Strategic Content Professional [KNWLG] Become a strategic lynchpin

Is a content marketing specialist vital to the organization? Seth Godin's book explains why

Seth Godin's Linchpin is a great introduction to today's individual's strategic position. Godin tells the uninitiated (or inexperienced) worker of how in many companies there are a few "linchpin" contributors. He actually developed a unique original perspective on the idea of who is a vital "linchpin" worker. He suggests of a way to change how we work, making every worker irreplaceable by giving workers freedom to think and do creative work. This idea of giving each worker the ability to think for themselves and do the most they are able is not new. He suggests that our industrialization of white collar jobs made robots of workers. Essentially making most jobs routine, defined carefully to the point of simple tasks. He also suggests ways of looking at work and at management which are different from the traditional American corporate standard. I have seen this situation recently working as a freelancer on long projects (2 and 5 months) inside established companies. On the other hand, there are also great examples of companies which do not fit this mold. It seems more useful to today's content marketer to focus on where their work can be unique, productive and strategic.

Comitment, Resources, and Expectations: A Layered View

Just like toys for big boys, you need to set your desires and expectations to reflect your resources and commitment / there is no shortage of "wet dream" images to choose from! Harley Davidson seem to "get" the overblown expectation of most "big boys with toy fetish".

In my latest search for "serious new customers" I stumble on situations which seem strange. If I wasn't looking for paying work, this would be interesting (but it's actually frustrating). I get requests from people that simply don't make sense. The one which applies most to technologists and business managers is overblown expectations. Essentially, a product manager wants:

100 article blog in four weeks at a cost of $10 a piece. Each article is original writing with research and promotion wrapped around it. Articles are 500 to 850 words. If a series of articles can be cobbled together, in five to ten at a time, that would be preferable. (actual quote with editing for clarification) 

Apparently you can buy this kind of writing right off the internet from both "legit" and "not-so-legit" sources (i.e. plagiarized, state prisoners, general/non-domain-expert writers in India, etc.) The "unreasonableness" in this example seems to fall into three categories. Each by itself a problem. All three together is what I call ridiculous:

1. Content creation should be free. Not free as in "free speech" but as "free beer". See open source discussions on the difference between "free speech" and "free beer" concept.
2. Content creation should be "instant". Once you think about an idea, and you can articulate the details to a writer (graphic artist, audio editor, videographer), the articles should be available almost immediately. 
3. You can create infinite amount of content, link it to infinite amount of references and sources, and get top Google page rank almost immediately (once you have that free and immediate content). This will result in thousands of "clicks" and great sales.
   

Are Branded (Luxury) Marketing Methods More Effective?

Seth Godin predicts the end of luxury brands as the digital age moves to content, agree?

In a post about marketing style, Seth Godin wrote a post on the effectiveness in the digital age. Essentially he notices how digital channels are making branding of luxury items different. Maybe even "worth less"!

The question is actually:

How are branded (luxury) marketing product's efforts more effective than (traditional) content marketing? 

The question is simple. It's been with us for hundreds years. Yet today we still see emphasis by business marketing using branding instead of content. Branding, or luxury marketing according to Godin has been the money machine of the last 50 years:

It's this selling of the logo, of Hermes or Chanel or Champagne that made the last fifty years of luxury production such an extraordinary opportunity.

Seth Godin: Linchpin, Individuals Count Today

When we talk about all the big changes in today's marketing, communication and even work habits, there is a tendency to focus on applications, companies and leaders (especially CEOS like Steve Jobs.) Yet we all know real people working every day to create something from nothing. These people keep the big ideas from staying just ideas. Seth Godin wrote a sort of manual explaining what he sees as the key to development in today's world from an individual's perspective. Godin is a new age pied piper, leading the charge into the digital publishing age. His background is reporting, most notably at Wire magazine and San Francisco newspapers. While reporting on the changes in publishing with the digital age he has published a series of books chronicling the changes.