Kris Schulze – B2B News Network

Kris is a Certified Content Marketing Specialist with a degree in languages, and too many years of experience in marketing and media to mention.

WHAT LED YOU TO START WORKING IN DIGITAL/MEDIA PUBLISHING?

With any career choice, you have to find your passion. If you don’t love what you do, why are you doing it? I’ve been lucky.

I grew up in the traditional print world, and digital publishing is the natural progression from those traditions. I studied languages and have worked in Marketing in one form or another right from the start. I’m right where I’m supposed to be.

WHAT DOES A TYPICAL DAY LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?

B2BNN has a “remote” working team, but we touch base in one form or another every day. Geographically we’re fairly close, but working this way takes discipline.

Like most people, I start the day with coffee. While it’s brewing I’m firing up the laptop and checking social media.

To manage the chaos of editorial submissions, social media, and client projects, I try to have set blocks of time for each (but let’s face it that doesn’t always work). People tend to hastily answer emails without spending time consciously crafting responses, or get quickly distracted by the sheer volume of content out there. It’s easy to go down those black holes.

My focus remains primarily on the customer, so in order to dedicate my time to them, the rest needs to be compartmentalized and organized.

WHAT’S YOUR WORK SETUP LOOK LIKE?

I have an app routine I open every morning: Outlook, CoSchedule, SqueezeCMM, Google Analytics, and WordPress, Scribblepost, as well as client portals.

WHAT DO YOU DO OR GO TO GET INSPIRED?

One would think spending time in digital publishing and media I’d want to turn off the laptop at the end of the workday, but I spend time writing. Over the past few months, I’ve been working on a film noir style murder mystery and was just recently inspired to write what basically amounts to my Marketing memoirs.

When not writing, I’m traveling, taking pictures, or just enjoying some downtime for a walk in the park with the dog to clear my head.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PIECE OF WRITING OR QUOTE?

“Don’t seek perfection. Seek balance. Seek consistency. Seek justice. Seek passion. Seek a cause for humanity, and your life shall have meaning.” Dr. Derreck Kayongo

“Confidence is going after Moby Dick in a rowboat, and taking tartar sauce with you.” Zig Ziglar

“If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.” Confucius

Basically, find your passion, have the confidence to pursue it, and learn from others.

WHAT IS THE PASSIONATE PROBLEM YOU ARE TACKLING AT THE MOMENT?

All things MarTech.

There are disparate views on whether artificial intelligence will aid us, or take the human factor out of the equation. We see this every day from all corners. Should we be afraid, or should we embrace technology? Are there so many newcomers to MarTech that we’ll just see more and more acquisitions of the smaller start-ups? How does a business buyer know what will work best for them? If they don’t have the human bandwidth is tech the way to go?

We are passionately tackling this with a new Marketing Ops offering; research, analytics, CRM, content and comms, all rolling into lead gen. Ultimately the customer wants more revenue, but those questions above may be crippling.

IS THERE A PRODUCT, SOLUTION, OR TOOL THAT YOU THINK IS A GOOD MATCH FOR YOUR DIGITAL PUBLISHING EFFORTS? 

I couldn’t function without SqueezeCMM for content taxonomy. It may sound like a shameless plug because it’s our sister company, BUT we can see in real time what’s really going on. We know which topics are trending, which features resonate with our audience, which contributors are on point, and even which customer campaigns are tracking, by channel.

It helps us to know where our audience is, and what they’re reading. If something isn’t working, we can pivot quickly.

ANY ADVICE FOR AMBITIOUS DIGITAL PUBLISHING AND MEDIA PROFESSIONALS JUST STARTING OUT?

If you’re a writer: know the publication.

All publishers have submission guidelines that include desired formatting, the topics they’re most interested in, as well as their editorial calendar so you know when to send. Find out if they accept unsolicited submissions. If they don’t, don’t waste your time. If they do, don’t demand publication for your work. Before you spend your valuable time writing send pitches to those that accept them (not just one line, but a topic and how you plan to explore it).

If you’re an entrepreneur and want to start your own publishing business: research.

Research the competition, the contributors, find the gaps, and find funding. Find a mentor.