Content Marketing

Content marketing is the planning, creation, promotion and measurement of content for a specific audience and intended to inspire a business outcome. With over 90% of B2B and B2C marketers engaging in content marketing, it’s more important than ever to make sure your content stands out from the crowd.

 

As the only blog to be named #1 content marketing blog three times by Content Marketing Institute, TopRank is dedicated to helping marketers understand the opportunities, best practices and current trends in the world of content marketing.

 

Browse our content marketing articles to find tips, guides, expert interviews, conference liveblogging and best practices.

 

Lane Ellis

Step Right Up! 8 Content Promotion Showstoppers For 2019

Lane Ellis on Nov 29th, 2018     Content Marketing

6 photo collage image.
Welcome to the fifth installment in our “Collective Wisdom” series of content marketing strategy articles. In this issue, we’ll dig into the multifaceted and sometimes daunting world of promoting content, featuring wisdom and examples from some of the world’s top digital marketers.

Previously we’ve covered pre-planning for content marketing success, the art of crafting powerful content, along with enduring and often-overlooked content creation best practices. Now it’s time to move on and tackle show-stopping content promotion.

Below we explore eight helpful tactics used by some of the best in the business when it comes to the art of promoting your content, with methods that will make your audience stop, look, and engage.

Showstopper 1: Unleash the Influencer Marketing Kraken

Kraken Sea Creature Image


Step Right Up! 8 Content Promotion Showstoppers For 2019
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Lee Odden

Three Ways Content Marketers Can Optimize Marketing Performance with Data

Lee Odden on Nov 26th, 2018     Content Marketing

Optimize Content Marketing with Data

In 1984, a person saw an average 2,000 ads/day. By 2014, they saw around 5,000. (Media Dynamics)

There’s some irony to the fact that it’s due to data and information overload that consumers face on a daily basis (63gb of media per day in the US according to USC/ICT) that data has become even more important for marketers.

Successful marketing today isn’t just about creating useful content that informs buyers, it must be even easier to find in all the right places and deliver both utility and experience. Without data insights about customer preferences, it’s very difficult to deliver on that.


Three Ways Content Marketers Can Optimize Marketing Performance with Data
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Caitlin Burgess

6 Steps for Making Delicious Meals Out of Your Content Marketing Leftovers

Caitlin Burgess on Nov 21st, 2018     Content Marketing

How to Repurpose Content Marketing Leftovers

What’s the best part about Thanksgiving?

Sorry, that was rhetorical. Clearly, there’s only one correct answer and that is: Devouring reimagined leftovers for days to come.

Hot turkey sandwiches smothered in gravy. Fried stuffing bites drizzled with cranberry sauce. Turkey a la king. Turkey noodle soup. Turkey pot pie. Turkey … everything.

Do I need to go on?

via GIPHY

For content marketers, every day can be Thanksgiving.

You have no shortage of content ingredients on-hand—from tasty influencer tidbits to assets overflowing with insight and flavor. And with a dash of new content, a cup of creative planning, and a large dollop of strategy, you can repurpose “content leftovers” into deliciously satisfying meals for your audiences, all while reducing production time and boosting efficiency, and without sacrificing taste.


6 Steps for Making Delicious Meals Out of Your Content Marketing Leftovers
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Nick Nelson

Tapping Key Takeaways from Recent Research on Fortune 500 Social Media Usage

Nick Nelson on Nov 20th, 2018     Content Marketing, Social Media

The State of Social Media Marketing for Fortune 500 Companies

Blogs are booming. Instagram interest is on the rise. Facebook is forever fashionable. And LinkedIn continues to lead the pack.

These all reflect trends found among Fortune 500 companies on social media, according to recent research from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s Center for Marketing Research.

We scoured UMass Dartmouth’s research in search of key takeaways and surprising tidbits that would intrigue and inspire B2B and B2C brands large and small. Here’s what you need to know about how the world’s largest corporations are tackling social media, plus some helpful resources to help give your social media marketing efforts a boost.


