Happy Friday, everyone! I came across a plethora of helpful articles and resources this week, so I figured it would be most efficient (and valuable for you) if we just cut to the chase this week, and focused on the nitty-gritty details of why these articles are amazing. Needless to say, they’ll give you a lot to dive into during your weekend:
- UX and digital storytelling: It may be surprising, but creating a great piece of content is no different than writing a short story, fairy tale or even a novel. Why? Because storytelling should be your top priority and user experience (UX) should follow — especially if you’re creating an interactive or web-based experience. This article from our friends at Ceros outlines that in order to create great digital experiences, we need to view our audience as protagonists and build our story and experience based on how they interact and flow through the content.
- Do you have a prescription for your buyers?: Most of the time, when buyers start their researching journey, they’re looking for hard facts: how reliable is the vendor? What is the price of the solution? What’s the bottom-line value or ROI of my investment? But sales and marketing needs to be able to shift the conversation and be more prescriptive for customers, rather than pushing their brand agenda. This article from TechnologyAdvice gives a quick breakdown of a podcast featuring Rick Karlton, an advisory leader for the Sales Leadership Council at CEB, and also links to the pull interview.
- Get savvy about surveys: I don’t know about you guys, but I’m a big fan of surveys. For one, they help you better understand your buyers, their thoughts and pain points, which is valuable fodder for your internal marketing and even your sales efforts. But if you design your survey effectively, and follow it up with a killer campaign, you’ll better position your brand as an expert and thought leader in your industry. If you want to mold surveys into valuable content for your buyers, this article is a great way to get started. And if you’re looking for additional tips and best practices, check out this blog and a recent success story featuring Magnetic!
- Why you should bring in an agency: Not to toot our own horns, but agency partners can add a lot of value to your content operations. With the right partner, you can focus on more long-term initiatives while they manage short-term projects. In addition, they can offer valuable insights and best practices based on their content marketing knowledge. This article only scratches the surface on some of the perks, but we also did a blog on how an agency can help you save time and money, while also boosting content marketing results and ROI.
- Content idea generators you shouldn’t live without: If you’re anything like me, you are always looking for new content marketing ideas, themes and topics. Sometimes, the ideas just don’t come. These idea generators will help charge your creative batter. If you want to add even more inspiration to your marketing arsenal, we included some tips in our latest checklist focused on content burnout. With this handy guide, you’ll be able to spice up your content in no time!
- Add some pizzazz to your blog: Speaking of ways to spice up your content, this article outlines some quick tips and ways you can make your blog more compelling and easy to digest. My favorite tip? Embrace listicles. They help you to break down complex topics and spotlight the most important facts. If you’re feeling sassy, you can even add photos and GIFs.
- Do emojis have a place in B2B?: I don’t think there’s a silver-bullet answer here, but it’s an interesting conversation, nonetheless! In my opinion, it depends on your business, your brand and your target audience. It also depends on the context. Will an emoji help improve your message? Will it effectively draw in and entertain your readers? This article outlines a few more things to consider.
I hope this assortment of articles and stories inspires you and gives you some creative fuel for the week ahead!
