Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business

Chapter 1

The Case for Content

About a year or so ago, Ann was thinking of buying a digital camera to take on a trip to Armenia. She’s not an expert photographer, so she didn’t need anything with bells and whistles. She merely wanted something as slim and light as an ATM card to slip in her pocket (and cheap, too, in case it fell out). She wanted it to do nothing more than quickly and easily record the memories she would make there.

The problem, of course, wasn’t that she couldn’t find something to fit the bill. Rather, she couldn’t decide from among the array of choices. Each of the major camera makers (Canon, Kodak, Sony, Nikon, Pentax, and so on) had a product that was suitable. So which was the right camera for her?

A few years ago, she might have flipped through a back issue of Consumer Reports for some advice or consulted a buying guide. But this time, she started her search online, consulting the camera makers’ own websites to compare features and read reviews.

She also sought advice from friends and followers on social networks such as Twitter. Somewhere along the way, her search caught the attention of Kodak’s then–chief marketing officer (CMO), Jeffrey Hayzlett, whose team monitors Twitter for queries such as Ann’s. Jeffrey subsequently reached out to Ann directly on Twitter to suggest his company’s own point-and-shoot pipsqueak, the EasyShare. Oh, and if she had any unanswered queries about point-and-shoot products, Jeffrey added, ask away!

It’s cool that the CMO of ...