How to Create Irresistible Content - Al Biedrzycki #6

Content marketing is all the rage - but how do you get started? What do you write about? How will it be found? We interviewed Al Biedrzycki, Channel Marketing Manager at HubSpot to find out. What he shared with us will help all business owners who want to generate more leads for their businesses. Oh, and we were dying to know which piece of HubSpot's content is the most popular and effective - and why. He spills it all!

What is content marketing?

Right click here to download the mp3 file to your desktop.

Al sees it as the practice of developing useful, valuable, original content to educate your client as well as the way you promote it on a blog and with social media.

What is the difference between inbound and content marketing?

Add lead nurturing, lead generation, sales and marketing alignment. Content marketing is a COMPONENT of inbound marketing.

What makes a good piece of content?

Great content is useful and should be unique and creative - it makes people want to share it and do something more with it than just look at it.

What is HubSpot’s Most Popular Piece of Content? Why?

Released in 2009, the Step-by-Step Guide to Internet Marketing. It was very timely. People just started talking about internet marketing a lot. It got a lot of organic traffic from search and has search clout.

They used the word “Internet marketing” even though it was about “inbound” - no one would search for it because they didn’t know what it was. It was their way to teach readers about inbound marketing.

What is a “Top of the Funnel” Offer?

When someone has a vague idea of a problem they need solved. They will search for more information, but they don’t really know the information. Example: funny sound in my car - might search “strange car noises.”

Middle of the Funnel

When someone knows what is wrong, they have identified the problem. Then they start looking for the solution.

Bottom of the Funnel

When the problem is identified and the solution chosen, they just need to pick a supplier and buy!

Creative and Effective Uses of Content Marketing

ROI calculator for an accountant - enter in your financial information and it spits out your information. Preparing for tax season.

Beyond Ebooks - Creative Formats for Content Marketing

Videos can be useful, but it always depends on your product or service as well as your audience.
Whitepapers and ebooks with .pdfs were the beginning of content. Now instead of a static .pdf there are some interactive website experiences. It’s the evolution of the ebook.

What Makes a Good Title?

Don’t be misleading? Nothing causes people to lose trust in you faster than a bait and switch. This goes for the more “spicy” titles, too. If you have a spicy title, you’d better have a spicy article!
If you can add a little wit to the title, that’s great, but it is more important to be clear about your topic AND your intended audience.

What Tools and Programs Should You Use if You Aren’t a Design Expert?

PowerPoint and even Microsoft Word are pretty easy to use. Start with one of their templates. They can make a nice looking ebook! HubSpot has some, too!

Buyer Personas

Understand who you are trying to target. Map out your sales cycle and figure out where your content is going to fall. Download HubSpot's template to get started!

JUST DO IT!

Resources:

• Free Template: Create Buyer Personas For Your Business
• Free Templates: How to Create Beautiful PowerPoints
• HubSpot's Step-by-Step Guide to Internet Marketing

About Al

• Connect with Al on LinkedIn
• Follow Al on Twitter
• Email Al: [email protected]