Category: Content Strategy - SuperDeluxe Marketing .:. Marketing Strategy . Content Marketing . Branding

B2B Content Marketing Observations based on CMI Research

1/17/2020

In Q4 of 2019, Content Marketing Institute released this delightful report entitled “2020 B2B Content Marketing: What the Successful Do”. You know what I love? A juicy, statistics filled report that a) I didn’t have to pay to have done and b) is well documented and trustworthy. If I were a kid on Halloween, this would be the equivalent to giving me a bucket of ethically sourced sugary morsels.

Because this report is so action-packed, we’re going to focus on one slide (just one!). Friends and neighbors, if you could flip your textbooks to slide 25, we’ll start there.

A Marketer’s Guide to Making Your Content More Valuable, Useful and Relevant

10/8/2019

Don’t be wasteful in your content marketing efforts: According to a report by CMI, 95% of B2B marketers use content marketing as part of their overall marketing strategy. Nowadays, content marketing is par for the course. But good content marketing, the stuff that really sticks, can be hard to come by. You know, the type of content that was created to serve a purpose, not written simply because the content calendar prescribed it.

The crazy thing is, B2B companies are spending upwards of $5.2B per year on creating content. Yet nearly $1B of that spend is wasted due to inefficient content marketing processes, according to a study led by Kapost and Gleanster Research. This tells us that content marketing is still a beast to be reckoned with.

Refine Your Content Curation Strategy (ooh, fancy!)

6/15/2019

I like the word “curation.” It feels fancy. When it entered it into the marketing lexicon, I started using it out of context in all sorts of fun ways. For instance, I didn’t cook dinner, I curated my evening’s food. I didn’t just invite people over to hike, I curated my company for an outdoor activity. I didn’t go shopping, I was curating my closet. It felt like the grammatical equivalent of removing contractions from speech. And that makes me feel a character from Downton Abbey. Those people are the definition of fancy. If they were real, I bet they’d have a curation strategy for their mundane life activities too.

CMI Agency Report: Insights & Observations from the Field

3/12/2019

Close your eyes … and think about the best. vacation. ever.

It may have been decades ago when you were a kid and didn’t have to plan a thing. It may have been something you did as a grownup -- when you got to choose the destination, the thread count of the sheets and the color of the drink.

Whatever it was, I’m here to say, (with bell-laden, magical-infused music in the background, a la when door number 3 opens on The Price is Right) “Let’s imagine a vacation to the Content Marketing Resort.” (Yes, I made it up - stay with me here!).

I’ve asked some “travel” experts to help us get there.

Drink This, Eat That, Buy Me Now: The Stories That Convince

7/31/2018

By Maureen Jann and Paula Kiger

Dear readers: take a look around at your environment (then come back to this post, please!). I’m guessing that for many of you, there’s a bottle of water not too far away. You may be drinking it as you read. Maybe you're in a restaurant or coffee shop, where purchasing a bottle of water is an option, or in a home where the fridge has at least one bottle (or even a case) of the stuff.

Bottles of water are everywhere, the fact remains. Many of us reflexively grab one on the way out the door, despite environmental ramifications (buy a reusable one, they're great!). Have you ever wondered: what story was told about bottled water that made it so ubiquitous?

Customer Personas: Turning Data Into Personas

6/19/2018

Back in May, I was the expert on Erika Heald’s tweetchat #ContentChat about customer personas, and since then I’ve been sharing the highlights of the conversation in a series of blogs. Part 1 was about what you need to know before you start the process of persona development. Part 2 focused on getting to know your customers. In this, the final installment, I’m talking about pulling together all of that work you did to finally create your customer personas. Enjoy!

Buyer Personas: Getting to Know Your Customers

6/5/2018

Early in May, I was the expert on Erika Heald’s tweetchat #ContentChat. The topic was a deep dive on personas: why they’re important, what (and who) who you need to create them, and how to put them into a format that’s usable and helpful. The conversation was so rich I felt compelled to share some of the highlights — and there were a lot! In Part 1 of the blog series, I covered what you need to know before you start the process of persona development. Now, in Part 2, we’ll dig in and focus on getting to know your customers! And if you're interested in skipping ahead, read Part 3 .

What's the Point of a Content Strategy?

7/24/2017

I’m sure you’ve been pressured by various people to blog, do social media, yadda, yadda, yadda. You might even be doing some of that. But when resources are tight and you’re down to the wire, you might be asking yourself…

Why should you have a content strategy at all?

As with anything, a directed and cohesive plan will help you be more successful. Sometimes the road is longer and bumpier with gold at the end of the rainbow and sometimes you’ll see swift results like an eagle, or some junk. No matter what, you can’t go wrong with having a strong content and measurement strategy. If you choose to invest and effectively measure your content efforts over the haul, you’ll get results.

So, let’s get to the nitty gritty: how can a content strategy help you win more business?

Should You Write About Your Products on Your Blog?

7/17/2017

It can seem questionable to write about your products or services on your blog. And sometimes it is. If you do it wrong, it can go south pretty quickly. If you keep one rule of thumb in mind when you're creating blog articles, no matter what the topic is, you'll be fine:

What would help the customer?

Blogging about products the wrong way.

There are a few things that happen when companies get a little too lackadaisical about this rule of thumb. Here's the most common mistakes:

There's no compelling reason to talk about their products. They're just selling. It's boring and, honestly, no one cares.
The blog sounds like marketing gibberish. As soon as your blogging doesn't sound like a human, you've lost your audience.
The blog doesn't illustrate the value of the product in a way that's interesting to the reader.

Building a Content Strategy: Three-Layer Cake-Style

7/5/2017

Content strategies can feel hard. Especially if you’re too close to it. I could make a case that this is the perfect reason to involve someone who can help you with it, but it feels too salesy, so forget I said that. What I would like to encourage you to do is think about your content in context of something more fun and light hearted. Something delicious and that draws you back to a time where big wheels, swings and birthday presents were at the forefront of your mind. I’m talking about cake.