A brand strategist passionate about corporate social responsibility, social determinants of health, patient-centered care, and the creation of truly usable health information technology.
So You Want to Build a Mobile App
There’s no question about it, mobile access is a necessity regardless of your audience. But is an app the right path? Take some time to evaluate the right choice for who you are trying to reach and what you are trying to accomplish.
Back in November 2014, I co-authored a piece in PR News with Diane Gage Lofgren that provides some how to tips for choosing the mobile solution that’s best for you.
Sharing Your Content Through Syndication
Sharing Your Content Through Syndication, co-written with Diane Lofgren, published by PR News (August 2014)
To extend the reach of your messages, it’s crucial that others share your content. Here are some tips for developing content that others will want to share.
If You Write it Will they Come? (The Answer is No)
There are three important reasons to engage in content marketing: search, word of mouth, and earned media.
If You Write it Will they Come? (The Answer is No)
published by Lightbox Collaborative (September 2014)
Content Marketing in 5 Easy Steps,
published by Lightbox Collaborative (October 2014)
Many communicators fear taking on the challenge of content marketing. Here are five steps to help you get your efforts off the ground.
http://www.lightboxcollaborative.com/content-marketing-5-easy-steps
If You Write it, Will They Come?
Happy to share my first post on the Lightbox Collaborative blog.
This post picks up where all the posts extolling the virtues of storytelling end. As communicators, we can sometimes become so enamored by what we are writing and the stories we are telling, that we believe people will naturally want to read it. Sadly, our audiences have other things to do and are bombarded with so much information on a daily basis, that finding our stories can be like finding a needle in the proverbial haystack.
That’s why content marketing is so important. We can’t assume our audiences will come to our content we need to find ways to take it to them.
Check out the full article on the Lightbox Collaborative blog.
Syndicating Content
I recently had the pleasure of writing Sharing Your Content Through Syndication with my friend and mentor, Diane Lofgren. It was published on PR News earlier this month.
In the process, we had a great conversation with Tomas Kellner from GE Reports. It was fascinating to learn more about the brand journalism strategy at GE and I appreciated the simplicity of his guidance: “I find and report many of the great stories that are inside the company and that really deserve to be told to a wide audience in our online magazine, and then syndicate the stories via Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest and even SnapChat.”
Check out the full article: Sharing Your Content Through Syndication on PR News.
The Spider and the Fly
On a peaceful, Sunday afternoon, I sat reading reading in the garden, but became distracted by an intense buzzing behind me. Initially, I tried to ignore it, but the sound became more and more urgent.
Tearing my attention away from my book, I looked up. There was a fly caught in a spider’s web. The spider had wrapped arms around the fly who was struggling to get away. As I watched, the spider slowly subdued the fly, which was equal to her size, and then began to encircle the fly in its webbing.
Next thing I knew, the spider had suspended the fly on the web and then built what I suppose was the equivalent of a ladder, strengthening her path in a way that would enable her to carry the fly to a less exposed place to feast on later. More quickly than I could have imagined, the spider whisked the fly across the web and into the overhang of the jasmine. She then hid herself in the nearby leaves, presumably awaiting the next bug to fall prey to her web.
Though I certainly knew how a spider hunted, I will confess I had never witnessed it with my own eyes. The speed and ease with which this spider took down this fly both impressed and sickened me. It makes me realize how many things I know, but have yet to understand.
Content Marketing: More than a Buzzword
Content marketing has become a popular buzzword. While it may seem like a new and trendy concept, in reality, the practice of content marketing is the application of traditional communications and storytelling strategies.
The Content Marketing Institute defines it as “a marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience — with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”
Technology and the proliferation of digital media options are changing the way people consume information. Opportunities for communicators to tell stories about the brands they represent abound. The effective application of content marketing techniques can improve search results, word of mouth, and earned media placements.
We’re Not a Solo Act: Build Partnerships to Enhance Your Brand
We’re Not a Solo Act: Build Partnerships to Enhance Your Brand, co-written with Diane Lofgren, published by Marketing Health Services (Summer 2014)
Highlighted five examples of partnerships with external organizations served to enhance brand reputation.
Holly Potter 