Content marketing can generate enormous value that other methods of marketing just can’t match. To begin with, content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing and creates three times the number of leads. (Ref: DemandMetric)
Amazing content is, of course, an essential for success, but it can all fall down before you’ve begun if the basics aren’t in place. With more than 80% of marketers actively investing in content marketing, we’ve put together some useful information, inspiration and resources to help you get the most from your content marketing campaigns.
1. First on the list is Hubspot’s Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing
The masters of content marketing, Hubspot have built a multi-billion dollar business by creating market leading tools for businesses of all sizes to excel at inbound marketing. And most of their success has come from walking the walk – they dominate the search results for most topics around content marketing.
Content marketing overview & insights: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/content-marketing
2. How To Create A Content Plan
Now that you’ve walked around the basics, it’s time to get your plan in place. SmartInsights are a trusty source of information and their site is well worth bookmarking as they offer solid guides, training and templates.
Content marketing planning – https://www.smartinsights.com/content-management/content-marketing-strategy/how-to-create-a-content-marketing-plan/
3. The Neuroscience of Storytelling
All the planning in the world won’t do any good if the content doesn’t grab the reader’s attention and keeps them from diving in deeper. In this article from The Content Marketing Institute, Joe Lazauskas – head of content at Contently – explains how the right story taps deep into the brain, boosts the neural activity and “illuminate the city of our mind”.
Listen or watch Joe Lazauskas discuss the power of storytelling – https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/cco-digital/april-2019/storytelling-neuroscience-joe-lazauskas/
4. Content Marketing Examples
It’s always useful to get some inspiration from organisations and brands that are making their mark with content marketing. Here’s a variety of examples including Blogging, Social Media, Visual Content, Video Marketing, Ebooks and Resources, and a few other really creative method of telling a story (including the classic and much copied ‘Will It Blend?’ by Blentec).
Content marketing examples for inspiration – https://optinmonster.com/content-marketing-examples/
5. Sustainability Marketing Examples
When it comes to sustainability, no organisation is perfect. And while these five international brands may not all be sustainability superstars, they are all great examples of effective sustainability marketing.
Five examples of sustainability marketing – https://www.toitu.co.nz/news-and-events/news/marketing/five-great-examples-of-sustainability-marketing
6. Alternative Content Marketing Ideas
And now for something a bit different – Typeform’s look at some original content marketing ideas, including Documentaries, Quizzes, Chatbots, Interactive Video, Calculators and Direct Mail.
Content marketing ideas that are a bit different – https://www.typeform.com/blog/ask-awesomely/content-marketing-examples/
7. Google Sheets Marketing Templates
Want to speed up content research, planning, finding topics & filling in content gaps? These Google sheets templates will provide you with some solid templates to get started with. You may find that none of these are perfect, and Google Sheets may not be your platform of choice to use, but they will provide the basics with which to build your own unique content marketing plans.
Content marketing templates to use – https://sheetsformarketers.com/google-sheets-templates/content/
8. How To Create A Social Media Content Calendar
Once you’ve created and published your content, it’s time to promote it. This is an essential part of the process that is often overlooked and under resourced. Social media is key to connecting with a wider audience, and this guide takes you through the steps necessary to make your own, takes a look at some real-world examples and also lists some useful social media content calendar apps.
Social media content calendar – https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-create-a-social-media-content-calendar/
9. This Amazing Content Marketing Calendar Will Inspire You To Greatness In 2022*
This is the claim made by Search Engine Journal for their holiday marketing calendar listing major days throughout the year, along with popular hashtags for each month.
Marketing calendar template – https://www.searchenginejournal.com/holiday-marketing/holiday-marketing-calendar-template/
10. Essential Guide to Measure Content Marketing
No matter how creative, memorable, or popular your content is, the objective of content marketing is to make an impact on the bottom line. This article by The Content Marketing Institute will ensure that your content tracking metrics are considered right at the start of a content marketing project to ensure maximum success.
Tracking – https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2021/04/how-measure-content-marketing-essential-guide/
11. ROI: Learn Key Metrics To Connect Content To Results
Watch as Marriott International’s Robin Bennefield, RBC’s Lily Wong, and MDFinancial’s Shawna Dennis break down the ROI approaches that helped their organizations start to master content marketing.
Content marketing ROI methods- https://contently.com/content-marketing-roi-methods/
Over To You
We hope you find these resources useful. If you still have questions or need some help getting the most from your marketing, get in touch. We’d love to hear from you!
