The good news? The right digital marketing apps can take care of the heavy lifting. From automating repetitive tasks to keeping projects on track, these tools free you up to focus on what matters most: creating content that drives results.

Below, you’ll find the best apps for marketers that will help you work smarter, not harder.

6 Must-Have Digital Marketing Apps

Whether you need help managing content creation or finances (or both), there’s an app for that. Here are our top picks for digital marketers and content teams.

1. HubSpot: All-in-one marketing automation

HubSpot is a full marketing operations hub designed to streamline your workflows. With its integrated “hubs” for marketing, sales, content, and customer management, you can manage everything from lead generation and email campaigns to content scheduling in one place.

Even better? It offers a mobile app so you can handle everything on the go. Plus, the platform’s built-in automation tools handle repetitive tasks, freeing your team to focus on strategy and creative execution. Plus, its robust analytics provide real-time insights so you can measure campaign performance and make smarter, data-driven decisions.

If you want a single business app that scales with you and simplifies marketing ops, HubSpot is it.

2. Toggl Track: The ultimate time-keeper

If keeping track of project deadlines and billable hours has you frazzled, Toggl Track is the solution. This easy-to-use productivity app lets you create projects, set up tasks within those projects, and simultaneously record time spent on each activity.

It has both a web version and a desktop and mobile app, so you can track time no matter where you are or what device you’re using.

It also lets you download reader-friendly reports, giving clients and C-suite executives in-depth information about time spent on tasks and the number of days worked. These reports provide insight into the effort involved with each project.

With this app, your days of struggling with computer clocks and timers to track deadlines and hours are in the past.

3. QuickBooks Online: Your automatic bookkeeper

Managing finances and accounting can take a good chunk of your time. Adding QuickBooks Online to your productivity app toolkit can reduce the hassle.

This platform (available as a web and mobile app) lets you track income and expenses, prepare, send, and manage invoices, and generate multiple financial reports. QuickBooks also lets you eyeball information in real time, supporting marketing decisions.

Bookkeeping can be a time suck. However, QuickBooks handles multiple financial activities, leaving you free to focus on proven content management strategies.

4. 1Password: Keep passwords secure

Passwords are a fact of life, and so is the time spent tracking them down, especially if you have to change them frequently.

Help is available from 1Password, a storage app supported by the extra-strong encryption (AES 256-bit) used by banks and financial institutions. It’s available as a web, desktop, and mobile app, so you can securely log into Slack, Monday, Jira, and any other software your team uses, from anywhere.

The app also generates unique sign-ins and highlights overused or compromised passwords. This high-level security helps protect your company’s and clients’ data from bad actors. So, if you’ve ever wasted time trying to find a password (or worried about security), this is one of the must-have digital marketing apps for any team.

5. Asana: Collaborative management

Managing multiple workflow streams and projects is a daily reality in digital marketing. Enter Asana, a helpful business app for organizing tasks, workflows, projects, and more.

With collaboration as its top priority, Asana is ideal for assigning task ownership, centralizing communications, and providing big-picture overviews, whether you access it on the web interface or desktop or mobile app. Due dates, real-time changes, and project templates keep you and your team on the same page.

In short, Asana seamlessly handles all campaign back-end efforts, helping you keep an eye on the big picture.

6. Grammarly: Improve content nuts and bolts

No matter how skilled you and your team are in developing written content, an errant typo or grammar mistake always manages to slip through. This is why Grammarly is one of the best AI apps for content teams (or really any team, as written communication encompasses everything from email newsletters to internal Slack messages).

This app catches typos, improves sentence structure, and suggests better phrases, all while allowing you to pick a content tone (business, formal, or casual). Additionally, Grammarly’s generative AI feature provides suggestions to help with writer’s block.

While Grammarly might not be spot-on with all content (you still need to proofread), it’s great at getting rid of pesky typos, tightening writing, and ensuring your content is engaging and well-written.

Your Next Step to Smarter Marketing

From automating tasks to securing your data, digital marketing apps are undeniably helpful — but they can only streamline your efforts so much. If you need more help, partner with ClearVoice for experienced content campaign management, top-notch content creation, SEO strategies, and in-depth editing. Talk with a content specialist today to learn more.

The post 6 Marketing Apps That Make Your Day Easier appeared first on ClearVoice.

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4 amazing 2021 content marketing campaigns

From personalized content to video and virtual reality, here’s an aggregate list of 2021 content marketing trends and brands that latched on to the emerging trends with success.

1. Audio content

The pandemic has changed the way we not only live but consume content as well. In fact, the number of monthly U.S. podcast listeners increased by 10.1 percent year-over-year to 117.8 million between 2020 and 2021, according to Insider Intelligence. The same study reported that in 2021, more than 60 percent of U.S. adults ages 18 to 34 listened to podcasts monthly.

This presents yet another content channel for brand marketers — podcasts. In fact, here are some examples of brands that rode the podcast wave in 2021:

• Shopify: “Masters: The Shopify Podcast” and “Vanguard”
• Basecamp: “The Distance”
• ZipRecruiter: “Rise and Grind”
• GE Healthcare: “LifeAfter/ The Message”
• Mtn Dew: “‎The Dew Zone with Druski”

2. Video marketing

With social distancing protocols and restrictions limiting face-to-face interaction, brands have turned to video as an alternative way to connect with audiences virtually. It’s not surprising why 91 percent of brand marketers recognize video as the most important content marketing tool in the pandemic and post-pandemic era.

