The ultimate guide to content marketing

The value of content marketing

There's not a salesperson or CEO who doesn't want to grow their number of leads, close deals, keep customers for longer and at the same time be perceived as experts. Content marketing delivers on all of the above, so why isn't everyone doing it?

Quite often, the commercial side of the company wants to implement content marketing – and the marketing department is holding back. The main reason for such reticence mostly revolves around a lack of resources. But that's not the only barrier.

In reality, many B2B marketers haven't yet come to grips with content marketing as a practice. Either they're stuck in behavioural patterns that reflect days gone by, or they've jumped headfirst into digital marketing without the systematic, highly-efficient approach of content marketing. If that's where you suspect your marketing efforts might be, then it's time to go back to the basics.

Getting a foothold

Firstly, get a good grasp of it. Read up on content marketing, understand the principles and practices of buyer personas, content calendars and everything else that's involved (this guide is an excellent place to start).

And don't forget to talk to people who have already gone down the content marketing track. Read plenty of success stories and case studies from your or similar industries. After all, there's nothing quite like hands-on experience to put things into perspective.