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Why Content Marketing (& #startups) Fail And How To Fix

Why Content Marketing (& #startups) Fail And How To Fix | Startup Revolution | Scoop.it
From buzzsumo.com - November 10, 2015 8:14 AM
What’s content shock? It’s a term coined by Mark Schaefer two years ago, when he observed that “content supply is exponentially exploding while content demand is flat.”  The logical consequence of supply continually outstripping demand is that on average content articles will get … Continued
Martin (Marty) Smith's insight:

Startups Too

The interesting thing about this post every one of my web marketing friends seems to be talking about is it validates Mark Schaefer's "content shock" concept and replace "content" with "startps" and it applies just about as well. Only difference? Startups fail at a much higher rate. Doesn't mean the cure isn't similar - building a community of advocates and supporters and using "amplification" to change the world. 

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Recycle Old Blogs Into Shiny New Content (Part1) For Startups

Recycle Old Blogs Into Shiny New Content (Part1) For Startups | Startup Revolution | Scoop.it
From www.o2-v2.com - November 15, 2014 8:51 AM

Marty Note

Startups are so pressed for time they often ignore or make a C priority developing content marketing. That is a huge mistake when it comes time to close a round of funding.

Startups with following have leverage and so may survive. In this excellent two part series Andrian Leighton shares tips on how to blog and how to recycle old blog posts into new content. With these tips every startup has the time to develop the most overlooked but important thing almost all startups overlook - effective content marketing.

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10 Reasons Blogs, Articles and Guest Posts ROCK Startups via @jodyporowski [6 via @Scenttrail]

10 Reasons Blogs, Articles and Guest Posts ROCK Startups via @jodyporowski [6 via @Scenttrail] | Startup Revolution | Scoop.it
From medium.com - October 14, 2014 1:26 PM

Marty Note
Love this Jody Porowski post since she shares directly and doesn't lay claim to expertise she doesn't have (rare). I also love here reasons for why content marketing matters beyond pure traffic generation such as:


1. Drive Traffic.

2. Increase Awareness.

3. Create new Connections.
4. Produce Warm Fuzzies.


Great list. I would add:

5. Creates online community (net effect of 1 - 4).

6. Voice is authority, authority is reputation, reputation is all.

7. Provides grappling hooks out to social media to accomplish #2.
8. Shares values and nonverbals communication such as WE LISTEN (especially when you curate or incorporate content from users).
9. Promotes User Generated Content (they won't share if you don't).
10. Define your USP and UCA (Unique Selling Proposition and Unique Customer Aspiration).

YES, we live in a post content-shock world, but construct a website without a voice and see how it performs (it won't). Stories, shared intimacy and risk form the basis of any successful online community. Remember 1:9:90 Rule says 1% of a site's visitors will advocate and share valuable UGC (User Generated Content), 9% will vote and share especially content from the highly trusted 1%ers and 90% read and visit (important to traffic numbers but hard to engage).

We used to think content and voice was the ante for an Ambassador Program or the creation of valuable brand advocates and Sheraps. Team Curagami changed our mind recently and now advise customers such as Moon-Audio.com (manufacturers amazing audio cables and sells high-end headphones and earphones) to ASK for help NOW.

Continue to develop content and voice since the more trusted you are the greater chance you have at the gold at the end of the web marketing rainbow - sustainable online community. BUT ASK FOR HELP immediately, specifically and often.

Such a great post by Jody I couldn't help adding a riff from my experience as a content marketer, content curator and former Ecommerce Director. Added to Startups Revolution because content marketing is one of the rocks many startups get hung upon. Don't over think content marketing and create something daily.

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The Curagami Story: Content Curation for Fun and Profit via @examinercom

The Curagami Story: Content Curation for Fun and Profit via @examinercom | Startup Revolution | Scoop.it
From www.examiner.com - September 12, 2014 5:37 PM

The Curagami Story
Curagami was launched by Martin Smith and co-founder Phil Buckley when they found a need in the marketplace they felt was not being served and a window of opportunity.

Curagami helps ecommerce merchants discover the "new ecom" where commerce and content live harmoniously together. This is their story.

