The Simons Group Logo

Our Insights

Get The Scoop

Balance Readability and Complexity in Marketing Content

In George Orwell’s “1984,” the Party had several ways of ensuring conformity. The Party limited independent thinking and banished forbidden thoughts and actions. Deleted images and stories landed in the “memory hole.” And of course, Big Brother was watching you. But “Newspeak” was the central initiative through which these original

Read More
A compass represents staying the course on the content marketing road map.

The B2B Content Marketing Road Map Has Changed. Are You Lost?

What’s a business-to-business (B2B) content marketing road map look like these days? Overall, it’s not much different than it was 10 or even five years ago. But if you look closer, you’ll see subtle changes. The focus is on quality more than ever before. Churn and burn doesn’t win customers.

Read More

Writing Is a Lifelong Journey

Songwriters scribble bits of lyrics or notes on paper and file the scraps away in the hopes they’ll be able to craft a complete song some day. Novelists complete the first chapter of their newest books and run dry. Journalists experience writer’s block and can’t get past their first paragraphs.

Read More

Test Your Grammar IQ

Who doesn’t relish a challenge, especially when it comes to dependent clauses, parallelism and collective nouns? OK, so that’s a stretch, but go with it. Find the errors in the sentences below and I’ll send you a fabulous prize. Not really, but what have you got to lose? Neither an

Read More
Writers follow style guides as the standard in content marketing

Style Guides Set the Standard in Content Marketing

To set the standard in content marketing at your business, it’s important to make sure writers are aligned. Their copy should follow agreed-upon rules. For example: Is it “don’t” or “do not”; “can’t” or “cannot”? Can a subhead be a question? Is the hyphen necessary in “non-essential”? What’s the plural

Read More
Email newsletters are a content-first marketing tool

A Great Content-First Marketing Tool: Email Newsletters

Email newsletters are an effective content-first marketing tool. But if you’re doing them like everyone did in 2013, it’s time for a reboot. In the past, marketers created email newsletters with long stories. Content was self-serving and provided no value. In addition, there was no way to track the most

Read More
Brand marketing case studies

The Why and How of Brand Marketing Case Studies

Why are brand marketing case studies so important? Brand marketing case studies prove your company delivers results. You can tell prospects that your company “meets and exceeds expectations. Doing that, however, isn’t as credible as real customers sharing real successes. Unfortunately, brand marketing case studies often promote what businesses do.

Read More
For brand marketing trust, cite your statistics from credible and original sources

The Truth About Statistics and Brand Marketing Trust

As a marketer, I’m always on the hunt for relevant statistics that support my content and promote brand marketing trust. I’m also a former journalist. With that in mind, I make sure the statistics come from original and credible sources that I can cite. Not everyone is as careful.  That’s bad

Read More