Dear ,

Happy New Year to those celebrating the Jewish holidays.

The holiday celebrates the sweetness of life symbolized by apples and honey.

While celebrated publicly, the Jewish New Year starts a period of personal introspection. By looking back, each of us can figure out what we did well and what we need to improve going forward. And, where necessary, make amends to people we hurt.

In the process, we not only improve our relationships with the people in our lives but also, we realize that each of us has work to do to improve our own lives and help the larger community.

Regardless of your religious or spiritual views, this change of season provides an opportunity to renew relationships with our family, friends and colleagues.

As marketers, prime fall marketing event and conference season provides many opportunities to reconnect with peers and to meet new people.

Actionable Marketing Tips:

• Make a point to reach out to at least one person in your network every day. Send them a personal email or, even better, jump on a phone call or get together in real life.
• Attend a conference or local event. Push yourself out of your office to get the latest information and meet new people.

This past weekend, the New York Transit Museum helped New Yorkers literally take a trip back in time for the cost of a subway ride!

How?
“The Parade of Trains” allowed passengers to ride vintage subways through Brooklyn.

Even better, these trains provided great selfie backdrops.

My favorite was the sky blue #7 train. To help visitors get to the 1964 World’s Fair, the MTA painted the Times Square to Flushing Meadows/Corona Park train turquoise. (BTW, here are 20 highlights of the 1964 World’s Fair courtesy of MentalFloss.)

Actionable Marketing Take-Away:

• Enhance your customer experience by using your organization’s archives. Like the New York Transit Museum, take a walk down your business’s memory lane. Specifically examine products, photographs and other memorabilia to use as is or to reimagine to inspire your audience.

Is social media part of your marketing mix?
Of course it is!

So check the key 2020 social media trends Trust Insights’s Chris Penn outlined at Talkwalker’s Data and Drinks last Tuesday.

At a top level, Penn analyzed social media related terms. The results included words many marketers wouldn’t classify as social media.

To understand where to focus your efforts, check Penn’s analysis of the top social media platforms. Examine the net change column in orange where the top sites include YouTube and Private Communities like Discord, Slack and Twitch.

Marketing Bottom Line:

• Use analysis to guide your social media marketing. Given the ever-increasing amounts of information created and shared across a wider array of social media and messaging platforms, marketers need rigorous data capture and analysis assess conversations that mention their brand, category and competitors. 

Get your copy of Penn’s full analysis of this social media data. (Note: Registration is required!)

At The Future of Content Marketing panel during Advertising Week, Content Marketing Institute's Stephanie Stahl (far left in the above photo) made these points:

• Treat content like a product. Continue to improve and iterate your road-tested content. (Note: This is at the core of sustainable content.)
• If you're not planing to measure your content marketing then don't bother doing it. This means using a call-to-action and tracking associated with your key business goals.

Need help showing the value of your marketing?
Then please join me at MarketingProfs B2B Forum, October 16 – 18 in Washington D.C. (Save $100 when you register with my code: B2BFriend19. This is not an affiliate link.)

The subject of my session is: 
Marketing ROI: How To Stop Justifying Your Job, Build Business Value, and Grow Your Budget. (No Math Required!)

If you’re running an event that you would like me to speak at, please let me know. (Just hit reply to reach me.)

Shout out to new readers: Minh Thu, Rob, Candace, Debbie, Thiago, Esther, Kanigiri, Tylene, Alex, Megan. Welcome and thank you for joining our community.

Happy Marketing,
Heidi

PS: Do you have a friend or colleague who would benefit from reading the Actionable Marketing Guide newsletter? If so would you please forward this email to them?
   

FEATURED ARTICLE: Sustainable Content

To keep your road tested content visible and viable over time, transform it into sustainable content. Here’s your How To Guide on Sustainable Content. (BTW—It’s based on the UN’s 4 Pillars of Sustainability.) 

  

FEATURED ARTICLE: Influencer Marketing ROI

Tap into the power of the people that your target audience views as important.

  

FEATURED ARTICLE: Renovated Content

Want to improve your existing content?

Use these 100+ options to extend the reach of your road-tested content.

    

Heidi Cohen Around The Internet

• Want to increase your traffic from Instagram? Susan Moeller of Tailwind gives you a roadmap in this Content Marketing Institute post.
   
• Big tip of my hat to George Stenitzer of Crystal Clear Communications for his must-read summary of the Content Marketing World highlights appropriately called: 4 Looming Questions

 Click here to get this and previous AMG newsletters on the Web.

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Painting of Apple by Kathy Finnegan, all rights reserved.

The fine print:

• Unless noted otherwise, all photos are ©2019 by Heidi Cohen
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