The Content Marketers - List of Lists - Part 1
Posted by May 11th 09
This is the second installment of Content Marketing lists for the month of May. The first installment was The Content Marketers - List of ‘How To’ Blog Posts
There is a treasure trove of information in these lists on Content Marketing and how to attract customers with good content. I separated the list into three sections:
- The first section is a roundup of insights into how to leverage Content Marketing for your business(Published in this blog post)
- The second section is a list of blog posts on how to attract customers with good content(To be published next week in Part 2)
- The third section is an assorted list of blog posts related to Content Marketing (To be published next week in Part 2)
How to leverage Content Marketing for your business
This section is a roundup of insights into how to leverage Content Marketing for your business. All of these blog posts have many ideas and tips on Content Marketing. There are many valuable lessons in these blog posts to leverage for creating and marketing white papers. Below each blog post, I have outlined one key takeaway from the blog post that is relevant for creating and marketing whitepapers or eBooks.
3 Steps to Initiating a Successful Online Content Marketing Program
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How to implement a content marketing program step-by-step? Joe Pulizzi gives the initial 3 steps to creating an effective online content marketing program in his blog post on 3 Steps to Initiating a Successful Online Content Marketing Program. |
Lesson
Businesses create specific content so that customers react in very specific ways. Without a clear understanding of the customer's information needs, any reaction that is close to the end goal is pure dumb luck. Before creating a white paper, understand your customer's information needs.
The Three Essentials of Breakthrough Content Marketing
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How do you capture customer's attention? Sonia Simone gives three key elements to focus your attention on to make content marketing work for you. The Three Essentials of Breakthrough Content Marketing. |
Lesson
You want to ask for the order with a strong call to action. But keep the balance right. Use your content to build desire for your product, and to create an unshakeable relationship with your audience, then ask for the sale. Strategically place a call for action in your white paper.
4 Content Marketing Essentials for Every Business
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What should every business be doing on a regular consistent basis that involves high-value content? Joe Pulizzi covers this topic in his blog post 4 Content Marketing Essentials for Every Business. |
Lesson
Custom published white papers can serve as excellent thought leadership and lead generation pieces for your company. The key with white paper programs is consistency. If you launch a program, make sure you have at least one white paper per quarter. Although you can use white papers as collateral that your sales force hands out to prospects, they can most easily be downloadable from your Web site or from a partner website to which you have syndicated your white papers.
5 Tips for Getting Your Content Marketing Initiative Started
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How do you get started on your Content Marketing initiative? What’s your first step? Read Russell Sparkman's 5 Tips for Getting Your Content Marketing Initiative Started. |
Lesson
You’ll need to think, plan and act like a publisher. If your organization is a thought leader in your sector, offer professionally generated white papers to your prospects and customers.
Five Content Marketing Books You Need to Read
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What books are on your Content Marketing reading list? Joe Pullizzi's Five Content Marketing Books You Need to Read gives you a great start point. |
Lesson
Read all 5 books that Joe recommends to understand the changing landscape of marketing.
5 Key Content Marketing Posts for Your Business Blog
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What are the 5 important stand-alone articles that are key for your business blog? Patsi Krakoff discusses this in her blog post 5 Key Content Marketing Posts for Your Business Blog. |
Lesson
Persuasive writing is key. Good content should capture reader's attention and leads them to an action. That action can be other things besides a sale: you can build trust, establish expertise or connect emotionally. Connect with your readers in your white papers by providing solution to their problem rather than blindly pitching your product.
Five Content Marketing Ideas that Will Pay Dividends
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How do music marketing ideas apply to Content Marketing? Joe Pulizzi's give ideas to seriously consider for your brand in his blog post Five Content Marketing Ideas that Will Pay Dividends. |
Lesson
Be the "editor" in a market and present people the best content in that market or that topic. Be the enabler of the information they are looking for. Show thought leadership in your white papers. Educate and inform.
Five Reasons an e-Book Should Be a Core Component Of Your Content Marketing Strategy
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How to distribute your content marketing message using the power of eBooks? Newt Barrett give tips of this in his blog post Five Reasons an e-Book Should Be a Core Component Of Your Content Marketing Strategy. |
Lesson
You can quickly, compellingly, visually, and inexpensively establish thought leadership with an e-book or white paper that provides relevant information on the toughest challenges your customers face.
5 (More) Reasons an Ebook is a Must for Content Marketing
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Patsi Krakoff adds to Newt Barretts blog post on Five Reasons an e-Book Should Be a Core Component Of Your Content Marketing Strategy at 5 (More) Reasons an Ebook is a Must for Content Marketing. |
Lesson
Ebooks or white papers doesn't have to be complicated, long or elaborate. It does have to offer valuable information that is helpful to your readers. Don't waste people's time with sales hype though, or it will backfire.
