We wanted to know: What issues should sophisticated marketers understand and analyze for their own businesses?

Among the big findings:

• Marketers understand the role of content marketing and, by and large, are experimenting with a range of tactics and technologies. What they need, however, is the ability to build scale. Launching a blog is great, but how do you tie in a team of writers, automate tasks, promote your message across many channels, integrate with other activities, and measure like a pro?
• We know this already, but many of us just aren’t practicing it: Get away from campaign thinking and adopt “always on” thinking. It’s nothing new, but many marketers haven’t taken the step to really systematize the shift across the board.
• Companies must evolve to consider SEO as larger than search in the traditional sense. Instead, marketers must understand and leverage “discovery” — that crazy, sought-after surge of sharing that occurs when you publish high-quality content to the right channels and then watch your finely tuned network plug the hell out of it.
• Hire geeks. Not the bean-counting type, but marketing engineers who are quant jocks and marketing experts.

Read all our expert interviews here. 

Our other features this month are also quite thought provoking, intended to help marketers study and analyze issues that aren’t often talked about:

• A killer article by Todd Wheatland about all that you don’t know about LinkedIn. We promise it’s not another shlumpy article about how to set up your profile. Todd talks about the algorithms LinkedIn uses to judge your fitness for certain jobs based on how you behave online.
• A call-to-action by Rand Schulman about U.S. universities and their failure to train top-league marketers — and what should be done to change it.

Read it and chime in (#ccomag) to let us know how we’re doing and what topics you’d like to see us take on in the future. 

Our October issue of CCO magazine takes on the topic of measurement with some practical advice, and a heavy dose of humor.

• Arnie Kuenn walks content marketers through the basic building blocks of developing an intelligence measurement program. Arnie’s approach emphasizes goals before metrics — something that tends to get lost on some marketers. He also provides a run-down of useful metrics and the reasons why marketers should care about them.
• Robert Rose writes about the dangers of over-focusing on metrics. Robert cautions marketers that while measurement is useful, it also tends to make marketers content with the mediocre — and deadens their desire to take risks.

What is perhaps most interesting about our writers’ approach to measurement — and the consensus from Content Marketing World last month — was the desire to simplify what so many view as a complex science. Arnie Kuenn, who I personally know to be a SEO-savant, showed us how to drill down to the simplest elements of measurement. Robert Rose, who has worked in digital media strategy since… well since the very term began to exist, feels marketers are too beholden to measurement and fail to take those big leaps that help us stand out from our competitors.

Let us know what you think of our October issue. And if you want to learn even more about refining your skills, check out our collection of blog posts about content marketing measurement on CMI.

• When to DIY video
• Pam Didner talks about some exciting content projects at Intel
• Tech Tools: Social influencers share their tech secrets
• The latest on interactive white papers
• Pop-up Pub: Long Shot Magazine
• The gamification of content
• Content Ops: How to personalize your content
• Inspiration from the Magnum Opus Awards

You’ll want to flip through Jeremy Victor’s countdown of most innovative content marketing projects… our Fab 15! For you CMI groupies, a few of our Fab 15 may look familiar (Eloqua and Velocity Partners make the list) but Jeremy also includes fresh new entrants, such as the video documentary produced by F-Secure to commemorate the anniversary of the first PC virus.

In case you haven’t guessed, our July issue is all about innovation. The word seems to cause as much eye-rolling as interest these days in large part because everyone’s striving for innovative content marketing, but no one really seems to know what it means.

Until they see it, of course.

One of my favorite articles this month is about Tom Fishburne, the Marketoonist. Tom is a Harvard Business School grad who enjoyed all kinds of success as a brand manager for companies like Method and Häagen-Dazs. But Tom also loved to doodle. One day, he walked away from all his successes in corporate life and started a cartooning company. Yes, I repeat: Tom and his company, Marketoonist.com, offer serial cartoons to companies hoping to build a following through humor (sometimes fairly edgy humor).

And here’s the part that amazes me most: The reason why Marketoonist cartoons work so well is that most people don’t get the joke. For example, one of Tom’s clients is CaseCentral, a software company that offers e-discovery services in the legal field, has developed a loyal following through its weekly cartoon. But if you are not a lawyer, chances are you just won’t get this joke. What makes Marketoonist cartoons so shareable is largely the ‘inside joke’ quality to his strips.

So again, don’t ask me to define innovation. But if you asked me for an example, I would confidently point to the Marketoonist.

