6 simple steps to create killer content
Do you ever wonder how some people come up with great content consistently, with no struggles? I used to. I often found myself shuffling the topics in my sparkfile, trying to pick the one to…
Read MoreBest Practices
How to create content for every stage of the buyer’s journey
Imagine: You spend a year building a relationship with a high-value client. On the day you’re set to close on a huge deal, you walk into the conference room… and start explaining what your company…
Read More5 keys to effectively use images that complement your blogging efforts
While finding skilled writers and editors may be paramount to your content marketing efforts, it’s critical that you don’t forget about imagery and visual content. When it comes to positioning your blog as a premier…
Read MoreContent Marketing ROI: how to define, measure and improve content effectiveness
55% of B2B marketers are unsure of the effectiveness of their content marketing. Damn… 55%! In 2015, in the age of digital and big data, we have a majority of marketers pretty much not knowing what…
Read MoreThe pros and cons of marketing automation
The days of easy marketing are over. You can no longer just buy a few ad spots and get results. Customers and clients today expect more. To get in front of them and get them…
Read More4 ways to use interactive content in marketing
While there’s nothing wrong with standard text-based content, it’s important that businesses develop alternative methods for “spicing things up.” When used in conjunction with quality articles, blog posts, and website copy, interactive features can really…
Read MoreThe best content marketing tools for the measuring phase (6/6)
Last editions: #1: The best content marketing tools for the research phase. #2: The best content marketing tools for the creation phase. #3: The best content marketing tools for the optimization phase. #4: The best content marketing tools for…
Read MoreOn track to Content Marketing ROI? Take the 5′ test
Bygone days. It used to be simpler. Marketers would create super-well designed brochures and pay to advertise their product/service in front of their audience. Wait. What just happened? Internet of course. Internet changed everything. 90% of…
Read MoreBest of content marketing articles, Q3 2015
Hi everyone, We wanted to share with you the Best Of Content Marketing articles we wrote in the past 3 months. And in extra, get the list of the best tools for the publishing phase…
Read MoreThe best content marketing tools for the promotion phase (5/6)
Last editions: #1: The best content marketing tools for the research phase. #2: The best content marketing tools for the creation phase. #3: The best content marketing tools for the optimization phase. #4: The best content marketing tools for…
Read MoreLink baiting infographic: how to create sustainable, all-natural links
Link baiting is a hot topic in the field of Search Engine Optimization. SEO consultants are all asking the same question: how can we create web content that will naturally be shared by as many…
Read MoreThe best content marketing tools for the publishing phase (4/6)
Last editions: #1: The best content marketing tools for the research phase. #2: The best content marketing tools for the creation phase. #3: The best content marketing tools for the optimization phase. We mentioned how much content marketing…
Read MoreWhy evergreen content is a lean content marketing strategy
“I like to compare evergreen posts to the foundations of a house. You may put up new wallpaper, patch up the roof, or even change the tiles on the floor – but rarely do you…
Read MoreThe best content marketing tools for the optimization phase (3/6)
Last editions: The best content marketing tools for the research phase. The best content marketing tools for the creation phase. We mentioned how much content marketing is an opportunity to build an audience in an authentic…
Read MoreHow to use competitive research to improve your content marketing
Your content has a lot of competition. That’s a big challenge, but there’s a hidden opportunity there, too. With just a little bit of research you can find out how any piece of content performed….
Read More3 ways content marketers can use mobile to push content
Content marketing – as an industry – is quickly migrating towards mobile devices. After all, that’s where users are reading and engaging with content. For the first time ever, the number of mobile-only internet users…
Read MoreThe best content marketing tools for the creation phase (2/6)
Last week we listed the best content marketing tools for the research phase, first phase of your content marketing cycle.
We mentioned how much content marketing is an opportunity to build an audience in an authentic way, if you’re willing to invest the time to do things right.
Some carefully chosen content marketing software definitely help. To give you the specifics on how it could help and which pieces of software might help, we’ve put together this series of walk-throughs of all the basic functions and tasks required for content marketing, plus which pieces of software to use for each function.
This doesn’t include every piece of software you could use. But it does include the heavy hitters and the most popular tools.
I hope it gives you some ideas for how to better use software in your content marketing. Excel and whiteboards and notepads are all great tools, but we probably shouldn’t be running an entire content marketing department with them.
This week, we’ll go over the best content marketing tools to help you in your creation phase.
Read More4 ways to effortlessly incorporate video into existing content marketing
As a business owner or marketer, you always have to be thinking about how you can improve and complement existing strategies by leveraging available technologies. In terms of content marketing in 2015, this means you…
Read MoreA simple guide to promote your blog in 2015
A few weeks back I wrote an article called “How to write good blog posts for your audience and SEO and make sure they perform” in which I laid down the steps I used to 1. write good blog posts consistently, and 2. help them perform better. The above infographic is a great visual way to respond to #2.
How to promote your blog in 2015: should you spend 80% of your time at it?
Many influencers talk about the 80/20 rule: you should spend 20% of your time creating content and 80% of your time promoting it. Although I think this ratio really depends on your job, needs and company, it does capture one thing: if you write amazing content but don’t shout out your did so, no one will hear you.
And as far as promoting your blog goes, you can pick and choose on the list above the items that make most sense to your company. If for instance you work for a very technical B2B company and your target audience is above 50 years old, you might want to consider investing in LinkedIn rather than Facebook, leverage influencers and invest time in guest blogging. It all really depends on your audience, where they are and what they care about.