Need some examples of some short-and-sweet brand videos that have been consumed by millions of viewers? Here are some highlights from the best content marketing campaigns of 2021:

• Home Depot: Watch the products of Home Depot pop with life in these brand-centric videos.
• Cheetos: Chester the Cheetah comes to life on TikTok, promoting this age-old snack — and maintaining its relevance to younger audiences.
• Oreo: Are you seeing a trend? CPG does well on TikTok, apparently. This business-to-consumer brand features raw, and sometimes uncut, footage from Oreo lovers around the world.

3. Influencer marketing

Influencer marketing emerged on the scene just under a decade ago — is it still effective in 2021? Short answer: yes. These influencer marketing statistics corroborate its success this year.

Nogood.io also says:

“Its worth is expected to grow from $13.8 billion in 2021 to $15 billion in 2022, and the use of influencer marketing among U.S. marketers is expected to increase from 67.9 percent to 72.5 percent in 2022. Influencer marketing has gone through changes since its inception, especially due to the fast-paced landscape driven by technology.”

Here are some examples of riveting influencer campaigns of 2021, along with highlights of the campaign:

• Chipotle: The brand launched a Chipotle Creator Class of 15 influencers, including viral TikTok creators, to promote Chipotle to the masses. During Pride month in June, for example, they launched partnerships with a host of drag stars, and each of their go-to Chipotle orders was featured on the Chipotle website and app, with $1 of each order donated to an LGBTQ+ charity. No doubt they hit their mark marketing for equality, a worthy social cause, and reaching millions of people.
• PlayStation: In 2021, the popular gaming system PlayStation partnered with five influencers to promote its new virtual reality headsets to Canadians via Instagram and YouTube. The campaign’s goal was to improve the brand’s engagement rate, which it did to millions of viewers.

4. Personalized content

During the Coronavirus pandemic, consumer trust has become more important than ever. As much as 70 percent of consumers place more importance now to trusting a brand than they did in the past. One way brands garnered consumer trust in 2021 was to personalize content directly to the user, whether by addressing them by first name or serving up custom content and promotions.

Here are some examples of brands that excelled at personalizing content in 2021:

• Spotify: This music streaming brand now offers an end-of-year Wrapped report that aggregates a user’s most-played hits during a calendar year.
• McDonalds: The fast food company is staying relevant now more than ever. They recently launched a campaign that offers personalized order and deal recommendations at multiple digital touchpoints.
• Amazon: The retail beast Amazon continues to deliver personalized product recommendations in the “Get yourself a little something” category.

5 standout 2021 content marketing technologies

Technology drives innovation, especially when it comes to brand content generation. Here are some of the technologies that took foot in 2021. Glean insights from the content so you can consider them for your 2022 content marketing campaigns:

1. Content creation robots

It’s not a question of if artificial intelligence will enter the world of content marketing, but when. And 2021 was the year. A new natural language generation tool named Quill recently entered the scene with its use of real-time feedback, headline and story generation, and reporting. Its proofreader feature helps educate users with proofreading skills.

Then there’s OpenAI’s GPT-2, which is a text generator that writes headlines, translates copy, answers questions, writes poetry, and corrects grammar. Brands like Yahoo, Alibaba, Fox, and the Associated Press utilized artificial intelligence technologies to improve their content. Expect to see new players in AI for content marketing come into the scene in 2022.

2. Data science

A picture speaks a thousand words, especially when it comes to displaying complex data. Data science is not new to 2021, but new tools used to illustratively display data are. Products like Datawrapper and Infogram are two examples of tools used to visually interpret data collected from one or multiple sources to create useful visual content.

3. Content reporting

Storytelling has been a hot buzzword for the past decade in the content marketing world. But what if storytelling takes the form of reporting to your C-suite and brand marketing team?

Using technologies like Narrative Science’s Lexio, you can proactively give every user on your team a personalized daily data brief via SMS instead of prompting them to find answers in an archaic dashboard. Accessible content marketing reporting has never been easier, making content marketing buy-in more persuasive.

4. Communicating in a virtual work environment

While not specific to content marketing, due to the coronavirus pandemic, many content marketers have found themselves working from home more (or all of the time). This has necessitated a need for better collaborative tools to communicate and get stuff done with your teammates but in a non-traditional setting.

Enter Volley. This new collaborative tool deems itself as the Snapchat for work and addresses the two main problems of remote teams, loneliness and barriers to communication. The app combats the two barriers to virtual work with a video messaging app with interactive transcriptions organized into workspaces and video instant messages. Another value is it’s asynchronous, so you don’t have to schedule a meeting to communicate with someone. Best news? It’s free.

(Bonus: If you’re bored at home, try this fun virtual office.)

5. Better content accessibility

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that more than one in four people have a disability. Of that group, many individuals are visually impaired — and have historically been underserved.

“Marketing content that excludes people with disabilities, even unintentionally, prevents millions of people from learning about your products and interacting with your brand,” says the Bureau of Internet Accessibility. “To truly be considered an accessible company, you need to include accessibility front and center in your marketing plan.”

