Here is a great idea from the folks at Content Marketing - who compiled this from Kelly Services. Take one topic and share it up 20 ways! To help get you started here are twenty ideas for placement for each topic you might consider:

1. Write a white paper
2. Add something to your website
3. Twitter
4. Pinterest
5. Use pictures and post to flickr/instagram
6. Facebook
7. Email
8. Your blog
9. Guest blog (swap stories)
   
10. Newsletter article
11. Print media - news agency, reporter, trade mag, chamber newsletter, client newsletter, business partner's newsletter
12. Create a presentation
13. SlideShare your preso
14. Postcard or other mailer - make it lumpy
15. Check with TalkRadio stations - get an interview
16. Video
17. LInkedIn
18. eBook
19. Present to local business groups at their meetings - Economics Club, ITMA, Chamber Events, Rotary, etc.
20. Hold an event

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Content Idea #3: Take every story idea and produce 20+ pieces of content via @toddwheatland @JoePulizzi 

Yes Virginia, there really is a Santa Claus. When Francis P. Church answered the letter he told a truth that challenged the intelligence of the intelligent, yet soothed the souls of every parent who is terrified by the same question. Perhaps my favorite line from the editorial is:  "Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world." Francis P. Church, The New York Sun, 1897. The editorial was famous. It not only expounded on truth, love and even faith, but also helped the world to understand why Santa Claus was important. And that is the real truth and motivation.  Believing in something is better than the alternative. And believing in something bigger than ourselves is a surefire way to engage and connect. 

Just because you build the ball field, website, lemonade stand - you name it - doesn't mean THEY will come.  GoogleAds are not the only way to get the word out, open for business does not mean the cash register sings with the jingle of cash. People, customers, want to share a value, belief or a great experience. Having an open for business sign with no plan for sharing the true meaning of what you do, sell, or make and WHY it is connection worthy - is just a bunch of letters on another sign and more noise vying for the attention of our over connected society. For a great example of brutal honesty, stand for something transparency...check out Peldi Guilizzoni , CEO, of Balsamiq Mockups. According to Jason Cohen in his Business Insider article,  Guilizzoni is frighteningly honest and it paid off.  Why? Because he had values and a vision.  He also has a great product, but the product doesn't sell unless people know about it. Some of the greatest products in history went the way of the Dodo before anyone even knew they were available.  The difference is in the passion, vision and values of the creator.  All it takes is one person to ignite a movement, (pssst...pass it on). One becomes two, then two becomes four - well you know the rest of the story. 

If you want to start something great - have a great story and an unshakable, unstoppable understanding of why you are doing it. Share it with like minded people who will share it with their value chain. The real key here is being honest. Honest about your goals, your values and what is really driving your passion for what ever you are doing. Honest passion is more contagious then H1N1 when it comes to word of mouth marketing. 

Are you there to hear it? Are you listening? What do you hear?  

You remember the saying: "One mouth, two ears," right?  What does that mean for sales professionals and marketers? I think...I may be going out on a limb here...that it means we (sales/marketing pros) need to spend more time listening and more importantly, understanding our audiences. 

In the world of B2B, IMHO,  there is still too much show up and throw up, or as Sandler puts it...spilling your jelly beans in the lobby.  Do you go to your doctor only for him to tell you what is wrong with you before a single question is asked? I think not! Yet, having spent half a lifetime with or in sales, I see it over and over ... "I hear you are looking for a Woozawhatzit, let me tell you all about ours and why we are better at selling it!" Classic 'FAB' (features, advantages, benefits) or the bizzaro version 'FUD' (fear, uncertainty, doubt) selling should be deadwood - but it seems they are not.  Are sales and marketing professionals not supposed to seek first to understand before being understood? 

As I reflect on my past 9 years of work, I am guilty of letting this behavior proliferate all around me. And guiltier still of advancing it, nurturing it with collateral and content demanded by the pitchfork bearing sales masses.  "We need this content marketing ogre or we'll burn your village down." So we produced to save the village. 

I may not have the answer, yet, but that may be because the right question hasn't been asked.