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samuelpboswell · 5 years

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Hungry for More: What B2B Marketers Need to Know About Episodic Content

The cliffhanger is one of the greatest tools in entertainment. I’ll explain why later. Seriously though, we’ve all experienced the cliffhanger: It’s that tension-building moment of uncertainty at the end of a chapter or installment that leaves the audience impatiently awaiting the next one. Some of my favorite binge-worthy TV shows and page-turning novels have been defined by this quality. A perfect example from modern cinema is the conclusion of 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War. While I won’t give anything away, the movie ended with a shocking turn of events that seemed to leave little hope for the franchise’s heroic protagonists. In the 12 months that passed between Infinity War and its sequel, fans waited with rabid eagerness for answers and closure, reveling in theories and hyper-analysis. When Endgame finally arrived one year later, it delivered a hugely satisfying payoff. This helped the movie score the biggest box office opening of all time, and earned its creators high praise from our own Josh Nite for overcoming common Hollywood pitfalls and fully satisfying the fanbase.

via GIPHY B2B content marketing is increasingly taking cues from the world of entertainment in the quest to keep busy customers and prospects tuning in. When it comes to riveting your audience, there may be no more important model to borrow than episodic content, and the benefits don’t stop there.

Advantages of Episodic Content for B2B Marketing

Let’s start by springboarding off the point above, by highlighting the way this content delights those who consume it. Then, we’ll discuss some of the key operational implications for marketers.

Episodic Content Builds Loyalty and Retention with Your Audience

Storytelling is very powerful in B2B marketing. It helps audiences mentally organize, connect, and contextualize information in a way that makes the content much easier to understand and remember. In addition, storytelling through content marketing helps build trust. Episodic content provides a means to extend the storytelling dynamic over lengthier time periods and campaigns. In the same way a strong narrative or theme compels a reader to keep scrolling through a blog post or viewing a video, connecting multiple pieces of content through this framework urges content consumers to find and enjoy that next nugget. [bctt tweet="“Episodic content provides a means to extend the storytelling dynamic over lengthier time periods and campaigns. Connecting multiple pieces of content urges content consumers to find and enjoy that next nugget.” @NickNelsonMN" username="toprank"] When you drill right down to the essential purpose of content marketing — per the venerable Content Marketing Institute, that is “creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience” — it’s easy to see how well an episodic cadence aligns.

Episodic Content Brings Efficiency and Greater Utility to Your Content

Here’s a scenario: You’ve got a big old 5,000 word writeup on a topic critical to those in your industry or niche. You spent months planning, developing, and refining it. You’re convinced it’s interesting and informative enough to hold a reader’s attention all the way through. So why drop it all at once? Divvying such a hefty piece of content up into multiple parts means you can stretch the content out over multiple days or weeks, filling up your content calendar while also making the information itself more easily digestible and giving your audience a distinct reason to come back. The same is true of audio content, video content, and so forth. This is something that can be (and often is) done in hindsight — “Wow, this turned out to be really long, let’s cut it into parts” — but is most effective when baked into planning, so you can build in those pivotal cliffhangers and a smooth overall flow.

Episodic Content Adds Cohesiveness to Your Content Strategy

One of the habits I recently suggested B2B marketers should leave behind in the 2010s is aimless content creation. Episodic content is a simple solution to the fragmented nature of many wayward strategies. When you start planning around sequential series of related pieces, it becomes far easier to tie everything together with a consistent thread, and helps embed that mindset throughout the rest of a program.

Examples of Episodic Content in B2B Marketing

It might feel easier to envision episodic content in the context of TV shows or movie franchises than in a B2B marketing strategy. So let’s explore a few practical ways to bring this framework to life within business-oriented campaigns and programs.

Webcasts/Vidcasts

This format is the easiest to associate with episodic mainstays like TV and film, because it follows the very same premise: pull in a viewer with an engrossing video, and then leave them wanting more. There are many examples of this throughout the world of B2B marketing, one of them being our own Break Free B2B webcast series. The interconnected quality in a video content series doesn’t always have to be an ongoing narrative. Sometimes it’s simply a theme that resonates and applies to various installments. In the example of Break Free B2B, there’s no direct linkage between different episodes, except for the core concept — smart, forward-thinking pros sharing their best tips to escape the traditional constraint and barriers of our field. YouTube itself illustrates the power of episodic video content. By automatically playing another related video after one ends, viewers sometimes stay tuned in for long durations. And to reinforce the platform’s irresistible appeal, Google recently disclosed that YouTube earned more than $15 billion in revenue last year.

Podcasts

These fall into a similar bucket as vidcasts and webcasts, but with a strictly audio focus. There are plenty of popular podcast shows that unpack a progressive narrative over the course of many episodes (Serial was a breakthrough in this regard), but again, it’s often about a cohesive theme or concept. Two of our B2B clients at TopRank Marketing are helping lead the way on this front: 3M’s Science Champions highlights the human side of complex topics, while SAP’s Tech Unknown explores cutting-edge innovation through the eyes of the innovators. When Josh shared B2B podcasting stats here a few months ago, some of the most striking were around the devoted consumption of listeners. For example, 76.8% listen to podcasts more than seven hours a week, and 52% of monthly listeners listen to the entirety of each episode. In other words, once you pull someone into a podcast, there’s a good chance they’ll be hooked. [bctt tweet="“Podcasts continue to attract new listeners. And, most promisingly, those who listen are far more likely to add new podcasts than cut down.” @NiteWrites #B2Bpodcasting" username="toprank"]

Social Casts

This is a somewhat new frontier, but definitely an intriguing one. Driving consistent social engagement is a challenge for many B2B brands, and episodic social content contributes to solving it. The LinkedIn Marketing Blog* recently highlighted companies that are excelling with video on the platform, and the post includes several examples of episodic campaigns, such as Searchie’s LinkedIn Live series and the Keynotes educational series from eCornell. Other common examples of episodic social content include weekly hashtag posts, employee spotlights, and daily polls.

Blogs, Guides, Email

The above examples are mostly multimedia-focused, because that best correlates to the high-profile entertainment examples cited from the outset, but written content like blog posts and guides are also perfect for episodic delivery. A thematic newsletter, or series of related blog posts, or collection of ebooks covering the same topical area can all fit the bill. If you strike a chord with your audience, you’ll have them looking out for the next one.

