Even Content Marketing Masters make mistakes sometimes. We asked some of content marketing's best to share a notable career blunder, and what marketers everywhere can learn from them. Featuring: Kyle Lacy, Salesforce ExactTarget Marketing Cloud Doug Kessler, Velocity Partners Frank Barry, Blackbaud Neil Patel, Quicksprout

1. The Masters'
DISASTERS3 Lessons to Learn from Content Marketing Blunders

2. OFTEN BRILLIANCE
DOESN'T COME
WITHOUT FOLLY

3. For content marketers,
your blunder is often
alerted to you in that
dreaded email...

4. For content marketers,
your blunder is often
alerted to you in that
dreaded email...
You'vegotmail!
one minute after
launch...

5. With someone telling you:
you've got a typo
in your headline
...just FYI.

6. CRAP.
CRINGE-FEST

7. We know these guys are masters...
Masters
of the
eBook
Kyle Lacy, ExactTarget
Doug Kessler, Velocity
Partners Frank Barry, Blackbaud
Neil Patel, Quicksprout

8. But we can learn from
their mistakes.

9. The 4 Masters'
DISASTERSAnd the Lessons One Should Learn
Introducing

10. 01
CONFUSING
GEOGRAPHY
Kyle Lacy
Kyle Lacy designed a cover to
their global consumer research
reports. The inside content was
checked and double checked. But
the cover wasn’t. Arrows pointed to
the wrong countries, and some
countries were completely
forgotten. #globalcontentfail.

11. 01CONFUSING
GEOGRAPHY
Kyle Lacy
“Some of the
arrows didn’t align
with the countries.
New Zealand
wasn’t printed.”

12. CONFUSING
GEOGRAPHY
OOPS.That didn't go according to plan.
01

13. CONFUSING
GEOGRAPHY01
LESSONS LEARNED
“Don’t design if you’re not a
designer,”
-Kyle Lacy
Get a fresh set of eyes to
review all assets.

14. Frank Barry’s magazine-style eBook
format looked phenomenal online. But
when people printed the PDF eBook,
they lost major chunks of the
publication.
Copy was lost due to print margins and
the fonts chosen were “terrible” and
‘really hard to read.”
#offlinewhoops
MIND THE
MARGINS.
02:
FRANK BARRY

15. It’s hard to read
great eBook, wh
you don’t know i
says.

16. It’s hard to read
great eBook, wh
you don’t know i
says.
yikes.

17. "It was a fail."
Frank Barry
02:MIND THE MARGINS.

18. LESSONS LEARNED
Check both print & online
deliverables.
Choose fonts and styling that
work for ALL THE WAYS your
customer consumes
information.

19. 03DOUBLE FAIL
DOUG KESSLER
Velocity Partners’ fail was pre-
baked into the fail.
Velocity partners published a blog
post entitled: “Sometimes Content
Is Not The Answer. A Content
Marketing Fail.” It was about their
own content strategy misstep
they implemented for a client.
Namely, content marketing wasn't
the right fit for the client's needs.

20. 03DOUBLE FAIL
DOUG KESSLER
Later, the client
found out it was
about them.

21. 03DOUBLE FAIL
DOUG KESSLER
Later, the client
found out it was
about them.
OOPS!

22. “Never assume
any tactic is
right for
everything.”
- Doug Kessler

23. LESSONS LEARNED
Choose the right content
marketing tactics for each
of your needs.
Maybe don't publish your
blunders publicly.

24. 04: TOPIC FLOP
NEIL PATEL
Picking a good topic for your eBook is
crucial to its eventual success.
Neil Patel oncedeveloped an eBook
and knew thetopic wasn’t great
all along.
But heran with it anyway.
A few months later,
out popped an #eBookflop.

25. "I knew it was going to be a
flop before we created it...the
topic was too generic and
overplayed."
Neil Patel
04: TOPIC FLOP

26. LESSONS LEARNED
Vet your ideas.
Don’t be afraid to
pump the brakes on
projects you
sense may fail.

27. my gosh.aren't you glad those gaffes weren't yours?!

28. for nothing
THESE GUYS AREN'T MASTERS
LUXURY
but remember...

29. for nothing
THESE GUYS AREN'T MASTERS
THESE SAME MARKETERS ALSO CREATED
SOME OF THE BEST PUBLISHED EBOOKS IN THE LAND.
LUXURY
but remember...

30. DISCOVER ALL THE BEST eBOOKS AND
THE MASTERS BEHIND THEM IN:
MASTERSOF THE
eBOOK
Download your free copy here.

31. THANK
YOU.