Experts agree: content marketing is not a fad. It’s an important strategic asset that boosts profitable traffic. In listing the 30 most cutting-edge digital marketing tools, based on its 2015 Digital Marketing Trends poll, Smart Insights put content marketing at number one. B2B News Network recently reported on why you need a content strategy for […]
The world of digital marketing is facing a skills shortage when it comes to content generators. You might not think that’s the case, what with the incredible amount of content available online, but according to recent survey results from by SkilledUp.com, a website focusing on online educational resources, there is a critical need for skilled […]
Content marketing shouldn’t just be regarded as only an additional layer to your marketing strategy. It can also find favour in HR as a recruiting tool. When you use content marketing that’s aimed at prospective employees, you’ll find those new hires. Just think of them as one of the personas your marketing team is creating […]
As we enter 2015, businesses are developing new content and marketing strategies to continue to make gains in the competitive digital media industry, says a new survey of nearly 200 marketing executives. Also, marketers are committed to hiring staff well-versed in Big Data. Conductor Searchlight, a search engine optimization and web presence management firm, released […]
Lead generation is the number one goal of content marketers looking ahead to 2015, followed by thought leadership, according to a recent survey. Conducted by IDG Enterprise in partnership with the B2B Technology Marketing Community on LinkedIn, the survey found 30 percent of B2B companies have a formal content strategy. The report also highlighted several challenges B2B marketers […]
by Kay Mathews The demand for content is growing exponentially. To meet that demand, creating and refining content must go beyond the marketing department, according to a new report. When the value of content is infused across the organization, a Culture of Content can be the driving force behind an engine of content. A CoC leads […]
If you’re selling a product or service, you need to know your buyers. Maybe you don’t know them personally, but at the very least you need to recognize their personality, their passions, their challenges. Below is a handy infographic breaking down the science of buyer personas, courtesy content marketing firm Single Grain. The infographic’s concluding […]
For as long as there has been law marketing, practitioners and firms have been stopping worthwhile business development initiatives cold for a whole host of reasons. They raise questions about the cost of the project. They fret over how clients might react to what the lawyer thinks is a “too aggressive” effort. They worry about […]
Your boss or your client wants to run a new B2B marketing campaign. And try some new things. And they’ve heard Reddit is big. What do you do? Start here. First of all, is it big? Yes. Nothing major happens on the web without Reddit noticing. That may seem like a grandiose statement, but it’s true. […]
Content is king, and for your business to excel in today’s fast-paced marketplace you need a solid content marketing strategy to generate leads and turn them into paying clients. According to CMI’s study 2015 Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends, consistently creating engaging content, and on a variety of subjects, are the biggest challenges that […]
In the post Lessons from a Shark, we looked at how senior executives measure content marketing performance. Here is one way to apply those lessons and get started understanding the performance of your organic content. Set up a content performance whiteboard. Draw a big circle on it. Then draw two smaller circles so that it […]
Rule #1: don’t put them to sleep. Content marketing is effective, but it’s not easy to plan. If it isn’t aligned to corporate priorities, it won’t get the right results. Without a focus on relevancy and customer needs, it might cause drowsiness. A recent study showed that nearly 50 percent percent of the 88 percent […]
Page views? Time on page? Video views? Are these real content marketing performance indicators? No. Why not? If you know how much time was spent on a page, and that more time was spent on one page of content than another page, is that actionable information? Does it give you any insight into content ROI? […]
Launching a new B2B presence on social networks with zero budget and no existing web presence on a Friday night? Requires tons of patience and you won’t really see results for months, right? Not necessarily. On September 19 2014 we launched the @b2bnewsnetwork Twitter account. We kicked off (somewhat unintentionally) at the worst time […]
You wouldn’t serve wagyu to vegans or request formal attire at your Burning Man meditation meetup. So why do marketers deliver untargeted content? Yes, bad content is everywhere, and any way to create more relevant, useful marketing content works for us. But a way to do that AND cut your content marketing production costs dramatically […]
Sometimes when you’re looking for something, you need to take a step back and figure out what you really need it for, and what you need from it. Today this type of context is completely missing from product information in the rush to sale. But let’s re-imagine how this happens online … You arrive at […]
In an on-demand B2B universe, content marketing becomes information, useful experiences that are useful to the marketer too. It’s measurable, delivered however the information seeker prefers, from 140-character tweets with answers to the most popular questions asked by customers to triggered emails, catalogs, whitepapers, and more. For content to really develop relationships, however, marketers must […]
If content is king, it seems video content is ascending the throne. The Content Marketing Institute reports 73 percent of B2B marketers use video, and according to a survey by Demand Metric this year, 82 percent of B2B organizations report some level of success with video marketing. In a separate Demand Metric survey from August, […]
Guest post by Adam Dawson Oh search engines; you glorious portals to millions of tidbits of information that have made settling arguments over useless facts painless. Because of you, there is a scarcity of scenarios where questions go unanswered because someone can whip their smartphone out and “Google” it. Instead of wandering through libraries, spending […]
After the current content marketing craze runs its course, what comes next? A look into the digital marketing crystal ball. Content marketing is the hottest thing in marketing. Social media marketing is on the wane and SEO is in a state of confusion and reinvention. Today, all things marketing seem to end in content. It’s […]