On to the Next Episode

As you plan out your upcoming content initiatives, think about ways you can build them around an episodic framework. It will help you form long-running narratives, gain consistent attention and awareness from your audience, add efficiency to your creation process, and support a cohesive strategy. Instead of thinking about the conclusion of your next campaign or content piece, start thinking about the cliffhanger. A big part of episodic B2B content’s appeal is that it creates a lengthier and deeper experience for the reader, listener, or viewer. Learn more about why experiential content is on the rise in our recent blog entry. * Disclosure: LinkedIn, along with 3M and SAP, is a client of TopRank Marketing

The post Hungry for More: What B2B Marketers Need to Know About Episodic Content appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

from The SEO Advantages https://www.toprankblog.com/2020/02/what-b2b-marketers-need-to-know-about-episodic-content/

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ralphlayton · 5 years

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Hungry for More: What B2B Marketers Need to Know About Episodic Content

Advantages of Episodic Content for B2B Marketing

Let’s start by springboarding off the point above, by highlighting the way this content delights those who consume it. Then, we’ll discuss some of the key operational implications for marketers.

Episodic Content Builds Loyalty and Retention with Your Audience

Episodic Content Brings Efficiency and Greater Utility to Your Content

Episodic Content Adds Cohesiveness to Your Content Strategy

Examples of Episodic Content in B2B Marketing

Webcasts/Vidcasts

Podcasts

Social Casts

Blogs, Guides, Email

On to the Next Episode

The post Hungry for More: What B2B Marketers Need to Know About Episodic Content appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Hungry for More: What B2B Marketers Need to Know About Episodic Content published first on yhttps://improfitninja.blogspot.com/

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samifying · 5 years

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In this episode of Talk with the Top: Colorado, Dallas Hogensen of Signal HQ shares insight on how to bridge the gap between sales and marketing. #B2Bcontentmarketing #B2Bpodcasting https://t.co/9asWl5bIwy https://t.co/7m19yVdNv1

In this episode of Talk with the Top: Colorado, Dallas Hogensen of Signal HQ shares insight on how to bridge the gap between sales and marketing.#B2Bcontentmarketing #B2Bpodcastinghttps://t.co/9asWl5bIwy pic.twitter.com/7m19yVdNv1

— Soumen Halder (@hsoumen) August 26, 2019

via Twitter https://twitter.com/hsoumen August 26, 2019 at 03:49PM

#IFTTT #Twitter

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iradeoblog · 9 years

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Rigid Lifelines: The Ideal Company Podcast

Here at iRadeo, we pride ourselves in providing easy-to-use podcast and online radio hosting services for businesses all around. No industry is too complicated to handle, which is why we decided to share how one of our clients have gotten their podcast off the ground thanks to our service.

Image source: Rigid Lifelines

Through their podcast, they position themselves as an industry leader and expert on the topic. More importantly, they have made fall protection and safety accessible and understandable for all members of the public, from homeowners to employees to at-heights workers.

Have you ever looked up and feel queasy watching construction workers operate at such massive heights? Chances are they feel pretty nervous up there too.

The problem is that traditional safety systems don't always guarantee freedom of movement and aren't easy to use. It's a problem Rigid Lifelines aims to solve, and frankly, they've done a spectacular job since 1996.

FALL PROTECTION MADE SIMPLE

Rigid Lifelines is a company in the business of keeping our at-height workers safe at all times.

The company designs and builds fall arrest and fall restraint systems while working hand-in-hand with their users to consistently improve their product lines. They are well-funded, research-driven, and backed by a family of engineers specializing in fall protection equipment.

What sets them apart is the simplicity of their products and the freedom of movement their users enjoy while getting their work done. Moreover, they provide the latest fall protection information and industry literature online, keeping supervisors informed and reducing risk at work.

SAFETY FOR EVERYONE

Safety is a huge concern for both individuals and companies, yet information on how to ensure one's safety isn't always accessible or understandable.

Rigid Lifelines decided to launch a podcast in July 2012 where they can share inspection tips, terminology, fall protection information, and similar content to the public. They recognize the effectiveness of audio and how this makes it easier for users to learn while testing out and using the equipment on site.

Each week, a new episode goes up on their channel where they talk about the different aspects of risk safety, fall protection, and industry-related news. Rigid Podcasts host Dan Ross uses a deep and professional voice that matches the company brand and delivers the information clearly each time.

Rigid Lifelines pride themselves on the simplicity of their systems and expect the same level of ease from the podcasting service they intend to use. After testing a couple of services, they chose iRadeo to handle their audio storage, podcast streaming, and analytics.

AN INDUSTRY LEADER

Today, Rigid Lifelines has published over fifty episodes on fall protection, inspection, and risk reduction.

#rigidlifelines #customerpodcast #b2bpodcast #iradeo #howtostartpodcast #podcastexample

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samuelpboswell · 5 years

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What B2B Podcasters Need to Know About SEO

There are few things more satisfying than clicking “Publish” on a shiny new podcast. All the hours of planning and recording are done. You ran down your podcast launch checklist. Now it’s time for the world to enjoy the fruits of your labor. You can sit back and watch the downloads roll in, right? Well… it depends on whether people can find your podcast. While the podcast market isn’t oversaturated yet, it’s still a crowded playing field. Post-launch, your podcast promotion plan will likely include a mix of paid promotion, influencer amplification, and social media marketing to help build your audience. But before you record a second of audio, your organic strategy can help ensure your podcast is found and treasured. Here’s what you need to know about SEO for podcasts.

Search Engine Optimization for Podcasts

We’ll get deep into how you can build SEO into your podcasts — as you would for any other type of content — in a few paragraphs. First, here’s a quick checklist of tactics that can help improve visibility.

