As a content professional with almost a decade in the game, I have been a part of several content marketing teams and projects. While each project came with its own objectives and obstacles, one thing remained constant: a consistent underestimation of what a content marketing team achieves for the organization at large. The natural assumption about content marketing teams is that we write a bunch of blogs with some SEO guidelines or create some witty social media posts, and voila, the job is done! As an insider, I have seen firsthand that a solid content marketing team does much more […]

Over the past five years, I’ve been creating content for some of the most successful content-first brands. And if there’s one thing that all their content marketing strategies have in common, it is a solid content gap analysis. Think about it. Every time you look up a topic, you will find hundreds of blogs that are just slight variations of each other. What really helped me and my clients win was this: focusing on what no one else was talking about. In this blog, I will walk you through the step-by-step process of doing content gap analysis and explore best […]

Over the past three years, I’ve written over 200 marketing content pieces from blog posts to guides to landing pages. Over that time, I’ve witnessed more and more brands investing not just in new content, but in content optimization. It makes sense why content marketing teams are optimizing their content. Brands that produce hundreds of pieces of content each year suddenly find themselves with a library of thousands of outdated blog posts that erode brand trust and drag down their SEO. Your content is an asset that you need to protect and invest in to continue reaping the benefits. To […]

Ok, this has to be one of the most meta projects I’ve worked on: a piece of digital content about digital content — but, hey, it’s an important one. From toddlers to senior citizens, everyone today wields a mobile device. So much of our lives are spent staring at screens that very few can say they don’t consume digital content, whether they call it that or not. No one knows this better than modern marketers, but for those of you new to the field or looking for a refresher on what actually falls under the umbrella of digital content, I’m […]

I consider myself to be a good editor, but I only got to where I am today by practicing my editorial skills.  Being a good editor is a muscle you have to practice. In this piece, I’ll go over how to improve your editing skills with 12 strategies I used (and still use) to edit more efficiently while maintaining the integrity of the original author’s words.  I self-edit everything I write for the HubSpot Blog. I also run Breaking the Blueprint, a blog column that primarily publishes content by external contributors whose writing I have to edit.  The editing skills […]

As a seasoned content marketer, I can assure you that content marketing has vast benefits for any business. It is one of the most effective methods of growing audience engagement, developing brand presence, and driving sales. If you‘re curious about content marketing and a little skeptical of its rewards, you’ve come to the right blog. I’ll explain its importance and the kind of perks it can provide your business. According to our 2024 State of Marketing Report, 50% of marketers set their sights on increasing their investment in content marketing this year. Consistent, high-quality, and engaging content impacts audience decision-making […]

I still remember my first taste of artificial intelligence (AI).It was “SmarterChild,” a chatbot available on AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) and Windows Live Messenger in the early 2000s that you could have a “conversation” with when your real friends weren’t online. But honestly, even as a preteen, I could see that it needed a lesson in humanizing AI content. While SmarterChild could ask how I was and tell jokes, the exchanges felt, well, robotic. It couldn’t learn or remember information over time, and it had trouble navigating human quirks like slang and shorthand. It also seemed to always throw out […]

Content managers build a company’s content strategy, create targeted and relevant content, and distribute marketing communications to audiences online. They are organized, well-versed in fostering a brand voice, and often know their way around a blog post. You might just be learning about the content management role and want to know the basics. Or, maybe you know this is the job for you, but want to make sure you’re prepared to be successful. Below, you’ll find everything you need to know about content managers, from what they do to how to become one. Let’s take a look. Skip to: What […]

The way businesses collect data is changing. But data is essential to great content strategy. That’s why content intelligence is coming into the conversation. 2022 HubSpot research says that over a third of marketers believe that data has a major impact on strategy by helping them: Reach their target audience Create more powerful marketing content Understand which marketing strategies are most effective But access to data is changing rapidly, due to privacy concerns, technology changes, and more. This means that businesses need to find new ways to collect and analyze data for marketing strategy. Keep reading to discover what content […]

What do you use spreadsheets for? If you’re anything like me, you likely use them to collect data, track campaign or blog post analytics, or keep track of weekly assignments. But have you ever thought about using spreadsheets to make a calendar? If not, let me tell you why Google Sheets is the perfect tool for your content calendar. If you often work on campaigns for a few different clients, creating individual calendars in Google Sheets could be uniquely useful for ensuring the client understands when certain content will go live. Alternatively, perhaps you need to create an internal Google […]