I like to think about Inbound Marketing as a process to attract the best prospects to your business using digital marketing methods and Content Marketing as the fuel that drives the Inbound Marketing engine. It is interesting that these terms and the stories about them have emerged at different times but they fit together well into the new digital marketing world.
The following articles are well written and sourced by reputable businesses, each with a focus on a different element about the role content plays in your digital marketing plan. See my perspective on each article, the article excerpt with links to the original article for your review.
This first article is a guide for start-up marketing. The core of digital marketing methods is content and although the article does not focus on content marketing, it is the first item in their recommendations. Use this first article as a starting point to provide context for the others.
Content marketing has long been lauded as the most effective way to build customer awareness and generate leads in the digital age, however, how do you make it work effectively? So many businesses have invested a significant proportion of their marketing budget into content marketing, with little to show for it. Here I’ve set out our approach to content marketing and how entrepreneurs can make it work for their business. What is content marketing? Everyone has a different definition of content marketing but in this article I’ll be referring to it as; sharing information that is of value to your target audience. The idea is to replace pushy sales and advertising approaches with helping your prospects, so they choose to come to you (aka...
I am in a unique position to espouse the virtues of sales and marketing alignment – I am the head of sales at my company and am married to our chief marketing officer. I know that sales and marketing alignment is critical to an organization’s success, and yet I also know the inherent challenges. I live with marketing (truly) and sometimes alignment still evades us. The disconnect between marketing and sales teams has long been an industry-wide, hot-button issue, with both sides claiming communication is key but typically shying away from any real-world, concrete solutions for creating that communication. In fact, according to a recent study by Demand Gen, 49% of marketers and sales executives agree that communication is the biggest chal...Read the full article on the contentmarketinginstitute.com website
If you’ve been playing in digital content for any period of time, you’re probably familiar with this scenario: you publish a new blog post, get a spike in traffic and engagement, then watch your analytics level out. It’s a common pattern in B2B marketing — only 10% of blog posts continue to increase visits over time, after the initial traffic spike. This linear process creates an imbalance between the input — the time and resources devoted to content development — and the ROI of your content marketing. If you really want to make an impact with your strategy, it’s time to try a new approach. The foundation of a cyclical content marketing strategy Think of your blog posts as the spokes of a wheel: they create structure and keep your str...Read the full article on the blog.integrate.com website
Now that you have had a full dose of educational material to establish a digital plan for your start-up company, consider getting some help. The following eBook describes the Inbound Marketing methodology and the role content plays in it.
If you are looking for assistance, please consider Bristol Strategy as a resource for your business.
