We all know that Content Marketing will continue to be a big deal in 2017. It integrates to various marketing disciplines, being the fuel that keeps SEO, inbound marketing , and social media running.
Content Marketing is particularly essential to the B2B industry. Not only does informative and persona-based content make a website more searchable and visible, it also builds up the credibility of a brand and leads customers into the marketing funnel.
B2B Marketers and B2B lead generation companies know how crucial content is to their business goals this year, with 89% of B2B companies in North America implementing or continuing their Content Marketing strategy this year. However, maturity levels of these B2B marketers vary.
According to Content Marketing Institute’s benchmark report, B2B marketers see their content marketing’s maturity this way:
Only 28% see their Content Marketing strategy as mature and sophisticated; 36% consider themselves in the earlier stages of the race, experiencing growing pains or not having a structured process; and 35% see themselves as successful and are becoming more advanced as they enter the new year.
Needless to say, Content Marketing is an ongoing process, there are always new trends and opportunities to look into, and therefore ongoing education is a must.
There are countless of good materials and blogs out there that will guide you through the ins and outs of Content Marketing, and as someone who’s always on the look out for these new resources, we decided to put the best ones we’ve seen to help you on your way.
1. Content Marketing Overview
- What is Content Marketing? Copyblogger, one of the first proponents of Blogging and Content Marketing gives an overview of content marketing in comparison with traditional copywriting, and how to combine both for maximum results.
- Getting Started on Content Marketing. The leading authority to all things content marketing, CM Institute traces the history of Content Marketing, why useful content should be at the core of your marketing campaigns, and why content is the past and the future of marketing.
- Moz’s Beginner’s Guide to Content Marketing. One of the most complete guides we’ve seen, this comes with 9 chapters of content, from basic definitions to process, strategy, content creation, promotion and analysis.
- Advanced Guide to Content Marketing. This advanced guide goes deep into the content publishing process, designed for both early adapters, bloggers, business owners and content marketers who want to level up their game.
- B2B Content Marketing Benchmark Report 2017. An annual benchmark report produced by Content Marketing Institiute that’s packed with insights and trends that will help you shape your content strategy for 2017.
{{cta(‘7a4effc8-cfee-4afe-ada0-af229f56da27’)}}
2. Developing a Documented B2B Content Marketing Strategy
- B2B Content Marketing Checklist. We love this ebook slash workbook made by Velocity Partners, especially made for B2B organizations.
- How to Build a Content Marketing Plan in 10 Days (E-course). This free e-course by Sujan Patel will help you plan and build a content strategy that aims to grow your business in 10-day chunks. Ideal for organizations and individual professionals alike.
- 13 Simple Questions to Help You Draft a Winning Content Marketing Strategy (Worksheet). Developing a Content Marketing strategy can be overwhelming and paralyzing, so Copyblogger created this list of questions that will make drafting your strategy a whole lot easier and more effective.
- The Essentials of a Documented Content Marketing Strategy. Content Marketing Institute breaks down the essentials of creating a documented Content Marketing strategy with these 36 important questions.
- The Complete Content Marketing Toolkit for Businesses (Ebook). This ebook covers the exact process Spiralytics use for our clients. With 9 chapters and 30 pages of content, this ebook is packed with insights and tips and sample templates that you can use as you build an effective strategy for your business.
- 7 Essential Keys to a Winning Content Marketing Strategy. Many B2B organizations do Content Marketing, but not everyone gets effective results. Here are 7 tried and tested tips to apply.
3. Identifying Buyer Profiles or Marketing Personas
- How to Create Detailed Buyer Personas for Your Business (Downloadable Template). Hubspot dives into the nitty gritties of profiling buyer personas, from understanding its importance to setting up actual interviews for the purpose of research.
- A Step by Step Guide to Creating Reader Personas. Neil Patel always has a way of explaining complex processes in easy steps, and this guide is no exception. This article goes deep into the understanding demographics, as well as processing psychographic and behavioral insights.
- The Complete Actionable Guide to Marketing Personas. As one the top B2B content marketers, it’s quite obvious that Buffer’s got their Marketing Personas down pat, which makes them an authority about this one, right? This includes a step-by-step process and actual sample personas.
4. Business Blogging as a staple Content Marketing strategy
- The Complete Guide to Business Blogging (Ebook). This guide to business blogging covers concepts from strategy to implementation, from goal setting to content creation to distribution and analysis.
- An Introduction to Business Blogging (Ebook). Hubspot discusses step-by-step blogging fundamentals and how to succeed in business blogging.
- 10 Questions to Ask Before Starting a Business Blog. You’re convinced that you need to blog to promote your business, and these 10 questions is a good place to start the ball rolling.
- B2B Business Blogging Tips. Whether you’re about to start your first B2B blog, or you already have a blog up and running on your website, this article talks about how to use business blogging to generate more leads and sales.
- 10 Reasons Why Blogging is Good for Your Business. This article talks about the various ways business blogging, when done right, can bring traffic and grow your business exponentially.
