by Fronetics | Feb 18, 2015 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Strategy
Content curation is an essential component of a marketing strategy.
When it comes to creating and executing a successful marketing strategy, content curation is often forgotten. There are two reasons for this: 1) lack of knowledge about what content curation is; and 2) lack of knowledge about the role of content curation within a marketing strategy.
Here is what you need to know about content curation.
What is content curation?
Simply put, content curation is the act of identifying valuable content from a variety of sources and distributing via it your own platform in a strategic manner.
Heidi Cohen, President at Riverside Marketing Strategies, looked to content marketing experts so as to better understand what content curation is and how it can be used to achieve business objectives. She compiled 19 definitions. Here are three of the definitions:
Content curation is the process of identifying content created by others that will be valuable for your audience and then publishing it on your own platform. Michael Brenner of SAP and the B2B Insider blog.
Content curation is hand selecting content created by other sources and sharing them with your community. Best done when whoever is curating adds their own explanation for sharing, reaction or opinions. C.C. Chapman author of Author of Amazing Things Will Happen and co-author of Content Rules.
Content curation is the process of choosing the most relevant information to meet your readers’ needs on a specific topic like a good editor or museum curator. Content curation requires more than just the selection of information. It’s the assembling, categorizing, commenting and presenting the best content available. Heidi Cohen of Riverside Marketing Strategies.
Why content curation matters
A 2014 survey found that 76% of respondents reported that content curation positively impacted their business goals in 2013. 90% of respondents predicted that content curation will have a positive impact on their business goals in the upcoming year.
No one wants to hear about you all the time. As strange as it may sound, talking about your products, services, and your value all the time is bad for business. Here is where content curation comes in. Content curation will serve to establish your business as a thought-leader within the industry and as a trusted resource. Additionally, it will serve to increase your brand visibility. The great thing about content curation is that it enables you to achieve these business objectives without talking all about you.
Navigating the deluge of digital content available, and identifying the content that is relevant and valuable to your prospects and customers is critical.
Two things to remember:
Quality is key
There is a lot of digital clutter. Steller content curation sorts through the clutter and identifies quality content. Make sure that the content you curate is quality content and not clutter.
Be valuable and relevant
Make sure that every piece of content your curate is content that is both valuable and relevant to your prospects and customers.
by Fronetics | Feb 18, 2015 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Strategy
Content curation is an essential component of a marketing strategy.
When it comes to creating and executing a successful marketing strategy, content curation is often forgotten. There are two reasons for this: 1) lack of knowledge about what content curation is; and 2) lack of knowledge about the role of content curation within a marketing strategy.
Here is what you need to know about content curation.
What is content curation?
Simply put, content curation is the act of identifying valuable content from a variety of sources and distributing via it your own platform in a strategic manner.
Heidi Cohen, President at Riverside Marketing Strategies, looked to content marketing experts so as to better understand what content curation is and how it can be used to achieve business objectives. She compiled 19 definitions. Here are three of the definitions:
Content curation is the process of identifying content created by others that will be valuable for your audience and then publishing it on your own platform. Michael Brenner of SAP and the B2B Insider blog.
Content curation is hand selecting content created by other sources and sharing them with your community. Best done when whoever is curating adds their own explanation for sharing, reaction or opinions. C.C. Chapman author of Author of Amazing Things Will Happen and co-author of Content Rules.
Content curation is the process of choosing the most relevant information to meet your readers’ needs on a specific topic like a good editor or museum curator. Content curation requires more than just the selection of information. It’s the assembling, categorizing, commenting and presenting the best content available. Heidi Cohen of Riverside Marketing Strategies.
Why content curation matters
A 2014 survey found that 76% of respondents reported that content curation positively impacted their business goals in 2013. 90% of respondents predicted that content curation will have a positive impact on their business goals in the upcoming year.
No one wants to hear about you all the time. As strange as it may sound, talking about your products, services, and your value all the time is bad for business. Here is where content curation comes in. Content curation will serve to establish your business as a thought-leader within the industry and as a trusted resource. Additionally, it will serve to increase your brand visibility. The great thing about content curation is that it enables you to achieve these business objectives without talking all about you.
Navigating the deluge of digital content available, and identifying the content that is relevant and valuable to your prospects and customers is critical.
Two things to remember:
Quality is key
There is a lot of digital clutter. Steller content curation sorts through the clutter and identifies quality content. Make sure that the content you curate is quality content and not clutter.
Be valuable and relevant
Make sure that every piece of content your curate is content that is both valuable and relevant to your prospects and customers.
by Fronetics | Feb 12, 2015 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Strategy
7 steps to a blogging strategy for your business.
Blogging has proved to be a successful marketing strategy for many companies. In fact, a full 82 percent of companies who blog daily day have acquired a customer from their blog. Freight logistics company Cerasis acquired 98 new customers by leveraging their blog and digital strategy.
What does it take to attract prospects and acquire customers? Strategy. A 2014 study of B2B marketers found that companies who have a documented content strategy in place are more likely to consider their efforts to be effective than companies who do not have a documented strategy in place (60 percent vs. 11 percent).