Podcast SEO Quick Wins

1. Make Your Title Hyper-Relevant Podcast directories like iTunes and Spotify rely heavily on your podcast title for ranking. What’s more, if your title does pop up in search, it needs to be immediately compelling. Make sure your title is something that clearly states what the podcast is about, and will inspire people to click — thereby sending positive signals back to the directory’s search engine. 2. Submit to Google Podcasts You’ve likely heard that Google is indexing podcasts now. They’re even transcribing the audio to make it searchable. So yes, your podcast can show up in the SERP, right up top with a big play button next to it. But only if you have submitted to their directory. 3. Tag and Title Your podcast host will have an option to add tags to your RSS feed. Use these sparingly; one or two phrases at most. For titles, focus on a clear benefit to the listener. Instead of, “Our Q&A with Bob Johnson,” make it, “Increase Your CTR with Tips from Bob Johnson.” 4. Use Keywords in Episode Descriptions The majority of your clicks will come from your podcast title and episode title. But don’t overlook the description. Think of it like the meta description on a blog post. It should aim to draw your listener in as quickly and succinctly as possible. 5. Solicit Reviews and Subscribers The other major ranking factor in a podcast directory is engagement. Every episode, you should encourage listeners to review and subscribe. It’s a good idea to include that ask in internal promotion and promotional emails, too.

How to Build SEO into Your Podcasts

Many podcasts in the B2B realm are produced as continuous conversations; informal Q&A sessions. They're quick and easy to produce, and that's certainly not a bad thing. However, an informal interview/chat show usually involves talking to guests about their background, area of expertise, experience, that sort of thing. Then you listen back through and pull out key themes for your episode title and description. Certainly, optimization can be done during production and post-production. But building SEO research and strategy into the planning stages will enhance your content and its visibility potential. Plan Your Podcast Episodes Like a Blog Post Google is transcribing your podcast and analyzing the content. What if your podcast episode was an audio power page for an entire keyword cluster? Imagine the SEO juice you can get from a pages-long transcript organized around a specific set of search terms. Hopefully, you've already identified your overarching theme and topical pillars you want to cover. But as you're planning each episode, do some additional keyword research to help ensure the topic or sub-topics are covered well. Find the topic that has the most interest, and the keywords (short and long-tail) that support it. When you draft the questions (or topic notes) to guide the episode, use your research as the template. Treat each question as though it were an H3 tag on a blog post. Make the Topic the Star Now your questions will keep the conversation focused on what's most relevant to your audience. For example:

Without topic planning: “Bob, tell us what you’ve learned in your five years with WidgetCorp.”

With topic planning: “Bob, based on your time at WidgetCorp, how do you optimize a widget assembly line?”

You can see how the focus shifts from Bob’s personal experience to tips that match your audience’s search needs. Bob's response is likely to contain a whole host of long-tail keywords that match what your audience wants to know. When you center your planning around keyword research, you’ll end up with a discussion that is naturally optimized for search. As with good written content, you won’t need to awkwardly shoehorn terms into the discussion. They’ll come up naturally because they will be relevant to the topic. [bctt tweet="When you center your planning around keyword research, you’ll end up with a discussion that is naturally optimized for search. @NiteWrites on building SEO into #B2BPodcast planning" username="toprank"] Now when Google crawls your podcast, it will be easy for the algorithm to determine what it’s about and what queries it should match. What’s more, your podcast is likely to be more relevant to your audience, too. That can inspire more linking and sharing, which in turn boosts your search visibility. Publish a Good Transcript Google will use their own auto-generated transcript for displaying your podcast in search. But you shouldn’t rely on that transcript for all your SEO needs. Instead, publish a blog or episode page that includes a full, edited transcript. Don’t treat it as an afterthought; use a transcription service, then polish their work for publication. Include H3 headers for each question or topic shift, pull out the most valuable quotes for click-to-tweets, and include key takeaways at the top. For a 15-20 minute podcast episode, you will likely have 2,000+ words of optimized, highly-relevant content for Google to feast on.

Case Study: Tech Unknown

Our client SAP has seen the difference pre-planning makes in the second season of their Tech Unknown podcast. The first season was an interview format focused on a single guest each episode. The first six episodes did well; they beat benchmarks and found a healthy, relevant audience. But for the second season, we wanted to take it up another notch. We organized the episodes around a single topic per episode, interviewed multiple guests, and assembled each episode around the central narrative. The results so far: The new episodes are already among the most popular of the entire series. Episode 2 is smashing 30-day benchmarks after a single week. Focusing on a more edited, topic-driven format not only improved SEO, it also made for an even more compelling finished product. Hear for yourself:

Think Before You Cast

The barrier of entry for starting a podcast has never been lower. With enough time and know how, anyone can get a podcast up and running. Getting people to listen, however, requires a more strategic approach. Plan your podcast like you would plan any other long-term content commitment: With an editorial calendar, solid keyword research, and always with audience value as the driving force. The best podcast SEO is to provide content people will love listening to and learning from. Need help planning, producing, publishing and promoting your podcast? Check out our B2B Podcasting Webinar.

The post What B2B Podcasters Need to Know About SEO appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

from The SEO Advantages http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OnlineMarketingSEOBlog/~3/MedYiQ-nVMw/

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ralphlayton · 5 years

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What B2B Podcasters Need to Know About SEO

Search Engine Optimization for Podcasts

Podcast SEO Quick Wins

How to Build SEO into Your Podcasts

Without topic planning: “Bob, tell us what you’ve learned in your five years with WidgetCorp.”

With topic planning: “Bob, based on your time at WidgetCorp, how do you optimize a widget assembly line?”

Case Study: Tech Unknown

Think Before You Cast

The post What B2B Podcasters Need to Know About SEO appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

What B2B Podcasters Need to Know About SEO published first on yhttps://improfitninja.blogspot.com/

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samuelpboswell · 5 years

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Our Top B2B Content Marketing Trends & Predictions for 2020

Well, B2B marketers, it’s that time of year again. The holiday season is in full swing. The countdown to a new year and a new decade has begun. And of course, we’re all channeling our psychic powers, hoping to uncover what 2020 has in store so we can seize opportunities, prepare for challenges, and ultimately improve the effectiveness of our content marketing efforts. 2019 was a bonding year for elevating experiences, with many B2B marketers making significant investments in interactive content, influencer content collaborations, and multi-faceted campaigns. 2020 will be the year where many brands will cement experience as a strategy. So, what does this look like in 2020? Below we dive into our top 10 trends and predictions for 2020—each of which have overt or underlying ties to experience.