Thankfully, new tools have emerged on the scene to help those who are visually impaired see your website content. An example is Huetone, which is a marketing tool that allows you to create more accessible color palettes using an Advanced Perceptual Contrast Algorithm. This design tool lets its users find color combinations and contrast ratios, with a quick and easy export.

How to stay on the pulse of content trends

Content marketing is a continually evolving field. Brand marketers should always be on the lookout for strategies to shine in a highly saturated space—and high-quality content is one of the best tactics for doing that.

The post Content Marketing Rewind: Everything That Happened in 2021 appeared first on ClearVoice.

For the 3 percent of brands that don’t, here are the most compelling reasons to invest in content:

• Establish a brand story
• Organically attract strong leads with engaging and educational content
• Provide readers with the information they need to make a purchase decision
• Help boost your reputation
• Provide content for social media channels
• Start the process of converting search engine queries into loyal customers
• Retain current customers by providing information that demonstrates your brand’s value and the benefits of your products/services

4 crucial reasons to invest in high-quality content

Sure, it’s easy to say to your team, “Let’s write engaging content,” but it’s probably harder to actually put pen to paper or finger to keypad. There are a number of reasons why it’s critical to invest in a high-quality content source, from engaging your audience to better SEO performance.

Here are four reasons to invest in content — and not just any content — but the type that will attract, retain, and convert readers.

1. Well-written, SEO-friendly content performs better

Search engine optimization (SEO) is an incredible tool for brand marketers. The process of optimizing your brand’s content to searchers’ intent includes metadata, on-page keyword optimizations, page structure, and even image optimizations for visually impaired web users.

Google loves when your content is properly optimized and will reward you with better rankings. When you optimize content, you’re making your website more visible for those on search engines to learn more about your brand.

“As a result, this increases visitors to the website who will hopefully take the desired action — from buying a product to signing up for a service or providing their email address for later promotions,” says ClearVoicer Lindsay Tigar.

2. Long-form content has a higher ROI

Sure, short-form content, which as the name implies, is content with a shorter word count, works well on social media and in emails. But long-form content with a minimum of 1,200 words and upwards of 20,000 —“can be a great way to build awareness, appear in searches, and establish thought-leadership in a category,” says ClearVoicer Nancy Shenker.

While marketers once thought quantity over quality was important, this is no longer the case. SEMrush published a recent study on “The Anatomy of Top Performing Articles” validating this assertion. The study analyzed the engagement rates on hundreds of thousands of articles based on a number of factors, including article length.

The study revealed a big word-count trend — that long-form content massively outperforms shorter content, making it one of the most persuasive reasons to invest in content.

When compared to articles of average length (901 to 1,200 words), articles with 3,000+ words get:

• 3x more traffic
• 4x more social shares
• 3.5x more backlinks

When compared to short articles (300 to 600 words), articles with 3,000+ words get:

• 6.4x more traffic
• 4.5x more social shares
• 5x more backlinks

The moral of the story is that the more time you spend creating high-quality, long-form content, the higher the reward in the future.

3. Quality content engages readers

Writing engaging content is crucial to the long-term success of your content efforts — yet, it is no easy task. The degree to which you engage readers is what makes website visitors want to learn more or flee. Each time you create content, you should be mindful of the following elements:

• Title
• Lede
• Subheads
• Images
• Page structure
• Conclusion
• Calls to action

And within those elements, your content should address your core audience, include links and relevant statistics, create emotional appeal, and prompt readers to take further action.

4. High-quality content converts readers into advocates

Due to Google’s recent algorithm updates, it has become increasingly difficult to rank in searches with low-quality content. That’s why one of the most important reasons to invest in content is to ensure it is high quality enough that both your readers and search engines approve.

Here are some indicators of low-quality content:

• Poor site design and typography
• High quantity of online advertisements
• Low word count
• Content with grammatical errors or typos
• The content is scraped from another website, is auto-generated, or artificially spun
• The links or on-page resources are out of date
• The content is thin and has no value to the reader; meaning they’re not learning something by reading your content

By contrast, high-quality content has the power to create curiosity about your brand and converts readers into loyal advocates. It provides value to the reader, talks deeply about a specific subject matter, cites credible or first-person sources, is cleanly written by those devoted to the craft of writing, presents many angles of thinking, and is unique.

What ClearVoice offers for your content plans

Now that you know the biggest reasons to invest in content, you understand how well-written, high-quality organic content is a core factor in a brand’s staying power.

It can help you educate new audiences and, more importantly, connect the dots for readers to become loyal enthusiasts of your brand.

Let’s face it, whether you don’t have the time, energy, or desire to learn about how to market wisely through content, there’s good news. You can invest in content experts to help you along the way.

If you’re ready to drive your business forward with engaging content, let us help. From fully managed content plans to content strategy, you can select the plan that works for your needs and budget

The post 4 Compelling Reasons to Invest in Content for Your Brand appeared first on ClearVoice.

We’ll take you through the who, what, where, when, and whys of investing in small business content marketing.

Why should you care about small business content marketing?

