At Renegade, our radar is always tuned to Enterprise B2B organizations that demonstrate their brand stories effectively. I thought I’d share a snapshot of Accenture’s approach as an example of how message and content are co-ordinated to offer extreme value to their customers and prospects. Accenture’s home page starts with a bold assertion: “New isn’t on its way. We’re applying it right now.” And its Story Hub…
Think about the last 3 pieces of content you created. Did they have a common theme, or advance a common story? Or were they distinct “one-offs”, unrelated to each other? Maybe they were the result of a looming content calendar that just needed to be filled… When it comes to content, the whole is definitely greater than the sum of its…
Alignment between your marketing and sales departments doesn’t happen overnight. For example, when a B2B prospect visits your website, they most likely need to be connected to an account manager and salesperson that can address their specific needs and questions. A B2C prospect, however, is much more likely to explore your website and fill out an inquiry form all on…
Groucho Marx once famously quipped, “If you’ve heard this story before, don’t stop me, because I’d like to hear it again.” Unfortunately, many story-obsessed brands seem to agree that telling the same story over and over again, with only the names changed, will surely result in a good ending. In fact, if a brand repeatedly tells the same story, audiences may…
We’re hearing a lot about AI these days and increasingly it’s being incorporated into various marketing technology platforms as well. This week, I had the good fortune of receiving a demo from an up-and-coming social media management platform that incorporated a subtle, yet very effective AI application in its offerings. In a nutshell, the demonstrator selected a long-form article from the company…
The stats are undeniable—few of us like going it alone, at least when it comes to buying stuff in unfamiliar categories. On the consumer side, the Spiegel Research Center reports that nearly 95% of shoppers read online reviews before buying. And on the business-to-business front, a G2 Crowd and Heinz Marketing study showed that 92% of buyers are more likely…
Maybe this scenario has happened to you. You get a report of a spike in clicks for your widgets—and a chain reaction of events kicks in to capitalize on the momentum. Your blog post just got 100,000 views, so you commission a bunch more posts on the same topic. Or perhaps your newsletter sales pitch generated more clicks than ever….
When was the last time you perused an article, read a book, watched a movie, or caught an episode of your favorite TV show? Chances are, you do one or more of those things every day. Although some may be dramatically better than others, they all tell a story. In fact, stories—in one form or another—are all around us, at…
About a month ago, a trusted advisor recommended that when we conduct online meetings—whether it’s with internal staff, clients, partners or prospects—that the medium should include a video link so that everyone can see everyone else on the call. We tested this out and found that once everyone gets over their initial (and natural) hesitation of being on-camera, the net…
Are we about to enter a “content crash?” Or have the rumors of content’s demise been greatly exaggerated? The debate is certainly alive and well, as you can see from this recent Twitter exchange between some well-known marketers and their respective content tribes. The actual numbers are daunting. Content output from brands has increased by 35% in the past year,…