Now go pack your sunscreen and enjoy our July issue!

The bento box is a great visual metaphor for the role of information design in content marketing. Information design is the art of presenting content on the page (or screen) in a way that makes it easier for your readers to understand and remember your message. Just like the bento box, a well-organized article or report should include highly visual modular elements that separate sections of your work and embellish key points.

The lesson hit home for me personally when Chief Content Officer (CCO) magazine launched in January. A few bloggers pointed out (thank you) that our articles were too long and linear. Readers wanted to be entertained both in word as well as story format.  The CCO team gathered and gave me marching orders:

• Take each feature article and break it into pieces
• Add sidebars and pull-quotes
• Add skimming elements
• Make it more visual and less daunting to read.

Some people refer to this strategy as creating modular content. (‘Modular’ makes me think of boxy-modern, orange furniture. I would rather visualize pieces of sushi snuggled together.) In CCO magazine next month, we are adopting the bento box model of content marketing. Rather than having one 1,200-word feature article, we are running articles half as long, supplemented with short-form sidebars and callouts.

Why is modular content so important?

We are an impatient bunch
Particularly in the context of business content, we are reckless skimmers, racing through web pages and PDFs to find useful nuggets of information.

Content marketers are often writers by profession, and so we are understandably focused on delivering smartly-written, high-value content, forgetting to consider visual presentation. Visual tools like section headers, callouts, sidebars and infographics help your impatient readers decide whether they want to read more and help them arrive at the sections they are most interested in browsing.

Some of us remember information visually rather than in word
That’s why infographics play such a crucial role in relaying complex information. I consider McKinsey to be an infographic powerhouse. Other companies manage to create infographics that are more beautiful or intellectually challenging, but the designers at McKinsey are experts in simple, educational graphics.

Sidebars add depth without weighting down the main article
Perhaps you have a case study or an expert interview you would like to include, but you worry that your article is already too long. Sidebars allow you to add depth and nuance while keeping your main article tight and focused.

Make it Modular

Here’s a quick information design checklist to walk through during your next content marketing assignment (sidebar, baby!):

• Consider a quick-hitting summary presented up front that allows readers to decide whether they should read on (could be included as a secondary title, a short executive summary, or a sidebar). PricewaterhouseCooper’s 10 Minutes series does this well.
• Make it modular with sidebars. Are there sections of your article that could stand alone as a sidebar? Sidebars shorten your main article, pull out key information visually and allow you to expand on more complex ideas.
• Use section titles that allow your readers to skip sections or locate key sections, and use callouts to highlight key concepts or quotes.
• Use bold print (judiciously) to highlight key phrases or sentences. This is a tactic CMI uses in its daily blog.
• If your article contains complex information (could be quantitative, a multi-step process, a series of decisions, a cost-benefit analysis) consider an infographic to simplify the information.
• If your article is educational in nature, consider a half-page self-assessment that allows readers to test their knowledge or test their company’s level of sophistication on that topic. This is a great reinforcement tool.
• Make it easy to share with a checklist or synopsis. Pull it all together with a beautiful PDF checklist (don’t forget to brand it).  See Ahava Leibtag’s content checklist as a great model.

Our July issue of CCO magazine will truly be the first issue that embraces this new modular mantra. Also, keep a lookout for our new columnist, Bob Johnson from IDG Connect, who will be writing about dynamic design and content optimization for CCO magazine.

Christina “CK” Kerley gives a crash course about the B2B mobile revolution, and what you can do to get started. She will guide you through the stand-out examples of mobile marketing in B2B (it’s true… they exist!).

Chris Koch and Julie Schwartz from the Information Technology Services Marketing Association (ITSMA) weigh in about whether marketing is now the domain of quant geeks.

CCO’s editorial team spotlights Tim Washer, a social media maven at Cisco and part-time comedian. Tim has acted in skits for Conan O’Brien, starred in a Budweiser commercial, played alongside Catherine Zeta-Jones in a T-Mobile commercial, and has worked on Saturday Night Live, Comedy Central and The Onion… and he has some advice for businesses that are too puckered up.

Nate Riggs, a frequent CMI contributor and social media strategist, describes how to create a simple dashboard to track Facebook engagement.