Content is an essential tool in an SMB’s arsenal for a number of reasons:

1. It can position you as a thought leader and educator by demonstrating expertise on a specific topic in a given industry or sector.
2. It can boost your business’ visibility on organic search engines and through social media.
3. It can improve consumer trust by serving up solutions to your customer’s pain points.
4. It can generate new business leads for your small business.
5. It can help foster lasting relationships with your customers.

What are the basics of content strategy?

Your content strategy encapsulates the creation, promotion, and maintenance of your small business content marketing.

It’s often directed by a content strategy document, which is the overarching blueprint you have for creating content, printed or online assets, or information used to attract potential buyers into the consumer journey funnel.

Can SMBs do content marketing?

If you’re questioning if it’s possible to pursue content in your overall marketing mix as a small business owner, the answer is “yes.” Content has a special place for small businesses for a number of reasons:

1. It has big returns for little investment: It’s less expensive than advertising and works better. It also has lifetime value, unlike other forms of advertising. For instance, with paid ads, a person sees the ad once and only once. With content, it repeatedly reaches audiences. So the investment in the content may be more far-reaching than other forms of marketing.
2. It’s effective: Small business content marketing reaches audiences at the right time. Unlike other forms of marketing, content consumption is an opt-in process, meaning readers take an action to engage with your brand.
3. It’s sharable: If you need to fill up your social media content calendar, there’s no better place for that than with brand content! Content can help encourage new followers, boost your engagement, and make your business a household name. And if your content is good, it could even go viral, costing you nothing to reach hundreds, if not thousands.

How to create a small business content marketing strategy

Now that you know it’s possible to create content as a small business, you should take a specific approach to do it. Your content strategy answers “How will my small business succeed?” by setting constraints for when your small business will create and distribute.

It sets a framework for:

• Who to create content for
• What content to create
• What you’re hoping to achieve with your content
• Where the content will live
• When content will be published and shared
• Why people should care about your content
• How you will measure the success of your campaigns

If you’ve created a small business strategy document, you’re one step ahead as many of the steps in it mimic a content strategy.

Vision

Your company vision summarizes your business’s desired future state. It’s a statement that affirms where you want your business to go in a given time frame. Here’s an example:

Mission

Your mission statement should summarize what your small business exists to accomplish. Similar to vision, it’s aspirational. But it is more specific than that. Here’s an example:

Goals

Your goals are concrete outcomes that support your mission. It’s wise to consider the “SMART” goal acronym when setting content goals for your small business, which means they should be:

• Specific: Directed at a particular outcome
• Measurable: Your progress can be objectively tracked
• Attainable: The goal isn’t too easy or too complex — based on your resources within your small business, it’s achievable
• Results-oriented: The goal is centered around your small business’ “why” (why you exist)
• Time-bound: Giving a goal a set time frame to set structure and urgency

Here are a few examples of content marketing goals:

• “In [YEAR], improve product recognition by [PERCENTAGE].”
• “In [QUARTER], gain [PERCENTAGE] of the market share in [GEOGRAPHIC ZONE] in [INDUSTRY].”
• “In [YEAR], improve customer retention by [PERCENTAGE].”

Audience

Before you write content, you should target who it’s for. When creating a content strategy, you shouldn’t set your target to all people. As a small business owner, your market research resources may be limited, but you can keep it simple by doing existing customer surveys and even interviews. Here’s an example of defining the right audience for a content strategy

Tactics

Small business content marketing goals can seem like lofty ambitions, but tactics actualize your big aspirations. This is where the practical application begins.

Tactics answer the “how” of accomplishing a content goal. They are the practical things you’ll do each day and are materialized in actual content marketing assets. Here are some small business content marketing tactics:

• Advertorials or native content
• Blog posts
• Digital newsletters
• eBooks or Whitepapers
• Infographics
• Interactive tools
• Landing pages and microsites
• Social content
• Podcasts
• Webinars
• Live video
• Printed newsletters or magazines
• Mobile apps and SMS messaging
• Website content
• Resource guides

Pro tip: While some small business owners have the time and will to create these types of assets, not all do. Here’s where ClearVoice’s content creation comes into play. With our help, you can power your content marketing with fully managed content creation by freelance teams in 200+ business categories. With our help, you can take your small business’ content projects to enterprise scale. 

Distribution

Your work doesn’t stop once your small business’ content assets are published. Your content strategy should have a designated home for each of the content assets you create, then a promotional plan that complements it.

Measurement

Like any form of marketing, you can’t shoot from the hip and expect to understand your results. To this end, have a plan in place for measurement. Here are a few key content performance indicators you should consider:

1. Traffic (Users, page views, and unique page views)
2. Conversions
3. Social engagement
4. SEO rank
5. Domain authority

What should SMBs consider while creating content?

Small businesses have special nuances to be mindful of while when it comes to content creation and strategy. Here are some major small business content marketing considerations:

Go big or go home

When you create content as a small business, you have to be holistic about it. You can’t just create one content asset and hope it fulfills your content goal(s). Your strategy should encompass a big picture versus one content asset at a time.

