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Let Content Be Your Praise Singer

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Let Content Be Your Praise Singer

Adrian Lurssen tells the story of when he went to see Nelson Mandela deliver an address in his home country of South Africa. He still draws upon the experience today, but in the most unusual context.

As Adrian has recounted this tale to Jay Harrington and me on an episode of The Thought Leadership Project podcast, he likens this notion of a praise singer to how we considers thought leadership content to work on behalf of the expert that shares it.

In Adrian’s estimation — one I happen to share — thought leadership content serves in the capacity of being one’s praise singer. It exists out in the world to tell everyone how smart you are, what you know, what you think, what you can do, how you solve problems. “It sings your praises,” Adrian notes, “even when you’re not there in the room to do it yourself.”

See how…

From the Archive: July 2009

From the Archive: July 2009

11 Things a Failed Music Career Taught Me About Marketing

It might be hard to believe looking at me now, but a full-time music career and pursuit of rock-and-roll stardom preceded my foray into marketing and public relations. (That’s me on the left up there…looking too cool for school.)

But what I learned as a starving artist back in the early 90s taught me the basics of nearly everything I do today as a marcom professional. In order for us to survive, it was all about promotion…and I mean, literally, “survive.” Here, then, are the 11 lessons I look back on and draw upon even today (musicians always “go to 11”):

Sale at Scale

Sale at Scale

How Content Allows a Company to Make Sales Calls, As if By Artificial Intelligence

A veteran salesperson knows that look. That tone of voice. That one question for clarification uttered by a prospect that indicates a buying signal.

And that’s when the sale begins to become final.

A good sales agent knows what to do when that signal reveals itself. Soon, the seller becomes the closer, and the prospect becomes a client or customer.

The only disappointing thing about that promise of future success is that they are hard to come by. By that, I mean: those opportunities…those moments…those qualified, veteran sales team that can detect the aroma of opportunity and know how to respond to it.

If only you could clone that qualified sales person. If only those opportunities would arise in greater numbers. If only artificial intelligence could scrape the internet for you, uncovering prospects and revealing sales opportunities.

That’s where content comes in.

The Marketing Holy Grail

The Marketing Holy Grail

The Parable of the Fisher King, and How It Applies to Your Messaging

One of my all-time favorite movies was Terry Gilliam’s The Fisher King, staring Robin Williams, Jeff Bridges and Mercedes Ruehl. The movie’s key lesson — as told through a parable — is one that I think applies to much more than just life and love. The parable of The Fisher King and the movie from which it is taken provide a useful allegory for effective messaging, positioning and branding.

In a key moment in the movie, Robin Williams’s character tells the story to Jeff Bridges’s character: