Archive for the ‘Content Marketing’ Category
12 (of the) Best Content Marketing Guides, Tips and Tactics of 2011
Wednesday, April 18th, 2012Content is king. As you’ve no doubt read in many places before, content is one of the core elements of B2B social media marketing success. Content is also crucial for lead nurturing, SEO and other online marketing initiatives.
But producing content is expensive. Producing great content is even more expensive. What brands have done it well—and what can you learn from them? How can you recycle / re-use / re-purpose content to stretch your investment? What are the current best practices in content creation? What forms of content are most popular with buyers?
Get the answers to these questions and more here in a dozen of the best content marketing guides of the past year.
Brands that have mastered content marketing by iMedia Connection
Reporting that “content marketing has reached a tipping point within the marketer’s toolkit…nine out of 10 marketers are (now) utilizing some kind of content marketing in their overall strategy, and more than half plan to increase spending for content-related marketing over the next 12 months,” Rob Rose highlights the content strategies of three brands. It’s an excellent article, though unfortunately Rob’s first example is Kodak. Oh well, one does not thrive by good content marketing alone.
Content Marketing Strategy for B2B Software Vendors: Starring the ‘New’ White Paper by Highly Competitive – Software Industry Insights
Noting that studies consistently show that “the most sought-out and influential content for B2B technology customers during decision-making buying cycles…in every study, #1 is the White Paper,” Julie Hunt explains the origins of white papers, what makes for an effective white paper (from the buyer’s perspective), how white papers fit into a broader content marketing strategy, and the attributes of the “new” white paper for today’s buying environment.
Why Your Social Media Campaign is Performing at 1/7th of Its Potential by Business2Community
Citing research showing that “Social media campaigns with a robust content marketing strategy provide approximately seven times the number of leads/conversions as a social media campaign without,” Chad Pollitt shows how content marketing positively affects conversion rates, SEO, referral traffic and branding.
How to get the most out of content creation by iMedia Connection
Author and frequent best-of honoree Rebecca Lieb writes that “what smart marketers who invest time and dollars into content creation know is that reusing and recycling that content can far extend the reach of their message and the ROI of their spend,” and explains how to repurpose content without repeating yourself.
Why Content Marketing Fails by Geoff Livingston
Geoff Livingston contends that a lot of content fails because…it’s marketing. He argues that, to be successful with this strategy, “Marketers need to create compelling content — specifically, interesting and factual stories. They need to adapt best practices from the journalism field, and bridge the gap between corporate interest and market needs for valuable information.”
The Life of an Article on the Web by Elliance
A clever little diagram illustrating the relationship between authoring, syndication, dissemination and consumption of an online article, designed to demonstrate “exactly how an optimized article can find its way to your target audience.”
Getting savvy with content creation by iMedia Connection
Rebecca Lieb (again) provides valuable guidance on using content aggregation and curation for marketing, noting that producing engaging content is the top challenge marketers say they face in content marketing, but “The problem isn’t (having) enough content, it’s knowing what content merits time and attention.” And in another notable article on content marketing (Whose job is content?), Rebecca writes that while “there are certainly plenty of possible roles and responsibilities that can oversee, or play a role in, content marketing” such as the CMO, content or editorial director, blogger, social media guru or PR professional, “Companies that really buy in to content marketing are increasingly taking the ‘everyone’ approach.”
Fuel to the content marketing fire: McKinsey quantify changes in the purchase funnel by steveseager.com
Steve Seager cites McKinsey research on changes in the traditional purchase funnel and the corresponding value of content marketing in addressing this; the study shows that “just before people are ready to buy they enter stage of ‘active evaluation’. In this stage, the funnel actually widens as people actively research and consider all the options before making their final purchase decision…People at the ‘active evaluation’ stage of their decision making cycle are the closest to buying. So it makes sense to focus there…They do not want, or respond to, advertising, so why advertise? People at that stage want valuable, meaningful information that helps them with their decision. So why not give it to them?”
Lower Your Cost Per Lead! The 3 Pronged Attack To Inbound Marketing by KISSmetrics
Explaining that “Rather than working hard to reach out to cold and potentially unqualified leads, inbound marketing is the process of getting your message out to warm, receptive leads who are actively searching for what you’re selling,” Sherice Jacob lays out a three-pronged inbound marketing attack utilizing blogging, social media and content marketing.
The 22 Best Infographics We Found In 2011 by Co.Design
Suzanne LaBarre shares 22 of her favorite infographics from last year (click on the thumbnails at the top of the article to scroll through), illustrating everything from “a metaphorical chart of how water flows from the source to the consumer (to) the spikes and dips of the Dow Jones Industrial Average rendered as notes on a musical scale.”
Content best practices for 5 marketing channels by iMedia Connection
Writing that “Generating and promoting quality content can have search engine optimization (SEO) benefits, enable your company to communicate brand and product stories, and drive brand impressions as the content is shared,” John Faris details best practices for integrating content marketing with SEO, email marketing, Facebook, blogger outreach and multimedia content curation.
2012 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends [Research Report] by Content Marketing Institute
***** 5 STARS
Content marketing guru Joe Pulizzi shares a treasure trove of content marketing statistics and facts, among them:
- • The three most popular forms of content marketing are articles (used by 79% of marketers), social media other than blogs (74%) and blogs (65%).
- • At the other end of the spectrum, just 15% are using mobile-specific content, while 14% produce digital magazines and 10% participate in virtual conferences.
- • The top three channels for sharing content are Twitter (74%), LinkedIn (71%) and Facebook (70%).
- • Marketers have the highest confidence that in-person events, webinars/webcasts and case studies are effective tactics. They are evenly split on the effectiveness of social media however.
- • The two biggest challenges marketers cite in content marketing are producing quality content that “engages prospects/customers” (41%) and producing enough content (20%).
Seven Elements of Compelling PR and Social Media Storytelling
Thursday, March 8th, 2012I took several creating writing courses back in junior high and high school. For a while, as a teen, I even considered pursuing a career as a novelist—until I did some research and realized that the probability of becoming a best-selling fiction author is on par with the odds of winning the lottery. While being attacked by a shark. And struck by lightning. Simultaneously. Twice.
So I went into engineering instead. But my love of writing and storytelling eventually drew me into marketing and PR, where I could bring true customer stories to life and help people understand the transformative potential of technology.
As it turns out, many of the elements of storytelling apply to writing customer stories, new releases, blog posts and other marketing content as well. A customer story or news release shouldn’t read exactly like a novel or movie script of course, but keeping in mind the elements of proper storytelling can help add life and draw readers in to your PR and social media marketing “stories.”
Setting: creating the context or setting the scene is the essential first step in storytelling. Almost everyone of a certain age can identify, verbatim, the setting for Star Wars (“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…”). A fictional story can be set in any place or time. A social business story, however, is always set in the present, the very recent past, or just slightly in the future, and always in your customers’ world—though the setting changes slightly for the different buyers of your product or service (e.g., the C-level, finance, technology or business buyer).
Protagonist: the hero of the story; in fiction, this can be a person, a group, an animal or even a thing. In a social business story, the hero is always your buyer, or in the case of a customer story, an existing customer whom you buyers can relate to.
Antagonist: the villain, the enemy, the bad guy; again, in fiction, the antagonist can take a wide variety of forms, from a person or group to an apparition, an object, the weather, or a monster. In a social business story, the antagonist is often a business problem (excessive costs, low or declining sales, inefficient processes, unhappy customers) but can, effectively, also be more personal (low compensation or recognition, long/late hours at the office, excessive travel, lack of advancement).
Conflict: a key element of plot, conflict is what draws us into a story, makes us wonder what will happen next, the source of suspense or uncertainty; it’s what creates the dramatic tension that makes a story interesting. Suppose someone were to write a story along the lines of: “Fred woke up one morning, then a bunch of good things happened to him, then he went to bed and thought about what a good day it had been.” That’s all fine and good for Fred, but it’s not much of a story. There’s no suspense, no mystery, no wonder, nothing to interest us. Too often, marketing materials are written that way: “blah, blah, our product, blah, features, blah, benefits…” As with Fred, that’s nice for the product or service in question, but not terribly interesting. When writing a news release, blog post or other content, ask yourself—what’s the “hook” that will draw readers in and make them care?
Plot twists: an unexpected turn of events, a surprisingly revelation about a key character, an unforeseen obstacle—these are often what set a good story apart from a great one. Business stories often have plot twists too: a budget cut, the loss of a key customer, an unexpected move by a supplier or competitor, a change in the market landscape, or other events that the alter the course of, complicate, or add urgency to a story.
