Meghan Keaney Anderson says, “One of my favorite memories at HubSpot was watching our email marketer’s eyes go wide the first time she used our new email dashboard. Her reaction was was unrelenting, overflowing, and wholly genuine. Her expression mirrored the type of excitement typically reserved for iPhone launches and new seasons of Netflix series — but it was caused by software she used every day at work. Those who think B2C companies have locked down all the truly interesting marketing angles have forgotten how passionate people can be about their jobs. For every B2B product,... [...]

Dave Hochman says, “Even the world’s most effectively led, proactive, and well-organized content team is going to end up dead in the water without continuous quality input from within the organization. Content marketing is sometimes referred to as “brand journalism”; however, if content marketers relied on the (sometimes antagonistic) journalism playbook for getting input every time they reached a dead end, they would almost assuredly find themselves jobless. This article will help content professionals apply journalistic tactics to enable them to get great content from... [...]

Christian Jorg says, “As consumers increasingly crave more meaningful and relevant content amid the deluge of digital information, content curation has given marketers a new way to engage with customers. Curation is by no means new, however. Curators at museums and galleries have long been carefully selecting items for collection and display; DJs have made an art out of mixing music; and festivals have curated films, bands, vendors, and more… Curation is a long-practiced means of helping audiences that may not have the time or expertise on a particular subject to find the best and... [...]

With the power of video to hold people’s attention, it’s always good to come across free sources of stock footage that doesn’t carry a royalty for use. These videos can be used for your marketing purposes, with nothing more than an acknowledgement of the creator. Sometimes not even that is required. While looking for a video to use in a special celebration next week, I found a blog post listing sources for royalty-free video clips. Some sites are free forever; others are free during an introductory period, with a purchase required to continue using the site. In all cases, the... [...]

Last week, IM NewsWatch reported the announcement of Tube List Pro, the best video curation software to date. This new software lets you add videos from YouTube to your website. If your site is about gardening, for example, there are thousands of YouTube videos in the gardening niche. Use these videos to build your site’s authority. Google is pleased when you do this, and so is YouTube. Even the video creators are happy to get broader distribution for their videos. And, of course, if you choose helpful videos, your visitors are happy, too. Tube List Pro automates most of this process for... [...]

Kelly Kingman says, “In the movie Amadeus, the creatively frustrated composer Antonio Salieri discovers pages of Mozart’s original, handwritten compositions and remarks, with utter anguish: He had simply written down music already finished in his head. Page after page of it — as if he were just taking dictation. When it comes to writing, do any of us know what that feels like? Maybe once in a blue moon we are lucky enough to stumble into a Mozart-esque state of content creation — dropping perfectly formed prose into our blog or ebook without any struggle”. Solve Your Blank-Page... [...]

Tiffany Monhollon says, “Have you ever been so overwhelmed with running your business that you barely have time to do the very minimum when it comes to staying up with what’s new in marketing and managing vendors? Sometimes it’s so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day that you overlook a critical aspect of marketing — measuring your return on investment (ROI). Here are five signs you might just need a system to track your marketing ROI so you can make sure you’re getting the most out of your investment. 1. You don’t know what matters — or why — on... [...]

Jeffrey Kranz says, “We’d all love to show up first in Google for something. There’s likely at least one golden search term or keyword you’re striving for —and we’ve all heard plenty of different get-to-the-front-page-of-Google formulas. It can get a little dizzying keeping all the approaches straight. But it can be done. If you’re willing to invest some time, resources and brainpower, you can create the top content on any topic. To share exactly how, I made an infographic mapping out not one, but six foolproof, can’t-miss strategies that real-life people (including... [...]

Barry Feldman says, “Your content marketing ambitions are large. Unfortunately, your team is not. Though you may need help for one reason or another, it might not be the right time to bring in another employee. Enter freelancers: With a team of contract workers, you can enjoy the flexibility that comes with hiring on an as-needed basis, while avoiding the overhead that accompanies permanent staff. Above all, you’ll get the talent and experience that fit your project. Freelancing is more popular than ever, so the talent pool is immense. This means you need to know how to find, hire, and... [...]

Jeff Sauer says, “We analyze the performance of our content every day. Sometimes it’s subconscious, like when we check the number of tweets we get from a new blog post. Other times, we make more conscious efforts, like reviewing performance metrics in Google Analytics. This feedback—both formal and anecdotal—informs what we do next. It influences future blog posts and validates our strategies. Reviewing content performance on a regular basis has been key to the growth of many online publishers. We should all be taking note of these successes as we build our own content marketing... [...]