Tapping Key Takeaways from Recent Research on Fortune 500 Social Media Usage
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Anne Leuman

How Data Insights Can Lead Your B2B Content Marketing Strategy

Anne Leuman on Nov 8th, 2018     B2B Marketing, Content Marketing

Let Data Insights Lead Your Content Marketing Strategy

There’s little doubt among seasoned B2B content marketers that strategy is the key to success. In fact, according to the 2019 B2B Content Marketing Report produced by Content Marketing Institute (CMI) and MarketingProfs, the most successful content marketers (65%) are far more likely to have a documented strategy than their less successful peers (14%).

The kicker? That same report revealed that just 27% of B2B marketers say their content marketing efforts are very or extremely successful in achieving their organization’s desired results. The next largest chunk, 51%, say their content marketing is only “moderately effective.”

What’s causing the disconnect? The report points to content marketing maturity: The more sophisticated your content marketing efforts become, the more success you’re likely to have.


How Data Insights Can Lead Your B2B Content Marketing Strategy
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Lane Ellis

Don’t Blink: 3 Often-Overlooked Practices for Highly-Effective Content Creation

Lane Ellis on Nov 7th, 2018     Content Marketing

Green hedge row maze with hut.

Welcome to the fourth installment in our multi-part “Collective Wisdom” series of content marketing strategy articles.

In this episode, we’ll take a look at the value of specific strategy practices that are sometimes overlooked or underutilized when it comes to creating strong content, featuring insight and examples from some of the world’s best digital marketers.

We kicked off our series with the planning process in “How to Boost Your Content Marketing Efforts By Planning Ahead,” went forward with content creation in “The Art Of Crafting More Powerful Content: 5 Top Tactics from the Experts,” and then dug even deeper into messaging with “5 Powerful Messaging Tactics For 2019 And Beyond From Marketing Experts.”


Don’t Blink: 3 Often-Overlooked Practices for Highly-Effective Content Creation
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Joshua Nite

5 Content Marketing Shortcuts That Cost You in the Long Run

Joshua Nite on Nov 6th, 2018     B2B Marketing, B2C Marketing, Content Marketing

Content Marketing Shortcuts to Avoid

You know what they call a shortcut that actually saves time?

The route.

That was the wisdom my dad gave me the first time we went hiking together. Sometimes when you look at the map, it looks like there’s a better path. But the route is the route for a reason. Chasing a shortcut feels like making progress — but it might not get you to the trail’s end.

Marketers dig shortcuts. Or, as we call them, “hacks.” It makes sense: We’re usually overworked, understaffed, and expected to work wonders. A content marketing hack promises to cut a straight line through a tedious process, increasing efficiency and boosting results.


5 Content Marketing Shortcuts That Cost You in the Long Run
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Caitlin Burgess

6 Scary Good Tips to Take Your Content Marketing ‘Beyond the Grave’

Caitlin Burgess on Oct 31st, 2018     Content Marketing

Save Your Content Marketing Campaign from the Digital Graveyard

After conjuring all the budget, talent, and creativity you can muster, the moment you release your content marketing campaign into the digital wild is devilishly satisfying. All your hard work comes alive right before your very eyes, and that’s certainly cause for celebration.

via GIPHY

But after the campaign lives its best life, what will its fate be?

Oftentimes, all that spooktastic work is retired to the content marketing graveyard. However, with the right mix of will and witchcraft, your campaigns can be saved from the digital depths of darkness and be given new life.

How? Below we offer several frightfully fantastic tips to take your content marketing campaign well beyond the grave.


6 Scary Good Tips to Take Your Content Marketing ‘Beyond the Grave’
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Lane Ellis

5 Powerful Messaging Tactics For 2019 And Beyond From Marketing Experts

Lane Ellis on Oct 25th, 2018     Content Marketing

Powerful redwood tree forest image.

