Central Perk

joi, 6 noiembrie 2014

When Is a Blog the Right Form of Content Marketing?

Posted: 05 Nov 2014 04:16 PM PST

You've heard the wisdom:

"Your business should have a blog."

"Blogging helps your SEO."

"Why aren't you blogging yet?"

According to the experts, a blog will solve all your Internet woes. Blogging will increase your traffic, expand your audience, improve your engagement, position you as an authority, and allow you to shape the message in your space.

In fact, blogging is so hyped as a panacea, you'd think that simply adding a blog to your site would also help you find the perfect spouse, cure the common cold, and even turn lead into gold.

While I won't deny the power of a good blog on the right site (seriously, as a writer, I'm pro-blog in general) to do all of those good things and more, you should always question anything that's touted as the right answer for everyone (and everything). So should you blog?

When a blog is NOT necessarily the right form of content marketing

Now that you're asking whether all that time and energy you're putting (or planning to put) into your blog is really the right investment, let's look at a few examples of when blogging is a bad idea (or is simply unnecessary).

1. You own your market

Johnson & Johnson. Amazon. Target. Google. These companies have already captured the hearts and minds of so many consumers that their names are nearly synonymous with their products. Here's why blogging would only offer each of them a marginal benefit.

Traffic

Does Johnson & Johnson really care about traffic to its site when you already have Band-Aids (and all their other name brand products) in your medicine cabinet? Sure, they produce infographics, but there's no real blog, and you were going to buy their products anyway, right?

Audience reach

Ordering anything from books to pet-waste bags online? You didn't need a blog to discover Amazon, it's so ingrained in your Internet history that you probably went straight there and those products will be on your doorstep in two days or less.

Engagement

Target mastered engagement when Oprah and Tyra started referring to the store as Tarzhay and shoppers only got more loyal as they added designer labels at discount prices. It didn't matter that most of their products weren't even available on their website, let alone that they didn't have a blog. Their site has gotten a lot better in the past decade, but they still don't need a blog to get customers in the door.

Authority

And Google… Sure they have a blog, but Google is such an authority for search queries that most of the consumers of their search results have no interest in, or need for, the blog. So if you have little or no competition or your business is (and you expect it to remain) the top-of-mind brand in your market, you can skip blogging.

2. You have a better way of getting customers into the top of your funnel

A blog is only one way to attract new customers. For example, I live less than a mile from the nearest grocery store, and I can get there and back with a spare stick of butter before my oven even warms up. If the next nearest store had the most amazing blog ever, I'm still not going to go there when I'm missing an ingredient. But if they send me a coupon in the mail, I might just try them out when it's less of an emergency.

The point is that different types of businesses require different types of tactics to get customers to notice them.

My mom, a small-town accountant who knows all of her clients by name, doesn't blog. She's much more likely to get recommended by a neighbor than to be found on the Internet. If paid search brings you $50k in conversions every month and your blog contributes to $10k, it's easy (and fair) to prioritize paid search. If you find that readers of white papers are the hottest leads for your SaaS company, offering a 50:1 ROI over blog readers, write those white papers. And if your customers are sharing your deals across email and/or social at a rate that your blog has never seen, give them more of what they want.

None of that means you'll never have to create a blog. Instead, a blog might be something to reassess when your rate of growth slows in any of those channels, but if you've crunched your numbers and a blog just doesn't pan out for now, use the tactics your customers are already responding to.

3. The most interesting things about your business are strictly confidential (or highly complicated)

Sure the CIA has a blog, but with posts like "CIA Unveils Portrait of Former Director Leon E. Panetta" and "CIA Reaches Deep to Feed Local Families" it reads more like a failed humanizing effort than anything you'd actually want to subscribe to (or worse, read). If you're in a business where you can't talk about what you do, a blog might not be for you.

For example, while a CPA who handles individual tax returns might have success blogging about tips to avoid a big tax bill at year end, a big four accounting firm that specializes in corporate audits might want to think twice about that blog. Do you really have someone on hand who has something new and interesting to say about Sarbanes Oxley and has the time to write?

The difference is engagement. So if you're in a hush-hush or highly technical field, think about what you can reasonably write about and whether anyone is going to want (or legally be able) to publicly comment on or share what you're writing.

Instead, you might want to take the example of Deloitte which thinks beyond the concept of your typical blog to create all kinds of interesting evergreen content. The result is a host of interesting case studies and podcasts that could have been last updated three years ago for all it matters. This puts content on your site, but it also allows you to carefully craft and vet that content before it goes live, without building any expectation associated with an editorial calendar.