TopRank Marketing’s Top B2B Content Marketing Trends & Predictions for 2020

#1 - The Evolution of Experiential Content

In case you missed my opening: It’s the age of experience, marketers. Research shows that marketing leaders expect to compete on experience now and long into the future. “Customers don’t compare you to your competitors anymore—they compare you to other positive experiences they’ve had,” Shep Hyken, seasoned customer service and experience expert, told me not long ago. “Satisfactory is a rating. Loyalty is an emotion. So, you need to figure out a way to create a lasting emotional bond.” [bctt tweet="Satisfactory is a rating. Loyalty is an emotion. So, you need to figure out a way to create a lasting emotional bond. @Hyken #B2BContentMarketing #CX" username="toprank"] Certainly, creating incredible experiences doesn’t begin and end with the marketing department. But marketing chiefs and their teams have the opportunity to rise as CX leaders in 2020. How? With experiential content. Animated, infotaining infographics. Audio-guided eBooks. Gamified power pages. Quirky quizzes. ROI calculators. Augmented reality product catalogs. Virtual reality experiences at live events. AI-powered chatbots. From simple, stand-alone assets to real-time, on-site engagement mechanisms, marketers of all interactive content sophistication levels can design interactive experiences that encourage connection and engagement with their buying audiences—and internal stakeholders. However, when we say experiential content, we’re not just talking about interactivity or entertainment elements—that interactivity is intertwined with data and influential voices, something that will be increasingly vital in 2020. “The sheer volume of information and media that confronts people in the business world is overwhelming and often pretty boring,” Lee Odden, TopRank Marketing’s CEO, says. “Creating compelling experiences with interactive content is one way to stand out, differentiate, and optimize for effectiveness. At the same time, buyers don’t trust advertising or brand marketing messages. Co-creating content with trusted experts brings credibility and interest to the brand message.” [bctt tweet="Creating compelling experiences with interactive content is one way to stand out, differentiate, and optimize for effectiveness. @leeodden #B2BContentMarketing" username="toprank"] Check out our latest interactive asset featuring influential voices.

#2 - Trust 2.0

Trust in marketing topped our list of 2019 content marketing trends and predictions. Security breaches, privacy concerns, political scandals, and a long-standing distrust of advertising messages had combined to create a multi-year streak of falling trust among consumers worldwide. But consumer trust began to rebound. The 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer showed that global trust toward business increased in 21 of 26 markets, including the U.S. where 54% of respondents voiced confidence. As we head into 2020, we need to stay the course: No. 1: Get familiar with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). As my colleague Nick Nelson wrote not long ago: “Whether through the proliferation of state-level laws like CCPA, or the eventual enactment of a similar federal legislation, it’s only a matter of time before data privacy regulations are in place across the United States.” No. 2: Strive to be the best answer. For years, this has been TopRank Marketing’s mantra and approach, combining art and science to create quality content that informs, educates, and inspires audiences whenever and wherever they’re searching. “Best answer content gets back to the basics,” Nick Nelson once wrote. “When done right, it’s all about delivering value and earning trust before you ask for anything.” But don’t just take our word for it. In August 2019, Google published a reminder and primer on its core updates—specifically calling out a little thing called “E-A-T”, which stands for “Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness.” This is a huge hint, marketers. E-A-T up. “Your brand needs to come off as credible consistently for people to trust you,” Margaret Magnarelli, Executive Director of Growth Marketing, Social Media, and SEO at Morgan Stanley, told us earlier this year. “[With content created for organic search] you have the opportunity to attract someone from a side door with a specific intent and zero brand awareness; your answer to their question will have a big impact on whether you can be trusted on more consequential matters.” [bctt tweet="Your answer to a searcher’s question will have a big impact on whether you can be trusted on more consequential matters. @mmagnarelli #B2BContentMarketing #TrustInMarketing " username="toprank"] No. 3: Align yourself with credible, influential voices. As Lee Odden says: “For any kind of content a business creates and publishes to the world, there is an opportunity for collaboration with credible voices that have active networks interested in what those voices have to say.” Read more on this subject:

Trust Factors: How Best Answer Content Fuels Brand Credibility

Trust Factors: The (In)Credible Impact of B2B Influencer Marketing

Trust Begins Within: The Vital Importance of Building Internal Trust in Marketing

#3 - The Continued Rise of Video

Last year’s annual B2B content marketing benchmarking report from Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs revealed that 64% of marketers increased the audio and visual content production. In this year’s report, a whopping 71% of respondents said they’ve used video content in the last year. To put that into perspective, video content outranked case studies, infographics, webinars, white papers, and eBooks. Video content production will undoubtedly grow among B2B marketers in 2020. And from our perspective, the biggest change here will be diversification in terms of strategy and storytelling. Currently, video is often used as a top-of-funnel tactic. But video can be effective at every stage of the buyer journey. So, as marketers grow more comfortable and sophisticated in the video realm, they’ll broaden their video marketing strategies to reach prospects and nurture customers. And as video becomes more ubiquitous, constructing compelling visual narratives will be the key to success. “If you want to make the best impact and see the highest returns for your video's investment, you've got to SHOW not tell,” Andrew Davis, keynote speaker and bestselling author, says. “Instead of a talking head or another interview, how can you SHOW me? Spend more time shooting the rest of the story and immediately, you'll take your videos from drab to show-stopping.” [bctt tweet="If you want to make the best impact and see the highest returns for your video's investment, you've got to SHOW not tell. @DrewDavisHere #B2BContentMarketing #VideoMarketing" username="toprank"]

#4 - “Marketer, Play Audio Content”

