INBOUND ACCELERATOR

Creating content is one piece of the inbound marketing puzzle, but just as important is your strategy for distributing content to reach key audiences. According to a survey by Content Marketing Institute and Marketing Profs, the average B2B organizations uses eight different tactics for distributing or promoting content.

We know that from an environmental standpoint, single-use items are falling quickly out of fashion, whether plastic straws, plastic shopping bags or foam coffee cups, the push is to replace those “one and done” items with more lasting, reusable alternatives.

Did you know you can do the same thing with your marketing content? Why create single-use material when you can put it to work again and again, in a new format, to reduce your cost of content creation?

How do you create content that strikes a chord with readers and can be easily found by those most likely to read, use and share it?

While the search algorithms and promotion strategies involved in reaching the maximum possible audience may be complex, a few simple rules apply to creating content that meets readers’ needs.

You know, and I know, that marketing plays an essential role in developing leads and in developing demand for your company’s products and services. Marketing content sets the stage for the sales team to close deals that drive corporate achievements.

But even the best marketing content is useless if it isn’t focused on the right products, services, benefits and customers. If what you are marketing isn’t what sales is selling, everyone will miss the mark.

Siri, what time is it in Berlin? Alexa, find a recipe for sugar cookies. OK, Google, what restaurants are near me?

In just two years, as many as half of all internet searches will likely be voice searches, according this infographic by Grazitti Interactive that was recently shared on MarketingProfs.com.

Original data provides an authoritative underpinning for the most compelling stories marketers tell. While the story is essential, when it is backed up by research that provides guidelines for solving problems, the combination is twice as strong. So you want to get the most mileage possible from the data and the stories it tells.

Too often, marketers fall short in their use of surveys, however.

Images can sometimes tell stories that words can’t begin to translate, especially when the information being presented is complex.

When it comes to B2B marketing, content is essential. Buyers want information, and most want to see a lot of it before they engage with a salesperson.

This collection of 64 different statistics gathered by iScribblers highlights some of the key things to consider as you craft your own B2B content marketing and inbound strategies.

As you craft each inbound marketing campaign, some of the most challenging content to get right is the middle of the funnel material. What will be useful for those newly-acquired leads who are actively researching solutions, but still a ways from making an actual decision?

As humans, we tend to like our routines and habits. We set an alarm for the same time every morning. Breakfast looks identical most days. Following routines and doing things the same way every time is reassuring and comfortable.

But sometimes, it can mean you are stuck in a rut. And while our brains crave routine in what we do, they also crave new experiences in what we read and watch. As a marketer, or the writer of a B2B business blog, that means that while you feel most comfortable writing the same style of blog post every week (or every day), your readers are looking for something new and different.