Thought Leadership Marketing

Customers, Competition, and Content

jimpennypacker — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 19:26:10 +0000

When creating a thought leadership marketing strategy, you should focus first on three elements: customers, competition, and content. In this post I’ll give a brief overview on what you need to think about these elements and go into more detail on each one in my next three posts. Customers Who are your customers, and what are their [...]

Think Better: 10 Books to Help You

jimpennypacker — Wed, 19 May 2010 14:52:44 +0000

No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking. — Voltaire It may be obvious, but I’ll say it anyway: One of the first things you need to do to build a thought leadership marketing position is think. Now most of us think on occasion, but for you to position yourself as a thought leader, [...]

Create Online Video Slideshows

jimpennypacker — Tue, 11 May 2010 14:06:39 +0000

Online video is fast becoming a marketing staple. According to research by Unico, fifty-five percent of marketers are currently using videos, with another 20% planning to use them in the next 12 months. Video is a particularly good tool for showcasing brief snippets of thought leadership. It engages your audience in ways that images and [...]

B2B Content Marketing Launched

jimpennypacker — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 19:45:17 +0000

We just launched the first issue of our free monthly newsletter, B2B Content Marketing. The newsletter offers tips that will help you generate and nurture leads, improve customer retention, and position your firm as a thought leader in your market. B2B Content Marketing features include the following: Custom Content, where you’ll discover best practices for writing, [...]

Planning for Engagement

jimpennypacker — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 19:42:14 +0000

Junta42 has done it again. If you’re not familiar with them, Junta42 is a content marketing firm that publishes some of the best information on content marketing in the profession. And they’ve just released a new white paper on engagement that is must reading. Written by Junta42’s founder, Joe Pulizzi, and Keith Weigold of Nutlug, [...]

Righting Writing Wrongs

jimpennypacker — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:51:39 +0000

The following 10 errors in grammar and style bug me. When I’m reading thought leadership marketing content and come across one of these, I stop reading. And I wonder why a “thought leader” is making this kind of mistake. I’ll continue to read, usually, but I’m now questioning the credibility of the author. There’s no [...]

Content Marketing in a Down Economy

jimpennypacker — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:06:01 +0000

We’ve all come to realize how difficult it is to market our products and services in today’s economy. Marketing budgets have been dramatically cut. Prospects are taking longer to buy. Buyers are buying less. That said, I have some recommendations for you to start the new year with a bang. Develop a post-recession content marketing strategy [...]

Positioning and Thought Leadership Marketing

jimpennypacker — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:42:08 +0000

I was rereading a marketing classic, Positioning, by Al Ries and Jack Trout, and was impressed by how well their message still holds up (I guess that’s why it’s called a classic). It’s particularly relevant to those trying to practice thought leadership marketing. Positioning is the process marketers use to try to create an image or [...]

e-Books: 10 Tips for Marketers

jimpennypacker — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:22:16 +0000

There are two general types of e-books, each with its own purpose. The first is the e-book that was originally a printed book that has been converted to an e-book (see ebooks.com for thousands of examples). These books are usually 100-400 pages long, almost all words, with minimal design — you know, a book. They [...]