens to be one of the 100 most incorrectly spelled words in English according to yourdictionary.com. It also happens to be my personal demon. I nearly always mispell it but I catch it in the proofreading stage. If you find it, congratulations and let me know.

How about you? Do you proofread thoroughly enough? What tricks and tips do you use?

(Photo credit: Rich Shertenlieb on Boston.com)

Keys to Writing a Better Bio

Former Red Sox first basemen Kevin Millar was once quoted as saying, "Enough about me. Let's talk about me." Most people are not as comfortable talking about themselves as Millar is, but in today's world, you sometimes have to do it. For many of us that comes in the written form of a "Bio" which pops up everywhere from blog  posts to LinkedIn profiles to web sites. Many times it's the first thing someone reads so you'd better make it as good as it can be.

For some ideas, check out this blog post from Deanna Layton of Layton Squared titled Write a Better Bio by Focusing on Benefits.

Don't Drop the Ball on Your Content: 3 Simple Questions to Ring in 2014

Happy New Year! Are you already sick and tired of the avalanche of advice on reevaluating the state of your business and things you should be doing to succeed in 2014? The barrage of ideas can be overwhelming and confusing.

I'm offering only one suggestion. Clear out the clutter and keep it simple.

A project I did with one of my technology clients a few months ago illustrates the point. The process we went through was basic but effective. The result is three simple questions that you should ask before starting every content project in 2014.

1. Who are your prospects/customers?

My client was producing a ton of good content as part of the company's marketing program. That put them in the majority since according to the 2014 benchmarking report from the Content Marketing Institute and Marketing Profs, nine out of 10 B2B marketers use content marketing to help drive their business. But my client wasn't satisfied with the download traffic or lead generation activity generated by her content. So the first question we asked was: "Who is the target for all this content?"

After some discussion, we determined that the hands-on IT staff would be the ones most likely to research the problems my client's product solved. They would be the ones googling for additional material, visiting relevant sites, and downloading content that would address their problems. These operators would be the ones generating traffic and leads for my client.

In reviewing the existing content we realized that it was aimed primarily at the more strategic IT operations people - folks at the higher levels of management. My client's company was not going to show up in searches aimed at detailed problem analysis and solutions with that type of information.

I suggested we shift the content focus to the IT folks in the trenches.

2. What's important to them?

Once we identified our target, the next step was to create appropriate content. What was relevant to them? What challenges did they face and what possible solutions existed to overcome them? What kind of information did they need to help them do their jobs better?

Looking at the current content we discovered that much of it centered on the business benefits of the products. That was obviously important to the more senior level IT managers who were concerned with ROI and strategic edge.

However we realized that while the IT staff running the data centers surely appreciated the financial benefits of the product, they were more focused on the functionality and productivity improvements it could bring.What products would solve their problems? How could they free up resources that could be used to allow staff to tend to other urgent daily tasks? What would help get the business owners the information they needed in a more timely fashion? Those were the issues IT staff faced every day and the ones for which they needed answers.

3. How do you reach them?

Once we nailed down the target audience and what was relevant to them, we needed to determine the best way to get to them - to attract them to our site and our content. My client had been producing blogs and eBooks which provided a higher level, strategic view of their product.  We realized that the folks we were trying to reach would not likely be downloading those pieces of content. We needed something that would appeal more directly to their needs.

We ultimately determined that our tactical audience was more likely looking for in depth information that addressed their issues and discussed possible solutions. I ended up expanding on some of their existing content, developing several detailed white papers and case studies. These pieces effectively framed the challenges IT staff faced and outlined potential solutions available in the marketplace. This new content also outlined how my client's product was a particularly effective solution and one they should consider. I followed that up with a series of blog posts that linked back to the various white papers. The result was a dramatic uptick in traffic, downloads, and overall lead generation activity.

This exercise shows that your content marketing plan doesn't have to be overly complicated. Outline your goal, determine your target audience, find out what's important to them, and use a content vehicle that will best reach them. Use this simple process as you begin work on any piece of content and your chances of success will increase significantly.

How do you determine what content you're going to produce and the best way to reach your prospects?

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A Content Christmas Carol

"Uncle, have you finalized your Content Marketing plan for the new year?" "Bah, humbug!" Ebenezer Scrooge replied to his nephew Fred, an independent marketing consultant. "Haven't I got a website?"

"Well yes Uncle, but that's not nearly enough any more," Fred replied.

"I pay to support that site," said Scrooge angrily. "It costs enough. If customers and prospects want to find me, they must go there."

"But Uncle, they need to have a reason to visit your site," Fred persisted. "You need to provide compelling content that will attract them."

"Bah, humbug!" Scrooge roared. "If I could work my will, every idiot who goes about with "compelling content" on his lips should be beaten with his own blog and buried with a keyword stuck through his heart!"

The conversation obviously over, Fred turned and left.

Later that night, Scrooge sat eating his gruel when suddenly, the door flew open and a vision passed into the room. With that, Scrooge was facing his long dead partner Jacob Marley.