Consider budgets

Frankly, small businesses don’t have the budgets that large enterprises do. While you want to engage in content in the coming months or years, you might not know how much to allocate for it. Forbes contributor Aaron Agius says:

“Although these figures will vary across industries, a good rule of thumb that many marketers recommend is to designate 25% to 30% of your marketing budget to content marketing. So if you currently have a marketing budget of $100,000, that translates to around $25,000 to $30,000. If you’re just starting out, I recommend aiming for the lower end of this range and increasing your spending as you continue testing and you determine what works best for your brand.” 

Focus on quality

Your content strategy should support the notion that your business repeatedly creates high-quality content. Erica Kissane’s book, Elements of Content Strategy, describes a few qualities of good content as:

• Appropriate: It supports the audience’s needs and desires.
• Useful: It fulfills a specific purpose.
• User-focused: It’s focused on the reader or visitor, not you or anyone else.
• Consistent: Every content asset reflects the voice of your small business.
• Concise: It’s to the point.

Consider the end game

Your content strategy should focus on longitudinal health and sustainability. “It is more of a slow burn approach than a fast and aggressive ad to a customer who knows nothing about you,” says Audisocket contributor Amy Johnson.

But, organic content marketing and paid marketing both have a place in your small business content marketing mix. One is a quick win to attract attention, while it doesn’t have lifetime value.

Good content, on the other hand, is an SEO factor that helps rank your web pages on search engines over a long time. If you have a high search result, you will continue to produce organic (free) traffic to your site for years to come.

How can ClearVoice help?

At ClearVoice, content is the name of our game. We have expert content strategists to drive your small business’ content strategy from start to finish and writers galore to help you put your content plan into action.

Let ClearVoice be your talent partner for all your ongoing content marketing and publication needs, with vetted freelancers to help produce content for your brand.

The post Can Small and Midsize Business Owners Pursue Content Marketing? appeared first on ClearVoice.

Confused yet?

Let’s elaborate on content marketing vs. digital marketing, and how these interwoven marketing topics work hand-in-hand to improve your brand’s share of voice, conversions, and customer retention. We’ll start by covering the basics of each term, then dive into their differences and how they can work in harmony.

Let’s dig in…

Definition of content marketing

The goal of content marketing is to establish trust and rapport with your audience or end-users through engaging content.

ClearVoice talent Britt Skrabanek defines content marketing as:

“Content marketing is a conversation that leads to credibility. Through the exchange of information, your brand builds trust with your audience by enriching the conversation. You provide something of value in exchange for their attention. When you consistently create and share educational and meaningful content, over time, you will attract, engage, and convert your intended audience.”

There are numerous types of content you can create. Years ago, brands started out with basic text-based content. Today, while text-based content is a main avenue to promote your brand, other types of content are audio (podcasts) and visual (video-based) content.

No matter the type of content you create, your content should always align with buyer journey stages:

1. Educate/Top-of-Funnel (ToFu): This is content that supports education, like blog and social media posts, checklists, customer nurturing email or SMS campaigns, infographics, tutorial videos, and press releases.
2. Consider/Middle-of-Funnel (MoFu): This is content that sparks curiosity to find the best product or service in a particular category or industry, like case studies, customer videos, client testimonials, expert ebooks, product reviews, product comparisons, lead nurturing email campaigns, and product-focused podcast or videos.
3. Decide/Bottom-of-Funnel (BoFu): This is content that sways a purchase decision, like a product demo or trial, ROI calculator, implementation guide, pricing sheet, fact sheet, or frequently asked questions webpage.
4. Delight/Beyond the Funnel (BeFu): This is content that gives your current customers or clients a warm hug by reinforcing their decision to select your product or service, like customer success and feature-focused webinars, community forums, consumer surveys, and thought-leadership-focused blog posts.

Remember: You don’t need to produce every type of content to make an impact. Start with a few content types that support your brand’s goals, and offer relevance and usefulness to your target audience.

Definition of digital marketing

Now that we’ve covered the definition of content marketing, let’s dig into the definition of digital marketing. Digital marketing encompasses the full “solar system” of online advertising and marketing through channels like your website, email, mobile devices, search engines, and social media channels. It encompasses both paid and organic digital tactics — with the same goal of attracting, converting, and retaining customers.

Need more examples of digital marketing? Here’s a full list to wrap your head around:

• Affiliate Marketing
• Content Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Marketing Automation
• Mobile (SMS) Marketing
• Native Advertising
• Online Public Relations
• Pay Per Click (PPC)
• Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Social Media (Organic and Paid)

Many brands lean to digital marketing because it tends to be more cost-effective than traditional (non-digital) marketing and also helps target your ideal audience.

Content marketing vs. digital marketing — how are they similar/different?

After seeing the definition of content marketing, you’ve probably already visualized a sketch of a Venn diagram of content marketing vs. digital marketing in your head. But if you need more direction, here’s a summary of their inherent differences:

Content marketing is a valuable digital marketing tactic, while digital marketing is a catch-all term covering the ways to market using the internet. They can co-exist in harmony because they have the same goals: to educate, attract, convert, and retain audiences.

Food for thought — executing content marketing and digital marketing in harmony

Part of the complementary aspect of digital marketing and content marketing is their given time frame. Content marketing is slow burn.

It doesn’t produce an immediate conversion, it’s a long-haul money-maker. This is for two reasons:

1. The content creation process can be involved and requires a special skill set from expert content creators.
2. User-friendly and informative content is a hallmark of high organic search rankings — but it can take time for Google to acknowledge and rank the new content.

