Blog topic ideas: nine ways to beat blogger’s block

September 11, 2014

wall of post-it notes and ideas

Stuck in a rut when trying to find blog topics? Once you’ve been doing this content marketing thing for a while, you may feel like you’re running out of things to talk about. Much like writer’s block, blogger’s block is a real epidemic. There’s a time and place for repurposing, but where do you turn when you want to churn out new topics? Here are nine sources of inspiration:

1. LinkedIn groups – what are your prospects discussing with their peers? How can you help? 

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That’s a Wrap! Google’s autocomplete headache, PR firms freeze out climate change skeptics, John Oliver skewers native advertising, Nine West steps in it, B&B’s bad bridal policy

August 8, 2014

As wild weather bombards parts of the nation, it’s time for Reputation Ink’s round-up of the week’s wildest stories in PR, marketing and social media. Which companies and tactics weathered the storm? You be the judge:

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Content marketing dos and don’ts: 7 tips for creating better content

July 22, 2014

ContentWith all the talk about content marketing lately, it’s surprising how many companies tend to skip right over the “content” part and focus all of their efforts on the “marketing” end.

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Content marketing for non-techies: 7 tips for repurposing content

July 17, 2014

recycle sign on grass; tips for recycling contentCreating high-value content is no easy task. Once you’ve taken the time to carefully select a topic your prospects will appreciate, research your topic and write it specifically for the appropriate persona, should you call it quits?

If you’re like most content marketers, brainstorming fresh topics can become laborious after a while. The good news is your posts don’t have to face a “one and done” fate. There are several tips out there for repurposing content, but many of them seem a little overwhelming for those of us who aren’t geeks (no offense, geeks).

Here are a few simple ways non-techies can revamp, recycle and repurpose content to keep the momentum going:

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Developing your marketing strategy: why an ‘all-of-the-above’ approach is more important than ever

July 15, 2014
Reputation Ink INKsights Developing your marketing strategy why an all-of-the-above strategy is more important than ever

Don’t put all your marketing eggs in one basket

Remember when traditional marketing was dead?

It was only a couple of years ago that everyone from the Harvard Business Review to Forbes magazine was trumpeting the demise of traditional marketing and public relations strategies. In a world of social media and online marketing, they contended, old-school tactics for connecting with customers just wouldn’t cut it.

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That’s a Wrap! American Apparel’s Challenger tweet, retailers under fire for Nazi ‘home decor,’ Time magazine’s winning Facebook strategy, Frontier’s pizza pilot and Kickstarter’s kicka$$ potato salad

July 11, 2014

Congratulations! You made it to Friday. As Germany and Argentina prepare to face each other once again in the World Cup finals, it’s time for INKsights’ look back at the week’s winners and losers in the world of PR, content marketing and social media.

First, the losers: “Insensitive” was the word of the week, as major retailers got raked over the media coals for using images of historic tragedies in their sales and marketing efforts.

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8 common mistakes lawyers make on their blogs

July 10, 2014

187551774I’m an attorney, and I’ve been blogging for more than 10 years. I’ve started several blogs over the years, including ones on law school, the Atlanta Braves, the business of baseball, career advice for aspiring sports professionals and the business of college sports. Now I work with attorneys and law firms on blogging and social media strategy as part of my job as a content marketer, and I find many legal blogs have the same common mistakes.

You aren’t writing for a specific audience

I have a law degree, and I practiced law for four years, yet I still don’t understand many of the law blogs I read. For most of you, your audience is clients and potential clients. No matter how sophisticated you think your clients are, if they’re not attorneys they aren’t going to understand legalese. In fact, even if they are attorneys, if they don’t practice in your area they likely still won’t understand you.

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Working with PR agencies: hold the fluff!

July 1, 2014
Reputation Ink PR agency Jacksonville

Fluff belongs on your dessert – not in your press release!

Working with a professional public relations agency can offer significant benefits for both large and small companies alike. So much so, in fact, that USC’s Annenberg Strategic Communication and Public Relations Center reports that 95 percent of all large public companies and nearly half of all small private companies rely on outside PR/marketing counsel.

In selecting a public relations firm with which to work, however, companies would do well to remember three words: Hold the fluff.

In media parlance, “fluff” is the term for the flowery language and effusive frippery in which some publicists drown their copy. Rather than simply stating the facts and letting their client’s product or project speak for itself, some PR reps seem to believe that applying a thick coating of hyperbole to their prose will catch the eye of that jaded reporter and score their client a primo placement.

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Growth hacking: what established companies can learn from startups

June 19, 2014

Growth hacking, growing taller than dinosaur

As previously outlined, content marketing isn’t a fad. Times have changed for marketers and will continue to do so almost daily. Following the successes of startups like Pinterest and Twitter, today’s savvy (or just plain broke) marketers are turning to growth hacking instead of traditional marketing techniques.

Growth hacking is defined as using conventional and unconventional tactics to grow a user base startup-style. Some examples you may be familiar with include Twitter’s “Who to Follow” prompter and Dropbox’s rewarding more storage space to users who invited friends to use the platform.

But these tactics aren’t just for startups. They’re actually the new MO of marketing. And at the core, they’re all about knowing who your customers are, where they reside on the web and what motivates them.

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What is native advertising anyway?

May 20, 2014

Native advertising is hot. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr are all monetizing their platforms with “in-feed ads,” and media stalwarts like Time, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and USA Today are all offering native advertising solutions. According to eMarketer’s report, “Native Advertising: An Emerging Consensus for a New Kind of Ad,” marketers are projecting to triple their spend on native advertising over the next five years, from $1.6 billion in 2012 to $4.6 billion in 2017. 

But what exactly is native advertising? Despite its skyrocketing growth, Copyblogger’s 2014 State of Native Advertising Report recently found that about 50 percent of respondents were clueless about the term, and another 48 percent only had a shaky understanding of it.

Jive_Software_LinkedIn_native_ad_3

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