Nov 4, 20173 min read

This Week in Content Marketing: Blogging Research – Longer and Less Frequent for the Win

PNR: This Old Marketing with Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose can be found on both iTunes and Stitcher. If you enjoy our show, we would love it if you would rate it or post a review on iTunes.

In this week’s episode

This week, Robert ponders the nature of beginnings. I make a big announcement about my future – and the future of the podcast – while the future of advertising itself is still up in the air. We discuss how LinkedIn is botching its big original content opportunity, and explore new blogging research that says longer posts are better. Our rants and raves cover the power of audience and a frustrating post from Mumbrella; then we wrap up with a This Old Marketing example on Lloyd’s List.

Download this week’s PNR: This Old Marketing podcast

Show details

(00:01): An advertising blast from the past: “The Breakfast Club”
(00:46): Robert muses on this week’s theme: Where is your beginning?
(06:58): Welcome to Episode 207: Recorded live on October 29, 2017 (Running time: 1:09:43)
(09:10): Content Marketing Master Classes – Our multi-city tour is returning for another round of in-depth content marketing training. Starting on November 6, we’ll be making stops in Boston; New York; Washington, DC; Seattle; San Francisco; Chicago; Atlanta; and Austin, Texas. Robert and I would love to see you there, so register today.

content-marketing-institute-master-class-schedule (1)

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The quick hits – Notable news and trends

(09:40): A content marketing love letter. (Source: Content Marketing Institute)
(18:38): Michael Wolf: The future of advertising. (Source: MediaPost)
(27:09): LinkedIn considering push into original content. (Source: Business Insider)

The deep dive – Industry analysis

(34:03): Orbit Media releases its fourth annual blogging statistics survey. (Source: Orbit Media)
(40:57): Facebook to test subscriptions in support of Instant Articles. (Sources: Facebook, The Next Web)

Rants and raves

(50:32): Robert’s commentary: Both Min and Marketing Charts recently covered one of Robert’s favorite discussion topics of late: the urgent need for content marketers to build subscribed audiences. While both articles are insightful on their own, taken together they provide data-driven validation that Robert’s assertions about the lines blurring between media and product companies are on the right track.
(56:21): Joe’s rant: Australian media and marketing publication Mumbrella has been running a series of articles on the downfall of King Content – a previously successful content marketing agency that new parent company Isentia recently wrote down as a $37.8 million investment loss, before closing its offices in New York and Hong Kong. That Mumbrella keeps harping on isolated decisions as proof of content marketing’s impending demise has me so frustrated, that I felt compelled to write a response to the article.

This Old Marketing example of the week

(1:03:20): Lloyd’s List: This may be one of the oldest examples we’ve ever covered on the show, harkening back to the late 1600s. In 1686, Edward Lloyd – owner of a London-based coffee shop (Lloyd’s Coffee House) that was popular with local sailors, merchants, and ship owners – was looking for ways to draw more sea-faring visitors into his establishment. Lloyd started a newspaper that reported on trade news, shipping schedules, and other maritime topics of interest, with a side order of industry gossip. Only available inside his shop, the publication became so popular that Lloyd eventually installed a pulpit in front of his store, so he could deliver the news live every day, drawing new customers into his store. And though Lloyd’s Coffee House eventually closed its doors, Lloyd’s List (as the publication became known) is still being published online today. It’s a remarkable, and unique, This Old Marketing example of how a media brand can outperform, and even outlive, the retail brand it was originally created to market.