Use this blog post every time a lead or client asks how much blog content they should be creating. This is broken down by three options and lists what they can achieve and what will be neaded with each one.
Use this blog post to inform leads on what guest posting actually is, the characteristics of a high-quality guest-contributed article, and where guest posting fits within their content strategy. Use this post to also communicate the various goals that guest posts help them achieve, like lead gen, SEO, and thought leadership.
NOTE: THIS IS AN UNGATED LINK; PLEASE DO NOT SHARE IT PUBLICLY. This whitepaper showcases stats from our annual survey that we send to all of our publication editors. This data reinforces our belief that editors are looking for nonpromotional content coming from industry experts.
Use this blog post with leads who are only interested in bigger-name publications and need more convincing on the strength of niche publications.
Use this blog post to prove the ROI from content marketing and to make a case for why guest-contributed articles should be a part of a lead's content strategy. This post is also helpful in showing how content works within the funnel, with an image that shows how to use guest content to lead people back to your blog, which then leads people to gated content. Lastly, it offers tips for an effective guest content strategy that will deliver results.
Use this article to provide third-party credibility on why we're content marketing experts and leaders within the industry, as well as information on our approach to content marketing and tech.
This blog post lists out the various ways leads should be sharing and using their gated content. Use this post with leads who aren't sure what gated content can do for them, or what they should be doing with it and why it's helpful.
Use this blog post with leads who aren't using any gated content or aren't doing so correctly. It's ideal for leads who need more information on what gated content is, what should be in their gated content, what it's supposed to do for their inbound strategy, and why it's essential for helping them capture leads on-site.
Use this blog post with leads to differentiate between drip campaigns and weeklies, the two main pieces of email marketing they should be using in their inbound content marketing strategy. It outlines what each type of email does and what kind of content to include in each.
Use this blog post to offer leads tips on crafting engaging email subject lines. This is also a good blog post to educate yourself on email marketing and why subject lines are important for open rates.
A/B testing is a confusing term for a lot of people, so use this blog post to educate leads on what it is, provide tips for implementing it in email marketing, and explain how it can be beneficial for email engagement.
Use this blog post with leads to differentiate between drip campaigns and weeklies, the two main pieces of email marketing they should be using in their inbound content marketing strategy. It outlines what each type of email does and what kind of content to include in each.
Use this blog post to offer leads tips on crafting engaging email subject lines. This is also a good blog post to educate yourself on email marketing and why subject lines are important for open rates.
Use this blog post to educate leads on what drip campaigns are. It goes into depth and offers a step-by-step process for implementing drip campaigns, discusses their purpose and why they're beneficial, and explains how to use content to fuel them, which also makes a good argument for actually having content!
Use this blog post to educate leads on what they can be doing to optimize their existing blog content for SEO. They can also use these tips when creating new blog content, but overall, these tips will help their current blog content rank higher in search engine results. It also includes results we've seen from implementing these steps for our own blog.
This blog post outlines how we helped ProSource, who already had blog and on-site content, increase their SEO rankings. It's a great case study to use with leads who want to know what results to expect from incorporating an SEO strategy into an existing content strategy or just want to see results from incorporating SEO tactics in general.
Use this blog post to explain what PR looks like today, why it's different from earlier approaches, and why it's more aligned with content marketing. Use this post to also make a case for why your lead shouldn't focus on just PR or just content marketing — both are essential for a better overall strategy.
Use this article with leads who are saying they'd rather focus on PR over content marketing. This article is all about why doing both is actually better for your strategy since they don't achieve the same thing but work better when part of a dual strategy.
NOTE: THIS IS AN UNGATED LINK; PLEASE DO NOT SHARE IT PUBLICLY. Share this whitepaper with leads who need a comprehensive guide on what today's PR looks like and how they can implement it within their content strategy. It also explains what the various PR tactics are and what their purpose is.
NOTE: THIS IS AN UNGATED LINK; PLEASE DO NOT SHARE IT PUBLICLY. This is the mother of all distribution guides. It outlines every distribution tactic you can think of and explains why distribution is crucial to the success of your content. Use this with leads who aren't sure what to do with their content once it goes live or don't know how to share it out with their team, leads, contacts, and network.
NOTE: THIS IS AN UNGATED LINK; PLEASE DO NOT SHARE IT PUBLICLY. This checklist lists various ways you can go the extra mile and maximize your published content. Share this with leads who could use an extra resource in this area; it's concise and easy to use.
Use this article to suggest new ways leads could share their content. The article showcases an exercise we did at Influence & Co. that helped us think of new and unique ways we could be sharing our content that we hadn't thought of before.
Use this article with leads that need more convincing that content is a companywide effort and not just a marketing team effort. This article shows various ways your content can benefit other departments within a company.
