Ann Gynn edits the CMI blog. She also serves as the Tech Tools editor for Chief Content Officer magazine. Ann regularly combines words and strategy for B2B, B2C, and nonprofits, continuing to live up to her high school nickname, Editor Ann. Former college adjunct faculty, Ann also helps train professionals in content so they can do it themselves. Follow Ann on Twitter @anngynn or connect on LinkedIn.
Let’s make this simple.
Factually wrong content is bad. Accurate content is a necessity.
Whether you’re a content creator or editor, use this checklist to help ensure that your content won’t spread misinformation and need to be debunked. And so your audience can trust your content.
Editor’s note: You can follow this process during a pandemic like COVID-19 that affects nearly everyone. It’s also helpful when the impact of a news story isn’t as clear.
Your editorial calendar looks perfect. Your content team has done everything right.
Each week’s theme aligns with your brand’s content marketing strategy. Each day includes topics that will engage your audience in formats they want. The upcoming month’s content is ready to go – approved by all the necessary stakeholders.
Ghostwriters are like introverted ventriloquists.
They never appear on stage, but they speak for another when they write the content published under another individual’s byline or brand name.
Ghostwriting takes the writing process to the next level – it amplifies the value of some standard research and planning practices and adds a few more steps to walk in another’s “shoes.” And the writer doesn’t get the credit publicly. “Ghostwriting is a selfless job,” says Aisha Ahmed, editorial coordinator at Healthy Links.
When you’re paid to write, you can’t afford to take hours to craft the perfect piece or luxuriate for weeks waiting for inspiration to strike.
You’re facing deadlines. You have multiple pieces to write. Maybe you’re just sick of the assignment taking so long.
Let’s play a game. Match the numbered brand with the lettered media property below.
(1) NASCAR
(2) Ancestry
(3) Destination Cleveland
(A) The Bachelor
(B) The Crew
(C) Who Do You Think You Are?
To be seen as a valuable information resource – not a product-hawking brand – treat your content marketing like a media outlet.
The first step? Use more than your corporate in-house voices (i.e., the ones paid by your company) in your content.
A content marketer searches for a stock image to accompany a blog post titled The Top 10 Business Lessons Every Young Professional in Our Industry Should Know.
The first result for “business” appears:
You can’t judge a book by its cover. You can judge it based on the recommendations of your peers.
Here’s some help to build a great shelf of books (physically or digitally) to improve your content marketing skills, expand your marketing prowess, and gain inspiration to make your work more manageable and effective.
Valuing creativity makes a marked difference in B2B content marketing success.
CMI’s 2020 research shows that 92% of the most successful B2B content marketers say their organization values creativity and craft in content creation and production.
When you find a fresh or innovative example of content marketing, what do you do?
I bookmark the page and visit it when my creative ideas have dried up. But Natalya Minkovsky, a Washington, D.C.-based content strategist, drives those great content marketing examples into the Idea Garage at Chief Content Officer.
Now, we’re opening the door to reveal the innovative B2C examples she shared in 2019. (Feel free to bookmark this page for one-stop inspiration in 2020.)