There is one very important point I’d like to add to this infographic: it’s not content repurposing (which I thing is one of the leanest way to do content marketing, it saves an incredible amount of time), it’s content recycling.
Promoting your blog regularly is the key.
Imagine if radio stations had played Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean only once: would it have become the 80’s biggest hit? Probably not. This is the same with your content. If you want it to be seen among others, you have to share it on a regular basis with your audience.
Read MoreThe best content marketing tools for the research phase (1/6)
Content marketing has a lot going for it. It’s 63% less expensive than traditional advertising. It’s an opportunity to build an audience in an authentic way. But it does require quite a bit of work and management if you want to see results.
These are the 6 phases of content marketing:
This week, we’ll go over the best content marketing tools to help you in your research phase.
Read More7 ways content marketing can keep people on your website
In the content marketing game, getting people on your website is typically the main objective. Posting great content improves your reputation, increases your visibility, and can serve as a funnel for referral traffic, but inbound…
Read MoreHow to make super-shareable social media images
We are visual creatures. Our brains process images 60,000 times faster than text. And while we retain only 10% of what we hear and 20% of what we read, we remember 80% of what we…
Read MoreHow to use content upgrades to grow your blog subscribers
Content marketing is built on beautiful principles. Instead of interrupting people’s day to day lives with TV adverts, skyline-blocking billboards and glossy magazine ads, content marketers create useful resources for their customers and for each…
Read More7 copywriting principles that will skyrocket conversion
The marketing definition of conversion is “get the prospect to take action.”
How do you get someone to take the action you want? You need to make them comfortable.
Marketers are hard to trust, right? We brought it on ourselves because we were “full of it” for decades. Or, at least, we were full of ourselves.
So when a potential buyer arrives in your marketing den for the first time, they’re not exactly in a hurry to proceed to the bedroom. Or relax into a chair.
At best, they’re curious. Realistically, they’re anxious. And usually, they do just the opposite of what you want. They leave.
Why? Discomfort. It’s the almighty conversion killer—the meanest mutha’ in marketing.
So here’s what I propose: drop the transformation ambition and aim a wee-bit lower. Aim to overcome the causes of discomfort. You need to craft your content to put prospects in their comfort zone.
Who’s in charge of the comfort zone?
The copywriter is the chief conversion officer.
The copywriter’s output must seal the deal or at least write something compelling—and comforting—enough to start some sort of relationship.
Read MoreHow to generate leads with content marketing
If you didn’t know that content marketing is your best bet to generate leads today, then at least I would have warned you!
No but seriously, if I didn’t convince you, here are a few facts that will.
Why it is better to generate leads with content marketing
– Inbound marketing delivers 54% more leads into the marketing funnel than traditional outbound marketing. (Source: State of Inbound 2014, Hubspot).
– You have 758x more chances of closing an inbound lead (that came to you through your content) than an outbound lead (that you went to get with telemarketing, cold calling, etc.) (Source: Search Engine Journal).
What top marketing experts think about the topic
No man is an island: content curation for content creators
“There is nothing new under the sun.”
What do you think of that quote? Is it depressing? Dismissive?
True?
True or not, that quote evokes a dilemma every content creator struggles with. We have a lot of content to create, and in one way or another, it’s all been created before.
Before you get on the defensive, let me explain what I mean by that.
Why we tend to create similar content
Our job is to create content that both serves our audience and meets business goals. To do that efficiently, we use proven formats (blog posts, white papers, tweets, etc). We answer common questions. We do this in ways that are familiar to our audience and easy for them to understand.
If we get too creative and too cutting-edge, we become hard to understand. As soon as our audience doesn’t understand us, they’re gone. The rest of the Internet – the easy-to-understand and endlessly diverting Internet – is only a click away.
Read MoreDouble your traffic by raising your blog posts from the dead
Find out how you can double the amount of traffic and leads you get from “old” blog content through historical optimization.
Read MoreContent marketing happy hour – August 27th in San Francisco
We’re sad summer is ending… so we decided to make it last a bit longer!
Come at our content marketing happy hour to discuss marketing best practices with our team and your peers over food and drinks!
What – Happy hour in our office
Who – Marketers and content marketers
Where – Downtown San Francisco
When – Next Thursday August 27th starting at 6pm
We’ll stack the fridge with wine and beers and there will be cheese and pizzas.
Come with your marketer friends and let’s make it a party!
Of course, it’s free 🙂
But hurry… our office can’t host the entire content marketing scene so it’s first come first serve!
Read MoreWhy you need to create a content marketing strategy
The most popular digital marketing mantra in recent years has been “Content is King”, and while the mantra itself may be a touch overused, it is by no means inaccurate. Now more than ever it’s incredibly important to create – not just a content marketing strategy but – your own unique content marketing strategy if you hope to drive traffic and boost brand awareness from online channels.
This article dives into a bit of background on the recent popularity of content marketing, why you need to develop a content marketing strategy that is unique, and shows you where to find some of the newest strategies to set yourself apart from your competitors.
Read MoreContent hubs: your secret to success in publishing (free eBook)
Content marketing sucks. What’s more, the coolest content marketers no longer have blogs. Wait. What? Has guest blogger Barry Feldman (please excuse the weird switch to the third-person voice) flown kamikaze into the Scoop.it blog…
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