Use this blog post with leads who are starting content marketing from scratch and aren't sure what they'll need to put in place first in order to see the most success from their content efforts.
Use this blog post to show leads that they need a marketing automation platform if they want to do content marketing right and more efficiently. If they need help choosing a platform, here are some we recommend along with some of their features.
NOTE: THIS IS AN UNGATED LINK; PLEASE DO NOT SHARE IT PUBLICLY. Use this with leads who have expressed that their main content marketing goal is generating leads. It outlines exactly what kinds of content they'll need to create, what kind of tools and tech will help them with it all, and how to measure success.
NOTE: THIS IS AN UNGATED LINK; PLEASE DO NOT SHARE IT PUBLICLY. Use this with leads who would benefit from a strategy centered on thought leadership or who have explicitly expressed a desire to become a thought leader. It includes exactly what kinds of content they need to create, the tools and tech that will assist them, and ways to measure success.
This blog post makes it very easy to understand what steps you need to take to become a true thought leader. It lists best practices as well as things that we preach when providing tips on how to create high-quality content.
Not just anyone can be a thought leader. This blog post shares the criteria that define the best thought leaders. You can use this with leads who aren't their company's thought leaders but are tasked with selecting them. You can also share it with leads who think they should be thought leaders but maybe aren't sure what characteristics the best thought leaders have.
This is a great guide on things you shouldn't forget when putting together a thought leadership strategy. Use this with leads who may feel a bit overwhelmed about or unsure of what a thought leadership strategy entails.
Use this blog post to clearly differentiate between content marketing and thought leadership. They aren't the same thing, but the latter is obtained through effective content marketing, and it's important for leads to understand that. Also use this to show them how to leverage content in a thought leadership stratetgy.
Use this blog post with leads who aren't totally sold on the power of a thought leadership strategy and how it can actually help engage and convert leads. This breaks down the buyer's journey and explains thought leadership's role in each stage.
NOTE: THIS IS AN UNGATED LINK; PLEASE DO NOTE SHARE IT PUBLICLY. This complete guide breaks down the major steps needed in order to achieve thought leadership status. Share this with leads who may think they can achieve it on their own, when in reality, they could use our help : )
NOTE: THIS IS AN UNGATED LINK; PLEASE DO NOT SHARE IT PUBLICLY. SEO is a hard concept for people to fully understand. This guide makes it super easy! Use this with leads who don't understand SEO at all or with leads who want their content to be ranking higher in search results but aren't sure how to make that happen. It's great for leads who already have content and want to optimize it or for leads who have no content and want to get started off on the right foot with SEO in mind.
This is a great blog post to share with leads who already have content but want to optimize it for SEO so that it starts ranking. This goes through our process and how we did this to our website content, showing how to form topic clusters and explaining what they do. Very informative on SEO!
If you have a lead who isn't totally sure how content helps sales teams outside the office (or beyond their email and phone conversations), send them this blog post. It's all about how content can arm your sales reps and how they can be using that content at conferences to help expand their networks.
NOTE: THIS IS AN UNGATED LINK; PLEASE DO NOT SHARE IT PUBLICLY. Use this with leads who need specific ideas on how to bring their marketing and sales teams together so that their sales reps have more content that can help them do their jobs. Also a good one to use to show the value of content and how it can help improve their bottom line, close more sales, and make their sales team members thought leaders as well.
This blog post goes through the three goals of content marketing (thought leadership, SEO, lead generation) and describes which metrics should be used to measure success for each. Use this with leads who have indicated what their goal is and aren't sure what metrics to look at to ensure they're successful.
Use this blog post with leads who are focused on either the quantitative or qualitiative results associated with content and don't understand that both are important and should be taken into consideration.
This blog post goes into some typical things we see brands doing that they think are helping their content strategy but really aren't. These are common mistakes, so use this post with leads who think they're doing it right but aren't quite there yet.
Use this blog post with leads who need to convince their C-suite leaders that a content marketing strategy is crucial to their marketing. This will help them build a case so that their team will understand the full value.
Advertising and content marketing are NOT the same. This webinar is all about debunking the idea that content is an advertisement for your company or product, and it educates listeners about what content really is — nonpromotional and rooted in education and thought leadership. It also shows that there is ROI with content and that just because it's nonpromotional doesn't mean you won't see results from it.
Use this blog post with leads who have tried content marketing in the past but were disappointed with the results. It educates them on why they probably didn't see success and what they should be doing in order to get the results they're after. It basically tells them what they were doing wrong.
Use this blog post with leads who aren't seeing enough results from their content or need more convincing on the longevity and usability of content. It shows the various departments that can use the content they create and how it can help them.