5. Generating Blog Topic Ideas
- 14 Ways to Generate Blog Topic Ideas That Get Results. This article recommends 14 actionable steps to generate content topics, trial and tested by the author.
- 7 Free Blog Post Title Generators. I wouldn’t really depend on mass-produced blog titles, but you can get a lot of ideas from these tools. You usually just input your keyword/s and the tools will automatically generate dozens of topics in one click. Some titles can be entertaining and worth trying, you know, for the fun of it.
- 40+ Ways to Find Great Ideas for Your B2B Blog. This list is particularly inspiring for B2B bloggers and content marketers. Go through this list one by one and you’ll never run out of blog content ideas again.
6. Diving into the Content Creation Process
- 7 Step Content Creation Strategy for Epic Content Marketing. Being one of the top Content Marketing influencers and bloggers of our time, Jeff Bullas shares some of his best tips in creating and distributing content.
- 3 Steps to Maximize B2B Content Creation Resources. Heidi Cohen shares what she learned from years in the digital marketing industry, including 28 content types that are particularly effective for B2B marketers.
- Content Marketing Editorial Templates: The Complete List. There are various ways of doing Editorial Calendars, it’s up to you to find one (or to customize existing ones) according to your organization’s needs. Here are some of the most popular editorial calendar templates all in one handy dandy resource.
- 10 Free Online Tools that Make Writers’ Life Easier. Curated by our Content Marketing Manager herself, here’s a list of tools that writers can use through out the content creation process–from idea generation to productivity to research, design and editing.
- 8 Incredibly Simple Ways to Get More People to Read Your Content. Hint: It’s all about making your content scannable and easy to read. When Copyblogger says this is how you should do your content, do all. the. steps.
7. Promoting and Distributing Content
- 5 Ways to Get into the Content Promotion Habit. Getting your article right in front your target readers is an important part of the process. This article talks about content promotion habits that you can adapt to get the job done.
- How Content Promotion Works. Buffer lists down 11 of their favorite content distribution strategies, and touches on best practices in email marketing, social media, community building, influencer outreach, among others.
- 17 Advanced Methods for Promoting Your New Piece of Content. Some of these methods are not new, but Kissmetrics shows us how to do them correctly and effectively.
- 100 Ways to Promote Your Content. You’ll never run out of content promotion ideas again after going through this list! Yep.
- Blogger Outreach: 9 Surprisingly Effective Hacks I Use with Influencers to Blast my Audience. Influencer outreach is one of the most effective ways to promote your content. This article enumerates 9 tried and tested influencer outreach strategies that will scale your process and save you a lot of hours.
8. Linkbuilding and Search Engine Optimization
- Link Building, the Definitive Guide (Ebook). Brian Dean of Backlinko is one of the leading (if not The leading) authorities in link building and this Definitive Guide has everything you need to know about the importance of links to SEO and how to build and acquire them.
- Moz’s Beginners Guide to Link Building (Ebook). Here’s another one from Moz, seven chapters of link building basics as well as advanced tactics to get you up to speed.
- 50-Point SEO Checklist for Business Websites (Downloadable). This SEO Checklist contains 50 items that will guide you through optimizing your business website for better search engine rankings and visibility. Whether your website has gone through various Google algorithm updates or just launching a new one, this checklist applies.
- A Guide to Evaluating Your SEO Strategy for B2B Lead Generation (Ebook). This ebook tackles the signs that your SEO strategy is problematic, key performance indicators and metrics to monitor, and FREE SEO Tools to evaluate your program.
- You’re Not Ready for Link Building Without Linkable Assets. This article explains exactly what a linkable asset is and how you can build one. You should know that no one’s going to link to your content unless you make it link-worthy.
9. Computing ROI and Analyzing Performance
- Content Marketing ROI: A Formula for Any Type of Organization. This article discusses in depth how to compute ROI for your content marketing initiatives so you can optimize your budget around the channels that work.
- The Comprehensive Guide to Content Marketing Analytics and Metrics. This method measures performance and ROI based on the following criteria: consumption metrics, sharing metrics, leads metrics and sales metrics.
- How to Match Key Metrics with Your Content Goals. Measuring Content Marketing ROI may vary per organization depending on specific business goals and industries. This article discusses how to effectively measure content performance based on your specific goals.
Bonus: 2017 B2B Marketing Trends from Spiralytics
- 12 Key SEO Trends for 2017: How to Rank Better in this Age of Semantic, Local and Mobile Search
- Content Marketing Trends: How to Stand Out and Succeed at Content Marketing in 2018
- Top 10 Digital Marketing Influencers in the UK to Learn From in 2017
- 10 Outstanding B2B Companies Show How Content Marketing is Done
- Inbound Marketing: It’s Major Difference to Content Marketing and its Relevance to the B2B Industry
- Content Creation and Distribution Trends for 2017: Insights from State of Inbound
- Advanced Facebook Advertising Tips and Techniques for B2B Companies
We’ll be updating this as we find new resources, so go ahead and bookmark this page.
Anything we missed? Share your favorite Content Marketing resources to us!
