Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/402796
w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m N o v - D e c 2 014 | V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T 1 0 5 Toward the turn of the Millen- nium, consumers and businesses started getting annoyed with the constant barrage of messages – particularly those sent without permission. Marketing guru Seth Godin pub- lished a landmark book in 1999 called "Permission Marketing." His ideas helped to flip how mar- keters would think going forward. T h e w o r l d o f p u s h i n g c o n t e n t onto someone had lost its effi- cacy. Technology allowed us to zip through commercials, mute a n n o y i n g a n n o u n c e r s a n d f i n d alternatives to commercial-laced environments. New business mod- els emerged. The traditional world of static marketing was dead or on life sup- port. Suddenly technology was in place to allow marketing to become dynamic, engaging and interactive. A pivot took place, and as Mitch Joel from the digital marketing tion, such as a podcast on iTunes that is free to download. Content can be an engaging, heartfelt, humorous short video posted on YouTube or Vimeo that connects you with the benefits of the brand, rather than the features of the prod- uct. Content can take the form of a series of photographs shared on Instagram that lets the viewer go along for a visual journey. Content may be created by a brand team in-house, or contracted out to a company that specializes in content creation. Although it can take many differ- ent forms, one thing is consistent about successful content: It does not feature your product as the hero. Instead of focusing on your product, the stories told by con- tent creation share information that helps people feel connected to the human beings who make the wine, bake the bread or develop the tech- nology. Their purpose is to engage agency Twist Image puts it, market- ers took on a "digital-first profile." Companies could no longer keep interrupting the consumer without a consequence. Marketers began to think about telling their own sto- ries to their own audiences. Social media venues such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram erupted on the scene. E-mail mar- keting came back to life with a wild new life force: permission and double opt-in access. Live market- ing events of all flavors were taking on new importance. Brands wanted to engage and to connect with real customers, in person. ENTER 'CONTENT MARKETING' At the center of today's market- ing revolution is content. "Content" can take the form of written words on a self-hosted WordPress blog or Google's Blog- ger. It can be a recorded conversa- BEAVERTON OREGON • 503.646.7933 LIVERMORE CALIFORNIA • 888.718.7888 ADAMSLABEL.COM C M Y CM MY CY CMY K Adams-7x5.pdf 1 8/28/14 9:59 AM