***CIM (CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF MARKETING) BOOK OF THE MONTH MAY 2016*** Content marketing just got easier Content marketing is one of today's growing marketing trends following fast on the heels of social media. It is marketing through creating and sharing content that potential customers find relevant, useful and valuable in order to attract, engage, convert and retain them. It's a strategy that requires careful thought, clear objectives and goals, and a deep understanding of your audience. It requires you to reach out to them with well-planned and well-produced content - in all forms and formats, offline as well as online. In this book we take a joined-up look at content marketing, the key principles that underpin it, and what it takes to put it into practice in a consistent and fully formed way. And we provide a practical framework for planning it and executing it successfully - whatever the size of your business or your marketing team. Adopting a content marketing approach is certainly not a short term, quick win tactic. But the chances are it could make a big difference to the effectiveness of your marketing. - Sunday: Adopt a content marketing mindset - Monday: Understand the different types of content - Tuesday: Develop your content marketing strategy - Wednesday: Get started with content planning - Thursday: Create compelling content - Friday: Get ready to share - Saturday: Learn how to measure success

Engage Customers Around the World with Cross-Regional Content Marketing Technology has virtually erased national borders, forever transforming the way we reach and engage customers, as well as the way we search for and consume content. Global Content Marketing takes you step-by-step through the process of creating and refining your strategies to meet this new reality. LEARN HOW TO: Create content that engages people--regardless of their country and culture Identify key actions and strategies to apply to your projects Connect "dots" that others don't see and connect them in ways you never thought of before "Content marketing across geographies is a diff erent animal. In this smart, practical, and authoritative book, Pam Didner has tamed this animal for all of us." -- DOUG KESSLER, Creative Director, Velocity "A valuable guide to developing and distributing your global content effectively." -- NANCY BHAGAT, former VP, Global Marketing Strategy, Intel, and current Divisional CMO, TE Connectivity "This book is the blueprint for engineering a modern scalable content marketing operation." -- PAWAN DESHPANDE, CEO, Curata “Finally the book that explores all critical aspects of global content marketing! Whether you are a small business or a Fortune 500 company, it is essential to understand the 4P’s developed by Pam Didner. Read it and take your content strategy to the whole new level." -- EKATERINA WALTER, author of Think Like Zuck and coauthor of The Power of Visual Storytelling

How can we sell more, to more people, and for more money? The marketing world is awash with myths, misconceptions, dubious metrics and tactics that bear little relation to our actual buying behaviour.

Raising brand awareness, building trust, establishing credibility, and ultimately driving revenue, that's what the top of the funnel is all about. It can be a marketer's "Paradise City", but without focus, it can quickly become overwhelming. The one-two punch of social media and content marketing is a vital part of any successfully integrated marketing approach. If you are not pairing these two powerhouses together then you are simply missing opportunities to grow your business. The tactics and strategies in this book have come together through a tremendous amount of research, trial and error, expert input, and real world applications. From startups to enterprise-what's included here works across the board and can very quickly make an impact. Just like your favorite double album, this book is separated into four sides, each one addressing a different aspect of Content and Social: * Content - Why marketers need to change their mentality from creating more content, to more relevant content and three practical ways to create content that delivers a face-melting return on investment. * Social - Using social to build awareness, trust and drive high quality leads. * All Together Now - What the future holds for content and social and what it means for marketers. * The Credits - The essential resources you need to stay on top of trends in content and social media. No frills, no fluff, just useful, practical tactics, strategies and lessons from one modern marketer to another, with a touch or rock n roll flare.

Research shows that this analytical, skeptical buyer conducts a great deal of independent research before engaging with vendors. Companies that share expertise through high-quality content on a consistent basis are not only seen as trusted resources, they also spend less per lead and achieve greater pipeline efficiency. ​Content Marketing, Engineered guides you through the key steps in creating content to inform, educate, and help your technical buyers on their journey to purchase and beyond. By the time you reach the last page, you’ll be familiar with the entire end-to-end content marketing process, from planning and writing to publishing, promoting, and measuring the performance of your content.

The result of thousands of conversations about web marketing with hundreds of companies, this handbook is a compilation of the most important and effective lessons and advice about the power of search engine optimization, social media, and email marketing. The first and only comprehensive guide to content marketing, this book explains the social, analytical, and creative aspects of modern marketing that are necessary to succeed on the web. By first covering the theory behind web and content marketing and then detailing it in practice, it shows how it is not only critical to modern business but is also a lot of fun.

Finally: a real-life, practical industry guide on content strategy and marketing. Practical Content Strategy & Marketing is your go-to guide on a practical content strategy and marketing education, created by author Julia McCoy as a written accompaniment to her new course, the Content Strategy & Marketing Course (www.contentstrategycourse.com). If you run a business, or if you’re trying to break into a top-dollar content marketing career, you need to know the practical concepts involved in content strategy and marketing. The “how,” the “why,” the “where” of content. Content marketing itself involves so many platforms, formats, content types, strategies, tools—and to get the most ROI from your approach to content marketing and strategy, you have to know how to do the most important content marketing practices. Forget FOMO and trying to figure out too many things. This guide will teach you the most important foundations and skills you actually need in order to get far in our booming industry of content marketing. For the first time in the industry, Practical Content Strategy & Marketing lays the “hows” of content marketing and strategy out, in a step-by-step approach, book form. Each section has written exercises built to solidify what you’re reading and learning—you’ll be able to fill these out with a pen. Don’t be afraid to mark up this book! Why is this book different? You’re not going to find corporate, birds-eye, mumbo-jumbo fluff in this content marketing guide. Quite the opposite. The author, Julia McCoy, won her way to the top (awarded as the top 33rd content marketer in 2016) the hard-knocks way. She dropped out of college and built a content agency, Express Writers, on nothing but $75 and the tenacity to go and follow her dream and see it through. Five years later, Julia’s business has served over 5,000 clients and employs over 40 team members, and her content consistently ranks at the top of Google and among the highest-shared for guest publications. Her go-to marketing strategy? A practical, hands-on content marketing approach that has ended up bringing her 99% of the clients her agency currently works with. With Julia as your guide, learn the principles and physical “how-to” behind these six key cores of effective content marketing: Module 1: Core Foundations of an ROI-Based Content Strategy Module 2: Audience Persona Discovery, Sales Funnel Content Mapping, & Style Guidelines Module 3: Understanding Keywords, SEO Opportunities, & Creating Keyword Reports Module 4: How to Build Content Cores (Your Content House) for an Authority Presence Online Module 5: Practical Content Creation (Your Site & Guest Blogging) Module 6: Content Promotion, Setting a Budget, Preparing Your Editorial Calendar, & Maintenance Along the way, you’ll get to build a working content strategy from the ground up, using the Brand Strategy Exercises in each module. Have your pen and thinking cap ready—and a brand you want to build an entire working strategy for! Practical Content Strategy & Marketing is a field guide for the smartest content marketers who know that strategy is the key to thriving in our world of new marketing through content. Bonus: leading business marketing expert Mark Schaefer joins Julia to write the foreword, and guests Sujan Patel, Michele Linn, Steve Rayson and more appear in guest lessons throughout the book.