Marty Note
Great write up by @Lori Wilk about our #startup Curagami.


Martin (Marty) Smith's insight:

add your insight...


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Curagami Launching Into Friends Beta 7.4.14 - Help A Startup on the 4th of July via @Curagami

Curagami Launching Into Friends Beta 7.4.14 - Help A Startup on the 4th of July via @Curagami | Startup Revolution | Scoop.it
From www.curagami.com - July 3, 2014 1:39 PM

Help A Startup Over The 4th of July Holiday
If you have 15 minutes you can help a startup over the 4th. We are trying to keep this, our first, ASK to 15 minutes or less. Click 3 links and answer 3 questions and your feedback will help a startup!

Will post our landing page link as soon as we finish making it (lol). In the meantime checkout our Evolution of Web Design & Marketing infographic: http://www.Curagami.com .

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Startups NOT Using GooglePlus Are NUTS, Here's Why...

Startups NOT Using GooglePlus Are NUTS, Here's Why... | Startup Revolution | Scoop.it
From plus.google.com - April 29, 2014 3:58 PM

Wow, this post is TAKING OFF fast. Its about something I keep talking about and no one seems to HEAR. GPlus is the place to create your Internet marketing and I use numbers from @Crowdfundeanalysis.@CrowdfundeFind An Amazing G+ Analysis here:
https://plus.google.com/102639884404823294558/posts/F5fXyrkTPCr @Crowdfunde

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Triangle Startup Factory ACCEPTS CrowdFunde For Spring 2014 Class

Triangle Startup Factory ACCEPTS CrowdFunde For Spring 2014 Class | Startup Revolution | Scoop.it
From crowdfunde.com - February 13, 2014 3:49 PM

CrowdFunde Accepted Triangle Startup (TSF) Factory
Thanks to friends who wrote cards and letters and thanks to the team at Triangle Startup Factory, our Durham, NC based startup incubator, who are willing to take a risk on CrowdFUnde as we smash content marketing and crowdfunding together to see what happens.

Our TSF session starts March 10th and we hope you will join us as we share this great startup adventure.

CrowdFunde
http://www.crowdfunde.com

Haiku Deck Pitch to TSF
http://shar.es/QFOzU


Triangle Startup Factory
http://thestartupfactory.co/


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How Much Content Should You Be Creating?

How Much Content Should You Be Creating? | Startup Revolution | Scoop.it
From labs.openviewpartners.com - June 15, 2013 8:19 AM

Marty - some valid points here, but I distrust post that tell me no one size fits all and then tries to get me to wear one size. I also distrust polls that are set up to have a clear easy winner (as theirs is). Read my notes before reading the piece.

Martin (Marty) Smith's insight:

Not So Much
I love it when people say they are going to create LESS content of higher quality. If you knew how to do that then you would be on a beach somewhere sipping a frosty drink with little umbrellas in it.

No ONE knows what "quality" is until you've created enough content to take a hard look at the numbers. This is why I like consistency. I create content daily and don't wait for some "perfection" that I can't determine.

We don't determine QUALITY scores anymore THEY DO. To suggest otherwise is dangerous hubris and goofystupid. Listen more than you talk, create something everyday based on what you learned and when you stumble upon greatness double down.

Don't ask the wrong question in the wrong way and HOW MUCH is exactly the wrong question. Write what you believe and think. Watch your shares, engagement numbers (time on site, pages viewed) and test a new idea (always). Over time you will see patterns.

When in doubt ASK. No harm in admitting you are confused or unsure and asking your supporters for help. When THEY help YOU a magical thing happens transforming YOU and THEM into US.

Startups think about content LAST. This is a mistake. Content is tied to MONEY and money is the lubrication that keeps everything running. Startups should start wide sharing as much of what is happening TODAY as possible. This makes potential investors feel they know you before writing a check.

Sharing content creates TRUST and no one invests in people or things they don't trust. Consistency is important for Startups. Create content DAILY and when you see a chance for a schedule create one and publish it. Mondays are about X and Wednesdays about Y. Schedules create trust too.