The Five Pillars of Content Marketing - The Ultimate Definition
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Joe Pulizzi says that Content Marketing is Editorial-based, Marketing-backed, Behavior-driven, Multi-platform and Targeted in his blog post The Five Pillars of Content Marketing - The Ultimate Definition. |
Lesson
The creation of great, story-form content (through any channel) is what ultimately influences someone to buy your product or generates a desired behavior. In your white papers, tell a story about the solution. Don't just pitch the product.
6 Ways Content Marketing Can Help You Survive the Recession
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Newt Barrett recommends you to focus on a content marketing strategy that will require a whole lot of thought and effort, but will not require a lot of money. 6 Ways Content Marketing Can Help You Survive the Recession. |
Lesson
Develop a deep understanding of your customers and what is most important to them. Determine what problems are most vexing and what solutions they require. Once you do this, proposing a solution in your white paper in a language that 'talks to the customer is easy.
6 Key Content Marketing Lessons to Learn from Great Presenters
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Newt Barrett recommends that you apply lessons from Nick’s book, “Give Your Speech, Change the World” to content marketing in his blog post 6 Key Content Marketing Lessons to Learn from Great Presenters. |
Lesson
You have to understand your audience in order to communicate effectively with them. Too often we begin with a feature set that we assume is important to our customers without having done the necessary research to know what they really care about. Take a solution based approach when creating your white paper.
6 Reasons Why Your Blog Is Your Most Important Social Media Tool
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Is blogging on your Content Marketing list? Newt Barrett points out that blog is a very important social media weapon in your arsenal. 6 Reasons Why Your Blog Is Your Most Important Social Media Tool. |
Lesson
By defining the most important areas of information that you will cover in your white paper and laying them out in the beginning, you enable your readers to find exactly what they want with minimal effort. What do you want your customers or prospects to do after reading your white paper? Work backwards and decide what are the important points you want to educate your customer on.
Seven Content Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
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What are the mistakes that businesses make regarding their content strategies? How can they fix them and avoid making them in the future? Joe Pulizz discusses this in Seven Content Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them. |
Lesson
Create valuable, compelling and consistent content (articles, blogs, videos, white papers) as the core of your web site. There is no better way for you to show prospects that you are a trusted expert.
Don't Make The 7 Deadliest Content Marketing Mistakes
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What deadly traps to avoid as you role out your Content Marketing Initiative? Newt Barrett discusses tips in his blog post Don't Make The 7 Deadliest Content Marketing Mistakes. |
Lesson
Develop content that’s just right for your readers. Don't aim too high or too low. Understanding precisely who your prospects are makes all the difference. Understanding not just what they need to know, but where they are on the learning curve is critical to creating content that resonates with your prospects.
8 Great Content Marketing Takeaways from 2009 Custom Content Conference
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Newt Barrett shares is takeaways from 2009 Custom Content Conference in his blog post 8 Great Content Marketing Takeaways from 2009 Custom Content Conference. |
Lesson
Get in the shoes of your customer and find out what their biggest problem is and how your product will solve that problem. This mind-exercise will help you write a great white paper that appeals to your customers.
Nine Strategies to Create a World-Class Content Marketing Company
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What are the important New Rules of Custom Publishing that publishers and marketers need to know? Joe Pulizzi highlight these in his blog post Nine Strategies to Create a World-Class Content Marketing Company. |
Lesson
What's going to differentiate your company from the masses? Does your white paper clearly identify your products value proposition and competitive differentiators?
Top 10 Content Marketing Lessons From Practitioners
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Simon Hénault summarizes lessons from Joe Pulizzi and Newt Barrett's Get Content, Get Clients in his blog post Top 10 Content Marketing Lessons From Practitioners. |
Lesson
Relevant and valuable content is just the first step in turning a prospect into a customer. You must then make it easy for them to get to the next step, whether it is to write or call you, or simply to buy online. Provide valuable content in your white papers and make it easy for your prospects to reach you.
Top 10 B2B Product Launch Factors - The Case of the Missing Content
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How do you improve your B2B product launch success? Get Joe Pulizzi tips at Top 10 B2B Product Launch Factors - The Case of the Missing Content. |
Lesson
Customer touch points are still as important as ever. Invest first internally. Prepare the sales troops, then start working on creating demand generation. Create different versions of white papers for internal and external use. Internal white papers should help prepare your sales teams for active customer engagement. External white papers should educate your customers and prospects.
Top Ten Reasons Why Your Content Marketing Strategy Fails
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Have you adopted Content Marketing? How do you know it is working? Valeria Maltoni give her insights on Top Ten Reasons Why Your Content Marketing Strategy Fails. |
Lesson
How will your customers and prospects find the information they are looking for? How will your articles, white papers, eBooks, blog posts convey that you understand your customers needs and the issues at play in the marketplace?