Get your subscription to CCO

Why subscribe to Chief Content Officer magazine? We know all about marketing maven fatigue (MMF). You try to stay on top of all the latest tools, social media lingo, hot-shot bloggers… but every time a colleague mentions a new tech tool to try out, you get pale and sweaty. “S%^&&##, I just figured out what content curation means, and now you’re freaking kidding me that there’s a term called content syndication?” It’s pretty exhausting to be a marketing savant these days.

Now imagine that you have a friend who stays on top of it for you. He’s kind of cute, is a social media James Bond, and has a certain geek-chic quality when it comes to talking about subjects like marketing automation metrics and Open Graph. If you don’t know what we’re talking about, that’s ok.

Just sign up for your free subscription!

A Quora user explained his confusion in the comments section of a New York Times blog post: Quora Raises Questions.

I have no idea what I’m following or why. I gave it 15 minutes after going through the whole sign-up process and might try to spend another 15 trying to delete my account, because I have literally no idea what any of it means. And I am a highly technical person and “normal” to boot. Leland Witter, Raleigh, NC

So we wanted to know, what do our readers think of Quora? Is the confusion common among savvy marketers, or are marketers totally inundated with new social platforms and don’t have time for yet another site?  Doug Kessler, a social media maven from Velocity Partners, sums up what many content marketers are thinking about Quora:

For me, Quora does a terrific job and it’s a great interface. My problem: social media fatigue and bandwidth. Can I make room in my life for another social media platform? They all feel like baby birds with constantly open beaks, squeaking for my attention (and… regurgitations).  I haven’t yet discovered what Quora is uniquely good at. But I’m still open to finding out.

Should I care about Quora?

Quora certainly isn’t the first Q&A platform for business professionals – LinkedIn Answers, Focus and Facebook Questions are also very popular. What makes Quora unique to many is its techie, Palo Alto vibe. It was founded by two former Facebookers, former engineer Charlie Cheever and chief technology officer Adam D’Angelo, and it still manages to pull in answers from Silicon Valley heavyweights such as Craig Newmark and Dustin Moskovitz.

So should you care? One of the best answers I have seen on why Quora matters so deeply to some comes from Robert Scoble, a social media demi-god and Quora evangelist/addict. Below is an excerpt from his full response to why Quroa trumps both LinkedIn Answers and Facebook Questions:

1. My main base of operation is Twitter and I follow more than 30,000 early adopters, geeks, developers, CEOs, influencers, VIPs, etc. in the tech industry and a few outside of tech. I very rarely see any other QA site mentioned other than Quora. So, that tells me that MY PEOPLE are engaged on Quora more than other sites.
2. I see more geeks I trust and like answering questions here than any other place COMBINED.
3. My work here gets more comments from people I want to reach than any other work I do. Today Rypple’s co-CEO was here and said he loved my Quora answer on suicide, for instance. That gets me to invest more time here, because I know that the movers and shakers in the tech industry are reading here and not reading elsewhere as often.

How do I get started?

If you want to get your feet wet with Quora, start by setting up a good feed. Build your feed by searching for topics, people, and questions—and following them. Your feed will allow you to see content that interests you and answer questions about issues you care about or are particularly knowledgeable about. More about these starter-steps is available from Quora here.

So now what? Here are five ideas for getting started with Quora:

Follow your customers
Find out what interests them. Even better, answer their questions thoughtfully and intelligently.

Follow your competitors
Find out what they are asking about, who they are following and how they are answering questions.

Find blog fodder
David Reich of SixEstate Communications recently offered suggestions on how to make blog posts more reader-centric, and he suggested using Quora:

If you follow topics and questions that interest you, as well as thought leaders in your industry, you’ll come across a wealth of relevant topics to blog about. But participating on Quora can be productive too: A thoughtful answer you provide can usually be repurposed as a blog post quite naturally. Same goes for LinkedIn Answers and Formspring, which are a couple of other Q&A networks worth checking out.

TIP: Pay close attention to where you find topics to cover and give credit where credit is due. Linking to the original source of information is not just good etiquette, but it’s also an effective way to get the attention of the journalist, blogger or influencer who first reported it – which is subtle but very powerful marketing for your business.

Trendspotting
Follow social media and techie influencers. Listen in on their conversations. It’s a great way to stay on top of next-horizon trends. How to find the right influencers? Robert Scoble offers some great suggestions.

Build your influence in your expert area
Become known as the person who gives thoughtful, rich answers on a topic in your field. Keep in mind, journalists are heavy users of Quora. Do not, however, overtly market yourself as your answer will surely get voted down.