PS
Only those NEW to Internet marketing spend a lot of time thinking and pulling their hair out about HOW something should be done. This process concern reminds me of sitting with my former catalog bosses one day. They told me they spent hours teasing out whether a hero image (largest image on a webpage is a "hero") should be this way or that.

They asked me what I thought. "It doesn't matter," I told them and their faces fell. They were used to a decision like that, the cover of a catalog, costing tens of thousands of dollars. The hero for our webpage didn't matter because we would change it in seven days (if not sooner) anyway AND I didn't have to guess.

DATA would start to flow the minute we put the image up. They were used to expensive tests that took months to resolve. I was used to inexpensive tests we did all the time, so no reason to EVEN HAVE the process conversation.

So much of this debate is of the "It doesn't matter" variety. Every moment you THNK about creating great content instead of creating SOME content and testing are a moment lost. YOU don't crate great content. You create content and THEY decide if it is great or not. Best way I know to create GREAT content is create consistently and learn as you go.

When I was a Director of Ecommerce here is something I said frequently to my team, "We are going to do SOMETHING even if it is the wrong thing". Never regretted saying it or anything we did because SOMETHING always beats NOTHING online.

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Martin (Marty) Smith's comment, June 15, 2013 3:59 PM
Great comment Daniel. Nice Scoops too. Thanks, Marty
Sean Ryan O'Neill's curator insight, June 16, 2013 6:51 AM

Excellent read, including the comments which followed. 
Martin (Marty) Smith's comment, July 10, 2013 7:16 PM
Had an interesting follow on conversation with Jan Gordon about the question of how much. MORE is an important idea because you can't analyze feedback on content you don't create and publish. More can also be a turnoff for some, but the way we consume content along with everything else is changing. Instead of reading everything all the way through we dip in and dip out. Twitter and other social nets are either leading or reinforcing this ADD-like behavior. Well let's not judge it. It is what it is. No one READS anymore we scan so MORE scanable content in more places is good. Even BAD content is valuable since its creator learns NOT to create that kind of content, but ONLY if they publish. If a team "Sistine Chapels" their content waiting for a perfection that will never arrive they kill feedback needed to thrive.
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Content Marketing For Startups

Content Marketing For Startups | Startup Revolution | Scoop.it
From meghanmbiro.visibli.com - November 10, 2012 7:36 AM

Start up marketing is a complicated science.

Marty Note
If you are a startup and you DON'T have a content strategy you are in trouble. Content about your team, your widget and your progress is what brings in ATTENTION and attention is proxy for advoacy, traffic and money. This article helps explain how startups can create an inbound content marketing strategy. 

I was just at a Startup Conference this week and met many great, inspiring entrepreneurs. Many mobile entrepreneurs seem to believe they don't need a content strategy or Google at all. I think such thinking is a dangerous mistake. Google, a content website and/or a blog are critical to explainging your widget and in creating the tribe needed to support it. Yes I've read the stories about mobile entreprenuers never creating a website and believe those are the exceptions that make the rule.
  

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Startups: Why Adding Scoopit Magazines Is Great Content Marketing

Startups: Why Adding Scoopit Magazines Is Great Content Marketing | Startup Revolution | Scoop.it
From www.curagami.com - October 5, 2015 5:29 AM

Adding Scoopit Magazines
This post shares the easy how and why of adding @Scoop.it "magazines" to your blog or websties. We work with and around a lot of startups. Every startup is so widget focused they have a hard time creating the content marketing needed. 

Why is content marketing so NEEDED for startups? Well let's see. Want to get funded? Want to scale? Content marketing can help, but virtually no startup thinks that way. 

Every startup we know is so widget focused they can't see forest for trees. Widget focus isn't unimportant, but at some point soon you will need to sell that widget to someone for money. Content is the magic key in that "sell to someone for money" door. 

The best return on any startup's content marketing time is to curate content - i.e. leverage brand relevant content from experts. When you don't have time or inclination to create great content you can get more reach and return from finding highly relevant sources (for your business content) and curating them. 

Be sure to follow and contribute to those who you curate from too (or your curation can feel like stealing). This Curagami post explains how easy it is to curate content with Scoop.it and then add the magazines you create to your startup's blog or site. 
 

