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B2B content marketing tools

15 Tools For Finding, Hiring, and Managing A B2B Content Writer

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In the 2014 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, original written content was ranked the overall most important form of content. Needless to say, a good b2b content writer has become a pretty hot commodity. Companies have to make the decision whether to have an in-house writer or to outsource the task to freelance writers.

Outsourcing content writing to a silver tongued freelancer can be attractive to b2b companies. A freelancer can give some much needed flare and personality to a boring industry that a long time employee might not have. If a company doesn’t have the time or money to hire on an in-house content writer, outsourcing might be the answer, but there are some outsourcing pitfalls to watch out for, and some in-house benefits that you should be aware of.

While hiring freelance writers can take the pressure of coming up with a weekly blog post off your shoulders, good in-house writers have several added benefits.

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R.I.P. blog comments

Inbound Marketing Insights: Can The B2B Blog Comment Be Resurrected?

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A few months ago I received a copy of Inbound Marketing by Hubspot Cofounders, Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah, and finally got around to reading it a few weeks ago.

Over the next couple of weeks, I will be sharing insights from the book for your reading pleasure. Last week I shared about the Grateful Dead and Niche Marketing.

This week’s insight from the book is on blog comments.

In their chapter on blogging, Dharmesh and Brian touch on the subject of blog comments somewhat, but it is not a main point. As a b2b inbound marketer, I have often wondered: “What is the value of a blog comment?” For the reader, the commenter, and the blogger.

This post is an attempt to answer that question. I will draw on material from Inbound Marketing and pair it with some of my own research

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MLT popular b2b blogs 2014 bigger

Best Batch of B2B Blogs from Ideas@Work All Year

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The end of 2014 has come. With the arrival of the new year comes a time to learn from the past and face the future, as a bigger and badder b2b marketing agency.

In the spirit of nostalgia, reminiscence, and improvement I have compiled a highlight real of the year’s 8 most successful Ideas@Work blog posts.

The year’s posts were judged almost completely on popularity, taking into account views and social shares.

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The art of storytelling

B2B Marketing: What Story Will You Tell?

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In B2B marketing, we have several goals. Some of our key targets include creating awareness, building a brand, ensuring customer retention and generating loyalty. But how do we accomplish those objectives? According to content marketing experts, we need to become storytellers. Then the question is, what’s the best story to tell?

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sexy b2b marketing content legs

How to Make Your B2B Marketing Content Sexier

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Google tells us, “Just create good content.” Bill Gates told us long ago that content is king. Unfortunately, too much of the B2B content out there is a little, well, boring. But creating valuable, shareable content is not that easy.

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visual b2b content marketing

17+ Free Ways to Create More Visual B2B Marketing Content

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Our brains process visual content 60,000 times faster than text and 90% of the information transmitted to the brain is visual. Those are some pretty incredible statistics that argue for increasing the amount of visuals in your B2B content marketing strategy. The good news is that you don’t need to spend a fortune to do it. If you’re working with a limited budget, you should know that there are plenty of places online where you can find (or create) free visual content.

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Make your b2b content simple like Thoreau

Why B2B Marketers Should Listen to Thoreau…

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“Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify, simplify!”
– Henry D. Thoreau

B2B marketers should follow his advice. Everyone is pretty much on content overload these days − I know I am, and I just can’t keep up with all of it. There are too many blogs, too many guides and too many websites with too much content.
So how do you help your business stand out in the crowd? Simplify, simplify, simplify.

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b2b wearable technology

B2B Marketing and Wearables: There’s a Creepy App for That

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Is the trend toward wearable technology the best thing that ever happened to marketers? Or could it end the conversation?

I recently wrote a blog post that questioned whether the public might gradually become more wary about when and where they are willing to share personal information with businesses. When people learn that information they share with one person is suddenly accessible to the government, marketers and even strangers, there just might come a tipping point. And I can’t help but wonder if that tipping point might just come as a result of wearable technology.

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A tree falling in the forest. Does anyone hear it?

B2B Marketing: “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”

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I saw the headline for this post and my initial thought was, “Oh, no, not more pictures.” I’ve always been fond of telling people that words are everything. Of course, as a writer, I would say that, wouldn’t I?

The idea that images can be as effective as words is not a new one. The quote, “One picture is worth a thousand words,” is from an article by Frederick R. Barnard about the effectiveness of graphics in advertising. It was written in 1921. And marketers have been following his advice ever since. But, seriously, Pinterest? Instagram? Doesn’t anyone read anymore?

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I am a blogger?! Everyone is

B2B Marketing: Blogs are like opinions. Everyone’s got one.

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OK, so I’m paraphrasing a little there, but you get my drift, right? According to WordPress.com, over 409 million people view more than 14.5 billion blog pages each month. Users post 42.6 million new posts and 54.5 new comments each month. That’s a lot of content. I don’t know how often they update those statistics, but there’s probably too many bloggers out there.

And yet, I was tasked with writing a blog post. The stress has been killing me. I’m afraid I’m not very good at putting the ‘social’ into social media. I’m more adept at anti-social, but I digress.

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