Bill Bryant

Content Marketing

Bill Bryant — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:25:11 +0000

I like Russell Sparkman’s definition of the much-discussed but still fuzzy concept of content marketing. In an interview with David Murray in Vital Speeches, Sparkman says:

“Stripped down to its essence, Content Marketing is the investment of both human and financial resources in the strategic creation, curation and distribution of relevant, educational and/or fun content as the basis of building awareness, generating leads, closing sales and providing customer support.”

Then he peels back another layer: “Content Marketing requires the company or non-profit to think like marketers, and act like publishers or broadcasters in order to leverage content as the basis of engagement.”

Don’t Buy This Jacket?

Bill Bryant — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 18:07:24 +0000

Could Patagonia be serious when it recently urged consumers not to buy one of its products, specifically a handsome blue jacket? The retailer’s “buy less, reflect more” campaign has to be some kind of scam, right? I don’t think so.

Praise the Lord and Pass the Pennzoil

Bill Bryant — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 14:19:38 +0000

If you like your NASCAR mixed with a little religion, you’ll love this trackside invocation.

Golf Having a Good Week

Bill Bryant — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 17:04:19 +0000

I’ve seen two things in the past three days that made me feel good about golf: Rory McIlroy winning the U.S. Open and David Feherty’s new unfiltered interview show (Feherty) on Golf Channel. While we’re on the subject of Feherty, here’s an excerpt from a candid (does he do any other kind?) interview in the Fort Worth Star- Telegram.
Q: You are an admitted alcoholic; do you miss drinking?
DF: I miss the friends I used to drink with. I know this is a disease. I was at a speaking engagement once and I picked up a drink that I thought was a club soda with lime; it turned out to be a gin and tonic. I spit it out over the first three rows. I shook for, like, two days. You’re a drunk, or you’re not. If I have one drink, I will die. I am sober, but my disease is in the parking lot doing pushups and getting stronger.

Finding Happiness and Doing Good

Bill Bryant — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 13:20:40 +0000

I really like what speechwriter and lecturer Mike Long had to say about finding happiness and doing good at the 2011 Magis Lecture at Georgetown University.

Grillin’ and chillin’ with Ms. Olsen

Bill Bryant — Sun, 29 May 2011 20:16:35 +0000

A real man wouldn’t take grilling advice from a girl, would he? Maybe he (we) should. With 14 years on the job at the Weber hotline, 67-year-old Janet Olsen is answering questions and calming the nerves of desperate grillers this holiday weekend. But if you’re especially frantic, you just might hear her say: “You might want to grab a beer — and just listen for a while.”

Scrootened?

Bill Bryant — Fri, 13 May 2011 13:19:22 +0000

As Chicago mayor Richard Daley prepares to leave office, rhetoricians are already bemoaning the loss. Speechwriting guru David Murray recalls one of Daley’s classic quotes from a press conference many years ago, when Daley told reporters:

“Scrutiny? What else do you want? Do you want to take my shorts? Give me a break … Go scrutinize yourself! I get scrootened every day, don’t worry, from each and every one of you. It doesn’t bother me.”

Zuckerberg warming up to speaking role

Bill Bryant — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 13:10:13 +0000

After a couple of unpolished, rambling public speaking forays, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg succumbed to some professional coaching. He’s now much better, as his appearance on Saturday Night Live proved. Microsoft “technical evangelist” Robert Scoble says this about his transformation, “It’s like swimming in cold water. At first when you jump in you just aren’t able to think. It’s a foreign environment. Then, after doing it for a while, your system gets used to it and, indeed, starts having fun with it.” The best speakers do, indeed, enjoy their time in front of an audience, although I’ve read that excellence guru Tom Peters is emotionally wrought for the days leading up to and following a big speech. That knot in your stomach goes away much easier when you have something valuable to say, when you take the time to prepare, and then put your heart and soul into saying it.

Masters gets journalistic juices going too

Bill Bryant — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 20:21:46 +0000

The Masters not only signals the start of the golf season for many of us, but also seems to get writers’ juices going too. A toast (beer in a generic green paper cup will do just fine) to Dave Shedloski and Chris Millard for stirring the memories with their excellent reporting of that bright spring day 25 years ago in the March 21 issue of Golf World. Shedloski got way inside the ropes to recount several great lines between Jack and Jack II, including Jackie’s plea on 16 tee, as Jack’s 5 iron set a path to the pin: “Be the right club,” which was followed by Jack’s “It is.” I underlined at least five of Millard’s insights to Verne Lundquist’s own special day, but I think I like this one best: “Brevity. Experience. Expertise and a voice that can make a La-Z-Boy recline. It all came together that Sunday afternoon like pimento and cheese.” It also came together for two fine writer/reporters in a memorable issue.

Saving Newspapers – Give iPads

Bill Bryant — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 17:46:28 +0000

As a former newspaper guy, I’m all for ideas to save a withering species. Here are a few ideas from Optimedia US CEO Antony Young, starting with “Give away 100 million iPads. I’m serious. Make tablets ubiquitous in schools, fast-food restaurants, bus stops, trains, planes, libraries — anywhere that people have downtime to spare. Get Americans reading again.”