7 content marketing answers you need to know

Despite its popularity many marketing and sales professionals have questions about content marketing. Below are seven content marketing questions that I am asked most frequently.

1) What is content marketing? Content marketing primarily focuses on the top or middle of the funnel and provides information that educates, informs or entertains. This leads to increase traffic and awareness that results in leads, sales and advocacy. Content can range from video, images, blog post, infographics and social media.

2) What are the top mistakes companies make with their content strategy? Many companies focus on the bottom of the funnel or strictly sales content with little to no content produced for the top and middle of the funnel.

3) Why is it so hard for companies to produce great content? The primary reason is lack of planning and having a clear strategy on what they are trying to accomplish. Followed closely by not having the proper resources to execute the content they need. When I say proper resources I mean copywriters, designers, marketing team members and simply the ability to be creative. Even companies with internal creative teams may need some kind of outside creative help.

4) Can content marketing drive revenue? Content has always driven revenue at some point during the sales process. Content has been provided to close the sale regardless if you are B2B or B2C. The biggest difference is today content strategies focus primarily on the top and middle of the funnel where in the past the focus was the bottom of the funnel. If you want to be found on the web via Google or any other search engine you have to have content good content.

5) Why has content marketing become so important to marketing strategy? If you want to be found on the web, desktop, mobile, etc., you have to have a good content strategy that will help you rank well with Google and other search engines. It’s also critical for social media, P.R., tradeshows and most other marketing areas. B2C and B2B buyers often search for information, reviews, demos, etc. before they make their purchase and it’s critical that you be apart of that search.

6) How do companies get their audience to see their content? They need to amplify and seed the content they create. This is the most overlooked part of most content strategies; little planning is done to get their content in front of their target audience. Amplifying content can be done in many different ways such as through owned channels, your website, social media channels or your blog. You can also use native advertising and paid social to amplify content. Seeding of content is done through having your content placed or picked up by 3rd party sites or media outlets, such as CNET or Mashable. This also creates backlinks that will help SEO.

7) What are the steps to creating a content strategy?

1.   What are your goals and objectives?. These should align with the marketing and business plan.

2.   Who is your target audience? If possible use personas to make sure you create content that will really speak to your audience.

3.   Establish content ideas.

4.   Develop an editorial and promotional calendar.

5.   Establish how you are going to promote and amplify your content.

6.   Decide how you will measure success.

6 qualities to look for when hiring your next VP of marketing

In today’s fast paced world, recruiting and hiring the right person is more important than ever because a poor hiring decision can cost the company three and five times that person's annual salary. This is especially true when looking for senior marketing talent. I’ve had the opportunity to work, interact, and get to know some of the best marketing leaders across a variety of companies and I have found that they all have similar qualities. Here are six qualities the C-suite should look for when hiring a senior marketing professional. 

1) Ability to provide vision and leadership

Providing vision and leadership is essential in hiring the right person, but it’s also two of the abilities lacking in some marketing senior leaders. The marketing leader should be able to communicate the company’s vision as well as the vision for the department to direct and indirect employees as well as vendor and agency relationships. Leadership is often times mistaken for management but the two are very different. Leaders motivate and enable those that report to them directly or indirectly. They also give credit and endorse those that they manage.

2) Stability

In today’s business world downsizing and restructuring are inevitable. Despite the constant shifting that takes place in todays work environment, when hiring a senior marketing leader there should be some stability in his or her work history. You want to look and see if they were promoted internally, which is a sign of doing a great job or did promotions only come during a change in employment. Also, look at how many companies they worked for within the last five years. Question resumes that have great success stories but no stability and ask why would a company lose someone with such stellar results or not promote them.

3) Creativity

While it is somewhat subjective to measure, creativity is extremely important for a marketing leader to possess. It’s not only how they develop strategies and execute, but also how they solve problems and drive new ideas and innovations. In today’s world creativity can be a differentiator and must be evaluated extensively when hiring. 

4) Digital Experience

Many see marketers as having either digital or traditional experience but in today’s marketing world all senior marketing leaders must have some digital experience. This could be in the form of SEO, web, mobile, social or digital content. The best ones will have experience executing across a variety of digital channels even if the role to which they are being considered is strictly strategic.

5) Product marketing experience

Many companies differentiate between product marketing and corporate marketing, but it’s also very common for one marketing team to handle all of the marketing task. Unless you are not planning on launching or enhancing any new or existing products, the marketing senior leader should have some experience with product marketing. They should be able to talk through their content strategy, promotions and target market used during the launch of a product or service.

6) Not afraid to take risk

Taking risk is a requirement and the types of risk one takes may vary by industry, safety considerations, etc., but for the senior marketing leader the risk should be taken in the form of trying new things based on trends or data. Smart risk taking can often lead to the biggest gains or create learning situations either of which can help you move the company forward.