How many headlines like “Content is king”, “Context is king” or “If Content is king, something else is queen” have you seen in recent months? Quite a few, right? Personally, I’m getting rather tired of seeing them. And for a very simple reason – headlines like that tries to offer a quick and easy solution to something that’s actually quite complex. This is also known as looking for a silver bullet, and if you’re doing that please stop at once. Read more
If your company is active on social media, chances are that not a lot of planning went into the decision. Most companies find themselves with a presence in social media for reasons like “Our competitors are there” or “Someone in marketing thought it was a great idea”. In addition, there is an idea floating around that social media should be approached without a strategy, that we should just dive in. I disagree, the key to having a successful presence in sociala media for a long time is to have a plan and then stick to it. Read more
If your company is active in social media, sooner or later a situation will occur that can become a crisis. I’ve put together 13 pieces of advice to help you minimize or even avoid that crisis altogether. You can find them in this presentation, together with some examples of where others went wrong: Read more
If you have worked in communication or marketing you are probably familiar with thinking about the media landscape in terms of owned, paid and earned media. It’s a good way of structuring the different types of media, but it should not control how we work with messaging, target groups and content. In a time where the customer is in control, and the borders between media types are blurring, we need to have a strategic perspective and work to achive a convergence in media use. Read more
Content marketing has been getting a lot of attention in recent years, with companies and organizations putting more and more effort into reaching their target groups with relevant and valuable content. It’s an interesting development, but it’s easy to forget the power of traditional earned media, i.e PR. The solution is to have owned and earned media work together, and to include paid media as well when possible. Read more
Just after The Netherlands defeated Mexico in the football (or if you’re from the US, soccer) World Cup in Brazil, the Dutch airline KLM sent out this tweet: Adios Amigos! #NEDMEX. To really drive the point home they added an image of a departure sign complete with a picture of a stereotypical “Mexican” wearing a sombrero. Read more
When strategy is mentioned very often someone will argue that it’s something created separately from reality, a theoretical construct, and therefore of no use in the real world. This is often used to question the need for a strategy, or at least to try and minimize the boundaries or impact of a strategy. What is needed instead, goes the argument, is something tangible and real, something that can be put to use immediately. Read more
There is a Peter Drucker quote making the rounds on LinkedIn, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”. Ever wondered what it actually means? Well, there is a perfect example being played out right before our eyes right now: The difficulties of New York Times to succeed in the digital media landscape, as revealed by the innovation report that got “leaked” in the spring of 2014. Read more
John Oliver’s slamming of native advertising took the already heated debate to a new level. If you have not seen it you really should – it’s hilarious and he makes some very good points. But sadly most of his conclusions are wrong. Read more