Here are 7 steps to follow to develop a blogging strategy for your business.
1. Understand the ‘Why’.
The first step in the development of your blogging strategy will serve as the foundation for all remaining elements. Defining the purpose of your blogging activities and communicating them to your team will create a clear path to successful implementation. Understanding the purpose of your blogging activities means being able to answer two important questions: Why has your company decided to blog? What is it hoping to gain? Setting the strategy for your blog starts with understanding the reasons and motivations for prioritizing blogging as a marketing strategy.
2. Let your ideal customers define content.
Content will be the backbone of your blogging operation. Since you are likely targeting ideal customers with this content in order to convert them to leads, it stands to reason that you should look to them for content inspiration. Building out hypothetical profiles of your ideal customers will allow you to answer important questions such as their pain points, challenges, demographics, and job duties. Use what you know about the buying and researching behaviors of your ideal customers to craft relevant and interesting content they’d likely be searching for. Above all, publish nothing less than your most quality content. Part of building your reputation as a trusted industry thought leader is setting – and continuing – to meet expectations. You’re better off missing one day of a blog post than phoning in something that has the potential to undermine the credibility of your company.
Keywords signal to search engines when there’s a match between your content and the search term of a user. Similar to crafting content with your ideal customer in mind, keywords should be tailored to phrases your ideal customers use to research and buy. Determine which keywords you’ll be targeting and then draft a list of 5-10 keywords and associated long-tail keywords you will include in blog content.
4. Identify content distribution activities and platforms for promotion.
Once you’ve determined strategy for content creation and optimization, it’s time to make a plan to get your quality content in front of potential customers. It’s not enough to just post and pray that you’ll be found – you should actively distribute and promote blog content. Fortunately, the proliferation of social media has made it easier for companies to reach their target audiences, but not without competition. Reusing blog posts and repackaging content in different forms – such as infographics, summary tweets, & photos – will help break through the noise of competitors.
5. Assign responsibility.
Decide what your day-to-day blogging operations will look like. Who will be accountable for each function of your blogging strategy? The size and resource availability of your organization is likely to determine how centralized blogging responsibilities will be. When thinking about responsibilities, consider tasks beyond just writing posts; responsibility for tasks such as publishing and promoting content, drafting an editorial calendar, and analyzing data will all need to be assigned.
6. Maintain an editorial calendar.
Analogous to a roadmap, an editorial calendar will guide your blogging activities and give you a big picture look at where you’re headed and how you’re getting there. It also serves to hold those with blog-related responsibilities accountable to a publishing schedule. And while it’s true that the frequency of blog posts can be linked to an increase in website traffic, stepping outside of what you can reasonably commit to is a recipe for disaster.
Use your editorial calendar to set the number of blog posts you’ll publish each week to ensure posts are published with consistency and regularity. That not only establishes routine for your team, but also for your readers. Get started now with this template for creating your own editorial calendar.
7. Measure, analyze, adapt, and repeat.
Determine what your blogging success will look like and use relevant tools to regularly track and monitor metrics. Include metrics from all platforms of distribution, not just website page views or traffic. Think in terms of retweets, follows, likes, and subscribers. Set, review, and revisit goals consistently. Modify approaches that aren’t working. This on-going analysis keeps blogging efforts nimble, which is particularly helpful when outside factors make changes in blogging objectives necessary.
Develop and implement a well-thought-out blogging strategy. Using quality blog content to find, connect, and engage potential customers online can quickly become your powerhouse marketing activity.
Interested in learning more about how your business can develop a winning blogging strategy? We can help. We are a consulting firm focused on inbound marketing and strategy.
by Fronetics | Feb 12, 2015 | Blog, Content Marketing, Marketing, Strategy
7 steps to a blogging strategy for your business.
Blogging has proved to be a successful marketing strategy for many companies. In fact, a full 82 percent of companies who blog daily day have acquired a customer from their blog. Freight logistics company Cerasis acquired 98 new customers by leveraging their blog and digital strategy.
What does it take to attract prospects and acquire customers? Strategy. A 2014 study of B2B marketers found that companies who have a documented content strategy in place are more likely to consider their efforts to be effective than companies who do not have a documented strategy in place (60 percent vs. 11 percent).
Here are 7 steps to follow to develop a blogging strategy for your business.
1. Understand the ‘Why’.
The first step in the development of your blogging strategy will serve as the foundation for all remaining elements. Defining the purpose of your blogging activities and communicating them to your team will create a clear path to successful implementation. Understanding the purpose of your blogging activities means being able to answer two important questions: Why has your company decided to blog? What is it hoping to gain? Setting the strategy for your blog starts with understanding the reasons and motivations for prioritizing blogging as a marketing strategy.
