Lee Odden

Lee Odden

About Lee Odden

@LeeOdden is the CEO of TopRank Marketing and editor of Online Marketing Blog. Cited for his expertise by The Economist, Forbes and the Wall Street Journal, he's the author of the book Optimize and presents internationally on integrated content, search, social media and influencer marketing. When not at conferences, consulting, or working with his talented team, he's likely on a beach somewhere doing absolutely nothing.

Lee Odden

16 Ways to Be More Efficient with Content Creation

Lee Odden on Oct 15th, 2018     Content Marketing

Content Creation Efficiency

Last minute scrambling to crank out another blog post is hardly the origin story for most great content. Falling behind on content production happens for a variety of reasons from poor planning to lack of resources.

Solutions will vary, but one thing I’ve found that helps with the creation of quality content on a consistent basis is a combination of efficiency and creativity. Process and technology are a certainly a big part of efficiency but so is thinking beyond your own capabilities (creativity).

Knowing you should do a thing and being able to do it well are not the same thing, so while some of these types of ideas are familiar, it is in their implementation that you’ll find new content creation productivity.


16 Ways to Be More Efficient with Content Creation
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Lee Odden

Enterprise B2B Influencer Marketing Interview: Amisha Gandhi, SAP Ariba

Lee Odden on Oct 8th, 2018     B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

Amish Gandhi Influencer Marketing Interview

One of the pioneers in the enterprise B2B influencer marketing space that I’ve been most fortunate to collaborate with most is Amisha Gandhi, (AmishaGandhi) Vice President of Influencer Marketing at SAP Ariba.

Whether it was the SAP Leonardo launch microsite with interactive content and 30+ influencers sharing their expertise reaching 21 million views or campaigns like this one with Arianna Huffington plus internal and external influencers for SAP SuccessFactors, there’s a lot of success in the momentum Amisha has created in the B2B influencer marketing world.

As the creator of SAP’s Global Influencer Program, Amisha has numerous B2B influencer marketing case studies being used in articles and presentations all over the industry. Now her focus is specifically with the Ariba global program that also includes working with analysts, communities and brand partners.


Enterprise B2B Influencer Marketing Interview: Amisha Gandhi, SAP Ariba
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Lee Odden

Enterprise B2B Influencer Marketing Interview: Luciana Moran, Dun & Bradstreet

Lee Odden on Oct 1st, 2018     B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

Influencer Marketing Interview with Luciana Moran

The world of B2B influencer marketing continues to grow and we continue to tap the top marketing executives in charge of leading the industry for their insights and experience.

In this installment of our Enterprise B2B Influencer Marketing Interview series, I talk with Luciana Moran (@lucymoran) Senior Vice President, Digital, Content & Creative at Dun & Bradstreet. Our mutual connections have only the best things to say about Lucy and in this generous interview you’ll learn why.

You’ll learn about how influencer marketing is organized within the company, tips on handling compliance, campaign structure and favorite influencer marketing platforms.

What brought you to the world of Influencer Marketing?


Enterprise B2B Influencer Marketing Interview: Luciana Moran, Dun & Bradstreet
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Lee Odden

Stop Gambling with Your Marketing and Go Pro with Tips from Ten Pubcon Pro Speakers

Lee Odden on Sep 28th, 2018     Digital Marketing, Pubcon

Pubcon Pro

In the fast paced world of search and digital marketing, what separates amateurs from professionals often comes down one simple distinction: marketing as a gamble or marketing as a planned, measured and iteratively optimized discipline.

There are far too many marketing campaigns being implemented simply because “that’s how we’ve always done it”, as a reaction to the competition and as a limitation of the in-house team tasked with execution. Professional marketers go beyond wishful thinking and hopes of “better luck next time”.

So, what does it mean to be a “professional”?

Being a professional in any industry represents a combination of characteristics including:

  • Specialized knowledge
  • Competency
  • Honesty and Integrity
  • AccountabilitySelf-Regulation

Marketing professionals represent these things and more:

  • Creativity

Stop Gambling with Your Marketing and Go Pro with Tips from Ten Pubcon Pro Speakers
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Lee Odden

Power Pages and Best Answer Content: Should You Go Long or Short Form?

Lee Odden on Sep 27th, 2018     Content Marketing, SEO

Long vs short form content

Buyers have questions and sellers better have answers that are easy to find, informative and inspiring. This is the cornerstone behind “Best Answer” content marketing strategy. But what qualifies as best answer content? How deep or wide do you need to go on a topic?

Is it better to use short form or long form content for content marketing?

From informal observations like ours on video and social media to formal studies in the marketing industry, much has been said about the topic of content length with some pretty compelling arguments in favor of long form content.


Power Pages and Best Answer Content: Should You Go Long or Short Form?
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Lee Odden

Enterprise B2B Influencer Marketing Interview: Dr Konstanze Alex, Dell

Lee Odden on Sep 24th, 2018     Influencer Marketing

Influencer Marketing Interview With Konstanze Alex

Within the world of B2B influencer marketing, there are a handful of brand experts who have been charting a course within large enterprise organizations for the rest of us to follow. One of those pathfinders is Dr. Konstanze Alex (@konstanze), Head of Corporate Influencer Relations at Dell.

My first experience with Konnie was several years ago when TopRank Marketing was working with Dell to develop relationships with IT influencers as part of an online publication initiative. Since then, we’ve worked with Dell to help develop an influencer marketing playbook, support influencer engagement at events and through content, but her relationship focus on working with influencers has stuck with me through it all.