The Ten Commandments of Content Marketing
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Kat French says that Content marketing requires creative talent, good process, organization skills, and strategic thinking. Her insights are at The Ten Commandments of Content Marketing. |
Lesson
Content marketing is a long-haul proposition, and should really be part of your overall communications plan. Make white papers and eBooks a part of your communication plans.
10 Content Marketing Tips to Start Now for 2009
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Joe Pulizzi advises on 10 tactics to consider as part of your 2009 content plan in his blog pos 10 Content Marketing Tips to Start Now for 2009. |
Lesson
Create case studies and interviews with customers about challenges solved. Write industry white papers or eBooks that cover a key topic that your customers need to be educated on.
11 Essential Content Marketing Insights from 2008 Custom Content Conference
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New Barrett shares content marketing insights from 2008 Custom Content Conference to guide your thinking, strategy, and tactics in his blog post 11 Essential Content Marketing Insights from 2008 Custom Content Conference. |
Lesson
Consumers may say they are overwhelmed with information but they are out seeking it every day. They do not want to be bombarded with information that they did not request. They want to control the flow of information and to aggregate it as they see fit. When you create white papers, provide information such that it is easy for your prospects to understand your value proposition easily.
12 Steps to Creating Web-Savvy Content for Marketing
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How do you write content that works for the Web, that markets your business, gets you found, and is link-friendly? Patsi Krakoff's insights are at 12 Steps to Creating Web-Savvy Content for Marketing. |
Lesson
Follow a process when creating and marketing content. In your white papers, conclude with a call to action. What do you want readers to do next? If you don't tell them, they'll miss it. Spell it out. If you want them to buy something, show them how.
15 Steps to Small Business Online Marketing Success
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Joe Pulizzi gives a checklist for online content that small- or medium-sized businesses can use in his blog post 15 Steps to Small Business Online Marketing Success. |
Lesson
Create an eBook as a packaged content download for your customers and prospects. If you need your customer information (leads), you may opt to ask for basic information before download. If you want your content to spread and be shared, set it free.
15 Secrets to Getting the Most Bang for Your Content Marketing Buck
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How do you extend the reach of your content far beyond the circulation of that print publication? Learn tips from Newt Barrett in his blog post 15 Secrets to Getting the Most Bang for Your Content Marketing Buck. |
Lesson
Provide something remarkable and different in your content. This does two things: 1) continues the conversation with your current customers, or 2) gives you information on prospects so you can begin a conversation with them. Something remarkable may be a free eBook about the 10 trends in your industry, or a free white paper on a new, cutting-edge technology. Keep the sales pitch out. Seek only to educate at this point.
16 Questions to Ask Before Launching a Content Marketing or Custom Publishing Project
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Whenever you are creating and distributing content to your prospects and customers, stop and ask the question Joe Pulizzi recommends in 16 Questions to Ask Before Launching a Content Marketing or Custom Publishing Project. |
Lesson
You cannot hope to implement a successful content marketing or custom publishing strategy without understanding exactly what outcome you require. Equally important is an in-depth understanding of your targeted buyer. Only then can you craft a content marketing approach that will deliver more sales, more customers, and more measurable results.
34 Content Marketing Articles and Resources
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Charles Brown has compiled a great list of Content Marketing Posts at 34 Content Marketing Articles and Resources. |
Lesson
Learn about Content Marketing from Charles Browns's great compilation of Content Marketing posts.
49 Creative Ways You Can Profit From Content Marketing
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Sonia Simone shares a cool list of ideas for Content Marketing in her blog post 49 Creative Ways You Can Profit From Content Marketing. |
Lesson
Write a special report or white paper that addresses a thorny problem in an interesting way. Create a buyer’s guide. Use it to frame purchasing questions on your terms. Let buyers know what to look for and what to watch out for. Tell them what questions they should be asking. Don’t make this too self-serving. If you make it real (and let other vendors win some of the business, especially for customers who aren’t truly suited to you), it will get used.
50 Content Ideas that Create Buzz
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Valeria Maltoni share ideas for content creation that applies to the new business of marketing and communications in her blog post 50 Content Ideas that Create Buzz. |
Lesson
Tell your product story in a way that is concrete and your prospects and customers can relate to.Take customers or readers on a day in the life of your product or service in your white paper.
I hope you have found this list useful. No list is by any means exhaustive. Please add to this list.
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Over to you -
There are so many valuable Content Marketing tips and lessons from the experts on this list of lists. What are 3 easy-to-implement tips you will implement in the next 7 days? Writing down your goal makes your more accountable. Go ahead, pick 3 tips you want to implement, write them down and measure yourself.
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