Inbound Content A Step-by-Step Guide To Doing Content Marketing the Inbound Way

Develop and implement an effective content strategy tailored to your business’s needs

Inbound Content is a step-by-step manual for attracting the right people, turning them into leads, and closing them into customers. Today, everyone knows that content is king. It’s how we engage, how we inform, and how we pass the time; content is everywhere, and if you’re not leveraging its power to promote your business, you’ve already been left behind. Having a website and social media is not enough; if you truly want to take advantage of unprecedented levels of connectedness, you have to create content that draws customers in. It’s not about blindly expanding reach, it’s about reaching out to the right audience. Today’s marketplace is no longer about chasing the sale—with the right approach to content, your customers will come to you.

Your content must be valuable, relevant, and consistent—but how should it be implemented at the actual content-creation level? This book shows you how to develop a unified strategy, create compelling content tailored to your needs, and utilize that content to its greatest advantage in order to build your brand.

• Discover the power of storytelling and generate effective content ideas
• Plan a long-term content strategy and a content creation framework
• Create great content, promote it, measure it, and analyze its performance
• Extend your content’s value, become a more effective writer, and develop a growth mentality

Effective content is worth its weight in marketing gold. It stands out from the noise, and to the customer, looks like an oasis in a desert of clickbait and paid reviews. Inbound Content shows you how to plan, build, and implement your content strategy for unprecedented engagement and sales.

Foreword xi
by Marcus Sheridan

Preface xv

Acknowledgments xvii

About the Author xix

Introduction: Your Content Marketing Transformation xxi

Chapter 1 Building a Content Creation Framework 1

Why Does Your Business Need a Framework for Creating Content? 1

How Do You Build a Framework for Creating Content? 2

What Resources Do You Need to Build a Content Creation Framework? 10

Chapter 2 The Power of Storytelling 17

Why Does Your Business Need a Story? 17

How Do You Develop the Structure of Your Story? 19

What Does a Good Story Look Like? 27

Chapter 3 Generating Content Ideas 33

Why Do You Need a Process for Generating Content Ideas? 33

Where Do Ideas Come From? 35

How Do You Generate Ideas for Content Creation? 38

Chapter 4 Planning a Long-Term Content Strategy 49

Why Long-Term Content Planning Is Important 49

How Do You Build a Long-Term Content Strategy? 51

Chapter 5 Becoming an Effective Writer 65

Why Effective Writing Matters 65

How to Attract and Engage People with Effective Content 66

How to Improve Your Writing 73

Chapter 6 Creating a Blog Post 81

Why Does Blogging Help Your Business Grow? 81

How Do You Create a Successful Blog Post? 82

What Does a Successful Blog Post Look Like? 91

Chapter 7 Extending the Value of Your Content through Repurposing 99

Why Repurposing Content Is Important 99

How Do You Extend the Value of Your Content? 101

What’s an Example of Repurposing Content? 117

Chapter 8 How to Effectively Promote Content 123

Why Content Promotion Is Important 123

Organic versus Paid Content Promotion 125

How to Excel at Content Promotion 128

What a Successful Content Promotion Campaign Looks Like 133

Chapter 9 Measuring and Analyzing Content 141

Why Measuring and Analyzing Content Is Important 141

How to Collect and Interpret Data 142

What to Do with Data after You’ve Collected It 152

Chapter 10 Developing a Growth Marketing Mentality 157

What Is Growth Marketing? 157

How Can You Develop a Growth Marketing Mindset? 158

What Are Some Growth Marketing Pro Tips? 165

Chapter 11 Creating Topic Clusters and Pillar Pages 171

Why Are Topic Clusters Important? 171

How Do You Create an Effective Topic Cluster and Pillar Page? 172

What’s an Example of a Successful Pillar Page? 190

Chapter 12 The Results: Where to Go from Here 201

Glossary 203

Notes 207

Index 211

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