Contributed content, sometimes referred to as guest posts, describes any content published by a media outlet that was written by an individual who is not a journalist. Typically authored by subject matter experts working in the field, contributed content comes in the form of articles and blogs for trade publications, industry journals, magazines, social media, and blog platforms. It can also be video content, interviews, or infographics.
Medium.com is a powerful platform for writers and content creators who seek to share ideas, engage with readers, and earn a bit of money. For B2B thought leaders and marketers, Medium provides an opportunity to cross-promote content, boost brand awareness, establish credibility, and reach new audiences. For individuals, Medium enables authors to post content without having to maintain a personal or professional website. With more than 100 million users and 700,000 paid subscribers, Medium provides a unique opportunity to share content with a vast audience.
Consistent content development and distribution are essential to staying in touch with target audiences. Of course, when every brand has this goal, there’s a lot of content vying for the attention of prospects, clients, and other stakeholders. Between business and industry news during the workday and entertainment, media, and consumer content during their personal time, it’s easy for audiences to fall prey to content overload. This overkill means that it’s vital to identify the topics and themes that resonate with your audiences.
Whether your goal is to acquire leads, boost sales, or increase conversions, content is vital to moving people through the buyers’ journey. From bylined articles to informational videos, content helps prospects learn about brands and gather information about their products and services. It also helps companies position themselves as experts in their fields, building credibility and trust with target audiences. Content serves as the primary vehicle for educating, engaging, and guiding potential customers at each stage of their journey toward making a purchasing decision.
In a time when artificial intelligence and natural language processing can mimic human content creators, now more than ever readers crave high-quality and accurate insights directly from industry experts. As a result, publications that feature content from expert contributors have an edge in connecting with target audiences. Contributed content is a powerhouse when it comes to building your brand’s presence, bolstering credibility and demonstrating your firm’s expertise to an audience in need of solutions.
How do companies attract website visitors and convert them into leads? One tactic is creating and publishing high-quality and high-value content. Effective content marketing answers your audiences’ questions, provides solutions to their challenges, and positions you as an expert in your industry. But simply attracting visitors to your website isn’t enough. To generate viable leads, businesses need to know who is reading their content and how to connect with them outside a digital space.
Content marketing plays an important role in the business development process. Its goal is to attract target audiences through the creation and distribution of valuable, relevant and consistent content. The business development team uses this content to build relationships that bring in new customers and drive sales.
Content marketing delivers substantial value to an organization. Benefits include increased search visibility, enhanced brand awareness and improved conversion rates. With advantages like those, it’s no surprise that 46 percent of businesses report they want to increase their content creation spending in 2022. As one of the most cost-effective marketing tactics available, content development doesn’t have to break the bank.
Writing is not easy. Writing well is even more difficult. Creating powerful content that resonates with readers involves many steps including concept development, goal setting, collaboration, creativity, research, outlines, drafts and edits.
For some marketing teams, it’s easy to get caught in a hamster wheel of content production. We’re constantly searching for ideas for the next blog, white paper, newsletter, video or webinar. To add to the frenzy, marketers spend time researching the best ways to optimize content, mastering the latest trends and technologies, and identifying the newest outlets that are attracting their target markets. But what about all the old content that already exists?
In the B2B marketplace, we all know that content is king. In fact, 91 percent of B2B marketers use content marketing to reach customers. Further, 72 percent of marketers say content increases engagement and the number of leads companies generate. Quality content showcases expertise, provides a relevant resource to prospects and clients and positions individuals and their firms as thought leaders in their field. No surprises there.
Customer service excellence is an initiative that most companies strive to achieve. The first step is to convert prospects into customers. One way to accomplish this goal is by delivering relevant, customer-centric content at every stage of the prospect’s journey.
Marketers love their jargon. Whether they are talking about authenticity, KPIs or pain points, marketers have a language of their own. The term “evergreen content” is just another example. Sometimes it can be difficult to decipher passing buzzwords from vital marketing initiatives. However, evergreen content is an important concept for marketers to understand and utilize.
Content creation is a must for any business to increase brand awareness. It’s also an important method for communicating with your customers and prospects. In fact in a survey of marketers, 86% of marketers report they are planning to increase the amount of content they publish in 2018. Generating marketing content and distributing it appropriately
January typically is filled with “best of” lists, resolutions and predictions. Industry news sites feature countdowns and rewinds that take us back or forecasts that keep us looking ahead. It’s a natural time to reflect so we can learn where we’ve been and plan for the future. B2B content marketing is no different. Now that 2018 is fully underway, what predictions can we make about this year’s trends? What similarities will we see from 2017, and what changes will be made?
It’s no secret that content marketing is a strategy worth investing in, but the success of your content is dependent not only on the message but on its distribution through appropriate marketing channels. A powerful blog, white paper or case study can go unnoticed if it isn’t properly circulated to target audiences. The complicated part is knowing where you will get the biggest bang for your buck. While sharing on social media is a great start, it doesn’t always expose your company and its thought leadership to new and relevant demographics. One effective and often underutilized method of outreach is contributed content or guest posting. As editorial staffs shrink and the demand for content increases, the practice is on the rise, with 61 percent of editors increasing published contributions this year.
In today’s marketplace, as much as 80% of B2B content is gated. What does that mean? To gate means that specific contact information is required to access content such as a white paper, article, video, ebook or case study. This information usually consists of a name, email address, company, title and possibly a phone number. We’ve all seen it, and most likely, we’ve given up some of our personal information in exchange for a bit of content. But how does gating affect the success and outreach of the specific content marketing asset, let alone the total marketing strategy? Here are the pros and cons of gating content on your website to help determine your decision.
Creating a company’s marketing materials can be nearly as difficult as developing the strategies for the campaigns the materials are intended to support. What used to be relatively straightforward has become increasingly complex. This is because of two main reasons: 1) the number of marketing channels is expanding; and 2) the marketplace expects more personalized
What do great books, movies and marketing campaigns have in common? A great story. With the plethora of advancing technology—including one that limits our thoughts to 140 characters or less—it’s ironic that the hottest trend in marketing might be the ancient art of storytelling. A great story can entertain, inspire, ignite and even move people
Did you know the phrase, “content is king” was used by Bill Gates way back in the 1990s? Isn’t it interesting that 15 years later, we’re still talking about it as if it’s a new phenomenon? Well it isn’t. In 2015, marketing prognosticators think content will be bigger than ever, which is why companies have to
Producing marketing content that connects with your target audience is a balancing act. You want to convince prospects that your company offers the best services or products. Yet, continually pushing overt sales pieces may disengage the audience. The right mix involves generating content that grabs their attention, provides relevant information and persuades them to contact you
Don’t you love it when someone takes something old and tries to say it’s brand new? For years, Subaru touted its “hill-holder” clutch as a clever new feature that allowed drivers of its manual transmission vehicles to start off on hills more easily. The truth is, Studebaker invented the hill-holder clutch decades earlier and introduced
I wonder if anyone truly realizes the vast amount of information available via the Internet. In my experience, it seems that if a thought, idea, event or reference is conceivable, someone has posted it online. Even with the most esoteric topic, hundreds and even thousands of people have written about it. When wise King Solomon
Many of us are still producing printed documents in plain old black and white. Yet, the alternative, color printing is more affordable and available than ever, and at a high quality. There are several benefits to adding color to your documents: 1. Color can provide visual cues that direct the reader’s attention to certain parts