4. You think "thought leadership" means rehashing the news

There is a big difference between curating information and regurgitating it. True life confession: As much as I hate the term "thought leader," I used it many a time in my agency days as a way to encourage clients to find the best in themselves. But the truth is, most people don't have the time, energy, or vision to really commit to becoming a thought leader.

A blog can be a huge opportunity to showcase your company's mastery and understanding of your industry. But if you can't find someone to write blog posts that expand on (or rethink) the existing knowledge base, save your ink.

Some people curate and compile information in order to create "top 10" type posts. That kind of content can be helpful for readers who don't have time to source content on their own, but I wouldn't suggest it as the core content strategy for a company's blog. If that's all you have time for, focus on social media instead.

5. Your site is all timely content

A blog can help you shape the message around your industry and your brand, but what if your brand is built entirely around messaging? The BBC doesn't need a blog because any reader would expect what they're reading to be timely content and to adhere to the BBC's standard voice. If readers want to engage with the content by commenting on the articles, they can.

If you can explain the value that blogs.foxnews.com adds to the Fox News site, you've got a keener eye for content strategy than I do. My guess, from the empty blog bubbles here, is that this is a failed (or abandoned) experiment and will soon disappear.

6. Your business is truly offline

There's one final reason that blogging might not fit your business model, and that's if you have chosen not to enter the digital realm. I had lunch with a high-end jeweler in India recently where he was debating whether to go online (he was worried that his designs might get stolen) or continue to do business in person the way his family had done for at least three generations.

If you are successful at selling your products offline, especially if your product has as much variation as a gemstone, an argument can be made for staying offline entirely.

When you should be blogging

Now that we've looked at some times it's okay not to have a blog, let's take a quick, expanded look at five reasons you might want to blog as part of your content marketing strategy (just in case you thought you'd gotten off scot-free by almost fitting into one of the boxes above).

1. You want traffic to your website

Conventional wisdom goes that the more pages you build, the more chances you have to rank. Heck, the more (good) content you create on your blog, the more collateral you have to showcase on your social channels, in email, and anywhere else you want to.

2. You want to expand your audience

If the content you're creating is truly awesome, people will share it and find it and love it. Some of those people will be potential customers who haven't even heard of you before. Keep up the excellence and you might just keep them interested.

3. You want to connect with customers

That blog is a fantastic place to answer FAQs, play with new ideas, and show off the humanity of all those fantastic individuals you have working for you. All of those things help customers get to know you, plus they can engage with you directly via the comments. You might just find ideas for new campaigns and even new products just by creating that venue for conversation.

4. You have something to add to the discussion

Do you really have a fresh perspective on what's going on in your industry? Help others out by sharing your interesting stories and thoughtful commentary. You're building your authority and the authority of your company at the same time.

5. You're ready to invest in your future

Content is a long game, so the payoffs from blogging may be farther down the road than you might hope. But if a blog is right for your company, you're giving yourself the chance to start shaping the message about your industry and your company the day you publish your first post. Keep at it and you might find that you start attracting customers from amongst your followers.

The gist

Don't blog just because someone told you to. A blog is a huge investment and sustaining that blog can take a lot of work. But there are a lot of good reasons to dig in and blog like you mean it.

What's your decision? Do you have a good reason that you've decided to abstain from blogging? Or have you decided that a blog is the right thing for your business? Help others carefully consider their investment in blogging by sharing your story in the comments.

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Seth's Blog : Clawing your way to the bottom

Clawing your way to the bottom

We don't usually use that cliche, but it's true.

Trading in your standards in order to gain short-term attention or profit isn't as easy as it looks. Once-great media brands that now traffic in cheesecake and quick clicks didn't get there by mistake. Respected brands that rushed to deliver low price at all costs had to figure out which corners to cut, and fooled themselves into thinking they could get away with it forever.

As the bottom gets more and more crowded, it's harder than ever to be more short-sighted than everyone else. If you're going to need to work that hard at it, might as well put the effort into racing to the top instead...

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miercuri, 5 noiembrie 2014

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Ruble Slide Continues; Russia Forced to Abandon Currency Intervention as Reserves Dwindle
Eurozone Target2 Imbalances Rise Again, Led by Italy
Worst Election Performance by Sitting President's Party Since Truman; Republicans Take Senate, Increase Lead in House and Governorships

Ruble Slide Continues; Russia Forced to Abandon Currency Intervention as Reserves Dwindle

Posted: 05 Nov 2014 05:13 PM PST

In the wake of falling oil prices, tensions in Ukraine, and sanction madness that hurts both Russia and the Eurozone, the ruble has been on a huge slide.