Today’s easy listening radio comes in the form of serialized storytelling: podcasts. Podcast listenership has grown rapidly over the last couple years. Nearly a quarter of all podcast listeners have gotten started in the last six months. What’s more, 51% of the U.S. population over the age of 12 has listened to a podcast. In the B2B realm, podcasting’s full potential has yet to be unlocked—but more marketers will try in 2020. “B2B podcasting today is where content marketing was a decade ago,” Joshua Nite, Senior Content Marketing Manager at TopRank Marketing, says. “It’s emerging as a marketing discipline. People are starting to get sophisticated about deploying and measuring podcasts. We’re seeing new tools to make it easier to launch, promote, and monetize. And despite the thousands of hours of audio out there already, there’s no sign that the market is satiated.” [bctt tweet="People are starting to get sophisticated about deploying and measuring podcasts… And despite the thousands of hours of audio out there already, there’s no sign that the market is satiated. @NiteWrites #B2BPodcasting #B2BContentMarketing" username="toprank"] That said, podcasts aren’t the only audio medium that should be on marketers’ minds heading into the New Year. According to recent research from Edison Research, more than 53 million Americans now own a smart speaker—a 36% increase in just one year. So, if content optimized for voice search—or as the kids are calling it these days, voice-activated content—didn’t make its way into your 2019 strategy, 2020 is the year. Read: B2B Podcasting: 20 Stats That Make the Marketing Case

#5 - Collaborative Content Ups the Personalization Ante

Content proliferation coupled with evolving consumer expectations and increased skepticism and distrust has created an intensely competitive landscape. It is known.

via GIPHY Personalization has arisen a content marketing savior, aiming to elevate experiences by delivering relevant, one-to-one messaging to current or prospective buyers. But the next step in the 2020 personalization game is collaborative. Partnering with select industry influencers and thought leaders, employees, and current customers or prospects can help you create unique, topically-relevant content for your (mutual) target audiences. When it comes to influencers, consider this tidbit from TopRank Marketing’s founder Lee Odden: “Influencers with complementary domain expertise and networks that combine forces can offer a B2B brand the reach of a major publication but with the credibility and trust of respected influencers.” As for leveraging customers and prospects, see what my cohort Nick Nelson has to say on user-generated content: “Storytelling is one of the most essential tactics in content marketing, and customer-centricity is among the discipline’s central tenets. UGC presents a way to merge these two by actually making turning your customer into the storyteller. Not only is this an extremely engaging role for the individual whose content is featured, but it makes that content vastly more relatable for those consuming it.” Finally, ponder what Jay Baer, founder of Convince & Convert, has to say about employee advocacy: “If you have a truly differentiated customer experience, something that creates conversations, your employees will naturally echo that and amplify it and connect the dots for potential customers. They will be part of the marketing arsenal.”

#6. A Renewed Commitment to Consistency & Integration

Integrated marketing. Multichannel marketing. Omnichannel marketing. Scope and definitions differ, but the general premises of each approach is the same: consistently create positive brand experiences whenever and wherever your audience is searching. Regardless of the preferred approach, marketers have been pursuing this directive for several years. We know that consistency and integration are the keys to effectively telling our brands’ stories and connecting with our audiences. However, in the pursuit of perfection, complexities—and perhaps even some complatency—have crept in. We’ve added tactics. We’ve added channels. We’ve added tools. But in the midst of all the additions, have we made vast improvements in the content experiences we provide? Have we fallen in set-and-forget mode? The aforementioned CMI and MarketingProfs study reveals that 93% of most successful B2B content marketers prioritize the delivery of relevant content when and where someone is most likely to see it—just 37% of the least successful marketers focus here. So, as experience continues its rise as a competitive differentiator, brands and marketers would do well to reassess and renew their commitments to smart marketing integration in 2020. [bctt tweet="As experience continues its rise as a competitive differentiator, brands and marketers would do well to reassess and renew their commitments to smart marketing integration in 2020. @CaitlinMBurgess #B2BContentMarketing" username="toprank"]

#7. Data-Informed Content

Every B2B marketer understands the pivotal role data plays in modern content marketing. However, many still make marketing decisions based on gut-feel. Whether they feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of data available or they don’t have the proper collection and analyzation tools in place, marketers often use just a fraction of the data that they have at their disposal. In 2020, those who are able to focus their data lens will be able to create data-informed content that drives better experiences. If you’re struggling with data quality, leverage this six-rule framework courtesy of Christopher Penn, Co-Founder and Chief Data Scientist at Trust Insights:

Clean: Free from errors

Complete: Not missing critical parts

Comprehensive: Answers the questions asked of it

Chosen: Does not contain irrelevant information

Credible: Collected with as little bias as possible from reliable sources

Calculable: Usable by both people and machines

“Data that follows these six rules is data you can use for maximum impact as a B2B marketer, the equivalent of health-giving food,” Christopher says. “Data that breaks these rules is equivalent to junk food, food that steals from your wellness.” [bctt tweet="Clean. Complete. Comprehensive. Chosen. Credible. Calculable. Adhere to the 6 C’s of data quality and you'll be well on your way to B2B marketing fitness. @cspenn #B2BContentMarketing" username="toprank"] If you’re struggling to identify the “right” data to focus on, we suggest focusing on the following customer data types:

Discovery: Where, when, and how buyers seek and find information that helps them identify a solution.

Consumption: The consumption channels, content types, topics, formats, devices, and experiences your customers and prospects prefer.

Action: The triggers that have and will motivate a desired action.

“With buyer discovery, consumption, and action metrics, you’ll know how to create awareness, great customer engagement, and compelling offers that matter to your customers,” Lee Odden says. “And you’ll always know which approach to use to improve your marketing because it will be customer-driven.” [bctt tweet="With buyer discovery, consumption, and action metrics, you’ll know how to create awareness, great customer engagement, and compelling offers that matter to your customers. @leeodden #B2BContentMarketing" username="toprank"]

#8. Visually-Rich Content Focused on Storytelling

It’s no longer enough to inform buyers. Instead, you must provide story-driven, visual content that connects on intellectual and emotional levels. This is critical in the experience age. Visual platforms are where we spend our time—a trend that will absolutely continue in 2020. In fact, YouTube is the most widely used online platform among U.S. adults, according to Pew Research Center. Facebook, which has made platform changes to make visual content more easily accessible, comes in second. But the visually-rich storytelling doesn’t begin or end with video on social platforms. “Contrary to popular belief, people do still read traditional content forms like whitepapers, eBooks and case studies,” Michelle Liro, Vice President of Demand Generation at PTC, says. “But first you’ll need to pull them in with attention-grabbing visuals that show them what they’ll get before you tell them what they’ll get.” [bctt tweet="Contrary to popular belief, people do still read traditional content forms like whitepapers, eBooks and case studies. But first you’ll need to pull them in with attention-grabbing visuals. @michelleliro #B2BContentMarketing" username="toprank"] Take a look at this internal marketing example from Antea Group*. With the goal of educating and rallying their team of consultants around the relaunch of a core service offering, the firm tapped our team to develop an animated eBook that was fully steeped in narrative.