For even more information about how marketers use Quora, check out What do marketers need to know about Quora?

How have you used Quora for content marketing? Share your experiences and tips in the comments below!

The Australian and European versions of CCO are now available! Read them online and subscribe to future issues!

I’ve lived and breathed localization issues for more than 20 years, working on six continents and living on five. Having been on both ends of the equation – resident in the country originating content for international audiences and recipient of content not yet suitable to be distributed in a foreign market – I’ve learned a few things along the way.

Properly preparing your content for another market provides unlimited potential for success. Get it wrong, though, and even the best products and services will wither and fail. Get it really wrong, and you could unintentionally damage your brand.

Here’s my best advice for your localization project based on years of experience and a few hard knocks.

Who’s driving?

The first rule of localization is to establish ownership of the content. When you’re working across markets, and very likely across time zones, it’s imperative the head office takes ownership of the whole project. Without a strong management focus from the originating source, you cannot be sure your message is being delivered at all.

I’ve worked in offices where boxes of case studies and product brochures were stored, unopened, in the mailroom because no one was expecting them.  I’ve also seen reams of brochures destroyed because they weren’t localized.

A content rollout needs to be managed as a separate project and include a clear outline of job responsibilities on both ends. It might sound complicated but it’s not. Four tools that make this job easier are:

1. Spreadsheets – Develop a project plan and assign tasks
2. Skype – Terrific for free international phone conferences
3. Dropbox -  An easy utility to share files “real time” with multiple people and locations
4. World Clock Meeting Planner –  Ensure everyone is on the call at the same time regardless of time zones especially since no two locations implement Daylight Savings Time the same way

A common trap for localization projects is to let the local market handle it on their own. When relying on assurances of ‘We know our market better than you do’; corporations relieve themselves of responsibility at their own peril. I’ve seen strategic products sold as gimmicks, taglines rewritten into meaningless jumble, and smart designs reduced to amateur efforts all at the hands of an office working independently of headquarters. When you lose control of your message, you lose business.

Who’s navigating?

I’ve never worked in a country without someone – or everyone – pulling me aside to tell me they conduct business differently than everyone else. You know what? It’s not true. Every single market I’ve ever worked in makes purchasing decisions based on business benefit.  What is different is how they expect to get their information.

Cultural differences abound from country to country. That’s why you can’t conduct a localization project without the input of the local market. What works in the USA, may not work in Italy or Tokyo. Make sure the marketing manager in each location is part of your team and listen to what they tell you. They’ll also have a really good idea about distribution channels, key influencers, industry associations, and how to build a buzz for your particular product. It’s probably different than in your own market. Depending on the type of content you’re producing, you’ll need local PR services to maximize the promotion of your product.

How will you get all of this done?

I’m a firm believer in allocating budget for localization in any content-producing project up front. A well-planned effort delivers many benefits including buy-in from your foreign distributers and enhanced brand image in the international market. Often these tasks are only considered at the end of a project when everyone is ready to move on and the money is used up.

Sounds like a lot of work, doesn’t it? You’re right; it is a lot of work.  However, your workload is greatly alleviated if your content is developed with localization issues in mind.

And, don’t expect recognition for your efforts, either, as the sign of a successful implementation is that no one realizes the content didn’t originate in their own locality. But the rewards will be reflected in your bottom line.

Not only do you need to have a process nailed down when localizing content, but there are a number of things you need to consider with your content. Stay tuned next week for my checklist!

NOTE: Chief Content Officer magazine is completely free while we are in beta.  Get your free subscription today! (and it will continue to be free after that)

When Joe Pulizzi asked me to join him to launch Chief Content Officer magazine, I leapt at the chance in part because I love the glossy, rich feel of a print magazine. You could even say I’m a bit of an addict, subscribing to ten magazines at home—from the uber-hip Fast Company to straight-laced Foreign Affairs (and more than a few low-brow mags in between that I hide under the couch when company comes over).

During the darkest days of the recession, lots of people were predicting that print magazines were in a death spiral—suffering from the combined forces of fewer advertisers, competition from free content online, and a lack of innovation in integrating digital and print. I’m not convinced. Flipboard may be the coolest new iPad app on the market, but many of us still love the rich look and feel of a print magazine.

What does it take to build a great print custom magazine? Joe Pulizzi wrote the definitive post about the planning, execution and measurement of custom magazines. Joe got his start in custom media so he’s like the Miyagi to my Karate Kid. Instead of trying to re-hash his smart advice, below is my list of magazine must-have intangibles.

