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Stephanie Tantum

bridging the gap between businesses and their communities

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I blog because Xanga and LiveJournal died

Blogging is a marketers’ tool, right? I mean, even if you’re blogging for personal reasons, chances are you’re building your professional (personal?) brand.

Except I’m not. At least not yet.

I break a ton of very important rules when it comes to blogging.

  1. I don’t promote my posts. Ever. I’d be shocked if I’ve sent more than 10 people to this blog.
  2. Images? Headers? Nope. I have none. Not having images makes it pretty difficult to get eyes on my posts even if I did promote.
  3. I don’t link back. Okay, that’s not entirely true. What actually happens is I write and publish, then later go back and fill in the hyperlinks when I have time or just feel like it.
  4. I don’t optimize for search. In fact, I don’t even think about optimizing for search. (But if you want to, here’s a great resource to get you started.)

If you happen to be one of the few people who found this blog by happen chance, or because you somehow got a hold of my resume, you’re probably wondering why the hell this blog even exists.

Why do you blog?

Well, it all started because I had this crazy idea that someday I wanted to work the conference circuit. I wanted to tell stories and motivate people. I wanted to educate rooms of professionals, and sit on panels to field questions. In order to do that I had to figure out what I would say. Did I even have anything worth saying that hasn’t been said before? (I’m still not convinced I do.)

Now I write just for writing’s sake. To be honest, I spend a ton of time creating drafts with ideas for posts and sit on them for weeks, until eventually an idea becomes fully fleshed out in my head and I can write it. This is how I organize my thoughts and get my ish together in the real world.

So…blogging is just your Xanga or LiveJournal?

You got it. Studies have shown that just writing consistently makes you a better writer. So that’s what I’m doing. Sometimes I publish and sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I share a link and most times I leave it alone.

Come on, that can’t really be all of it.

You’re right. I also blog so that people (like the admissions board to MBA programs or colleagues on Inbound.org) can read what I’m all about. My resume and LinkedIn profile can only tell so much. This space paints a better picture. Is anyone reading it? None that I can tell from my WordPress dashboard. But that’s why this reason is last on the list.

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All marketers should work in sales

Marketing serves two purposes in the B2B world: (a) grow and nurture the company’s communities and (b) increase the sales pipeline. And these days you can find advice at every corner on how to align your sales and marketing teams.

I keep hearing (and reading) horror stories of the marketing vs. sales throw down in companies. But truth be told, I have yet to witness this kind of animosity and frustration first hand. I don’t doubt the storytellers’ truths, and I’m certainly early enough in my career that I can’t speak to just how prominent of a problem it is. But what I can speak to is how learning sales, and spending 18 months in a sales department, made me a better marketer. Continue reading “All marketers should work in sales” →

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Why I hate online marketing certifications (and why I’m taking them anyway)

If the headline didn’t give it away, let me make something very clear:

I hate online marketing certifications.

My list of reasons are pretty standard for everyone who also hates them.

They don’t prove anything. Online certifications, particularly those of the free or cheap variety, don’t prove anything regarding your skill, knowledge, or aptitude when it comes to marketing. Seriously. Most of the exams are easy to “cheat” just to get a badge and there is zero guarantee of any kind of retention. Thankfully organizations like Hubspot Academy make that abundantly clear. Other companies bury their caveats in legal jargon. Continue reading “Why I hate online marketing certifications (and why I’m taking them anyway)” →

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Inbound, Content, and Permission Marketing: Is there a difference?

What’s the difference between Inbound, Content, and Permission Marketing?

If you ask me, it’s a game of semantics. Not unlike all buzzworthy trends in marketing, the definitions of the two terms are endless and often intersect. Really, the only time the difference is even relevant is when you’re dealing with day-to-day operations in your own company for clarity’s sake.

The content vs. inbound debate is no different than any other:

  • What are the stages of a pipeline?
  • When is something a lead?
  • How do we define an opportunity?

The answer is only relevant within the context its being used: your organization, your social setting, your classroom. Continue reading “Inbound, Content, and Permission Marketing: Is there a difference?” →

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Why marketers need to embrace the inverted pyramid

Not sure what inverted pyramid is in reference to writing? Here’s a brief 101. It’s pretty simple.

Structure your writing so that the most important details are at the top, and least relevant are at the bottom. News writers around the world thrive on this structure of writing. You start with a compelling lede, transition to the most important facts, and work your way down to the nuances. Why? Because your readers are going to start at the top and more and more will drop off as you go on.

And here’s why it matters to marketers.

In a content-saturated world, it only makes sense that marketers need to follow the journalists’ cue. Content marketing (which absolutely is NOT new, but more on that later) has inundated the digital space. It’s harder and harder to get your audience to find you through the noise on the internet. And once they have found you, it’s darn near impossible to keep them to the end of a piece. Continue reading “Why marketers need to embrace the inverted pyramid” →

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What I had to learn “on the job”

I won’t lie. I dedicated my college career to philosophy. My communication degree came secondary, and only because my parents insisted I have a “real” major to fall back on. But that doesn’t mean I completely shirked my duties. I completed an internship. I ran the weekly student newspaper. I got involved.

Somehow, though, I found myself ill-equipped for life outside of college. When I graduated, I had no idea what opportunities my degree afforded me, let alone what I actually wanted to do with my life. As I’ve written before, I could read, write, speak, and think, but what in the would was I qualified to actually do? What did I have to offer at a company? Or anyone else for that matter. I felt a lot like this. Continue reading “What I had to learn “on the job”” →

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Philosophy made me a better marketer

Philosophy is a bunch of hogwash written by self-righteous, pie-in-the-sky, detracted from the real world, idealists. Or at least that’s what I’m used to hearing every day from politicians, hard science educators, and even my own parents. (Edit: my parents have come around…for the most part.)

As a newly accepted student to the University of Scranton, to which I begrudgingly agreed to go after my father made a deposit without talking to me, I received the craziest letter in the mail. Paraphrasing: You’ve been selected to enroll in the University of Scranton’s Special Jesuit Liberal Arts program, invite-only for the [insert some string of flattering adjectives here] students. (Note: When I was there, SJLA wasn’t called an “honors” program. In fact, at least one professor was actually disgusted by anyone who referred to it as such. Times have change.) While it sounded terribly boring, I signed up. I figured it couldn’t hurt my resume and I could always leave the program later if I hated it. Continue reading “Philosophy made me a better marketer” →

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