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STEAL THIS MoMA Kickstarter Store Idea Because Crowdfunding = Where BUZZ Lives

STEAL THIS MoMA Kickstarter Store Idea Because Crowdfunding = Where BUZZ Lives | Startup Revolution | Scoop.it
From connect.moma.org - November 12, 2014 10:56 PM

Crowdfunding Where BUZZ Lives In Time For the Holidays
Working on http://www.curagami.com taught us important content marketing lessons such as:

* Buzz is HARD to create by yourself.
* Want buzz? Go to where the BUZZ is and mashup.
* Crowdfunding is highly SOCIAL and very BUZZ worthy.

* Crazy Guy / Girl in basement is a compelling aspirational story.

That last bullet is where the moneyball lives. The reason crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter ROCK SEO and content marketing is great entrepreneurs share their cool ideas AND their social network. Platforms such as Kickstarter get to sit back and pick and choose what to help BLOW UP (or their algorithm does).

Here MoMA creates a curated content partnership with Kickstarter helping to add legitimacy to everyone's hand (for MoMA, Kickstarter and the projects curated into MoMA's holiday guide). What is stopping YOU from creating a similar partnership with a cool crowdfunding platform and featuring BUZZ worthy products you curate?

Answer: NOTHING other than the limitation of our merchandising imaginations and those boundaries should be few and far between :).M

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Want Trusted Content? Startups Do 10 Things [+4 From @Scenttrail]

Want Trusted Content? Startups Do 10 Things [+4 From @Scenttrail] | Startup Revolution | Scoop.it
From www.business2community.com - October 5, 2014 11:42 AM

Marty Note On Developing Trusted Content
Startups must create content to develop trust and community. Content marketing. and this may be a surprise to some, is not an end unto itself. You create and share content to help, educate and share. Startups should create content to develop a self-sustaining community. 

Sharing content requires being vulnerable, real and authentic. The six tips from the linked post focus on creating honest communication. My 4 content marketing tips describe how to create content sure to be shared (a form of trust), built upon and provide the feedback loops you need to run an online business:

Six Content Tips (from the link)

* Eliminate Hype. 

* Make Your Content  As Unbiased as possible. 

* Present alternative perspectives (from trusted leaders and gurus). 

* Include objective research.

* Beware of product pitches (just say NO to product pitches). 

* Proclaim your identity (be honestly who you ARE as any disparity creates dissonance). 

Marty's 4 Content Marketing Tips (to promote shares and feedback)

* End with a question asking for feedback & don't mind if none comes (1:9:90 Rule says only about 10% of your visitors are going to engage with your content is ways you can see).
* Shorten your sentences & paragraphs and lose the conjunctions and personal pronouns.
* Create short (10 words or less) headlines with "grabbers". 
* Create, shoot or develop original art.

Questions are great. We use questions in three ways:

* We ask and then answer our own question as a way to engage a clear line of reasoning and thinking.
* We ask contextually relevant questions at the end of a post looking for feedback on a reader's experience.
* We ask and leave open questions in heading sand sub-heads to promote the content as answer reading the curiosity of a question prompts.

Short and Sweet
Shorten and create SEO writing. SEO writing is reducing your "stop words" such as personal pronouns or other words search spiders can't understand.  SEO may be out of favor these days, but those "spider tips" apply to creating content to promote online readership and engagement too. Think Hemingway more than Faulkner. 

Original Art
Startups shouldn't use stock photography. Stock creates dissonance with any startup's main positioning. All startups are claiming to be smarter and more creative than the other guy. When you use sock you look just like the other guy. Just say NO to stock no matter how much your designer wants to use it. CORNED use stock but ask your design team to create unique edits and perspectives so your stock doesn't look like everyone else. 
 

 

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Startups, Crowdfunding, Content & Curing Cancer Podcast Interview with @Curagami Founder Marty Smith

Startups, Crowdfunding, Content & Curing Cancer Podcast Interview with @Curagami Founder Marty Smith | Startup Revolution | Scoop.it
From www.getsocialhealth.com - July 15, 2014 10:18 AM

Martin (Marty) Smith talks to Get Social Health about the radical change in his life when he heard the words cancer and his name in the same sentence. Here is what Marty's done since his cancer diagnosis:


* Rode a bicycle across America (Martin's Ride To Cure Cancer).