Resolution: the hero triumphs, the smoke clears, the alien flies off back into space, the bad guy gets what he had coming, the boy gets the girl (or vice versa)—basically, the conflict is resolved and the dramatic tension is eased. How does your product or service help the hero (your customer) to emerge victorious, in a believable manner?
Denouement: the wind-down, the epilogue, the final resolution, the hero riding off into the sunset, the happy ending. In social business writing, this is where you explain how your customer/hero’s life ends up better than before, how their situation is improved, how their world is changed by what you provide.
Obviously, that’s not to say you should literally write a business story like a novel—that would be cheesy—but rather that business writing can be enlivened and inspired by considering the story elements of great fiction.
And don’t be formulaic; stories that are formulaic (Halloween) can degenerate into ironic, self-aware imitations (Scream) and then into parodic farce (Scary Movie). Don’t let your business stories turn into Scary Movie. Be original! But consider incorporating the elements of classic fiction to add life to your PR and social business stories.
Five Expert Copywriting Tips
Friday, February 11th, 2011Writing has always been a demanding vocation, but the challenge of producing copy that stands out and compels people to action in today’s environment of sensory overload is uniquely daunting. Sentences must be short. Ideas must be explicit. Prose must be lucid. Benefits must be explained in a clear and compelling manner using the language of the reader. Flowery copy and “corporate speak” are definitely out the window. Attention is a scarce commodity; you won’t get much of it, so use what you get as well as you can.
Below are five posts from outstanding writers that will help you write copy that gets found, read, and acted upon.
7 steps to writing killer sales copy by Mike Consol
In this guest post, Patrick Schwerdtfeger outlines the “Motivating Sales Sequence” sales process and how it relates to copy writing, starting with getting their attention (“The opening sentences need to jolt your readers to attention.”) and concluding with a call to action (“Be specific. Explain exactly what you want the reader to do.”).
How to Create Remarkable B2B Content by Savvy B2B Marketing
Stephanie Tilton shares a half-dozen ideas for developing content that stands out from the online clutter, such as showing how your product or service stacks up against the competition: “a majority of tech buyers want content comparing a vendor’s offering to the competition as they get further along in the buying cycle. Yet few companies put out competitive comparisons for public consumption…(many) organizations are averse to taking this step, but the problem is that your prospects are looking for this information. And if you don’t offer it but your competitors do, guess who’ll make the short list of potential vendors.”
SEO As a Copywriting Tool by iMedia Connection
Daniel Flamberg argues that far from being a straitjacket on the competitive process, incorporating SEO keyword research and knowledge into web copyrighting is essential and an opportunity missed if not employed; “Effective key words and phrases can be creative cues for other forms of branded customer engaging messaging. But too few creatives mine the insights from SEO analytics.”
25 SEO copywriting tips and content ideas you can implement today by Success Works
Heather Lloyd-Martin offers an excellent list of tips to keep handy when crafting search-optimized web copy.
How to write for the web: 23 useful rules by eConsultancy
Conceding that “rules are always there to be broken,” Chris Lake nevertheless proceeds to provide 23 rules—or guidelines if you prefer—for successful web writing, including writing the opening paragraph last, keeping sentences short, limiting yourself to one comma per sentence (helps you stick to the previous rule), and following the “wiggly left margin” rule.
Best Content Marketing Guides, Tips and Tactics of 2010
Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011How many times have you heard the expression “content is king?” That’s the case because, in an increasingly competitive and noisy market, buyers care not so much about what you sell as about what you know, and what you are passionate about. Great content accomplishes at least two of the following objectives:
- • It helps get you “found” online.
- • It enhances your organization’s image (e.g., by demonstrating how smart and helpful you are).
- • It sets you apart (it’s not just a rehash of common knowledge).
- • It helps move a prospect along the buying cycle.
Great content fills a need for both the consumer and the producer. It helps the consumer solve a problem or improve their life in some way, and it helps the producer sell goods or services that accomplish that task. So how do you produce great content? How do you maximize your return on valuable content? How much content is “enough?” How can you optimize your content for search? What different types of content should you develop for different types of buyers and the various stages of the buying process? Where can you spread your content to maximize exposure?
Get the answers to these questions and more here in some of the best guides to content marketing of the past year.
Content Marketing Strategy and Tactics
10 Tips For Content Marketing Success by TopRank Online Marketing Blog
Adam Singer notes that with 6 in 10 marketers spending more on content marketing in the coming year, it’s getting more difficult to stand out; shares some statistics on the results that can be achieved with quality content, e.g. “56% (of corporate bloggers) say that their blog has helped their company establish a positioning as a thought leader within the industry”; and offers 10 tips to maximize the impact of content marketing, from “personality is essential” to tone is more important than perfection.
