actionable marketing guide

Dear ,

This past Friday and Saturday, Spring shined its sunny best on Manhattan. Temperatures rose to the 70s Farenheit.

As if pulled by a gigantic magnet people came out to celebrate the warmth.

Packed with people and market vendors, many opted to walk around the periphery of Union Square. At the southern end of the park, a young man was so inspired by the warmth that he carried a big colorful sign that read “Free Hugs!” (Sorry but I didn’t snap a shot!)

About 10 blocks north on Broadway, Madison Square Park and its adjacent pedestrian triangles were bustling with activity. To reduce traffic, former Mayor Mike Bloomberg created these triangular, sitting spaces along Broadway (with free WiFi.)

I love Madison Square since the Parks Department takes special care to fill it with seasonal flowers and ornamental plants.

Danny Meyer’s ever-popular original Shake Shack attracted a long snaking line, a strong indicator of good weather.  Although to be honest the affordable Michelin chef inspired fast food stand is always busy. (Here’s how I used the Shake Shack as blog post inspiration back in 2010.)

Tourists posed for selfies in front of the iconic Flatiron building while at the north end of the park a large wedding party gathered for outdoor photos before the ceremony in a nearby church. In severe contrast to the sunny weather, the bridesmaids wore a blackish wine colored dresses and the groomsmen wore cobalt blue tuxedos.

Despite these photo ops, Madison Square also attracts local residents especially those with small children and dogs.

On Saturday my husband and I sat in the bright sunlight reading and knitting as small children ran around the big loop of Madison Square. Fathers followed closely pretending that they couldn’t catch the unstable little legs.

While these high profile New York City parks get the tourist attention, there are 2 smaller parks, Stuyvesant Oval and Gramercy Park (open only to locals), within blocks of these larger parks. While further west, the Highline, an old, elevated train track re-envisioned as a park filled with wild flowers, is a tourist mecca.

Union Square and Madison Square parks are like content offerings. While physically close, they appeal to distinctly different audiences.

Neighborhoods in New York City tend to be physically small and self-selecting. The residents view themselves as different. From a marketing perspective, this is a key factor. The City of New York never set these distinctions. It’s the people who frequent these parks that do. The same happens to your marketing.

But like the New York City Parks Department you must maintain the content and incorporate the attributes that attract your audience.

Like these small gem-like parks, you need to continue to plant and maintain the quality your audience seeks.

You need to add the special attributes that attract your readers. For example, Madison Square has a children’s playground and a dog run that are always filled. Much of the year, it also has contemporary art installations.

Instead of fighting to make your content marketing follow a set idea that a senior member of management has, listen to your audience and readers. Figure out what they want and need through conversations and surveys.

Then just give them what they want.

You don’t need to waste time thinking about it.

Like these parks, your readers have selected to spend time with your content. Build on these strengths to broaden your audience. For example, Eisenberg’s, a traditional sandwich shop operates in the shadow of the Flatiron Building, does just that!

As an astute observer of consumer activity, I watched the Madison Square Shake Shack hit the online travel guides faster than it built its reputation with locals. In the early days, the tourists in lines checked their phones and printed travel guides.

From a marketing perspective, here are 5 questions to answer:

1. Ask yourself how you can provide an experience that’s the online equivalent of a New York City park’s community?
2. How can you get people to keep coming back to your site? The people who frequent Madison Square need to take their children and dogs out regularly.
3. What does your audience want you to be known for?
4. What can you do to make your customers take photos incorporating your products?
5. How do you change your online community to make it seasonally relevant?

As you go through this list, please let me know what questions you have and would like me to cover in future articles.

Happy marketing,
Heidi

Heidi Cohen
Actionable Marketing Guide

P.S. On a personal note, I’m filling my reading stack with this list of books offered by Max Daniels on the Mason-Dixon Knitting blog. I was inspired because they’re focused on self-care. As you make it through your spring-cleaning at work and at home, it’s a good idea to think about how to take care of yourself.

​​​​​​​Marketo's Marketing Nation Summit is less than two weeks away! I’ll be at this premiere San Francisco happening April 29^th through May 3^rd as a Social Media Ambassador. Join me. Save $300 on your ticket by using Cohen300. Please note that I don’t make any affiliate revenues on these sales.

Blogging Tips To Avoid Triskaidekaphobia: 13 Blogging Beliefs Busted

The Storytelling Edge – Book Interview

Lately I’ve been inspired by Rand Fishkin’s new blog at Sparktoro.

His post entitled, How To Choose A Startup Name sucked me in like a Dyson vacuum cleaner. While I’ve studied and done branding, Fishkin’s article made me sit down and assess branding from a new perspective. (Here’s some Actionable Marketing Guide help with branding.)

Fishkin was part of the mother-son duo behind Moz. The Moz blog and Whiteboard Fridays are must-read content for SEOs, bloggers, content creators, and marketers. In case you’ve been living under a rock, Fishkin’s Whiteboard Fridays are where ideas like 10X content were born.

Stay tuned since Fishkin’s book Lost and Founder (Amazon) hits bookshelves next week. (Spoiler alert: We snagged an early interview with Fishkin next Saturday!)

I’ve been following Fishkin since I was a ClickZ columnist. He’s the real deal!

• ​​​​​​​Feedspot’s Anuj Agarwal rounded up and ranked the Top 100 Marketing Blogs. Heidi Cohen’s Actionable Marketing Guide clocked in at number 66!
  
  

• LinkedIn's Jason Miller included Heidi Cohen's Actionable Marketing Guide in his 50 Blogs Every B2B Marketer Should Follow.
  
  

• Heidi Cohen was asked about how to measure marketing campaign success in this roundup on AdStage written by Pamella Neely (a former student of mine!). This post is full of useful information nuggets.
  
  

• Hat tip to Serena Dot Ryan!  I met Serena at SMMW17. Take a page from Serena’s playbook, she got my attention and we sat down during lunch to discuss her business. Here’s her write up of SMMW18.