For marketers who are always looking for ways to stretch their budgets, content marketing provides excellent, cost-effective opportunities across an array of platforms, devices, and formats. The caveat, though, is that to be successful, content marketing requires consistent efforts in strategy, branding, creation, promotion, and distribution. Therefore, you must make both a human and financial investment if you want a quality content program that works. Continue Reading
Author: Heidi Cohen
Heidi Cohen is an actionable marketing expert. As president of Riverside Marketing Strategies, Heidi works with online media companies and e-tailers to increase profitability with innovative marketing programs based on solid analytics. During the course of 20 years, Heidi has obtained deep experience in direct and digital marketing across a broad array of products including soft goods, financial services, entertainment, media entities and crafts-oriented goods. Heidi shares her actionable marketing insights on her blog. Find Heidi Cohen online at Twitter @heidicohen, LinkedIn and Facebook.
By heidi-cohen published
October 1, 2012
3 Cases that Prove the Power of Content Marketing
By heidi-cohen published
August 14, 2012
Content Marketing Checklist: 13 Things You Must Do Before You Publish Content
What content creator hasn’t hit “submit” without taking that extra couple of minutes to check over what is about to publish? While it’s understandable (particularly when you are under the gun with a looming deadline), luck often dictates that the one time you don’t stop to give your piece the once-over will be the time it contains a glaring error.Continue Reading
By heidi-cohen published
July 9, 2012
10 Tactics for Integrating Photographs into Content Marketing
Images, particularly photographs, are content marketing’s magnetic force since they’re driving social media across platforms. As a result, you need a tailored image strategy within your content marketing plans.
Don’t take my word for it. Recent research shows photographs are the engine driving social media activity. Look beyond the high growth of sites like Pinterest and Tumblr and you’ll see measurable activity that translates to sales. On Facebook, Dan Zarrella of HubSpot found that photographs yield greater likes, comments, and shares.Continue Reading
By heidi-cohen published
May 29, 2012
Three Content Super Powers that Will Transform Your Social Media, Search, and Sales
Content marketing is like the quiet kid who sits in the back of the class to whom no one pays attention. Yet, below the surface lies a superhero who can transform your content marketing into a powerhouse via its integration with social media, search, and sales.
So how can content marketing supercharge your social media, search, and sales?Continue Reading
By heidi-cohen published
April 17, 2012
7 Ways to Use Photographs to Support Content Marketing
Photography is the content marketing darling of 2012. It’s the subtext of the recent headlines regarding Facebook’s purchase of Instagram and Pinterest’s meteoric growth this quarter. In large part, this is attributable to the fact that photographs provide an easy way for people to create and contribute content on social media, helping to reduce the high proportion of lurkers.
Before examining how you can use photographs to expand your content marketing offering, let’s look at the usage of each of the hottest new photography sites.
By heidi-cohen published
February 29, 2012
7 Social Media-Inspired Content Marketing Lessons
Content is at the heart of social media. It fuels social media engagement through the stories and communications we exchange across a variety of social networks. By understanding how these social media-related interactions take place, marketers can create content that can more effectively meet their business goals.
Here are seven content marketing lessons I gathered from New York City’s Social Media Week 2012.
Continue Reading
By heidi-cohen published
January 18, 2012
Want to Create Content That Pulls Prospects In? Follow These 7 Tips
According to a recent Content Marketing Institute B2B study, marketers’ biggest content marketing challenge is creating a steady stream of must-read information at every step of the purchase process that stands out amidst the endless messages available on social media, tablets, smartphones, computers, and other devices.
How do you consistently develop content that pulls prospects and customers in, meets their needs, and does so right when they’re ready to consume it? To help you in this mission, here are seven easy-to-follow tips:Continue Reading
By heidi-cohen published
November 2, 2011
5 Actionable Tactics for More Efficient Content Marketing
Content marketing supports B2B marketers’ top marketing goals: generating leads, converting qualified leads into paying customers, and building branding, reputation, and awareness. As a result, 45.3 percent of marketers plan to increase their content marketing spend (based on Bizo’s “Strategic Marketing Priorities” research).
This shift is attributable to the fact that prospects are increasingly using web-based information to research purchases and vet suppliers and that content marketing-driven leads are more cost effective. The problem is that B2B marketer’s budgets aren’t properly aligned with channels’ use and effectiveness because most B2B marketers allocate 30 percent or less of their marketing budget to content creation and dissemination (according to Curata’s B2B Marketing Trends 2011 Survey Report).
By heidi-cohen published
October 5, 2011
13 Content Options to Support Purchases
Is your marketing organization on the fence about using content marketing? If so, consider recent research from Cone Inc., which shows that across formats consumers are increasingly going online to find content that will help them make purchase decisions.
While Cone Inc.’s research highlights that consumers continue to turn to ratings and reviews and that blogs have gained customer interest, the reality is content marketing can support every step of the purchase process. If you don’t provide useful content, your competitors, other consumers, and the public will.
By heidi-cohen published
August 31, 2011
7 Sure-fire Ways to Use Content to Connect With Your Audience
Help! I need content marketing and I don’t know where to start.
Have you ever felt this way? If so, help is on the way. Content marketing can seem intimidating at first especially if you’re new to this marketing approach or if vacation season’s left you short handed.
Your goal is to develop content that lures prospects in and engages them by:
- Answering their questions
- Showing them how to use your products
- Entertaining them without knocking them over the head with promotional messages.
To this end, here are seven sure-fire ideas for creating content that grabs your target audience and connects with them.Continue Reading
