I’m putting together a B2B technology content marketing blogroll, and I’m already seeing excellent insights. Just a few snippets that prove my point:
Kissmetrics: mastering email outreach
The Kissmetrics blog has had some of the best marketing and analytics coverage for as long as I can remember. Elliott Ross’s in-depth piece on email marketing outreach proves the point. It covers:
- Writing cold emails that people will actually look at.
- Crafting a subject line that boosts your open rate.
- Building a target audience.
- Following up after the email.
Quote:
“Email outreach is an extremely powerful tool when correctly utilized, but effective email etiquette is a minefield — and many people struggle to run engaging campaigns..”
It’s packed with pro-level advice. Be sure to check it out.
Content Marketing Institute: How to succeed in podcasting
The ubiquitous Joe Pulizzi explains how he and his partner Robert Rose built a podcasting juggernaut over the past four years — with 2 million downloads worldwide and a half-million dollars in sponsorship revenue.
Pulizzi covers:
- The best time to start a podcast — it works much better if you already have, say, 75,000 listeners eager to hear you chat.
- How to create a format — and why they decided to chat about the latest content marketing headlines rather than interview subject matter experts.
- The best microphone for high-quality audio.
- How he and Rose edit and produce the podcast.
Quote:
“Most successful podcasts started with an audience already in place. Just look at the ones you listen to and do your research. They probably started with a blog or a video series, or maybe a network or print magazine, or the podcaster was a published author with a following. If I were starting a podcast today, I would work for 12 months to build a solid list of email subscribers first, and THEN diversify the platform with the podcast.”
Read it all and see how long you can avoid the temptation to start your own podcast.
(For the skeptics who wonder if podcasting is a good fit for B2B technology companies, I recommend the Making Chips podcast, produced by the owner of a high-tech machine shop in the Chicago suburbs. It’s totally great, and I’m not just saying that because my first real job was in a machine shop in central Illinois. )
Marketing Insider Group: content and high-quality leads.
You can’t miss with Michael Brenner’s posts. This one dives deep into the stuff you’ve gotta get right if you want your B2B technology content to generate productive leads.
He zeroes in on:
- How to qualify leads.
- Creating a lead-scoring system.
- Polishing your unique value proposition.
- Thinking beyond your blog (the nerve of some people).
- And a bunch more savviness like adding images and tracking the success of your content.
Quote:
“Pay attention to what motivates your leads the most and you’ll have a wealth of feedback to help you always publish fantastic conversion material.”
This is what I’m up to with B2BTCMB
I plan to start out with basic links and summaries on the blog before I start plunging deeper into the weeds of B2B technology content marketing.
Eventually, I’d like to interview experts and talk to people about their day-to-day jobs. But a little curation is a good place to start.
Don’t forget to check the #b2btcmb hashtag on Twitter.