#9. Email Newsletters Make a Comeback

Email marketing is not dead. As we recently reported, open rates aren’t in a state of steady, ceaseless decline. In fact, according to Super Office, the average rate has generally been increasing (or at least remaining steady) year-to-year over the past decade-plus. That said, email marketing strategies are most definitely in need of a refresh. And from our perspective, the email newsletter can make a triumphant comeback in 2020. “My feelings about newsletters are strong,” Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs and accomplished email newsletter purveyor, once told AWeber. “It’s the one enduring place that we have as marketers, and it’s the place where conversations are most intimate. Newsletters are 100% effective and they’re still the backbone of so many content marketing efforts.” [bctt tweet="My feelings about newsletters are strong. It’s the one enduring place that we have as marketers, and it’s the place where conversations are most intimate. Ann Handley, @MarketingProfs #B2BContentMarketing" username="toprank"] However, marketers need to be willing to put in the work to ensure those intimate conversations build relationships next year, rather than serve only as a sales pitch. “When someone opts into your newsletter and then starts getting overtly pitched right away, it can feel like a betrayal of trust,” Nick Nelson wrote not long ago. “As a relatively direct and personal form of marketing communication, email should be used to deliver value and build brand affinity. This is not to say you must avoid any type of lead generation elements in your messages, but make them subtle and sparse.”

3. 2. 1... Look Out 2020, Here We Come!

From experimenting with new mediums such as podcasts or interactive content to innovative storytelling, marketers can and should play an integral role in crafting and advancing positive audience experiences with their brands. So, as we head into 2020, ask yourself: Is my brand poised to deliver experiences that leave a lasting impression? Happy New Year, B2B marketers. What’s your B2B content marketing prediction for 2020? What trends are you watching? Tell us in the comments section below.

The post Our Top B2B Content Marketing Trends & Predictions for 2020 appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

from The SEO Advantages https://www.toprankblog.com/2019/12/b2b-content-marketing-trends-predictions-2020/

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ralphlayton · 5 years

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Our Top B2B Content Marketing Trends & Predictions for 2020

TopRank Marketing’s Top B2B Content Marketing Trends & Predictions for 2020

#1 - The Evolution of Experiential Content

#2 - Trust 2.0

Trust Factors: How Best Answer Content Fuels Brand Credibility

Trust Factors: The (In)Credible Impact of B2B Influencer Marketing

Trust Begins Within: The Vital Importance of Building Internal Trust in Marketing

#3 - The Continued Rise of Video

#4 - “Marketer, Play Audio Content”

#5 - Collaborative Content Ups the Personalization Ante

Content proliferation coupled with evolving consumer expectations and increased skepticism and distrust has created an intensely competitive landscape. It is known.

#6. A Renewed Commitment to Consistency & Integration

#7. Data-Informed Content

Clean: Free from errors

Complete: Not missing critical parts

Comprehensive: Answers the questions asked of it

Chosen: Does not contain irrelevant information

Credible: Collected with as little bias as possible from reliable sources

Calculable: Usable by both people and machines

Discovery: Where, when, and how buyers seek and find information that helps them identify a solution.

Consumption: The consumption channels, content types, topics, formats, devices, and experiences your customers and prospects prefer.

Action: The triggers that have and will motivate a desired action.

#8. Visually-Rich Content Focused on Storytelling

#9. Email Newsletters Make a Comeback

3. 2. 1... Look Out 2020, Here We Come!

The post Our Top B2B Content Marketing Trends & Predictions for 2020 appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Our Top B2B Content Marketing Trends & Predictions for 2020 published first on yhttps://improfitninja.blogspot.com/

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ralphlayton · 5 years

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B2B Podcasting: 20 Stats that Make the Marketing Case

Good grief, Josh, why can’t you shut up about B2B podcasting? Does the world really need another think piece, blog post, or webinar about the potential? Don’t people get it already? I hear you, theoretical reader. And yet, I persevere. B2B podcasting today is where content marketing was a decade ago. It’s emerging as a marketing discipline. People are starting to get sophisticated about deploying and measuring podcasts. We’re seeing new tools to make it easier to launch, promote, and monetize. And despite the thousands of hours of audio out there already, there’s no sign that the market is satiated. I believe that if you’re not already thinking about podcasting for your B2B brand, you should be. But if my beautiful words can’t convince you, let the data tell the story:

B2B Podcasting: 20 Stats that Make the Case

These statistics come from five different reports, all released in the last year. When you look at all five together, the picture is clear: We’re nowhere near peak podcast, and brand content is the next frontier.

Podcast Listenership Just Keeps Growing

Podcasting is a growth medium. More people are listening now than ever before. But what’s truly impressive is how many listeners are new to the medium. Even though podcasts have been around since the early 2000s, they have only reached a mass market audience in the past couple of years.

1: Nearly a quarter of all listeners started in the past 6 months. (2)

2: Globally, 36% of the sampled population has listened to a podcast in the last month. (1)

3: 51% of the U.S. population over 12 has listened to a podcast. (2)

4: 32% of the U.S. population over 12 has listened in the past month (90 million people). (2)

5: 22% of the U.S. population over 12 listen weekly (60 million). (2)

6: 62.6% of respondents said they listen to more podcasts now than they did a year ago. (3)

7: Only 3.1% said they listen less than they did a year ago. (3)

In summary: Podcasts continue to attract new listeners to their existing audience of 90 million people monthly. And, most promisingly, those who listen are far more likely to add new podcasts than cut down. [bctt tweet="Podcasts continue to attract new listeners... And, most promisingly, those who listen are far more likely to add new podcasts than cut down. @NiteWrites #B2BPodcasting" username="toprank"]