In contrast, many digital marketing tactics, namely online advertising (like PPC, social ads, display ads) produce immediate results and drive an action upon first impression. So, using content marketing with supporting digital marketing tactics helps reach potential customers at many points of their customer journey, fortifying your brand’s digital impact.

How to create a complementary strategy with content marketing and digital marketing

Creating a strategy with both content and other digital tactics requires a solid blueprint. Start by using a master strategy document that outlines the following elements:

• Company mission
• Marketing goals (short- and/or long-term)
• Target audience(s)
• Key performance indicators (KPIs)
• Budget/resources
• Marketing tactics
• Timeline

Final thoughts on content marketing vs. digital marketing

Now that we’ve laid out content marketing vs. digital marketing, you can create a plan and put it to action using a complementary approach to both. (Remember: don’t focus narrowly on one approach to attracting, hooking, and sinking new customers!)

If you need help rounding out your content creation resources, let ClearVoice be your go-to. Take a look at our freelance network chock-full of strategists, editors, writers, proofreaders, graphic designers, and even videographers.

Learn more about the managed content creation process and how it can benefit your brand.

The post Content vs. Digital Marketing: How to Incorporate Both for a Supercharged Strategy appeared first on ClearVoice.

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Whether you’re a one-person content department trying to get the most out of your writing, a freelance writer interested in improving your content, or managing an in-house and external freelance team, the following guidelines will help you create more engaging content and draw more eyes on it.

First, a quick rundown, followed by more context.

Top 12 tips for successful blog posts:

1. Pen creative titles.
2. Don’t skimp on the lede.
3. Subsections should be meaty, informative, and categorized.
4. Break up content blocks with images.
5. Keep the text scannable.
6. Offer actionable advice and key takeaways.
7. Address your target audience.
8. Include resource links, stats, examples, and quotes.
9. Create emotional appeal with empathy.
10. Compare your brand to your competition.
11. Add a compelling conclusion.
12. Include elements of persuasion.

How to create engaging content

1. Pen a creative title.

The title is arguably the most challenging and important part of creating engaging content. You must capture audience interest and summarize your content in a concise way. Think of it as writing a catchy email subject or headline.

It should include your primary keyword theme and be between 50 to 60 characters for SEO. It should use emotionally evoking words (negative or positive) and capture someone’s attention quickly.

Need some guidance? Type in your headline in the Advanced Marketing Institute’s headline analyzer, and it will measure your headline’s emotional marketing value, a telltale indicator of headline quality.

2. Don’t skimp on the lead.

The introduction, or lead (aka lede), announces your topic, sets the tone, and provides context for your article.

The lead needs to earn the reader’s interest, promise your writing will be worth their time, and help the reader immediately understand what the article is about. Whether a summary or descriptive lead, it should be no more than 100 to 200 words.

When writing the lead, remember this editorial term: “Nut graf.” A nut graf is a paragraph or sentence that summarizes the essence of a story without divulging every detail.

3. Subsections should be meaty, informative, and categorized.

Subsections allow readers to scroll to the sections they are most interested in — and help with depth of content. They should never be vague and should always dive beneath surface-level ideas.

Use the following elements to create engaging content with subsections:

• Subheaders: Each subsection header should summarize the section, follow a logical order within your article, and include secondary keywords for SEO. It’s best to have your main title and subsection titles written in an outline before writing the entire piece to make sure your ideas are well-organized.
• Transitions: Each subsection should also have a brief transition to improve the flow of your writing, bring in new ideas and support the overall theme of your content. It’s crucial that all subsection transitions also reinforce the topic of your content, otherwise, your ideas can become confusing. Consistency ensures that your writing doesn’t go off the rails.
• Word count: Keep subsections within 250–350 words.

4. Break up content blocks with images.

Visual content is used to break up long blocks of text, prove concepts, and add context to your writing.

Best practices for using imagery to create engaging content:

• Transition to your images with a sentence or two and explain why you included it with a sentence afterward. Always link to or source your images.
• It’s best to use 2–3 visual examples per 1,000 words of copy — or every few hundred words.
• Experiment with different media throughout your content to engage your reader. Consider using screenshots, video content, interactive content, or infographics to add more engaging and shareable media.

5. Keep the text scannable.

You won’t always have enough room to share your insight in great detail. If this is the case, include lists of ideas or resources in a bulleted format or table.

Keeping text scannable is another factor important for SEO, too.

6. Offer actionable advice and takeaways.

It’s best to reinforce your content with actionable advice to keep the reader thinking about what they should do to solve challenges. Since you’re providing the information, your advice helps build audience trust and brand authority.

To do this, walk the reader through the steps you’d like them to take. If writing how-to articles or guides, concentrate on sharing your expertise, ideas you’ve tried, or any real examples you have. Actionable content helps you create thought leadership. If you don’t have enough room to share your insight in great detail, include lists of ideas or resources in a bulleted format or table.

When applicable, use visuals to illustrate what your actionable ideas look like in practice. As with other visuals, explain why you’re including the image and link to the source.

7. Address your target audience.

As a rule of thumb, make sure that you, and any freelancers you hire, have your readers’ or customers’ best interests in mind when creating content.

