The PR 20/20 Blog

Andy Crestodina (@crestodina), co-founder of Orbit Media and author of Content Chemistry, has a knack for giving digital marketing tips that make your brain happy. He’s either showing you how to set up Google Analytics reports to measure your website effectiveness or providing actionable marketing insights that makes you wonder, 'Why didn’t I think of that?'

Recently, I was lucky enough to see him speak twice in one week. First at Content Marketing World, presenting his Google Analytics expertise. Then a week later at a Cleveland American Marketing Association (@ClevelandAMA) luncheon discussing neuromarketing, which is the use of cognitive processes to persuade. The presentation (you can view his slides here) had many tips and tricks for your website, email and social content.

My biggest takeaways from this presentation were the marketing tips that you may not have heard before. However, they’re so obvious that you’ll kick yourself for not thinking of them.

The term “Big Data” has come into play more and more since 2011. But just what is it, and how is it used? Google defines big data as:

Extremely large data sets that may be analyzed computationally to reveal patterns, trends, and associations, especially relating to human behavior and interactions. 


An example of big data in action is Walt Disney’s use of the wireless tracking “MagicBands” in their parks. The MagicBands are able to track visitor information, like real-time location data, purchase history, information about the visitors, riding patterns and more. Disney analyzes the data to make better decisions to improve visitor experiences.

It’s not just huge conglomerates like Disney that are looking to take advantage of the vast amount of data now available to them. But, to be successful, this use of big data requires a strong partnership between marketing and IT. The collaboration of these two departments is crucial to retrieving the relevant data, and analyzing it in actionable ways.

I remember a session at Content Marketing World 2014 where Buddy Scalera (@MarketingBuddy) was interviewing Joe Pulizzi (@JoePulizzi). Pulizzi was telling us how he made the decision to leave his job and start his own company. He explained his thought process, what challenges he faced, what was important to him and how that led to the creation of Content Marketing Institute.

It was one of the best sessions of the conference, until one attendee mentioned that she wasn’t learning what she anticipated based on the title of the session, How to Create a Dominant Media Brand. So, Pulizzi switched to listing out the specific steps to build your brand.

Luckily for those that enjoyed his personal story (and understood how it related to building his brand), he’s continued to share it in blog posts, podcasts, and now in his brand new book, Content Inc, appropriately released in time for Content Marketing World 2015.

It’s hard to believe that Content Marketing World has come and gone for another year. It seems to fly by faster each year. But, as always, there was a ton of information packed into my two days (I didn’t attend any workshops). It’s no wonder that we all leave inspired, motivated … and a bit dazed.

With so many tracks and speakers to choose from, the key takeaways really are a bit of a Choose Your Own Adventure book. The difference here is that whichever adventure you took led to a great outcome. 

That said, there were a few overarching themes that emerged throughout the main keynote presentations and were reinforced in many breakout sessions. Following up from #CMWorld, below are what I found to be the most interesting keys to success in the future of content marketing.

The first time I pushed “play” on Are You Experienced? by Jimi Hendrix (on a cassette if you remember those!), it blew me away. This was in the ‘80s after already having heard guitarists like Eddie Van Halen and Eric Clapton. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to hear that sound in 1967 for the first time when there was no other guitarist like him.

The ground-breaking impact he had on guitar and the state of music itself is incredible. From the sounds he created to the way he performed on stage, Hendrix changed the face of music.

Just like Hendrix ushered in a new era of guitar playing, Robert Rose (@Robert_Rose) and Carla Johnson (@CarlaJohnson) are ushering in a new era of marketing—Experiences. But this time, instead of catching up after the fact, I’m witnessing it firsthand.

What's better than taking something you love and combining it with something else you love? It usually creates something even better than the two on their own. Kind of like "You got chocolate in my peanut butter" and "You got peanut butter in my chocolate" (that’s from a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup commercial for those that don’t know that reference). Is there anything better?

For me, take a little bit of rock music and combine it with content marketing, and you've not only got my attention, you've got me screaming for more. I've written about this crossover before (read it here). Nobody is doing it better than Jason Miller (@JasonMillerCA), senior manager of content marketing and marketing solutions for LinkedIn (and rock photographer and blogger at Rocknrollcocktail.com).

The media landscape is changing and fragmenting. New digital, social and mobile channels continue to fuel how, when and where we experience media. More streaming TV content is available online than ever before. In fact, the NFL recently announced that for the first time, they will broadcast a game only through the internet next season. 

No one is embracing these changes more than ESPN. At a recent American Advertising Federation-Cleveland luncheon, Bill Condon (@bcondon33), ESPN’s senior director of digital strategy, explained how ESPN is evolving with the changes. Below are a few highlights.

How much would you love for your workday to be interrupted by puppies? That’s exactly what happened on Wednesday, January 28 at PR 20/20. Allie Gottlieb (@alliegott), associate consultant, got an email from Uber (@Uber) announcing that puppies were being driven around to visit businesses.

Well, that was it. After getting Paul’s (@PaulRoetzer) okay (his exact words were “…as long as I don’t have to clean anything up”), Allie was on a mission. Finally, she was able to get through to Uber and schedule a time (the puppies were hugely popular). You can imagine our excitement as a few minutes later, we had two adorable puppies running around the office!

Last week was the annual Cleveland American Marketing Association Super Bowl Ad Review event. Held every year the day after the Super Bowl, attendees start with a 16-commercial bracket. Ads are watched, discussed and voted on until we get it down to our #1 Super Bowl ad.