It’s Friday! Are you as happy as I am? Not only is it Mardi Gras where I hail from, it’s also Friday Fix Day (always a great day!), and if you’re played your cards right, it’s a prime excuse to fill up your biggest coffee mug with the good stuff (more coffee, obviously) and check out what’s been going down in content marketing town this week. That said, if you’re not in an audience state of mind, you’d better get into one because audiences and how to reach them (including the unconquerable Millennials) seems to be what’s getting everyone’s grape this week.
Finding Your Target Audience by Discovering their Content Needs
In this week’s ‘Tips of the Trade Tuesday’, Brad Kuenn takes a seemingly Herculean task and makes it manageable. Figuring out the best avenues to reach your target audience (i.e., figuring out what they want and need) can be taxing especially when you have a varied audience to attend to. So, if you’re in a position of trying to analyze an audience’s content needs, Brad’s guidance on using Google, hashtags, and so forth are as good as gold.
Emphasis on Content Marketing Revives Agency SEO Efforts and Revenues
In case you were concerned that implementing a content marketing strategy wouldn’t be worth the resources or the effort, take notes from the charming Alexandra Bruell’s post in which she highlights (with juicy statistics) how content marketing is able to work wonders within an organization. She also mentions the much preached upon fact that use of mobile devices (is and) is going to be (clears throat) --hem-hem-- huge.
Can Content Marketing Help Companies Reach Consumers When They’re Young?
You may be thinking that Michael Brenner is talking about reaching tots with content marketing, at which the answer would be an obvious yes (see my toddler and her love of all things Elmo for further proof); however, he’s targeting a much more challenging group: the Millennials. I know, we all just took a step back because you pretty much have to be a Jedi to reach this group of abstractedly minded soulfully jaded walking contradictions of social media hipsters. Of course, if you’re style vying for Jedi status, just read the article for some handy tips and insights.
Native Advertising is Not Just for Content Marketers
Thought –as Patrick Albano—notes, native and content advertising are seemingly the same thing, they aren’t and there is a lot to be gleaned from native advertising especially when trying to reach the elusive Millennials. Essentially, audiences are expecting customized and personalized experiences, which in and of itself is a challenge.
Content Marketing Careers: Current Talent Pool Leaves Much to be Desired
So, the title of Riley Wilson’s article may sound like a bummer (I mean, it’s not our fault all of that processed food they gave us crippled our content marketing skills, right?), but what he actually means is that there’s just not enough talent to fill the need void. What are people doing to address the situation? Read on to find out.
10 Proven Ways for Brands to Connect with Millennials
To further drive home this whole “Millennials as an audience” thing, Amber van Natten has thoughtfully prepared a list of 10 dos and do-not dos for you as you attempt to mount the summit. So, I know you’re wondering why Millennials are so tough? They’re naturally skeptical and can see through insincere advertising; you have to be able to give them the feels, which is easier said than done. #somanyfeels
The 3 Building blocks of Content Marketing Success
I’ll leave two of Michael Georgiou’s content marketing success building blocks to your guessing (or reading the article) while I’ll acquiesce that one should be obvious. (Pause for guessing.) If you guessed audience, then congratulations –you are correct; however, you win nothing since this is a blog and I can’t pop out of the computer screen with prizes (how creepy / scary would that be, seriously?). In all seriousness, Michael discusses delivering what the audience wants and more in this read, so check it out.
How a Multilingual Content Marketing Approach can Help You Reach and Engage New Audiences
Well, if this post doesn’t make me feel ashamed for not learning a foreign language all of those years in school, I don’t know what will. In all seriousness, Christian Arno’s post highlights how you can be going further with your marketing by implementing a multilingual approach. You’ll be reaching new audiences in a meaningful way by speaking the right language.
6 Quotes to Inspire Your Content Marketing Efforts
Normally, I would be a tad more cynical about a post devoted to quotes to inspire anything; however, Oliver Pyper’s article and how the quotes selected really do motivate content marketing thought processes won me over because sometimes, you just need a blurb to keep your focused during the dark times. They remind you to be authentic and to focus on what really matters at times when those lights can be diffused.
Why the Quality of Your Data is Crucial for Content Marketing in 2015
Speaking of quality content, Jim Yu furthers the conversation. He makes no bones about it and claims that data has the ability to step in for gut instinct in content marketing. Jim points out a handful of ways in which data does the walking and the talking, and while it might still be okay to defer to good ol’ instinct every now and then, you should probably be able to produce data to support that.
Amy Delcambre is a freelance content and travel writer from Mobile, Alabama with a Master's in Creative Writing. When she's not painting the page with nouns, verbs, and adverbs, she's slaying grammar beasts as a freelance editor and saving the world one sentence fragment at a time teaching university writing classes. In her free time, Amy enjoys cooking, traveling, and testing which plant species best survive prolonged neglect.
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