ATF’s 2019 opener, featuring Andy Crestodina, reiterates the need for authenticity

The opening episode of season 2 is Andy Crestodina, cofounder and strategic director of Orbit Media, and God bless him for gracing Episode One with his presence. If not for Crestodina’s ability to navigate Ma’s meanderings and Baker’s bluster, turning their verbal play-dough into cogent content marketing takeaways... who knows where we’d be.

He elaborates that the content piece - “the cheese to the traps” - will generate the links and authority to rank for commercial-intent keyphrases and address demand. But the rest of the formula, which includes utilizing influencers, shareability, posting in a variety of places and savvily employing visuals, hinges chiefly on connection.

Be personable. Be relatable. Be authentic. It’s not a bad rallying cry for a new year’s resolution, right?

Not exactly in midseason form

Poor Crestodina. It’s unclear whether anyone prepped him with any sort of agenda for the discussion. He handles it well, despite Baker handing off segues with the grace and efficiency of a 6-year-old flag football quarterback. Not sure whether Andy was compensated for doing this - hopefully we at least sent him a Brafton tumbler.

Undeterred, the author of Content Chemistry: An Illustrated Handbook for Content Marketing casually drops digital marketing dimes like:

Digital ink is never dry
Great content marketers are collectors
Use screenshots, use charts. Every image should further the express intent of adding value to the piece.
To be more productive with a larger content production task, break it into smaller more manageable tasks, like you would any other major undertaking.

2019: The year of stock reckoning

We fly down the homestretch with a lighthearted yet pointed discussion on why stock photos are canceled. Apparently Crestodina’s been “angry” (Ma’s words, not his) about stock images because they represent a missed opportunity to be authentic. A stock image neither assists the content around it nor can it be the focus itself. People are out here saying “it’s so hard to be original, so hard to differentiate,” Andy opines, and then they use a stock photo. Pssh.

Many, many thanks to our guest for hanging with us and being genuinely good-natured, while providing lots of fodder for thought as we trudge through the winter months. Crestodina has a set a high bar for as-yet-unspecified future guests, and set Season Two off with otherwise unattainable credibility. We’ll see how our favorite yahoos fare in using that credibility for good. .

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