Welcome to the third installment in our multi-part “Collective Wisdom” series of content marketing strategy articles. In this Pubcon-themed episode, you’ll learn powerful methods for creating engaging and bookmark-worthy messaging, featuring insight from some of the world’s top digital marketers who spoke at Pubcon Pro Las Vegas 2018.

Previously in “How to Boost Your Content Marketing Efforts By Planning Ahead,” we looked at implementing a smart and robust content planning strategy, while “The Art Of Crafting More Powerful Content: 5 Top Tactics from the Experts” began exploring five of the most fundamental content creation methods.

Now it’s time to focus on five additional smart tactics for creating engaging and powerful messaging to help you create a successful content marketing campaign.


5 Powerful Messaging Tactics For 2019 And Beyond From Marketing Experts
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Lane Ellis

You Have 8 Seconds – GO! Brand Messaging Secrets With Debra Jasper at #Pubcon 2018

Lane Ellis on Oct 22nd, 2018     Content Marketing, Pubcon

Debra Jasper Pubcon Las Vegas 2018 Keynote Photo By Lane R. Ellis

Debra Jasper, founder of Mindset Digital, practices what she preaches when it comes to delivering engaging messages in eight seconds or less, as she demonstrated during an energetic mile-a-minute “You Have 8 Seconds – GO! “ Pubcon Pro Las Vegas 2018 keynote address.

Before Debra took the stage, Pubcon founder Brett Tabke told the audience how one of her previous keynotes holds the record as the conference’s highest-rated, and her latest presentation showed no sign of letting go of that title.

Walking The Walk With 367 Slides

Debra’s keynote explored how to effectively get your message out in a world where today’s professional has just an eight-second attention span, and she hit the ground running, flying through some 367 visually interesting slides, nearly all featuring motion or video.


You Have 8 Seconds – GO! Brand Messaging Secrets With Debra Jasper at #Pubcon 2018
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Tiffani Allen

5 Secrets for Growing Influence in Marketing: Key Takeaways from Lee Odden at #Pubcon Pro

Tiffani Allen on Oct 18th, 2018     Content Marketing, Pubcon

Lee Odden speaking at Pubcon Pro Las Vegas 2018 Photo by Lane R. Ellis

Research has shown: consumers don’t trust the companies they buy from. They don’t trust ads. And they definitely don’t trust marketers.  Trust in marketing is on a decline – between internal stakeholders and customers. In fact, according to a study by Fournaise Group, 80% of CEOs simply don’t trust marketers at all.

Trust is the gateway to influence.

Influence plays a major role in the marketing that moves customers to make purchases. That’s why Lee Odden (our fearless leader and CEO of TopRank Marketing) is challenging marketers to take a step back from the day-to-day of marketing and recognize the trend of reduced trust and influence in marketing.

Marketing Influence Pubcon


5 Secrets for Growing Influence in Marketing: Key Takeaways from Lee Odden at #Pubcon Pro
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Tiffani Allen

Joe Pulizzi Shares What it Takes to be a Content Brand at #Pubcon Pro

Tiffani Allen on Oct 17th, 2018     Content Marketing, Pubcon

Joe Pulizzi at Pubcon 2018 Photo by Lane R. Ellis

When it comes to any trade, the best practice is to learn from the best. So, who better to learn about content marketing from than Joe Pulizzi — the Founder of Content Marketing Institute — when it comes to turning your content into revenue?

Joe’s keynote presentation at Pubcon Pro in Las Vegas today focused on becoming a content brand and all that it entails.

Nine Content Brand Takeaways from the Godfather of Content Marketing:

1. Find a niche where you can be the leading expert in the world

This is what Joe calls ‘The Sweet Spot.’ It’s located at the intersection between knowledge or a skill area that you have and your key customer’s pain point. He used the example of John Deere, where they created content around agriculture and technology specifically for farmer’s trying to improve their operation.


Joe Pulizzi Shares What it Takes to be a Content Brand at #Pubcon Pro
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