Podcast Listeners Are Demographically Valuable

Okay, so millions of people are listening to podcasts. But are these people a worthwhile target audience for B2B marketers? The answer may vary depending on your most valuable audience, of course. But most B2B marketers are interested in targeting millennials. A recent survey found that at least 73% of millennials are involved in product or service decision making at work, with 33% reporting they’re the sole decision maker at their company. Basically, if you’re trying to influence B2B purchases, millennials matter. And podcast listeners are disproportionately affluent, social media savvy millennials:

8: 50% of listeners under 35 have listened to a podcast in the last month. (1)

9: 41% of podcast listeners make $75k a year or more, compared to 29% of the general population. (2)

10: Podcast listeners are more likely to be active on social media across channels and more likely to follow companies and brands. (4)

Read: How to Promote Your B2B Podcast

Podcast Fans are Devoted Listeners

According to Google’s 2018 benchmarks, the average time on page for content from most industries is between two and three minutes. Marketers can certainly make an impression in that amount of time. Even fifteen seconds is valuable to a savvy marketer with a good hook and strong CTA. But podcast listeners spend a great deal more time with audio content:

11: 76.8% listen to podcasts more than 7 hours a week. (3)

12: 61.2% spend more time listening to podcasts than watching TV. (3)

13: 52% of monthly listeners listen to the entirety of each episode. (2)

14: 70% of listeners say that, at least sometimes, they do nothing else while listening to podcasts. (2)

As that last statistic shows, podcast listeners aren’t the distracted, multi-tasking folks we might have imagined they are. If the material is engaging, they’re willing to devote their attention. Speaking of which... [bctt tweet="Podcast listeners aren’t the distracted, multi-tasking folks we might have imagined they are. If the material is engaging, they’re willing to devote their attention. @NiteWrites #B2BPodcasting" username="toprank"]

Podcast Fans Want to Learn (In a Fun Way)

Back in the early days, podcasts were — in the best sense of the word — geeky. They were for highly techy types to share knowledge, teach and learn. While purely entertaining podcasts have seen plenty of success, at the root of it podcasts are an ideal medium for learning. People don’t just listen to podcasts for fun. The overwhelming majority want to feel smarter at the end of every episode. Think of all the subject matter expertise in your company. Now multiply that by the influential guests (e.g. your customers, prospects, and industry experts and peers) you’ll invite on to share their expertise. It’s easy to see how a brand podcast can bring educational value to an audience that’s ready to learn.

15: 74% say they listen to podcasts to learn new things. (2)

16: 71% say they listen to be entertained. (2)

17: 59% say they enjoy podcasts because they make them feel smarter. (2)

The Business Podcast Market Is Ready for Lift-Off

There’s still a massive untapped market for helpful, informative business podcasts — exactly the type that B2B brands could develop, produce and promote. In fact, we can see that the ad revenue model for podcasting is expanding to include branded content. Right now, branded content is still a small percentage of overall podcast advertising, but it’s growing fast.

18: There are avid fans of business podcasts in 13 million households. (4)

19: There are casual fans of business podcasts in 52 million households. (4)

20: Branded content has increased from 1.5% to 10.1% of podcast advertising since 2016. (5)

What's more, podcasts offer a range of content marketing benefits, which can inform and bolster your broader digital marketing strategy.

Don’t Be (Pod) Cast Aside

The podcast boom continues unabated — and it’s grown from a strictly amateur platform to a sophisticated content marketing medium. B2B marketers who are creating any kind of audio content should consider podcasting as a channel to earn attention, deeply engage an audience, and ultimately drive measurable business results. Ready to produce your own podcast? Check out our webinar on the 4 P’s of Podcasting.

Sources:

Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2019

The Podcast Consumer 2019

Podcast Trends Report 2018

Nielsen Marketers Guide to Podcasting

IAB Podcast Ad Revenue Study for 2019

The post B2B Podcasting: 20 Stats that Make the Marketing Case appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

B2B Podcasting: 20 Stats that Make the Marketing Case published first on yhttps://improfitninja.blogspot.com/

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samuelpboswell · 5 years

Text

B2B Podcasting: 20 Stats that Make the Marketing Case

B2B Podcasting: 20 Stats that Make the Case

Podcast Listenership Just Keeps Growing

1: Nearly a quarter of all listeners started in the past 6 months. (2)

2: Globally, 36% of the sampled population has listened to a podcast in the last month. (1)

3: 51% of the U.S. population over 12 has listened to a podcast. (2)

4: 32% of the U.S. population over 12 has listened in the past month (90 million people). (2)

5: 22% of the U.S. population over 12 listen weekly (60 million). (2)

6: 62.6% of respondents said they listen to more podcasts now than they did a year ago. (3)

7: Only 3.1% said they listen less than they did a year ago. (3)

Podcast Listeners Are Demographically Valuable

8: 50% of listeners under 35 have listened to a podcast in the last month. (1)

9: 41% of podcast listeners make $75k a year or more, compared to 29% of the general population. (2)

10: Podcast listeners are more likely to be active on social media across channels and more likely to follow companies and brands. (4)

Read: How to Promote Your B2B Podcast

Podcast Fans are Devoted Listeners

11: 76.8% listen to podcasts more than 7 hours a week. (3)

12: 61.2% spend more time listening to podcasts than watching TV. (3)

13: 52% of monthly listeners listen to the entirety of each episode. (2)

14: 70% of listeners say that, at least sometimes, they do nothing else while listening to podcasts. (2)

Podcast Fans Want to Learn (In a Fun Way)

15: 74% say they listen to podcasts to learn new things. (2)

16: 71% say they listen to be entertained. (2)

17: 59% say they enjoy podcasts because they make them feel smarter. (2)

The Business Podcast Market Is Ready for Lift-Off

18: There are avid fans of business podcasts in 13 million households. (4)

19: There are casual fans of business podcasts in 52 million households. (4)

20: Branded content has increased from 1.5% to 10.1% of podcast advertising since 2016. (5)

What's more, podcasts offer a range of content marketing benefits, which can inform and bolster your broader digital marketing strategy.