Let your target audience be your guide to focus your writing and add interesting details.

To better understand your audience empathetically, research your customers, engage your followers on social media, and conduct detailed persona research. Document your findings in your content marketing strategy to inform ongoing blog content creation efforts.

And consider the following strategies to find an emotional connection with your customers and create engaging content:

• Support an emotional cause, nonprofit, or community effort and create informational content.
• Express detailed interest in your customers by empathizing with their needs in your blog content.
• Showcase your brand story, morals, and motivators on your website. Promote often.
• Connect with your audience on a more one-to-one level.
• Openly engage with your personality — and be as human, authentic, and transparent as possible.

Keep in mind that your customer’s needs are always evolving, and you should implement ongoing processes to continue learning about your customers over time. This can help you understand how to persuade them better.

8. Sprinkle in resource links, relevant statistics, real-life examples, and quotes.

Credibility is key when it comes to content. You want to be believed in and trusted by your audiences, so do the following to establish higher credibility with your content:

• Add links to content you trust to support or expand on your point.
• Including relevant statistics is another way to add credibility and support your arguments or advice. While not every piece of content needs statistical evidence, one or two per piece of content is standard.
• Include quotes from relevant professionals within your industry, either by personal interview or from a sourced, published post. Quotes can also be conversation starters for future project collaboration with influential industry leaders.
• Provide real-life examples to add credibility and illustrate the main points. This example is not from my targeted industry, but it helps the target reader gain inspiration from outside sources, something that is often lacking in the marketing industry.

9. Create an emotional appeal with empathy.

Pathos is the quality of an experience in life or work that stirs up emotions. It’s the most powerful element — but it may also be the most difficult to execute tactfully as a content marketer.

To incorporate pathos into your blog content, start by identifying your readers’ emotions. Concentrate on thinking about your audience and customers as empathetically as possible.

Ask yourself the meaning and purpose of your brand.

• Who are you focused on helping?
• How does your product change the lives of purchasers?
• What pain points do your services alleviate?

10. Compare your brand to the competition.

To give your customers a reason to purchase your offerings, you will need to maintain intimate knowledge about what your competition is up to — and tactfully market your logical advantages.

Think about the key purchasing factors in your industry.

Do your customers care most about…

• Price?
• Quality?
• Brand experience?

Identify a list of benefits of purchasing your product over a competitor’s, and use that research to inform your blog content.

To convince or persuade your readers using logic on your blog:

• Bolster any claims or hypotheses that you make with credible statistics or data.
• Create and promote real customer case studies and illustrate what you learned.
• Highlight your competitive advantages and product differentiators with side-by-side analysis.
• Give detailed scenarios of how your product can improve their lives or
  solve their challenges.

11. Wrap it up.

Write a conclusion that summarizes your content or asks the reader to engage. It should end with an engaging call-to-action and summary of key findings.

And, if they made it this far, it’s likely they’ve found your writing interesting and may share their thoughts or feedback in the comments section.

12. Include the elements of persuasion.

In the 4th century B.C., Aristotle’s rhetoric theorized three fundamental elements of persuasion: ethos, logos, and pathos.

• Ethos: Credibility and trust
• Pathos: Emotion
• Logos: Logic

According to Aristotle, you must have ethos, pathos, and logos to effectively persuade an audience. As you work to create more engaging content, always keep these three principles in mind. Every content creator’s goal is to persuade, right?

Use this checklist to create engaging content

Now that you have a real-life example of how to create engaging content, ask the following questions to ensure you are following all the rules in your day-to-day content efforts.

Flow and headers:

• Does the content flow between ideas well, or do concepts seem out of place and awkward?
• Do the headers accurately summarize the copy sections beneath them?

Introduction/lead:

• Does the content have an enticing introduction to earn the reader’s attention in the first few paragraphs?
• Does the reader immediately understand what the content is about?

Actionable ideas:

• Does the post deliver ideas and solutions to help the reader with their challenges?
• Are the ideas delivered backed with real-life examples?

Detailed information:

• Does the content dive beneath surface-level suggestions?
• Is the content helpful, or is it unauthentic, biased, and overly self-promotional?

Credibility:

• Does the content include several trustworthy statistics, including relevant examples, authoritative quotes, and links to reputable websites?

Visual:

• Does the content stand out with quality images, video, infographics, or other visual content?

Format:

• Does the content include bulleted lists, blockquotes, tables, or other formatting elements to break up long paragraphs and emphasize key ideas?

Conclusion:

• Does the end of the content summarize key ideas?
• Does the content end with a call to action?

Persuasion:

• Does the content have the elements of persuasion: ethos, pathos, and/or logos?

Want some help creating engaging content? Talk to a content specialist at ClearVoice and find out how we can help with everything from blog posts to email campaigns.

The post How to Create More Engaging Content in 12 Easy Ways appeared first on ClearVoice.

Marketing automation and the ability to affordably test your messaging have reinvented the marketing funnel as we know it. But without a foundational understanding of it, marketing automation is useless.

With 48 percent of marketers using automation, it is one of the four most popular methods to create personalized customer experiences, according to House of Marketing “Yearly Marketing Survey 2019.”

