If not yet a B2B meme , recommending the use of journalists for content marketing is at the very least a growing trend. Well-known influencers like  David Meerman Scott , Valeria Maltoni , and Joe Pulizzi have all made the case that journalistic skills like telling stories, doing research, and understanding audiences are critical to effective content creation. But one journalistic skill rarely mentioned is the ability both to ask and to answer tough questions. Not all journalists can claim that talent, but the best can, and it’s what makes journalism shine. As I’ve worried before , maybe not. MORE >>

I saw pale kings and princes too / Pale warriors, death-pale were they all. On his Guardian blog today, Roy Greenslade noted a curious phenomenon involving current journalism students. Though they don’t actually read newspapers or use other traditional media, nearly all want to work for these declining mainstream outlets rather than pursue new-media and entrepreneurial opportunities. Never mind, as Greenslade notes, that “they know the risks” and “have been told there will be few job openings.” For them, “mainstream media remains a lure.”. Though it sounds irrational, I understand it. MORE >>

It’s a popular tactic among B2B bloggers to look at dry B2B topics through the prism of seemingly unrelated personal enthusiasms. Viewed from a distance, a favorite pop band or children’s book might not seem relevant to B2B marketing and communications. But for lots of B2B bloggers, the logical connection is less important than the personal one. It can be an effective approach, but it’s not without landmines. You don’t have to look very far to find plenty of examples. Savvy B2B Marketing and nursery rhymes: “ Little Bunny Foo-Foo and the Art of Being Specific.”. But Little Bunny Foo-Foo? MORE >>

Imagine for a moment (and this may not be a stretch for many readers) that you’ve been self-employed for a year or so after a layoff put you out on the streets. You’ve put a decent freelance or consulting career together, gotten hip to the value of personal branding, and learned or relearned the enormous value of autonomy in your work life. Now, though, you’ve had a tempting job offer you’d be crazy not to take, so you do. Do you stop thinking like a freelancer and start acting like an employee? Twenty years ago, your answer probably would have been yes. MORE >>

Writing on Foliomag.com earlier this month, blogger Josh Gordon spun a comment heard at the Folio: show into a bullish prediction for print magazines. Although the grounds for his optimism might be questioned, I’ll leave that to prophet of print doom Private Frazer and others. What interested me most in Gordon’s premise was a point he didn’t follow up—the potential convergence, whether in print or online, of traditional publishing and content marketing. The comment that keyed Gordon’s column came from Kerry Smith, CEO of Red 7 Media (publisher of Folio: , by the way). MORE >>