2. Let your ideal customers define content.
Content will be the backbone of your blogging operation. Since you are likely targeting ideal customers with this content in order to convert them to leads, it stands to reason that you should look to them for content inspiration. Building out hypothetical profiles of your ideal customers will allow you to answer important questions such as their pain points, challenges, demographics, and job duties. Use what you know about the buying and researching behaviors of your ideal customers to craft relevant and interesting content they’d likely be searching for. Above all, publish nothing less than your most quality content. Part of building your reputation as a trusted industry thought leader is setting – and continuing – to meet expectations. You’re better off missing one day of a blog post than phoning in something that has the potential to undermine the credibility of your company.
Keywords signal to search engines when there’s a match between your content and the search term of a user. Similar to crafting content with your ideal customer in mind, keywords should be tailored to phrases your ideal customers use to research and buy. Determine which keywords you’ll be targeting and then draft a list of 5-10 keywords and associated long-tail keywords you will include in blog content.
4. Identify content distribution activities and platforms for promotion.
Once you’ve determined strategy for content creation and optimization, it’s time to make a plan to get your quality content in front of potential customers. It’s not enough to just post and pray that you’ll be found – you should actively distribute and promote blog content. Fortunately, the proliferation of social media has made it easier for companies to reach their target audiences, but not without competition. Reusing blog posts and repackaging content in different forms – such as infographics, summary tweets, & photos – will help break through the noise of competitors.
5. Assign responsibility.
Decide what your day-to-day blogging operations will look like. Who will be accountable for each function of your blogging strategy? The size and resource availability of your organization is likely to determine how centralized blogging responsibilities will be. When thinking about responsibilities, consider tasks beyond just writing posts; responsibility for tasks such as publishing and promoting content, drafting an editorial calendar, and analyzing data will all need to be assigned.
6. Maintain an editorial calendar.
Analogous to a roadmap, an editorial calendar will guide your blogging activities and give you a big picture look at where you’re headed and how you’re getting there. It also serves to hold those with blog-related responsibilities accountable to a publishing schedule. And while it’s true that the frequency of blog posts can be linked to an increase in website traffic, stepping outside of what you can reasonably commit to is a recipe for disaster.
Use your editorial calendar to set the number of blog posts you’ll publish each week to ensure posts are published with consistency and regularity. That not only establishes routine for your team, but also for your readers. Get started now with this template for creating your own editorial calendar.
7. Measure, analyze, adapt, and repeat.
Determine what your blogging success will look like and use relevant tools to regularly track and monitor metrics. Include metrics from all platforms of distribution, not just website page views or traffic. Think in terms of retweets, follows, likes, and subscribers. Set, review, and revisit goals consistently. Modify approaches that aren’t working. This on-going analysis keeps blogging efforts nimble, which is particularly helpful when outside factors make changes in blogging objectives necessary.
Develop and implement a well-thought-out blogging strategy. Using quality blog content to find, connect, and engage potential customers online can quickly become your powerhouse marketing activity.
Interested in learning more about how your business can develop a winning blogging strategy? We can help. We are a consulting firm focused on inbound marketing and strategy.
by Fronetics | Feb 5, 2015 | Blog, Logistics, Strategy, Supply Chain
Think inbound marketing isn’t for the supply chain and logistics industries? Guess again. Here are 5 reasons companies in the supply chain and logistics industries need inbound marketing.
Companies within the supply chain and logistics industries tend to disregard inbound marketing. The reason being they do not think inbound marketing will prove successful. The common objection is that prospects and customers for these industries are not online.
The reality, however, is that inbound marketing can be wildly successful for companies within the supply chain and logistics industries.
Here are five reasons why companies in these industries should use inbound marketing:
1. Customers are online.
B2B buyers are online. 93% of B2B buyers report that they use search engines to research purchase decisions. These buyers go online for a number of reasons including to:
- Learn about new market developments and industry practices;
- Discover new solutions to address a specific problem;
- Address a project or a program being undertaken by their company.
2. 60% of the sales process takes place before they engage your sales rep.
The average customer progresses nearly 60% of the way through the purchase decision-making process before engaging with a sales rep.
Before engaging with a sales rep, customers are turning to the internet and to social media for information. The 2014 UPS B2B Buyers Insight Study found that 68% percent of buyers research supply purchases via supplier website, and 52% use search engines.
3. You can present solutions to your prospects’ problems via social media and content.
When prospects go online they are looking for information and for answers. By creating valuable content and leveraging social media you can attract and engage prospects, and convert these prospects to customers.
4. Inbound marketing is more effective than traditional marketing.
Research conducted by HubSpot found that inbound marketing is more effective than outbound marketing:
- 200% average ROI;
- 62% lower cost head;
- 15% increase in top line revenue.
5. The proof is in the pudding.
Freight logistics company Cerasis decided to make the switch from outbound marketing to inbound marketing. Within 25 months the company gained 98 new customers and increased revenue by 14%.
Fronetics Strategic Advisors is a management consulting firm with a focus on inbound marketing. We create and execute successful strategies for growth and value creation. Unlike other firms, our approach is data driven. We know ROI is important, so we track and measure results to drive success. Read about our approach to inbound marketing, or get in touch.
