Editor’s note: The essentials of content marketing always evolve. That’s why we’re updating our go-to how-to guides on strategy, planning, and creation. Today we refresh the distribution version. And the next – and final – one is measurement. 

No matter how much time and care you put into building your strategy, outlining your editorial plans and processes, or crafting persuasive, engaging, high-quality copy, your brand’s potential for success often lives or dies by your distribution and promotion choices.

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Editor’s note: Content creation isn’t simple. That’s why we brought back this guide with new resources and helpful reminders for inspiration and implementation.

In 1995, Steve Jobs was interviewed by Robert Cringely for the PBS documentary The Triumph of the Nerds. The future Apple CEO reflected on the notion that generating big ideas isn’t the same as bringing them to life in a valuable way. As he said, “There’s just a tremendous amount of craftsmanship in between a great idea and a great product.”

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Editor’s note: A strategy without a tactical plan is useless. We’ve updated this guide to make it easier to develop or enhance your implementation planning. 

Unless today is your first day as a content marketer, you’re aware of how essential a documented strategy is to achieving content marketing success. It’s one of those mantras you’ve heard being chanted again and again throughout every corner of the industry until you simply can’t help but accept it as truth. It really is that important.

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Editor’s note: A successful content marketing program starts with a documented strategy. We’ve updated this guide to help you with the latest resources – and still essential criteria – for crafting a strategy. 

Anyone who grasps the fundamentals of content marketing knows that the concept isn’t all that complicated – consistently provide something of relevant value to your target audience in the hope they ultimately will return the favor.

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Editor’s note: Often, we go through the day-to-day activities of content marketing and lose sight of the big picture. Since you must never forget the fundamentals, we’re bringing back this guide with reminders and resources to ensure that your content marketing maintains a solid foundation.

No matter how far you’ve come in your content marketing career – and how much you continue to progress – there are always a few things you wish you were better at, understood more deeply, or had known about earlier.

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Editor’s note: Technology is essential to content marketing success. But the complexity around tech selection and its use often leaves businesses struggling to keep pace with innovation. To bring clarity and understanding, we’re embarking on a series of conversations with thought leaders in this space.

Email may be an old dog in digital marketing channels, but it continually delivers new tech-driven tricks to enhance engagement and deliver content and demand-gen campaigns efficiently.

Of course, email marketing’s robust and sophisticated solutions also have led to a lag between marketers’ eagerness to put the tech innovation in play and their effective use of the tools.

I put an email marketing thought leader in the hot seat, asking about what marketers want most from the technology, how they can get it, and trends they should know.

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Understanding something and being able to apply that knowledge doesn’t mean it’s easy to explain – especially when people understand the nature of things differently.

Take content marketing, for example. How many articles have we written on this very site explaining what it is (and isn’t) over the years? Then add in how many articles about content strategy vs. content marketing strategy have been written. We’ve even explored what content actually is. And we’re far from the only ones exploring these topics.

Add to the mix the concepts of branded content and native advertising (which can both be used with content marketing) and nearly everyone gets confused.

Whether you work on the agency or brand side, you’ve probably wondered whether your use of these terms matches the understanding of the person you’re talking to.

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Account-based marketing is one of the hottest topics at enterprise organizations these days. And for good reason, as it represents a strategic, efficient way to engage your highest value prospects.  

For content marketers, it can be hard to understand how your content strategies and tactical processes fit in an ABM approach. 

In their presentation at ContentTECH 2019, Convince & Convert’s Jenny Magic and Springbox’s Jennalee Reiff delivered a crash course on why this people-centric strategy is worth pursuing, what it takes to make it work, and the role content plays in its most successful executions.

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