Most of my work is done in the B2B arena, so I know that engaging content is one of the most important aspects of marketing and communications. And engaging content means that one always keeps up with what is happening in that part of the industry right now, because no one is interested in yesterday’s news.

One way to do this is to listen and be in touch what your customers and the market are talking about, what are the issues they are facing and what kind of industry developments have implications for them. If you have no external facing role, then that should not stop you. Talk to the people in your company that do in order to find out what is important the customer. And then also see what the competitors and influencers are up to. What kind of content are they producing and what type of topics are they talking about. I also find that monitoring discussions on Twitter or LinkedIn to gain more insight about the industries I work for is also helpful.

And then we all need to remember that engaging content is not only about writing reports or articles. Experimenting with new formats such as video, interactive presentations or games may be an option. Engaging also means encouraging interaction like being able to leave comments. It should be easy to absorb and unique. And there is nothing wrong with a little humor and wit to humanize your company and its employees.

I am an entrepreneur and a huge Beatles fan. And I also like the posts by Joshua Brown, who writes a blog called “The Reformed Broker” about financial markets and the economy.

So how can I not share his great blog posted on Amazon.com’s Money & Market this week where he put together the top lessons (and more importantly questions to ask ourselves as entrepreneurs) we can learn from the rise and fall of the Beatles.

Please check it out and in the words of Joshua “share it with the entrepreneurs and Beatlemaniacs you love”.

http://money-markets-blog.amazon.com/post/TxKWD699FPWUEW/10-Business-Lessons-from-the-Beatlesref=txb_mm_blog_txt

I was just looking back at an infographic from last year “How to determine Facebook and Twitter ROI”. The infographic says 73% of CEOs think marketers lack business credibility and are not the growth generators they really should be.

And I would have to agree. Instead of marketers mistakenly scrambling to show their organizations that metrics like fans/followers, web traffic and social mentions as part of ROI, they should really start focusing on business objectives and strategy. After all what drives a business? It is revenue generated by sales.

We need to look at the full picture instead of small glimpses. We need to look into the full impact of advertising, PR, marketing and media. We need to understand how those fit into our sales and customer service activities. And how in turn that fits into our competitive landscape. But most importantly we need to understand who our customers really are, their information seeking behavior and how best to reach out to them to get recommendations and drive sales.

Marketing is all about making it work. Figuring out what we need, constantly fine tuning. And working in close collaboration with sales, customer service, product development, packaging….you name it.

There is a reason why 73% of CEOs have such a negative view about marketing….and it can be fixed.

That is what author Ian McEwan says.

The HRB always does an interview with a successful person which is featured on the last page of every issue. They have been doing this for three years now and have discovered that even successful careers, still “only” are careers in transition.

So as 2012 draws to a close I just wanted to share this inspiring article about inspiring people. Wishing all of you a happy, successful, adventurous and curious 2013!

http://blogs.hbr.org/hbr/hbreditors/2012/12/lifes_work_2012_hbr_interviews.html