In this week’s episode
Robert ponders whether we can – and should – try to keep up with today’s pace of progress. On the news front, we take aim at Amazon’s new social platform, Spark (thumbs down); Google’s news feed (thumbs up); and Facebook’s decision to add branded sub-groups (jury’s still out). Our rants and raves include building something instead of measuring, and the craze of focusing on technology over strategy; then we close the show with an example of the week on Emily McDowell Cards.
Download this week’s PNR: This Old Marketing podcast
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Show details
- (00:01): An advertising blast from the past: “Sony Betamax could change your whole way of life”
- (00:27): Robert muses on this week’s theme: When can we be OK with being behind the times?
- (05:15): Welcome to Episode 193: Recorded live on July 24, 2017 (Running time: 1:04:31)
- (11:10): Content Marketing World 2017 – The largest content marketing event in the world returns to Cleveland on September 5–8. Register today, and don’t forget to use coupon code PNR100 to save $100 on the cost of registration.
The PNR perspective on notable news and trends
- (13:28): Amazon to pay publishers to post on its new social network. (Source: The Wall Street Journal)
- (22:50): Google aims to reinvent news discovery. (Sources: Inc., TechCrunch)
- (30:23): Media companies and brands can now create groups inside their Facebook pages. (Source: AdWeek)
Rants and raves
- (43:17): Joe’s rave: In a recent blog post, Seth Godin made an interesting point about measurement: Just because your stand-by metric is tried, doesn’t mean it’s true. It’s a great reminder that we need to start thinking about marketing in new ways and questioning the answers we come up with.
- (48:00): Robert’s commentary: While Robert found that this MarTech Advisor article rings true when it comes to describing the key challenges of orchestrating a customer experience technology stack, he explains why he wishes the discussion took a more nuanced view of the struggle.
This Old Marketing example of the week
(55:38): Emily McDowell Studio: Emily McDowell was diagnosed with Stage 3 Hodgkin’s lymphoma at age 24. After experiencing a great deal of loneliness and isolation from her well-meaning friends and family, who were at a loss as to how to support her through her struggles, Emily McDowell came up with an idea for a line of emotionally direct sympathy cards to express the kinds of heartfelt statements she wishes she had received. Though I first learned of her powerful story from this Slate article, I did a bit more digging and came to discover a classic case of Content Inc.-style marketing done right. Not only did Emily start her entrepreneurial journey with a simple blog on a hyper-niche topic that she could cover better than anyone else, as her influence and audience support grew she then diversified her content, built a business around her communication philosophy, and is now achieving the kind of success that This Old Marketing examples are made of.
For a full list of PNR archives, go to the main This Old Marketing page.
Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute
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