Lynn’s Takeaway Tip for Today

Last week in NYC, about 160 people attended the Content Marketing Master Class, which Publishing Executive co-hosted, along with our sister publication Target Marketing and content marketing guru Joe Pulizzi’s Content Marketing Institute. Some fabulous and energetic speakers such as Robert Rose addressed in specific and practical ways: What can we do to make a change in our business so that we can start using content marketing?

A big theme in content marketing is the use of storytelling. Telling a story about a product or a brand better engages a reader than typical advertising copy. Sarah Skerik of PR Newswire emphasized that one should think of using any platform available for the story, or the message. One example she gave that I would never have thought of: the away message in your email. A brilliant suggestion!

That’s my simple takeaway tip for today, courtesy of Sarah Skerik. Forget the bland, typical “I’m out of the office on business” blah blah blah. Say something interesting, something surprising and unexpected. Tell a story. Provide some character.

On my recent trips, I might have written:

I’m at the Books in Browsers conference in San Francisco listening to a bunch of techy talks from ebook experts – I hope I understand what they’re talking about!

OR:

I’m at a magazine conference at Ole Miss in the charming southern town of Oxford, Mississippi, home of William Faulkner and John Grisham.

Be creative! Have fun! Get attention!