Ruble Daily Chart

Since June the Ruble has slid from about 34 to the US dollar to 44.9 to the US dollar. That is a decline of 24 percent. A long-term chart shows an even bigger decline.

Ruble Weekly Chart

Since the beginning of 2011 the Ruble has gone from 28 to the US dollar to 44.9 to the US dollar. That's a decline of 37.6 percent.

Russia's Attempts to Stabilize the Ruble Fail

The decline has been pretty orderly until about June of this year. To halt recent decline, Russia hiked interest rates on October 31 to 9.5% from 8.5%.

As the first chart shows, that huge rate hike did not halt the slide.

Russia had also been intervening in the currency markets to the tune of about $2.5bn a day, but that's not a sustainable action.

Indeed, declining reserves forced the Russian Central Bank to Abandon Ruble Support.

The Central Bank of Russia announced an effective free float of the rouble on Wednesday, a step which triggered a fresh plunge in the currency but is intended to eventually stabilise it.

The rouble's slide has accelerated in recent weeks, partly because the central bank's policy of automatic intervention was an easy target for speculators making one-way bets.

Previously, the bank had been committed to interventions worth $350m each time the rouble fell outside the band – a policy that was easy for speculators to exploit and in recent weeks had cost it up to $2.5bn a day.

Following the announcement, the rouble was down almost 3 per cent against the dollar by late afternoon in London, briefly falling below Rbs45 to the dollar for the first time and nearing a symbolic threshold of Rbs50 against the central bank's euro-dollar basket.

By accelerating the transition to a fully flexible exchange rate regime – originally planned for the end of the year – the Central Bank of Russia appears to be putting its trust in market forces instead of foreign exchange controls to fight off the risk of a financial crisis.

Floating the ruble is the right thing to do. The Ruble will eventually find the right level.

Some seriously misguided economists suggested capital controls, but that is more likely to cause panic than stabilization.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Eurozone Target2 Imbalances Rise Again, Led by Italy

Posted: 05 Nov 2014 10:27 AM PST

Eurozone Target2 imbalances are on the rise again, led by Italy.

Target2 Refresher Course

Before showing the latest Target2 numbers, inquiring minds may need a refresher course as to what Target2 is, as well as the problems associated with rising imbalances.

Target2 stands for Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross Settlement System. It is a reflection of capital flight from the "Club-Med" countries in Southern Europe (Greece, Spain, and Italy) to banks in Northern Europe.

Pater Tenebrarum at Acting Man provided this easy to follow example "Spain imports German goods, but no Spanish goods or capital have been acquired by any private party in Germany in return. The only thing that has been 'acquired' is an IOU issued by the Spanish commercial bank to the Bank of Spain in return for funding the payment."

Also, if people in one country (Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Spain, anywhere) no longer trust their banks, they may pull their deposits and park them elsewhere.

Please see Reader From Europe Asks "Can You Please Explain Target2?" for a more compete discussion including responsibility percentages (i.e. if Greece leaves the eurozone, what percentage of the liability falls on Germany, France, Spain, etc.)

If Greece, Spain, or Italy elects to abandon the Euro, euro-based claims in those countries would receive an immediate haircut.

Watch Italy

The recent rise in imbalances is not that large, but it primarily rests on the shoulders of Italy.

With that backdrop, Variant Perception says Target2 Imbalances Widen Again – Watch Italy.

Target2 – the payment system used for intra-eurozone transfers – has widened again, with the largest two-month move since mid 2012. A look into its breakdown reveals that it is Italy that is almost completely responsible for the increase in liabilities. Ceteris paribus, an increase in the Target2 liabilities of a central bank means capital leaving the country in question, eg through the importing of goods.

Over the last two months, Target2 liabilities have increased by €67.1bn, while government deposits have fallen €56.6bn, so the net leakage abroad of liquidity in Italy is €10.5bn. Still, this is the largest such two-month net fall in liquidity since April 2012. This is worth monitoring since Portugal's Target2 liabilities flared up in April 2010 just before government bond yields spiked; Ireland's Target2 liabilities swelled up in late summer 2010 as deposit flight took root; and Spain and Italy's Target2 liabilities accelerated just before the eurozone crisis reached its nadir and breakup of the EMU looked imminent.

Target2 Assets vs. Liabilities

The above blip in the last two months does not seem that significant, but it looks more important if you see it all comes from one place.

Target 2 Italy

Charts from Variant Perception. I added the trendline arrows in the second chart.

