I have a revenue generating startup, and I want to grow its presence through content marketing. What are some brands (with great blogs) that I can study for inspiration?
Hi,
I think there is a 20/80 rule that applies here too where 20% share is of the quality and great content while the rest is in how well you promote it.
We've been doing that too and saw good share on our personal blog at Omnicore.
One more tip that I can give is to bring in experts as the Ego-bait posts get shared a lot.
e.g http://backlinks.com.au/link-building-strategies-2014/
If you're interested in putting the content marketing plan in action for 2014, set up a call.
Best Wishes,
Salman
I'd be wary of jumping on the content marketing bandwagon and of copying others. If what you want is word of mouth then you have to give people reasons to say thank you and wow before you can get them to say yes to your calls to action which need to be clear. Content should be timely and relevant to people's needs wants and interests whilst hilighting the expertise and passion that backs up your brand promise. This makes for word of mouth within relevant circles.
Here are examples of some of the top brands who write about content marketing. Obviously, they should be creating the type of content you ask about because it is their specialty.
MarketingProfs / http://www.mpdailyfix.com/
HubSpot / http://blog.hubspot.com/
KissMetrics / http://blog.kissmetrics.com/
Content Marketing Institute has two longer lists of Top Content Marketing Blogs at http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/top-content-marketing-blogs/ and http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2011/06/content-marketing-experts-blog-list/
The number one thing common to top content is that it is written by a subject matter expert - what many have taken to calling a "thought leader". There are many writers capable of researching a topic and writing a compilation, but only someone who truly knows the subject writes the type of content that gets highly shared and frequently garners links.
I can provide assistance identifying and contacting such writers, but I suspect that what you really need is higher visibility which comes from having information about your start-up published on major sites in addition to on your own.
This is the type of blog outreach I am working on most often: providing influential writers with everything they need to write excellent content about a brand which they can get published on sites for which they already write.
If you would like me to show you the tools we use to make that happen feel free to contact me.
My team manages several blogs for small businesses and startups, and we use two models: one where we write content in the company's voice, and another where we solicit content from the company's community (then edit and publish it). Both models can work -- it really depends on your goals and what type of content you want to create.
As an example, we've done quite well with Brazen Careerist's blog: http://blog.brazencareerist.com. We solicit content from the community, edit and create a content calendar, and publish about 50 posts each month.
Happy to answer any other questions about what has worked for us if you need help. Cheers!
http://socialexis.com
One way to stand out in a world where everybody is doing content marketing is to create better content than everyone else.
The Skyscraper technique being an example of that. You see what everyone else is doing. Then you raise the bar.
Another way is to write articles with specific data or research that other people don't have.
It's harder to stand out, but you can do it
Some outstanding examples of remarkable content over shallow ones (i.e., 7 Tips on How to Be More Successful, or similar BizInsider like posts) are the ones from Ramit Sethi, Ryan Holiday and James Altucher
Who do you think is producing high-valuable contents right now in the entrepreneurship or growth marketing space?