Use this blog post with leads who need to understand that content is a long-term strategy. This shows them the results they can expect to see after they invest more time into creating content consistently.
A simple step-by-step blog post on how to actually capture the ROI from content. Use this post with leads who need help understanding how to track ROI and what they should actually do.
This article is about the soft metrics you should be monitoring to determine success from your content. Use this when leads are worried about the quantitative ROI metrics to show them that there are qualitative results they should be considering as well.
Oftentimes leads don't understand that they can't just start creating content, that they actually need a few things in place before they do so. This blog post covers what those items are and why they'll help them be more successful with their content.
Use this blog post with leads who don't have a content strategy and aren't sure why they need one or what should be in it. This post also shows them all the things their dedicated content team would be providing for them, thus saving them a lot of time and effort, as it goes into depth on every single step needed, from brainstorming to publishing a piece of content.
Use this blog post with leads who aren't as educated on content marketing or as familiar with what certain marketing terms mean.
Use this blog post with leads who keep saying they aren't ready to commit to content marketing just yet. This blog post is all about why you shouldn't put off content any longer.
Use this blog post with leads who have never hosted webinars before and aren't sure how they can help them generate leads for their company. It's also a good post on how content can help them host more webinars.
This blog post includes an infographic that focuses on what you need to do and remember when creating content. It includes stats from the SODM and tells you how to create high-quality content and optimize it.
Use this blog post with leads who need more convincing on how newer tactics, like content, can help them attract new leads for their company and convert them.
This blog post shows you the various people you need in order to do content well. It goes through every single team member, so use this post with leads who think they can do it themselves but in reality don't have the means or resources like we do.
Use this blog post with leads who are apprehensive about letting another team handle their content marketing. It shows them why we're the experts and that when they trust us with their content, they'll be in good hands.
This blog post really gets into how to create a documented content strategy and everything you need in it. Use this with leads who need more information on how a content strategy is its own marketing initiative and that it needs its own driving force and effort.
This is an infographic on how content helps with each stage of the buyer's journey. Use this with leads who don't understand how the different deliverables that we offer work together.
This blog post breaks down each phase of the content creation process for one piece of content and tells readers the amount of time we spend in total, thus saving them time. Use this with leads who want to do content marketing but don't have a lot of team members or time.
This blog post breaks down the salary of each team member needed for your content marketing team, which is meant to show readers how expensive it can be to hire your own internal team. Use this with leads who think they want to take their content in-house to show them that it's expensive and hiring us is cheaper!
Use this blog post with leads who aren't super-sold on our knowledge sharing process or aren't sure what their unique insights bring to their content. It's also helpful for clients who just aren't nailing the knowledge sharing process.
This is the be-all-end-all guide to content marketing. It's our pillar page and should be used with leads who need more education on what content marketing is, what a solid blog strategy looks like, what guest-contributed content does for your strategy, how to align content to your goals, how to establish KPIs, and how to measure success. It dives into earned media, email content, and social media.
NOTE: THIS IS AN UNGATED LINK; PLEASE DO NOT SHARE IT PUBLICLY. This piece is meant to offer a quick and simple guide to creating quality content. It's a good piece to share with leads who are in the beginning of their content journey and don't want to get too overwhelmed.
NOTE: THIS IS AN UNGATED LINK; PLEASE DO NOT SHARE IT PUBLICLY. This is a simple content strategy checklist. It's interactive, and it helps leads determine what they need in their content strategy and how to get started on putting one together.
NOTE: THIS IS AN UNGATED LINK; PLEASE DO NOT SHARE IT PUBLICLY. Use this template with leads who are lost on how to track the results of their content and need some help keeping track of them.
NOTE: THIS IS AN UNGATED LINK; PLEASE DO NOT SHARE IT PUBLICLY. Consistency is key to content, so this editorial calendar helps leads maintain a publishing schedule. It also helps them keep track of their content so they can more easily distribute and promote it.
NOTE: THIS IS AN UNGATED LINK; PLEASE DO NOT SHARE IT PUBLICLY. This template helps thought leaders (or their team) keep track of their key insights so they can more easily pull them when needed and make their content creation easier. Use this with leads who want to know more about our knowledge sharing process and why we preach about having a knowledge bank.
NOTE: THIS IS AN UNGATED LINK; PLEASE DO NOT SHARE IT PUBLICLY. This is a free chapter of John's book (to help entice people to buy it and therefore learn about the overall driving force behind our company and why content is key for business leaders). It has an interactive worksheet that will help leads discover unique opportunities for creating content; more easily identify their audience, clients, and advocates; and uncover various ways they can deliver their content to those people and become "Top of Mind." Use this to help showcase our knowledge and credibility in the space.