In this context, Italy, which had been on the mend since July 2012, has reversed course strongly in the last two months. Italy liabilities are 200 billion euros, and that poses a big theoretical risk.

Target2 Imbalances January 2007 - April 2014

Wikipedia has some good information (but also some fluff about how Target2 makes things more stable). Here is a long-term chart from Wikipedia.

Target2 imbalances dramatically improved after ECB president Mario Draghi came out with his "Whatever it takes ... And believe me, it will be enough" statement in July of 2012.

In response, Jens Weidman, German economist and president of the Deutsche Bundesbank (Germany's Central Bank), nearly resigned.

Weidman said in a Spiegel interview that "bond buying made it look as if ECB was financing governments directly — and shouldn't go ahead".

Target2 treats all assets and liabilities equal, regardless of country. The mechanism is one of the huge structural flaws in the euro system itself.

Ultimately, what cannot be paid back, won't. Alternatively, the ECB will make up the difference via printing press. Either way, German banks on the surplus side will take a hit.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Worst Election Performance by Sitting President's Party Since Truman; Republicans Take Senate, Increase Lead in House and Governorships

Posted: 04 Nov 2014 11:09 PM PST

I watched the returns all evening from Start to finish, not that anything was much in doubt. I expected the Republicans would finish stronger than the polls suggested, and they did by a huge margin.

Senate Results

Republicans picked up at least 7 Senate seats with Alaska and Louisiana yet to come. The final tally will likely be +9, giving Alaska and Louisiana to the Republicans, and Virgina (undecided as I type) to the Democrats.
Republicans won a Senate seat in North Carolina with odds of that happening listed at 25%.
So-called close votes in Iowa, Kansas, and Colorado were not that close at all.

It could have been much worse.

In Virginia, Republican Ed Gillespie nearly pulled off an amazing victory over Democrat Mark Warner.

In New Hampshire, Republican Scott Brown nearly pulled off a huge upset over Jeanne Shaheen.

Governors

In Illinois, Governor Quinn held a tiny but consistent lead in the polls over challenger Bruce Rauner. The election was not that close even though Rauner had a lot of baggage.
In Maryland, Republican Larry Hogan beat Democrat Anthony Browns in a shocking upset.
In Massachusetts, Republican Charlie Baker upset Martha Coakley. The last serving Republican governor in Massachusetts was Mitt Romney, elected in 2002.
In Florida, Republican Rick Scott defeated Republican-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist in a very close race.
In Wisconsin, Republican Scott Walker has the distinction of winning his third election in four years, counting a recall.
GOP Pickups: Illinois, Maryland, Arkansas, Massachusetts
Democrats scored a pickup in Pennsylvania

The Gubernatorial score as I type is 31-15 and will likely get worse for Democrats.

House

Republicans picked up at least 10 seats.
Democrats had 257 House seats following the 2008 election. They lost seats in every election since then.
Republicans will end up with something like 246 House seats following this election. There are 435 seats so the math will be something like 246-189 in favor or Republicans.
Under Obama, Democrats stand to lose at least 60 seats in total, the "biggest loss by a president's party since Harry Truman", said CNN.

What's It Mean?

The key question is "what does it all mean?"

The short answer is this vote is an anti-Obama vote as much as anything else.

I watched Senator Ted Cruz on CNN Tuesday evening. Wolf Blitzer asked Cruz twice if he would back Mitch McConnell as majority leader. Cruz twice refused to answer.

Expect Cruz to mount a challenge to McConnell for Senate majority leader.

Cruz told Blitzer we need "much more legislation". Good grief. How about dismantling rules and regulations? And how about dropping no-win divisive issues like abortion and focusing on things the country needs?

Without a doubt Hillary will distance herself from president Obama further and further. She will also do everything she can to get the majority of female votes.

Ron Paul Chimes In

On Tuesday Ron Paul Tweeted "Republican control of the Senate = expanded neocon wars in Syria and Iraq. Boots on the ground are coming!"

Senator Rand Paul is going to have to take a stand, and hopefully the right one. You cannot disenfranchise 65% of the women in the country and expect to get elected.

If Republicans nominate another Neanderthal determined to wage more wars while taking away freedom of choice, expect to see Hillary in the White House in 2016.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Damn Cool Pics

21 Things To Expect When You Move In With A Man

Posted: 05 Nov 2014 02:49 PM PST

Are you moving in with a man? Get ready for it. Your life is about to change big time.

21 Things You Need To Be Ready For When You Live With A Girl.