The Engagement Principles

Titleist plunged headlong into engagement marketing when it created the NXTube.com blog — a humorous blog spoofing its own NXT golf balls.
The site looks amateurish because it’s supposed to, but behind the effort lies the wit of John Cleese — legendary Monty Python comedian.
The blog’s concept is direct (and yes, hilarious): Cleese plays the role […]

Bravo TV has ridden the reality TV wave with a long list of "reality" TV hits, including The Queer Eye For the Straight Guy, Project Runway, Top Chef and others.
"Reality" shows engage readers by offering them compelling characters struggling with real-life situations or competitive pressures (imposed by the programs themselves).
Of course, television isn’t interactive, and […]

You might believe engagement marketing is the province of big companies — those who can afford big-dollar social networks and viral videos produced by top-notch Hollywood talent.
Happily, nothing could be further from the truth.
Witness the industry dominance of Pyramyd Air — the retail leader in the airgun niche.
Airguns??
It’s not glamorous, but like any […]

In this month’s installment of my series of business blogging articles for Chief Marketer, I look at the new Britannica Blog — a blog from a knowledge-based brand that’s been around since 1768 — but one that’s plenty capable of learning the latest blogging tricks.
In this case, Brittanica’s wide-ranging blog includes some posts clearly designed […]

Moleskine notebooks are expensive, luxurious… and rather craftily marketed. Proclaimed the notebook used by Hemingway and Van Gogh, they’re the kind of product that attracts a cult following.
In an earlier post, I outlined the ways they brilliantly leveraged the power of engagement marketing, connecting with their readers’ values and passions.

The Moleskinerie Blog; stunning artwork, all […]

Blogging for engagement is a powerful technique. But what about engaging with other bloggers?
Engaging readers via passions and values is valuable — whether you’re aiming directly at customers or at influencers.
It’s why Nikon just launched an outreach program aimed directly at bloggers; for six months, they loan a Nikon D80 digital single lens reflex camera […]

Is the Home Page dead? Are businesses wasting their time building (and optimizing) them? And are engagement marketing media like blogs about to become the center of the corporate Web site?
That’s the question posed by Matt Ambrose of the Copywriter’s Crucible, which led to my asking a similar question on my Copywriter Underground writer’s blog, […]

Live blogging is far from the center of the business blogging world, but it’s an emerging trend among traditional media — who are looking for ways to join the conversation.

(photo via stock.xchng)
Sadly, it appears the NCAA believes that live blogging falls within its “no live representations of NCAA games” guidelines, and asked a report for […]

With WordPress the current open-source champion among blogging platforms, it’s easy to overlook Movable Type — the “commercial” product (single use licenses are free) that powers well-known blogs like Huffington Post, GM, etc. (I recommend against Google Blogger for business blogs.)
Thought it’s hardly a secret, Movable Type 4 Beta is available for testing, and includes […]

“Google Says Blogging is Dead” one headline screams. BusinessWeek asserts blogs are being “Twitterized” — that long, thoughtful posts are being replaced by more mundane, shallow bursts of information.

So what’s really happening? Should my clients reconsider my advice to blog?
Trends, Hype and Blogging
First, a blog isn’t a holy relic with supernatural powers (as some in […]