11 steps toward a content strategy by Econsultancy
Reporting that “80 percent of those who begin a corporate blog never post more than five entries…In the rush to adopt social media as a tactic, too many marketers leave strategy in the dust,” delightful author Rebecca Lieb presents 11 steps to help marketers think more like editors and develop an effective, consistent content strategy, among them defining key themes and messages, creating an editorial calendar, and utilizing multiple forms of media.
Social Media Leads Content Marketing: New Survey Reveals by Jeff Bullas
Jeff Bullas shares several interesting content marketing stats from recent research, such as: content now accounts for 33% of marketing budgets on average, up from 11% just a couple of years ago. 59% of marketers increased spending on content last year, while just 7% cut that area. E-newsletters, blogs and white papers are among the most popular types of content. While social media, mobile and online video are increasing in importance, traditional email newsletters remain among the most popular delivery vehicles.
7 “Rs” for B2B Marketing Content Planning by Customer Think
Lead nurturing content expert Ardath Albee writes that “Designing content for 1X use is wasteful. Marketers need to create a process for content planning that helps them maximize the return from their investments in developing content resources,” then provides seven tips (such as re-purposing content for different audiences) to help accomplish that goal.
How Much B2B Content is Enough? by Savvy B2B Marketing
Stephanie Tilton says a company has developed enough content “when it has created content that answers prospects’ questions at each stage of the buying cycle,” then outlines a process for determining exactly what that means in any given organization.
The 10 commandments of content marketing by iMedia Connection
Declaring that “all marketing is content,” Eric Anderson hands down his 10 commandments for content marketing, beginning with dictates that content shall be sharable, malleable and collaborative.
10 Steps to Optimize Your Content Marketing Strategy by TopRank Online Marketing Blog
Lee Odden explains the digital asset optimization (DAO) model (“what can be searched on can be optimized”), outlines a 10-step process for optimizing content for ever-changing search results pages, and concludes with “The good news is that by following these 10 steps, a significant impact can be achieved in overall authority for the topics and keyword concepts focused on as well as the ability to attract new business, media coverage and employees. The bad news is that it’s not easy.”
Lead Nurturing by Find New Customers
Pointing out that lead nurturing is a critical process because “9 out of 10 visitors to your website are not ready to buy now,” this post presents seven keys to creating and maintaining a successful lead nurturing program, beginning with research and content mapping and progressing through continuous measurement and refinement.
Ramping Up For a Bigger Content Publishing Strategy by MediaPost Search Insider
Rob Garner recommends eight tactics for optimizing content marketing results, starting with in-depth keyword and market research and working through strategic planning, metrics and resource allocation.
Most Valuable Content and Offers for IT Buyers by High-Tech Communicator
Cheryl Goldberg reports and comments on recent research identifying the types of content that IT buyers most useful as news and articles (84%) and competitive comparisons / buying guides (73%), while b2b technology marketers often sub-optimally focus on other types of content.
How to Take Advantage of the New B2B Buying Behavior by Fast Company
Wendy Marx contends that b2b “buying decisions ultimately aren’t completely rational, much as we would like them to be…you may have the best product or service in the world but if people don’t understand its value or find you credible you might as well post your ‘going out of business’ sign,” and therefore it’s critical to build relationships, nuture leads, and write content that captures the needs of your prospects.
How Tech Buyers Consume Content: New Findings from TechTarget by Savvy B2B Marketing
In another noteworthy post, Stephanie Tilton shares results from TechTarget research which details the behaviors of “hyper-active IT researchers,” the most engaged 30% of technology buyers. Among the findings: these hyper-active researchers are constantly hunting for and gathering information, often conduct research on behalf of others, and “are most receptive to completing a registration form in exchange for content during the consideration and decision stages.”
White Paper Marketing: 5 White Paper Types and When to Use Them by SmartBug Media
Brittany Brouse defines the characteristics and key purposes of five types of white papers, including the business benefits white paper, the technology benefits white paper, and the product comparison white paper.
6 Ways to Cast a Wider Net Using a Whitepaper by Zmags Blog
***** 5 Stars
White papers are a popular b2b marketing tool, but good ones are expensive to produce. Companies can better capitalize on these investments by reworking, repackaging and re-using white paper content in different formats. Christina Pappas presents six ideas for extending the life and value of white paper content such as turning a white paper into a podcast, video, or webinar.