Design on equal footing with editorial

Even more so than content online, the design of your magazine is crucial – and just as important as the editorial. Your magazine’s chief editor and chief creative should have great chemistry and a shared sense of how content and design inspire one another.

An appreciation for the quirky and new

When someone sits down with a print magazine, they are in browsing mode, ready to be entertained and inspired. You’re catching them at a very different moment than when they may receive your e-newsletter or blog post—which is more likely to happen during work hours. Meet your reader’s browsing, relaxed mood with content that is more entertaining than purely educational. Profile a person whom your audience aspires to become. Showcase a company that is not just successful, but daring and even quirky. Mix in short-format content and lots of visuals for skimmers.

Networking, baby!

The success of a magazine depends on sniffing out interesting stories and gaining access to interesting people. Ensure your team has the necessary sales skills to pull in contributors and snag interviews with influential people. You need at least one (if not more) extroverts on your team.

Writers who speak Smart and Snappy

There are many different kinds of skilled writers, but only a small cohort make great magazine writers. The very best are natural storytellers, willing to say something silly or controversial for the sake of capturing their readers’ attention, and don’t wander around on intellectual detours.

A deep knowledge of (and affinity for) your target audience

This one seems nearly too basic to preach to a roomful of marketers. If you are going to write aspirational stories, you need to know what your readers aspire to–what challenges they face and what fuels their passion. Ideally, your editorial and design team shares that passion.

Our goal is to deliver all of these intangible qualities in every tangible edition of Chief Content Officer, and hopefully convince the world that print is alive and well.

We hope you enjoy this first issue of Chief Content Officer. Even more, we hope you get in touch and pitch us great stories or ideas about how we can improve and grow.

Flipboard

The app that leaves content marketer hearts aflutter. It aggregates your favorite online reading materials and suggestions from friends, and plops it all into a stunner magazine format. Think RSS feed + glossy mag. This app alone is worth the $500 iPad price tag. For a better understanding of the Flipboard experience, see the video.

Cost: Free

iWork

So you’re considering leaving your laptop at home next time you travel? The iWork app for iPad lets you modify Microsoft Office Word through Mac-based Pages (the Mac-equivalents of Excel and PowerPoint are also available through iWorks, but with less favorable reviews). Without a full keyboard, the iPad is not ideal for creating documents from scratch, but iWork lets you modify your existing docs while on the road.

Cost: $30, or $10 each for Pages, Keynote or Numbers

Sketchbook Pro

Whether you are a doodler, a visual thinker or a professional illustrator, Sketchbook Pro is a wicked little app that will let you indulge your inner artist. A great tool for fans of the visual problem-solving book, Back of the Napkin.

Cost: $8

Instapaper

Stumble upon an interesting article or blog post but don’t have time to read it at that moment? Click the “read later” bookmark from Instapaper, then come back when you’re in the easy chair. You can pull your reading list from any Internet-connected device, including your phone, Kindle or iPad.

Cost: $5

Evernote

Evernote is like an inspiration board for the OCD-type. Store notes, photos, screenshots or voice memos in the cloud. All your materials are organized by tags for quick retrieval later. A great tool for marketers who pull inspiration from other companies, people and everyday life.

Cost: Free

Dragon Dictation

You’re driving in the car and have a moment of profound genius that you’d like to capture for a future blog post? Speak into your phone and the app delivers a text message or e-mail, ready for sending.

Cost: Free

Readdle Docs

Your co-worker sends you a PDF proof of a document for your review and commentary—and you’re a long way from a printer/scanner. PDF Expert from Readdle lets you mark up PDF documents and forms from your iPad. Read and annotate PDF documents, highlight text, make notes, draw with your finger (great for leaving signatures) and save changes compatible with Preview and Adobe Acrobat. Done!

Cost: $10

Things

The ultimate to-do list app is now available on the iPad. Includes to-do lists, notes, due dates and project categories (great for sorting). Document your current priorities—and even your future goals.

Cost: $20

Print Central

Print Central lets you print directly to most WiFi/Wireless printers—perfect for stopping by your local office store or hotel business center.

Cost: $10

Timeli

With Timeli you can view your projects at a glance and see what’s coming up next in a smooth timeline.

Cost: $2.99

What are your favorite iPad apps that can help with content marketing?