Merrit Colaizzi posted from the Online Marketing Summit on the 24th with Live from OMS: The 10-Step Content Strategy

I’d like to take a minute and discuss what I feel are the two most important parts of the strategy:

6. Commit to your blog. In Arnie Keunn’s business, Vertical Measures, 25% of his Web traffic comes from its blog. The blog should be the hub for your marketing activities, with platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, [and] LinkedIn as the spokes. Your blog is real estate you own, and you can control 100% how your content is presented.

Control. Something that every business wants to have, over every aspect of their marketspace.

Too bad. Social Media and user-generated content is outside of your control, but you can control the content that is on your own site. You can use it to do some things that can push the conversation in a healthy direction:

• Promote the people that have nice things to say about your company, publish links to their Tweets, their websites, etc.
• Engage them in conversations about your company.
• Provide them with a forum to discuss their issues and problems – make a case study out of how they used your company to solve those issues.
• Remember that it is your job to let the conversations take place. While the website is your hub it is your job to get out of the way and let people share.

Here is another important concept, that I just discussed with my colleague Kevin Ferrasci O”Malley: (@kfom on Twitter)

7. Make content educational, not promotional. Tell stories about problems your customers have, don’t just pitch your product. Consider asking for registration/further engagement with your audience at the end of your content — once readers are hooked — rather than at the beginning. Shoot for 200 to 400 words, which is the sweet spot for blog-post length, and don’t forget to augment your content with video whenever possible.

Video is important, and something that small businesses need to invest some time and energy in learning, because (sooner rather than later) video is going to be essential to your success. I am still experimenting with video, especially in my book review posts, and I have found these types of posts to be much more popular and successful.

Videos are fantastic tools for teaching, and for exposing the “wow” factor of your product or service. It is one thing to tell people about what you do, it is another to be able to show them and let them show other people.

This new book from Behance looks interesting:

Introducing the New Book from Behance & 99%: “Making Ideas Happen” :: Articles :: The 99 Percent

I found that one’s methods for organization are just as important as the quality of one’s ideas. How you manage projects, how (and when) you conduct meetings, how you allocate your time on a daily basis – these seemingly “uncreative” activities matter. I’ll go further: they make a dramatic impact that is often the difference between success and… yet another idea that didn’t happen.

But organization isn’t everything. There are other common themes among prolific creative leaders, notably how they engage their community and how they lead others in creative pursuits. I found that the capacity to make ideas happen could be distilled into a simple framework:

Making Ideas Happen = (Ideas) + Organization & Execution + Communal Forces + Leadership Capability

The methods and practices in each part of the above equation are absolutely essential when it comes to creative execution. Yet nearly all of these activities – perhaps because they come after the “idea” – are vastly undervalued. In fact, many of the forces that are crucial to making ideas happen may seem counter-intuitive at first blush.

Things like acting without conviction, skipping regular meetings, sharing ownership of your ideas, encouraging your team to fight, using appreciations instead of critical feedback, and drawing strength from others’ doubts.

Many of the forces that are crucial to making ideas happen may seem counter-intuitive at first blush.

These and many other surprising insights that emerged have changed the way I work and live my life. Needless to say, the process of writing the book was a 99% case study in itself. During the course of the project, I was able to put many of the insights I was observing into practice.

I have not read the book yet, it will be released on 15 April this year, you can pre-order it here:

My friend Robert Hruzek has invited me to join in the February groupwrite project: What I Learned From…Children:

So the questions you have to ask yourself are this: Have you ever learned something from your children? From someone else’s children? When you were a child yourself? When a friend or acquaintance was a child? When you were standing next to a child?

The Lovely Bride and I do not have any children, but we do enjoy the company of the children in our families. One thing that always inspires me about children, mostly 7 to 9 years old, is that they do not yet believe that lots of things are impossible. Let me repeat that:

They do not yet believe that lots of things are impossible.

The key word there is “believe”.

By the time we (all us grown-ups) get into High School we have a pretty firm grasp on the things that we believe are true. (Read this post Linchpin Review and buy the book for more on that topic)

• If you don’t get good grades you can’t go to college.
• If you don’t go to college you will never get a good job.
• Marriage ends in divorce.
• You can make a million dollars on the Internet.
• You can’t make any money on the Internet.
• The people in Washington DC know what they are doing & it is best for all of us.

Sadly, some of the things that adults believe are patently untrue.

One of the things that Seth Godin writes about in his latest book, Linchpin, is that we do not have to believe these things anymore! We must regain our child-like ability to believe in the impossible, then go out and do something remarkable.

In the 2+ years that I have know Robert I have seen – with my own eyes – things that everyone told me were impossible. I have seen bloggers and podcasters become media enterprises. I have seen regular people with a good idea share it with other people and make something incredible (and some $$ too!).

I have regained my own ability to believe. I started my own business (In Context MultiMedia – develop your small business and yourself through Social Media Literacy & Productivity tools and tactics.) I spoke at a conference for people that wanted to learn about what I had to say.

I have re-learned not to believe that lots of things are impossible. (Oh, and I lost most of that fat belly too!)

Chris nails it in this 2-minute video. Read the list of things that he does, then pop over to Kitchen Table Talks and watch the video.
My advice:
Learn it, live it. There is no substitute for hard work and preparation:

“Lucky” is absolutely what I am. Here’s what I do to earn my luck:

* Write a blog post or two a day.
* Write a newsletter every week.
* Comment and connect with others daily.
* Answer and send hundreds of emails daily.
* Read voraciously.
* Work with the best clients I can find.
* Reach into new markets weekly.
* Travel extensively.

Seems lucky to me.