Measuring ROI on Content Marketing and Creation by Social Marketing Forum
Though acknowledging that “Measuring ROI on content marketing is not straightforward; that is why most firms put measurement on the back burner,” Ambal Balakrishnan presents two sets of recommendations for and examples of content marketing ROI measurement from Ardath Albee and Maria Pergolino.
2011 Trends: Content Marketing Is Critical by eMarketer
Geoff Ramsey shares research revealing that “nearly three-quarters of US companies with a social media strategy use (branded) content—also referred to as ‘earned media’—in their campaigns, making it the most common type of content used.” He then lists five questions marketers should ask themselves to determine whether or not their content is truly “magnetic” and likely to attract targeted buyers.
Developing A B2B Content Promotional Strategy In 7 Steps by Social Marketing Forum
Michele Linn recommends seven questions to ask when developing strategy for promoting your content, starting with “What is your objective?” (e.g., lead generation content is often promoted differently than thought-leadership content).
Article Submission Sites
A list of the best sites to submit articles to by Internet Marketing for Business Owners
The site is a tad spammy, but this list of seven of the most popular article submission sites is helpful.
Article Directory Sites sorted by Importance
Huge list of nearly 300 article submission sites sorted by page rank and Alexa ranking.
The 10 Websites To Get Your Articles Discovered! by Ink Rebels
Misty Belardo recommends promoting your online content using these 10 (mostly) popular social networking and bookmarking sites.
Top 21: The Best Article Directory List by Friday Traffic Report
Another slightly spammy site with a nevertheless useful list of 21 article directories with page rank.
How to Use Article Marketing as Part of Your Social Media Strategy
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010Guest post by Beth Hrusch
As you may know by now, article marketing is an effective way to gain credibility and establish yourself as an expert in your field. By writing articles about topics of interest to your readers, and distributing them on article directories, you can give your content the kind of exposure that would be hard to get anywhere else. But, what many people don’t realize is that article marketing isn’t just for directories anymore.
Social media has become an effective vehicle for content distribution, and articles are no exception. According to the Small Business Success Index, sponsored by Network Solutions (2010), one in five small businesses are now actively using social media. About 75% of those surveyed have a company page on a social networking site. What makes social media so effective for marketing purposes? The simple answer is that it gives your content massive exposure across a wide range of platforms.
Articles can easily be distributed using social media news and bookmarking sites, for example. Each of these sites has strengths and weaknesses, and some will suit certain goals better than others. Here are 5 of the most popular:
1. Facebook- With over 250 million members, it’s got tremendous reach. Generate interest with fans and friends by talking about topics related to your industry then link to your articles on your fan page. Ping articles and blogs automatically, so your groups can see your latest posts.
2. Twitter- Similar to Facebook, Twitter allows you to market your articles automatically and in real time. As a micro-blogging service, it allows businesses to communicate and share the latest information with customers, and link to articles and other content using a url shortener.
3. LinkedIn- For professional networking, setting up a profile in LinkedIn allows you to share your expertise with others in your group. Market your articles by sending them to your account or have them pulled from another social media account, to show up under your updates.
4. Digg- A really popular news/bookmarking site that can bring your articles massive exposure. Submitting your article to Digg takes interested readers directly to your article and your site, where they can also browse archived articles and check you out.
5. YouTube- What do videos have to do with article marketing? Both are content, just in different formats. Turn your articles into videos, using your text as a script. This can be done inexpensively, so almost any budget can handle it. YouTube is the 4th most popular website in the world, and videos consistently rank high in the search engines, so the potential to go viral is huge.
There are many more social media sites that lend themselves to article marketing. Check out the handy chart put together by the folks at Seomoz.com for more tips on how to use each site to market your business.
Article marketing has the power to establish you as an authority and give interested consumers a way to access your business through links to your site. Social media supercharges your articles by giving them wide and deep distribution throughout the web. Together, they help you reach a large, targeted audience without the need for an expensive marketing campaign. Be sure, though, that you research the social media sites- how they work and what their terms of service are. Some will work better for you than others.
Also, remember that article marketing is only effective if you commit to creating and distributing fresh content every week or so. Maintain both aspects of your marketing strategy and you’ll see results.
Beth Hrusch is Senior Editor at Interact Media, a content marketing software company.