* Founded CureCancerStarter.org one of first crowdfunding cancer research platforms.

* Founded Curagami, marketing tools to help content marketers and online merchants create community.

* Founded Tech Cures Cancer Fund at UNC Lineberger Cancer Center.

Wide ranging interview with  an entrepreneur and cancer survivor whose life is dedicate to helping and giving back.

Martin (Marty) Smith's insight:

I'm blessed with amazing friends who help, help and hep some more. Marty

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How Netflix + Roku Are Changing Content Curation & Content Marketing

How Netflix + Roku Are Changing Content Curation & Content Marketing | Startup Revolution | Scoop.it
From www.haikudeck.com - May 7, 2014 7:44 PM
How Netflix + Roku Is Changing Content Curation In Competitors Beware Ways.
Martin (Marty) Smith's insight:

As we are proving with our startup http://www.curagami.com content marketing is HOT for #startups. Hot because as budgets increase tools are needed to help publishers and merchants. Here are just a few areas of opportunity:

* Content curation tools to help bring content in, shape it and publish it back out.
* BI Tools to know what is working and why.
* BI Tools that help see into the octopus of attribution.

* Customer experience tools - using personas and archetypes to increase relevance & that helps generate social shares and customer satisfaction.

* Loyalty and gamification tools.


Just a few startup needs in content publishing / ecommerce.  

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Rock Scoopit? Great Content Curator? CrowdFunde Hiring 10 Great Content Curators

Rock Scoopit? Great Content Curator? CrowdFunde Hiring 10 Great Content Curators | Startup Revolution | Scoop.it
From www.crowdfunde.com - April 7, 2014 12:24 AM

If you love using Scoop.it we have a job for you. CrowdFunde, a Durham NC startup, is searching for the top 10 content curators in the world. CrowdFunde is a new company dedicated to helping websites, brands and companies tap wisdom of crowds.

And we need 10 great content curators to help!

If you are a great content curator we want to recognize your contribution, pay you to do something you love and include you in a cool new company about to change the way ecommerce merchants create content marketing and the way content marketers know what content to create.

If you are a great curator we hope you will apply at CrowdFunde.com
http://www.crowdfunde.com/top-curator-contest-crowdfunde-hiring/

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Rescooped by Martin (Marty) Smith from Latest Social Media News
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Steps On How to Acquire Customers For Your Startup [INFOGRAPHIC] |

Steps On How to Acquire Customers For Your Startup [INFOGRAPHIC] | | Startup Revolution | Scoop.it
From ijustdid.org - September 1, 2013 9:07 AM

Step by step guidelines for startups on how to acquire customers.

 

Full image at: http://ijustdid.org/2013/08/customer-acquisition-guide-for-startups/

 

Source: http://onboardly.com/customer-acquisition/the-step-by-step-guide-to-startup-customer-acquisition-infographic/#.UiIpSdJHKo0


Via Gerrit Bes
Martin (Marty) Smith's insight:

Great content marketing infographic for startups. 

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Nadia Christian's curator insight, September 3, 2013 10:21 AM

As a start-up if you aren't sure how to get started acquiring customers, here is a visual to get you going.
Sieg Holle's curator insight, September 7, 2013 5:38 AM

We are going to py this to the test using e-cigarrettes which solves the cancer or anti tpbaccp health agenda 
Thibaut Odeyer's curator insight, November 20, 2014 7:56 AM

Etapes à suivre pour attirer sa clientèle potentielle 
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$10,000 With These 5 Content Marketing Tricks For Startups

$10,000 With These 5 Content Marketing Tricks For Startups | Startup Revolution | Scoop.it
From www.youngentrepreneur.com - February 16, 2013 9:13 AM
The founder of iDoneThis shares his top tips for amping up your startup's content-marketing strategy.
Martin (Marty) Smith's insight:

Startups often forget about content marketing. All attention is on the widget. Problem is if no one knows about your widget it is a tree falling the forest with no one there to hear it. Here are 5 content marketing secrets that are focused on making money now from content marketing. 

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