The Best Kept Secret in Content Marketing: Steal What Works
Content marketing can be difficult for entrepreneurs for a number of reasons. The basics usually seem simple, but when it comes to creating value, things can become more complicated. Often, the number one question that startups have about content marketing is how to come up with ideas. And how do you know if those ideas...
How Quitting My Job and Becoming an Entrepreneur Unleashed My Creativity
Two years ago, I had it all. I was working for a venture-funded company, we were growing, and I was in a leadership position with a decent equity stake. Honestly, I was living the dream, and I loved it—for a while. But, something just wasn’t right. I can’t tell you exactly when or why I started to feel...
Why Content Marketing Doesn’t End with a Pageview
One of the most common mistakes that I see when it comes to content marketing is lack of strategy. Most companies know that they need a plan for their content marketing, from content ideas to an editorial calendar to their voice/tone. But this is not the same thing as having a strategy. A content marketing...
Why Content Marketing is a Smart Investment
If there’s one thing that I find myself saying over and over again, it’s this: "Content marketing is not a path to overnight success." Obviously, I believe in the power of content marketing to help build companies. I know, first hand, that it’s an incredibly effective strategy for building your audience, growing traffic, and generating sales,...
The Future of Content Marketing: 3 Technology Trends to Watch in 2018
As we look forward into 2018 and beyond, there are a number of technology trends that will shape the future of content marketing. New platforms, systems and tools are shaping the way that marketers and brands reach their audience. The prospect of a shifting landscape can be scary, but with the right understanding of coming...
Zero to Half a Million: Year One Lessons in Entrepreneurship
In 2017, I shared a lot of thoughts, ideas and tactics for successful content marketing. But, that entire time, I was also experiencing my first year of entrepreneurship. In December of 2016, I launched my content marketing agency, Optimist. We set out to help startups, agencies and nonprofits use content to drive traffic and grow their...
What Startups Need to Know About Customer Experience
For startups of all types, it can be confusing how to best take stock of and manage the sales process from the customer perspective. Many outdated ways of thinking have either changed or become obsolete. There’s an increase in companies shifting from thinking about their customers through the lens of a buyer’s journey or traditional sales...
13 Fundamental Lessons to Improve Your Content Marketing Strategy in 2018 (and Beyond)
We’re mere days away from turning the page on 2017. It’s been a fun year for me and hopefully my articles here on StartupNation have provided some knowledge about how to put together a successful content marketing program. As we look to 2018, let’s focus on the most critical parts of your content marketing strategy that will...
What a Successful Content Marketing Team Looks Like
Content marketing remains one of the smartest investments a startup can make in the growth of their company. However, it’s not necessarily “cheap," as it takes a large investment of time and/or money to be effective. Too often, companies try to kick off content marketing efforts with a barebones team. They set out and hire a...
Grow Your Business by Integrating Content Marketing and Social Media
Rarely does any marketing strategy or tactic live on its own. This is especially true in the online world, where a buyer’s journey often touches many different paths. SEO drives people to your site, email brings them back and social media keeps them engaged for years to come. The point is that most successful marketing...
Roles, Goals and Worries: A Simple Framework for Understanding Your Audience
One of the key elements of an effective content marketing strategy is defining your audience. We often hear about developing personas for our key audiences. One simple framework you can use to develop your personas and create insightful, actionable profiles of your audience is RGW, or roles, goals and worries. I previously touched on this approach...
Test, Measure, Grow: The Critical Process You Need to Improve Your Content Marketing Strategy
I get a lot of questions about content measurement and analysis. If you’re going to spend time and money on content marketing, then you want to understand how well it’s working and if it’s worth the investment, right? While in the perfect world this makes a lot of sense, it doesn’t always take hold in the real...
The No. 1 Content Marketing Mistake Startups Make
There is a lot to learn when it comes to content marketing. It can be overwhelming for startup founders who are looking for information on how to implement content marketing and use it to grow their business. In the past, I’ve written on a lot of strategies, tactics and metrics that should go into your content marketing...
7 Ways to Know if Your Content Marketing is Actually Working
I’ve talked a lot about content marketing and how to do it effectively. How do you actually know if all the time and money that you’re investing in content is actually paying off? The obvious measure that most people use is traffic: website visits, sessions and pageviews. However, traffic on its own really doesn’t tell you...
5 Ways to Integrate Content Into Your Existing Marketing Strategy
If you’ve gotten a start on your marketing strategy but haven’t quite figured out how content fits in, this article is for you. Many companies know they should or could get started with content marketing, but they don’t necessarily see how the pieces fit together. The truth is that this kind of an integrated approach...
How to Create Long Term Value with Content Marketing
Creating great content is expensive. As many entrepreneurs quickly find out, it’s usually not as simple as just hiring someone to write content and then posting it to a blog. There’s no magic in words on a page. Even if you invest heavily in creating great content, it can sometimes seem like a never-ending rat...
5 Steps for Building a Simple Content Marketing Framework
The year 2017 is now underway and many startups are looking for new ways to bolster growth and increase engagement within their communities. We’ve seen time and time again that content marketing is an approach that can create long-term value for a brand and serve the needs of a business. But if you’re new to content...