Once marketers get started with content marketing, they often realize they need help. If you don’t have the time or skills in-house, one of the best ways to get help is to hire someone. In our ongoing series, our CMI contributors are helping marketers get the help they need. Last week, they answered the question, “Which parts of the content marketing process are best to outsource (e.g. strategy, process, content production, distribution, and measurement, etc?)” This week they tackle, “When would I hire a marketing agency versus a consultant for content marketing?” Consultant = expertise, agency = expertise + manpower. Part of most agencies’ business model is marking up time that is too irregular or specialized for a company to hire with a full time position. So if you want a few extra pairs of hands as well as the expertise – and if you do not want to recruit full-time – use an agency.- John Bottom (@basebot) The first sign you need content marketing support is...

After adopting the concept of content marketing, one of the next revelations is typically this:  “How am I going to get all of this done?” One surefire way is to get help (using a service such as Junta42), but how exactly do you do that? In this upcoming series of posts, our CMI contributors, who span the gamut from consultants to agencies to clients, will help you figure out how to get the content marketing help you need. Up first, they answer this important question: “Which parts of the content marketing process are best to outsource (e.g. strategy, process, content production, distribution, and measurement, etc?)” Continue reading

Whether you are a content marketing newbie or someone with more experience, you’re bound to have questions. Here are the answers to 50 common ones. Do you have other questions? Share in the comments, and we’ll point you to an answer or ask one of our contributors to write a future post on the topic. Continue reading

Using tools to make your life easier sounds great in theory, but with the myriad of options available, and the time it takes to learn each one, which are the ones you should consider? We asked our trusty CMI contributors to weigh in  on tools for social media monitoring, collaboration, productivity and distribution. Here are their favorites. Social media monitoring tools You know you need to monitor your brand, but there are so many platforms on which these conversations are taking place. Here are some tools to help. I use a combination of tools to monitor social media conversations. My favorites include:Hyper Alerts: For Facebook, once-a-day review.Sendible: For pre-scheduling updates across multiple services and “sentiment updates” (when folks are discussing your company or brand) HootSuite: For Twitter discussions and mentions – Katie McCaskey (@KatieMcCaskey) My most valuable social media monitoring tool is eCairn Conversation, a platform that helps to identify...

Have you recently started a group blog or are you struggling to maintain one? In a comment on another blog I write for, Savvy B2B Marketing, someone recently told me he was starting a group blog and expressed this concern: “Our biggest challenge will probably be publishing a continuous flow of interesting posts seeing everything is done on a volunteer basis.” Yesterday on Savvy B2B, I provided some suggestions on how to keep your posts interesting, but that’s only half the battle. You also need to be consistent! During the past nine months, we have published over 220 blog posts at CMI. It’s been a lot of fun connecting with so many content marketers I admire, but it’s a lot of work maintaining a daily schedule.Continue reading

Here are research on how B2B agricultural organizations are using content marketing. There are 3 takeaways for marketers in any industry.

There’s one universal thing shared by all content marketers: We don’t have enough time to get everything done, though I’m sure many of us try daily. One solution, of course, is to work more. Lots of people are doing this. I routinely trade emails with my colleagues at 10:00 at night or 6:00 in the morning. This works to a point or until my office is littered with Starbucks. You can also prioritize what you need to do. I’m a big fan of focus, but oftentimes my to-do list is still overflowing, and I begin feeling the anxious consequences of drinking too much caffeine. Trust me, I don’t recommend this option. Here’s a better idea: Get some help. Hey, now and then even Superman needed help. Continue reading

“Hi, my name is Michele, and I’m a spreadsheet junkie.” Lately, I have been awash in spreadsheets trying to organize everything I need to do. I live by my editorial calendar. I work with numerous spreadsheets tracking our recent CMI redesign projects and the status of each one. I know there are other “spreadsheet junkies” out there. So if you’re someone who can relate, here’s something you may like:  some spreadsheet ideas to help you prioritize your long (and growing) to-do list. Prioritizing activities helps me decide what tasks can wait and what tasks I need to focus on now. Continue reading

Towards the end of last year, I had the distinct pleasure of talking with Joe Chernov, the Director of Content from Eloqua. I have been impressed with what they are doing in terms of content marketing, and Joe gave me the inside scoop for a case study that I wrote for CMI (seriously – check it out – great ideas!). While I had so many takeaways from Joe, one of my favorites was a story he told about two of his most popular pieces of content: The Content Grid and the Social Media Playbook.Continue reading

Oftentimes, great content isn’t just words – or even pictures. Instead, consider interactive online tools that educate or entertain your audience. Here are a couple of examples of companies that are doing this well.Continue reading

Videos are taking on steam in the content marketing world. According to research from KingFishMedia, 35% of corporate managers/marketers are currently using a YouTube Channel as a social media tactic, with 44% planning to do so in the next 12 months.  This is the tactic with the biggest projected growth in the next 12 months. So, what makes a good video? Here are six examples to get you inspired. Continue reading

As readers’ attention spans become shorter, visuals becoming increasingly important. Sometimes the best content is presented in a graphic that readers can quickly understand. My prediction is that infographics are going to become more important to content marketing programs, so we asked our contributors to share their favorites.Continue reading