Welcome!

Don't Outsource. Don't Insource. Right Source.

Mike Sweeney

Subscribe to Mike Sweeney: eMailAlertsEmail Alerts
Get Mike Sweeney via: homepageHomepage mobileMobile rssRSS facebookFacebook twitterTwitter linkedinLinkedIn


Top Stories by Mike Sweeney

Content marketing is indisputably hot. Budgets are up. Business awareness is up. Demand for information and services is up. Look no further than the Google Trends charts below, comparing search interest for social media marketing and content marketing. Right now, content marketing is where social media marketing was in 2010—at the beginning of a long, powerful ascent. So, the question is not whether or not you should include content marketing as part of your marketing strategy, but rather, how you should build and execute a successful content marketing plan. If you read our last post that covered the challenges associated with insourcing your content marketing, you know that 44% of companies elected to outsource their content marketing programs in 2012. It might be the right choice for you. Companies decide to outsource their content marketing programs for a varie... (more)

The 7 Key Skills for the Modern Marketer

Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world’s first modern marketer. Better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster … able to write, edit, analyze, create, code, distribute, and ideate better than ever before. Over the last two decades, old marketing has become new marketing. Push marketing has given way to pull marketing. Buyer beware turned into seller beware. Advertising approaches are being replaced by content approaches. It should come as no surprise, then, that marketers have changed – dramatically. Organizations st... (more)

Quality over Quantity: Why Weak Content is Killing Your Brand

I don’t spend a lot of time using Twitter, but when I do, I am searching for content that will either educate, entertain, or maybe even inspire me. My situation mimics that of most business decision makers – I have limited time to explore, and I want to be productive during that time. Low quality content, often stemming from a high volume publishing approach, ruins that experience. You know what else it does? It kills your brand. (Unless your brand doesn’t want to associate itself with quality, in which case you have bigger problems to deal with.) According to the 2013 Content ... (more)

Overcoming Planner’s Block: The Content Marketer’s Edition

Putting together a content marketing plan is no walk in the park. While there is no such thing as a standard content marketing plan, our particular process typically involves hours of discovery and research, a 40 – 70 page written document, a 20 – 30 slide presentation, and then delivery and discussion. This is a 20 – 30 day process for most. So what should you do if you are forced to simplify and expedite that planning process to meet some type of deadline? Or what if you are experiencing planner’s block, or having trouble getting started with your content marketing planning pr... (more)

6 Questions That Belong in the 2014 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks and Trends Report

Once again, the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) and Marketing Profs have outdone themselves with the 2013 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends – North America report. Chock full of information on content marketing budgets, tactics, measurement, and challenges, this is by far the most comprehensive research study on B2B content marketing. When I read the report, my reactions were shaped by the content marketing programs we execute on behalf of dozens of companies, and knowledge of the marketing challenges they (and we) face on a daily basis. I can’t speak on beh... (more)