Enterprise B2B Influencer Marketing Interview: Dr Konstanze Alex, Dell
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Lee Odden

Invisible Content Syndrome and the Content Promotion Tactics to Cure It

Lee Odden on Sep 18th, 2018     Content Marketing

Invisible Content Syndrome

Eyes fixed on his computer monitor, Jack felt perspiration form on his forehead as he waited in anticipation for the flood of visitors to the new campaign he and his team just launched.

Anticipation turned to nervousness as he looked around the room and asked, “Who’s promoting this content?”

All Jack got in return were blank stares and a bad case of Invisible Content Syndrome.

According to research by the Content Marketing Institute, 83% of B2B marketers use social networks for traffic, making it the most preferred tactic. At the same time, research from BuzzSumo reports that social sharing has dropped by 50% since 2015. With only 23% of CMOs feeling they are producing the right content and delivering it at the right time and format, lack of visibility is a disease content marketing is suffering across the industry.


Invisible Content Syndrome and the Content Promotion Tactics to Cure It
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Lee Odden

New Research: 2018 Content Planning Report from DivvyHQ & TopRank Marketing

Lee Odden on Aug 30th, 2018     Content Marketing

2018 Content Planning Report

Whenever failure strikes in content marketing and the post mortem is reviewed, there is almost always the same missing component: adequate planning.

The expression “a failure to plan is a plan to fail” is as true for content marketing as it is for navigating any aspect of business life. Why do so many marketers fail at content planning? Do they not have the skills or information? Maybe they don’t have the right tools or a fleshed out, documented strategy.

I’m pretty sure just about every marketer from early stage to advanced could do with some content planning optimization.

Lucky for you, we’ve partnered with our client, content planning software platform, DivvyHQ to find out where content planning stands today. We’ve also collaborated with top content marketing leaders including Michael Brenner, Carla Johnson, Robert Rose and Tamsen Webster for their strategic guidance.


New Research: 2018 Content Planning Report from DivvyHQ & TopRank Marketing
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Lee Odden

The Original List: 50 Content Marketing Influencers and Experts to Follow into 2019

Lee Odden on Aug 29th, 2018     Content Marketing, Content Marketing World

Content Marketing Influencers 2018

Content Marketing World 2018 will be here before you know it. The largest content marketing conference in the world brings together an incredible cornucopia of talent, curiosity, knowledge and aspirations for success. Marketers from all over the world come to Cleveland, Ohio for this event of epic proportions.

Readers of our blog know we have a long history with the conference starting at the beginning with 8 years of speaking and attending plus 6 years of partnering with Content Marketing Institute to develop speaker/influencer content marketing campaigns, aka “conference ebooks”, to help promote the event.

Another tradition that has recently been imitated but hardly duplicated, is something we started several years ago: sort through the 200 or more speakers and publish a ranked list of content marketing experts according to their social influence.


The Original List: 50 Content Marketing Influencers and Experts to Follow into 2019
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Lee Odden

50 Content Promotion Tactics to Help Your Great Content Get Amazing Exposure

Lee Odden on Aug 27th, 2018     Content Marketing

Content Promotion Tactics

You’ve just launched a gorgeous campaign with all the design bells and whistles. The copywriting is art and the experience intoxicating—so say your design and content team.

The day of launch has everyone excited. The marketing team smells a win at Cannes Lions and the sales team anticipates Glengarry-level leads. But wait, what’s that? Nothing? Nothing!

It looks like you’ve got a bad case of Invisible Content Syndrome.

Just about every marketer experiences the dichotomy of creation / promotion with an increasing focus on making the best content possible. But then what? Many time-strapped marketers are resolved to hit publish, schedule some social shares on brand profiles and maybe throw a few bucks towards social ads. But is that enough?


50 Content Promotion Tactics to Help Your Great Content Get Amazing Exposure
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Lee Odden

Trust in Marketing is at Risk. These CMOs and Marketing Influencers Share How to Fix

Lee Odden on Jul 23rd, 2018     Digital Marketing

CMO Half Life

The average tenure of a CMO is under 4 years representing a crisis in confidence amongst business leadership when it comes to marketing. Expectations for marketing are higher than ever amongst business leaders and customers alike.

To advance the valuable contributions marketing can make from boosting short term sales to growing long term market share, it is important for marketers to build trust and influence. But there are challenges:

  • A study from Fournaise Group that fond 73% of CEOs say “Marketers lack business credibility and the ability to generate sufficient growth and 80% of CEOs simply don’t trust marketers at all, while 91% do trust CIOs and CFOs.
  • New research from Marketing Week reports only 30% consider marketing ‘very important’ at large B2B companies.

Trust in Marketing is at Risk. These CMOs and Marketing Influencers Share How to Fix
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Lee Odden

32 B2B Content Marketing Case Studies for 2018

Lee Odden on May 7th, 2018     B2B Marketing, Content Marketing

B2B Content Marketing Case Studies

One of the great honors of working in the marketing agency world is seeing your work recognized. For me, an even greater honor is seeing the work of our clients and my team recognized and that’s exactly what happened at the 2018 Killer Content Awards.

This year the award in question went to our client Cherwell Software. Thanks to amazing work by Alison Munn and the Cherwell Software team (pictured above), as well as our team at TopRank Marketing, their integrated influencer content program drove 22% of all new sales pipeline revenue in 2017.


32 B2B Content Marketing Case Studies for 2018
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