by Jason Miller I was fortunate enough to be in attendance at this year’s Content Marketing World conference which wrapped last week in Columbus, OH. This is the mecca for content and social media marketing, and on hand were the superstars of the industry from across the country and around the world. Content marketing experts such as Ann Handley, Michael Brenner, and CC Chapman were in attendance along with social media experts like Jason Falls, Jay Baer and Amy Porterfield to name a few. Only 36% of Businesses Believe That Their Content Marketing is Effective. . MORE >>

Additional research from Forrester , CSO Insights , Brian Carroll and Marketo demonstrates that lead nurturing does produce measurable results as follows: Reduced the number of marketing-generated leads ignored by sales to as low as 25%. Google “lead nurturing” and you’ll get back 81,900 results. Content is what drives the lead nurturing engine. She said that lead nurturing should be “…about providing the right content at the right time that addresses a problem that a prospect is focused on (or at least considering) solving.”. Why is lead nurturing important? MORE >>

by Liz Smyth In the second part of our Marketing in a Downturn series, we’re examining the importance of content marketing. That means creating and repurposing valuable content that reflects what your buyers and prospects are interested in, and guides them through the sales funnel at their own pace. Here are our top 7 tips for getting the most value from your content marketing during an economic downturn: 1. Knowing who’s likely to be on the committee will help you to produce content targeted at the right level in the organization. Plan your Content. MORE >>

'For many content marketers, curation is something of a silver bullet. Rand Fishkin of SEOMoz has joked that we’re in the midst of a content arms race; companies across all industries have realized the power of custom content , and are actively competing to produce better-quality materials. The average B2B marketer is using 12 different  content marketing tactics , and a curation strategy can boost the volume of information shared without dramatically increasing the workload. Content Curation: Everyone Is Doing It. Finding the Right Content Is Tough. MORE >>

'Content marketing represents the most fundamental and widespread rethinking of marketing practices in decades. Unlike other modifiers attached to the discipline (consumer marketing, b2b marketing, trade show marketing, digital marketing), the term “content marketing” doesn’t describe an audience, tactic, or channel, but rather a completely different approach to marketing. Content marketing turns the dominant paradigm of the last half-century—interruption-based mass marketing—on its head. What types of content are most valuable to my sales prospects? MORE >>