"Your business is dying Ebenezer. I am here tonight to warn you that you have yet a chance and hope of saving it," the vision said. "You will be haunted by Three Spirits. Mark well what they reveal."

Marley then flew out the window.

Scrooge went off to bed and fell fast asleep. Soon after the curtains of his bed were drawn aside and a childlike figure stood before him.

"Who are you?" Scrooge demanded.

"I am the Ghost of Content Past," said the Spirit."Rise and walk with me. Bear but a touch of my hand there and you shall be upheld."

The Ghost and Scrooge flew out the window then stopped at a certain warehouse door and asked Scrooge if he knew it.

"Why it's old Fezziwig's establishment! Bless his heart. It's Fezziwig alive again."

Scrooge's former self, along with Dick Wilkins and Fezziwig were gathered around a table with papers scattered all over it.

"This tri-fold brochure will sure to draw in much business," Fezziwig bellowed. "Look at all the facts and features about our company."

"What about this Yellow Pages ad," cried Wilkins. "Chock full of details. This will surely attract our prospects!"

"Small matters," said the Ghost, "to make these silly folks so excited about their marketing program."

Scrooge thought about that. Though seemingly small, these marketing pieces did indeed help Fezziwig's business thrive in those days.

Abruptly, the Ghost was gone and Scrooge found himself back in bed in a heavy sleep.

Awaking in the middle of a prodigiously tough snore, Scrooge was startled to see a jolly Giant sitting before him.

"I am the Ghost of Content Present," said the Spirit. "Look upon me."

"Spirit," said Scrooge submissively, "conduct me where you will. If you have aught to teach me, let me profit by it."

"Touch my robe." the Spirit said. Scrooge did as he was told and held it fast as they flew through the window.

Scrooge was surprised when they landed at his own nephew's office. There in a bright, gleaming conference room, Fred addressed his colleagues.

"He said that Content Marketing was a humbug, as I live," cried Scrooge's nephew. "He believed it too. I have nothing to say against him. I am sorry for him. He and his business will suffer for it. I told him he needed to provide his prospects and customers with valuable information that would show him as an expert and attract new business."

Scrooge  suddenly looked about him for the Ghost, and saw it not. Lifting up his eyes, he instead beheld a solemn Phantom, draped and hooded, coming towards him.

"Am I in the presence of the Ghost of Content Yet To Come?" asked Scrooge.

The Spirit answered not, but pointed downward with its hand.

"Lead on," said Scrooge.

The Spirit stopped beside one little knot of business men. Observing that the hand was pointed to them, Scrooge advanced to listen to their talk.

"No," said a great fat man with a monstrous chin. "I don't know much about it either way. I only know they padlocked the doors. Likely no one will much care about it. Upon my life I don't know of many customers he had left."

"Spirit," Scrooge said. "Tell me who they are talking about."

The Spirit instead silently led him down a dark street and stood before a building that looked familiar to Scrooge. The Spirit pointed to the building.

"Are these shadows of things that WILL be or are they shadows of things that MAY be only?" Scrooge asked.

Still the Ghost only pointed.

Scrooge crept towards it, trembling as he went and following the finger, then read the sign upon the door of the abandoned building: Scrooge and Marley, Out of Business.

"No, Spirit! Oh no, no!" he cried, tight clutching at its robe. "Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have shown me by an altered life. I will honor Content Marketing in my heart and try to keep it all the year. Oh tell me I may sponge away the writing on this sign!"

Scrooge suddenly saw the Phantom shrink, collapse, and dwindle down into a bedpost.

Yes! And the bedpost was his own and the room was his own. Running to the window, he opened it, and put out his head.

"What's today?" cried Scrooge, calling downward to a disheveled looking man in the street.

"Today?" replied the man. "Why it's Monday. The first day of a new work week."

"It's Monday!," said Scrooge to himself. "The Spirits have done it all in one weekend!"

"Hallo my fine fellow," Scrooge continued to the man. "What do you do for a living?"

"Me?" replied the man. "I'm just a poor freelance copywriter out here begging for work."

"Well beg no longer," Scrooge replied. "Come with me to my office. You are now in charge of my Content Marketing program. We have a great deal to do. domain owner . We need white papers, case studies, and blogs! Can you write blogs? We'll do eBooks, newsletters, and email campaigns. We'll become the kings of Content Marketing I'll say!"

On his way to the office he stopped by to see his nephew Fred.

"I wanted to thank you for your advice," Scrooge said to Fred, "and to tell you I am embarking on a complete Content Marketing program beginning today."

He then grabbed his new trusty scrivener by the scruff of the neck and held him up to Fred.

"See, I already hired a copywriter!" Scrooge cried. "Can you stop by today and help me with the details!"

"Of course I will uncle!" exclaimed Fred.

From that day forward, Scrooge was true to his word. Under Fred's direction, Scrooge and Marley became a Content Marketing machine, driving enormous amounts of traffic to their site and growing revenues manyfold. Scrooge had no further interaction with Spirits. It was always said of him that he knew how to drive Content Marketing well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.

As for the scrivener, sitting in his corner cubicle he spoke for all copywriters when he said quietly, "God bless us, every one. And Happy Holidays."

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