Content marketing is a vital component of any good digital marketing strategy. There are a lot of excellent resources available regarding content marketing. Are you a beginner looking for a content marketing ebook to help you get started? Or maybe you’re a marketer looking to improve your skills. Either way, we’ve got you covered!
Lean Content Marketing: How to Create Content on a Budget
This content marketing ebook from Marketo is a good overview of basic content marketing strategy. You’ll learn the basic elements of creating a content marketing strategy without blowing your budget.
A Short Explanation
In this section, you’ll get a short rundown of why content marketing is important for digital marketing strategy. If you aren’t currently putting effort into content marketing, then this short explanation will convince you to start.
Crafting the Perfect Content Team
In this section, you’ll learn all about the types of employee roles that are required for an ideal content marketing team. By going through how to build the ideal team, the author also helps you identify what’s doable for your business and your budget.
Content Contribution Incentives
This section is simply a really short paragraph on encouraging your employees to write content for you.
Content Planning
This section discusses how to identify buyer personas. Once you establish that, you can start planning your content strategy around targeting those personas.
Ideation
This section provides helpful advice on how to come up with ideas for your content.
Mapping Content
In this section, you’ll learn how to structure your content strategy to work in conjunction with your sales cycle.
Lean Content Creation
This section provides advice on how to get the most out of the content that you and your team create.
Slicing and Dicing
This section is a follow up to the previous section about maximizing your content. It has practical examples of how you can utilize larger content pieces, such as ebooks, and break them up into smaller pieces.
Repurposing
This section is another follow up to maximizing your content. It provides practical examples on how you can repurpose your existing content to create more content.
Creating a Content Marketing Plan That Works
This content marketing ebook by MicroD is perfect for beginners. It provides a good overview of content marketing basics. By applying these useful tips to your own content marketing plan, you’ll be able to develop strategy that is effective for your business.
What a Content Marketing Plan Looks Like
This section gives an overview of content marketing strategy basics. You’ll learn what a content plan is, and what many businesses get wrong when they first start out. It also includes some elements that you should consider as you embark on your content marketing journey.
Working With an Editorial Calendar
In this section, you’ll learn about how a content calendar can help you develop an effective content marketing strategy.
Developing Your Own Voice and Style
This section offers advice on how to write engaging content. You’ll learn why engaging your audience is important and how to write consistent, quality content.
Getting Beyond the Basic Blog Post
This next section provides some helpful tips for branching out on your content. Most businesses begin their content plan with a basic written blog. While that’s a good starting point, you need to expand your content to other mediums if you want to be effective.
Optimizing Your Content For Conversions
In this section, you’ll learn about the process for optimizing your content. Creating content that converts your leads into sales isn’t getting any easier. These tips will definitely point you in the right direction.
The Content Marketer’s Guide to Lead Generation
This content marketing ebook is by Contently. It’s probably more helpful for more experienced content marketers than for beginners. Utilizing examples and discussions from some of the top leaders in content marketing, the author provides valuable insights on using content to generate quality leads.
Like a Rock
This chapter is a great discussion on how you can use a large piece of content, such as an ebook, to create a lot of strong additional content. The author provides an insightful look at how the smaller chunks can help you generate more brand awareness and, ultimately, more leads.
Watch and Learn
This chapter discusses the benefits of using video to generate more leads.
Return to Form
In this chapter, you’ll learn about best practices for using lead conversion forms to acquire useful information on potential leads.
The Need to Nurture
This chapter provides a great discussion on lead nurturing. You’ll learn about how offering quality content can encourage your prospects to become customers. You’ll also learn about using email campaigns and audience segmentation to acquire and nurture your prospects.
Trends
This section discusses three current trends for content marketing. You’ll learn how personalization can more effectively convert your leads. A good explanation of account-based marketing will teach you about how to refine and narrow your audience to generate more quality leads. Lastly, this section provides a few insights on how partnerships can help you maintain your lead generation over longer time periods.
Inspiring Customers to Create Content For You
This content marketing ebook is definitely a better resource for more seasoned digital marketers than it is for novices. It’s comprised of advice and examples from content marketing experts regarding using customer advocates to create trustworthy content for you. Additionally, each section has a couple of nice checklists. Plus, the ebook links to a few other good resources.
Ideation
In this first section, you’ll learn about utilizing the insights of your customers to help you create a strong content strategy.
Creation
In the second section, you’ll receive some good tips on asking customers to create your content.
Distribution
This section discusses how your customer advocates can help you expand your brand’s audience organically.
Validation
In this section, experts provide helpful insights on how and why user generated content can increase your credibility as a brand.
Next Steps
This final section provides some steps for implementing customer advocating into your content marketing strategy.
The 4 Steps to Content Marketing Enlightenment
This content marketing ebook from Curata is a good resource for professional marketers and beginners alike. It focuses on four stages of content marketing strategy. The stages build upon each other, ultimately leading peak performance in a business’s approach to content marketing. Curata includes an easy to read format and a list of additional resources. This is an ebook that you could easily reference as you build a strong content marketing strategy.
First Step-Egocentric: Product Out
In this section, you’ll learn about the first stage of content marketing. The author asserts that this is an egocentric stage that is too focused on product related content. He discusses what this stage of content marketing entails and why it ultimately fails.
Second Step-Egocentric: Content Out
This second section discusses the perils of another type of egocentric content. This stage of content marketing is focused on the buyers’ interests. However, the focus on purely vendor created content can fail to create trustworthiness.
Third Step-Market In
In this section, you’ll learn about the benefits and hazards of incorporating third party content into your strategy. While it’s more effective than the two previous stages, there are still some potential pitfalls.
Fourth Step-Enlightenment
This section describes the final stage of content marketing. This comprehensive approach to content marketing strategy is pretty much a path to success.