Don’t Be (Pod) Cast Aside

Sources:

Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2019

The Podcast Consumer 2019

Podcast Trends Report 2018

Nielsen Marketers Guide to Podcasting

IAB Podcast Ad Revenue Study for 2019

The post B2B Podcasting: 20 Stats that Make the Marketing Case appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

from The SEO Advantages https://www.toprankblog.com/2019/11/b2b-podcast-stats/

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samuelpboswell · 5 years

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5 Unexpected Content Marketing Benefits of B2B Podcasting

We all know by now that podcasting is a fantastic content marketing tactic, right? To review:

Over 81 million people listen to podcasts (Edison Research)

80% finish the majority of every episode on their favorite podcasts (Edison Research)

Most people who listen to one podcast are likely to pick up more (Edison Research)

In other words, there’s an enormous audience out there, ready to spend multiple hours with your quality content. And now they can get your episodes right on the Google results page. So, since you’re ready to start your podcast anyway, how can you use it to elevate the rest of your content marketing efforts? It turns out podcasts can do more for your editorial calendar than just deliver value to your subscribers. At Content Marketing World this year, I saw a presentation from Ryan Estes of Frontline Education about the hidden marketing powers of podcasts. The points he hit on were spot on with how we view the potential of B2B podcasting. So, with a tip of the hat to Mr. Estes and his Field Trip podcast...

B2B Podcasting: 5 Unexpected Content Marketing Benefits

#1: Content Research

Say you’re a marketer who just got hired by a supply chain logistics company. Odds are you don’t yet know how your target audience thinks and talks about supply chain issues. You might not even know what problems supply chain folks are currently looking to solve. You’re good at marketing; you’re not a subject matter expert... yet. Usually, the answer is to fire up your web browser, pull up some industry publications, and do hours of research. Certainly, some first-hand research is a must, but what if you could deepen your knowledge and create content at the same time? Interviewing industry experts for your new podcast will help you learn the industry, the lingo, the concerns, the potential solutions, you name it. Each interview is a podcast episode and a treasure trove of audience research, all in one.

#2: Prospect & Customer Relations

Planning a B2B podcast means finding subject matter experts — trusted voices who can lend credibility to your podcast and provide riveting content. When you’re looking for these guests, include prospects and customers in your search. For prospects, the podcast interview can be a great way to start a conversation. Which is more compelling:

Let’s book a half hour so we can talk about our supply chain solution?

I would love to get your industry expertise in an interview for our podcast.

The second one is clearly the easier (and more value-driven) ask. Inviting customers on your podcast can help deepen that business relationship, too. But it also provides proof to your prospects that you support and promote your customers — something that will come in handy for the next deal.

#3: Influencer Relations

We may have mentioned this before: Co-creating content with influencers results in better content an a wider audience to receive it. Podcasts are no exception. In fact, the basic interview format that is a perfect fit for podcasts is also the perfect way to engage industry influencers. We have found that people are amenable to an audio interview who would never, say, contribute a guest post to your blog. It’s easier to say 2,000 words than to type them out. Simply put, a podcast gives influencers another option — a fun and creative one — for co-creating content. [bctt tweet="Simply put, a podcast gives influencers another option — a fun and creative one — for co-creating content. @NiteWrites #B2BPodcasting #ContentMarketing" username="toprank"]

#4: Repurposing Possibilities

Think of a podcast as you would any other marketing content: When you’re producing it, you can plan for endless content repurposing. That doesn’t mean just using the transcript in a blog post, though you should do that, too. You can pull quotes for an eBook, do a roundup with highlights from every episode, even add video to portions of the audio for organic social or YouTube. Here's a recent example from SAP*. Following the release of Season 1 of its Tech Unknown Podcast, original and previously unreleased content was brought together for a tales from the trenches eBook. My favorite repurposing tip, though, comes from Ryan’s session: When he does a podcast interview with a Frontline Education customer, the first half of the interview is customer-focused. There’s no talk about the education software Ryan’s company sells, no testimonial, just the customer’s story about finding and solving a problem. That part is what goes into the podcast. The second half of the interview is explicitly focused on how the customer used the software to solve a problem. Ryan then repurposes that audio into case studies, using embedded audio excerpts to emphasize the customer quotes. It’s a powerful way to get a podcast episode and a case study in one go.

#5: Podcast Cross-Promotion

We know that people who listen to one podcast are likely to listen to more. That makes podcasts unique among marketing channels: Other podcasts aren’t your competition. Your ideal potential listener is the one who makes podcast listening a habit, who is looking for the sixth or seventh show to round out their weekly listening. As such, having a podcast gives you the opportunity to cross-promote with other podcast hosts. Look for podcasts where your host might make a knowledgeable, valuable guest. And look for podcasts hosts who might bring value to your show. The ability to expand and cross-pollinate audiences is one of the cooler aspects of the whole podcast community. Read: How to Promote Your B2B Podcast

Cast Your Pods to the Wind

A podcast in and of itself is a great channel for bringing valuable content to your audience. But the benefits don’t stop there. From filling out your editorial calendar to spicing up your case studies and beyond, a podcast can elevate your B2B content marketing efforts across your entire strategy. Guess what? There happens to be an on-demand webinar covering the art of B2B podcasting, featuring moi and TopRank Marketing President Susan Misukanis: The 4 P's of B2B Podcasting Success. Check it out! *Disclosure: SAP is a TopRank Marketing client.

The post 5 Unexpected Content Marketing Benefits of B2B Podcasting appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

from The SEO Advantages https://www.toprankblog.com/2019/09/content-marketing-benefits-podcasting/

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ralphlayton · 5 years

Text

5 Unexpected Content Marketing Benefits of B2B Podcasting

We all know by now that podcasting is a fantastic content marketing tactic, right? To review:

Over 81 million people listen to podcasts (Edison Research)

80% finish the majority of every episode on their favorite podcasts (Edison Research)

Most people who listen to one podcast are likely to pick up more (Edison Research)

B2B Podcasting: 5 Unexpected Content Marketing Benefits

#1: Content Research

#2: Prospect & Customer Relations

Let’s book a half hour so we can talk about our supply chain solution?

I would love to get your industry expertise in an interview for our podcast.

#3: Influencer Relations

#4: Repurposing Possibilities

#5: Podcast Cross-Promotion

Cast Your Pods to the Wind

The post 5 Unexpected Content Marketing Benefits of B2B Podcasting appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

5 Unexpected Content Marketing Benefits of B2B Podcasting published first on yhttps://improfitninja.blogspot.com/

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