Arnie Kuenn - Accelerate!: Move Your Business Forward Through the Convergence of Search, Social & Content Marketing

Copyright 2011 by Arnie Kuenn
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 1456479997
ISBN-13: 9781456479992
E-Book ISBN: 978-1-4392-8808-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2010919315

Published by VM Press, Phoenix, Arizona.

No part of this book shall be produced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts of preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss or profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

DEDICATION

Dedicated to my mom and dad. If you have ever met them, you know why.

Table of Contents

This will be filled with cliches just like every other book on the market. But, now I know why. An authors name goes on the cover, the author gets the credit for the book, and the author gets all the attention. But I now realize it takes a team to get a book published. Below is that team, and I sure hope I havent forgotten anyone.

First I would like to thank Patty Adams , the Director of Client Solutions at Vertical Measures who in one simple instant message got me started down the path to creating Accelerate! We were on a webinar together, each in our own offices, when the topic of writing a book came up, she IMd me and said something like you should write a book, call it Dont Break The Chain, lay out the steps to do content marketing the right way and explain how important all the steps are. We were encouraged to change the title, but the concept stuck. It all made sense to me.

I could never have accomplished this without Sarah Moraes and Elise Redlin-Cook . Once Patty made the suggestion, Sarah and Elise would not let it die. When I wanted to quit they wouldnt let me, when I had dumb ideas they told me, when I had too many ideas they tackled them, when they had great ideas they let me take all the credit (see ) and when we decided to self-publish they took charge. Thank you both so much.

At Vertical Measures, it didnt stop there. Liz Gessaman , our Director of Client Services, pushed to turn Accelerate! into the companys playbook. By the time this book is published, we will have updated our presentations, methodology and website to reflect the step-by-step process I write about. Some of our staff sat through interviews covering their areas of expertise, tolerated my follow up questions, and helped create the graphics used throughout the book. So thank you James Constable, Ardala Evans, Abby Gilmore, David Gould, Kristi Hines, Ann-Marie Jancovich, Michael Schwartz, Kaila Strong, and Krys VanSlyke.

A few other people really helped out quite a bit, but in an indirect way. I have read the books and watched the presentations of Kristina Halvorson, Ann Handley, Simon Kelly and Joe Pulizzi so many times over the last couple of years, that I am certain their influence is reflected throughout this book. All four of you have been true inspirations and I appreciate your leadership in this industry.

I also required the help of a few experts, after all I have never done this before. We turned to Jake Johnson and Ben Snedeker , two experienced authors. Their expertise was invaluable while working with me through the entire writing and editing process. They dealt with my excitement, fears, impatience, inexperience and self imposed deadlines with patience and professionalism. John Wolfe edited the entire book one last time before it went to print. A big thanks to all three of you.

Most importantly I would like to thank my family. My parents who reenforced that we all have a wonderful opportunity in this life to see and feel and think and do they encouraged us to do them all. My brother Al , and my sister Kathy have always been supportive and loving, instilling in me the courage to try new things like writing a book.

My daughter Hillary and my son Brad , you are the reason I look forward to every day. I encourage you to take a moment from time to time to remember that you are alive. I know this seems obvious, but it is amazing how little time we take to reflect on this amazing fact. By astounding luck, an incredibly small portion of all the matter in the entire universe came together to create earth and us humans. You will only exist for an incredibly small time in the great span of eternity treasure this great gift.

And lastly, my wife, business partner, best friend, and one heck of a proof reader Andi . You are the love of my life. You remind me often that people are as happy as they want to be. I couldnt be happier.

You see that gravestone? It reads information intermediary. For decades, weve relied upon middle-men in the guise of media to carry messages from our companies to our customers. Weve created news and handed it off, hoping that the all-powerful press would find enough worth in our scribbling to tweak and redistribute it to the masses.

That era is over.

The first nail in the coffin was in 1997, when Timothy McVey confessed to the bombings in Oklahoma City. That day, the Dallas Morning News became the first newspaper to ever scoop itself and run breaking news on its website instead of holding it for the next days print edition. In geologic or Joan Rivers terms fourteen years isnt that long. But to even conceive of an era when media ALWAYS and PURPOSEFULLY held back news so that they could print it on dead trees the next day? It seems positively Amish to modern sensibilities.

The speed and searchability advantages of online content has made information intermediaries superfluous. They are exacerbated by the fact that the business model to support these middle-men evaporated faster that a puddle of sweat in July in Phoenix. The Paper Cuts blog tracks layoffs in the newspaper business. Its a somewhat grisly, yet fascinating reflection of the times. Just since 2007, the site has documented more than 35,000 layoffs at newspapers in the United States.

Yet during the same period, any objective examination would find that instead of news become more scarce due to the decimation of the newspaper industry (and times have been tough for magazine, radio, and TV too), that conversely the quantity of content has soared. We are surrounded by more content, in more formats, from more publishers than ever before in human history.

And thats because of two inexorable trends that make the book you are holding incredibly important.

• First, every customer is a potential reporter.
• Second, every company must become its own TV station, radio station, magazine, and newspaper.

Whats incredibly exciting about these trends is that they create a new breed of winners. Content marketing is a meritocracy. You dont have to be the biggest company in your industry to create relevant, compelling content that creates new customers and breeds loyalty among existing customers. In fact, most of the content marketing case studies in this book are about companies of modest size and means who didnt win with budget, but rather with craftiness, strategy, and understanding what types of content resonate with people. You can do that too.