Automation should set out to do two things:

1. Capture leads: This would be through a web form on your site that allows visitors to register and automatically receive whatever you promised them (typically a white paper).
2. Nurture leads: A series of follow-up emails that are sent to your new lead that provides them with additional value and offers so that when they take action, you can further segment them based upon those actions. The goal of the segmenting is to ensure that future communications are as relevant as possible.

Read on to learn how great content can power your funnel, how to get the most out of the content you create and to understand how content fuels your marketing automation funnel. Once mastered, you’ll capture more leads, improve conversion rates, create repeat customers and enhance the purchasing experience.

If you build it, they will come

Marketing automation enables businesses to reach more people in a cost-effective, competitive way. It also allows businesses with fewer resources to set up automated campaigns, nurture sequences and repeat tasks to move prospects through the marketing funnel.

It’s a “set it and forget it” approach — it lets you set your marketing on autopilot. It’s proven effective, too. More than 90 percent of the most successful users agree that marketing automation is “very important” to the overall success of their marketing across channels.

Funnel 101

The marketing funnel represents the consumer’s journey through the purchasing process, from prospect to customer — and repeat customer.

Why is an optimized funnel so important to your success? Properly set-up funnels guide consumers, regardless of where they are in the funnel, to become a customer.

This variety enables businesses to touch on as many issues as possible that may capture a potential buyer’s interest in a solution.

Here are the funnel types:

TOFU: The top of the funnel

People at the top of the funnel are looking for solutions to a particular problem. They are looking for information, not calls to action to buy.

TOFU presents the opportunity to capture the consumer’s attention and educate them about solutions to the problem they are trying to solve. It’s also where you can begin developing an awareness of your brand, expertise and thought leadership.

What makes good TOFU content? An email, infographic, blog, article or some other form of relevant and useful information that would appeal to those seeking more information about your product or service “category.” Lists and how-tos can be great TOFU content.

The goal: Regardless of what you’re filling the top of your funnel with, the goal is to have keyword-rich content that appears once prospects begin scouring the internet looking for answers.

MOFU: The middle funnel

This is where marketing rubber meets the road. This part of the funnel represents where prospects turn into Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs). Here, you present your company or product as the best solution. Prospects are now warm leads that specifically want more information on the solutions and products you have to offer.

What makes good MOFU content? MOFU is where you capture contact information, once a person raises their hand to subscribe. Then you send additional content such as a newsletter, ebook or white paper. You can also invite MQLs to sign up for webinars, consultations and free demos. MOFU is also where you can begin making offers like discounts and free trials.

How to capture MQLs: Using a simple contact form that captures their name and email, or you can drive leads to a landing page where you can get even more detailed information.

Doing this enables you to create nurture campaigns that provide more information or offers that will continue to move them through your funnel.

The goal: To move MQLs down the funnel to becoming Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs).

BOFU: Bottom of the funnel

This area represents where leads become Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs). SQLs are hot leads that are just a decision away from becoming customers.

What makes good BOFU content? BOFU content should convey that the best solution is to buy from you. It includes case studies, product sheets and more testimonials.

The goal: Turning SLQs into buyers and evangelists.

Ageless & evergreen content: Every stage of the funnel

At every stage of the funnel, you should create evergreen content.

Relevant and timeless content is a cost-effective and far more efficient use of resources — and it keeps you from constantly having to create new content. It also helps build stronger organic search positions.

Content use cases

Marketing automation leads potential customers through the funnel automatically. Four in five users increased their leads by using marketing automation software and almost as many (77 percent) saw an increase in conversions, according to VB Insight.

It also nurtures prospects who fail to take action, so you can eventually convert them into customers.

Now that you’re more familiar with the funnel types and how they can power your content efforts, let’s take a look at some specific ways they can be used in a B2B campaign.

1. Email subscriber program

With TOFU content, your email subscriber program is your chief player. These are emails scheduled to go out on a regular basis.

What should be included? Though almost every type of content can be appropriate for your subscriber program, by far the most common TOFU content will be your blog articles. They drive the customer to your blog for valuable content where they can also receive additional offers for ebooks, white papers and other free content that will drive them into the middle of the funnel.

Pro tip: Include a soft CTA link to a free demo, test drive or more information specific to your product or offer. This usually takes the form of a P.S. or a simple sentence along the lines of, “Start your free demo and find out how quickly we can help grow your business.”

2. Education drip

These drips educate the consumer so you can use every form of content previously discussed, depending on where and when the content falls in the drip. Unlike a subscriber program that has a recurring schedule, a drip campaign sends out emails based on:

• Predetermined time intervals
• The action taken by a lead
• Or a combination of both

Using this type of drip campaign, you can automatically nurture prospects from the top of the funnel to the bottom, without involving members of your sales and marketing teams until the lead is ready to buy.

What should be included? Say the triggering event for the drip was the lead asking for a white paper… You know they’re interested in the topic at hand, so you can follow up by sending them an invite to a webinar that dives a little deeper into the subject.

If they don’t open up the link to the white paper in the sent email, you can automatically send them an easier-to-consume video on the same topic.

The point of an education drip is to educate, so make sure you’re sending new and valuable content that provides the lead with additional, relevant information at every stage of the drip.

3. Cold sales nurture drip

This drip campaign is designed for leads that have gone cold. Because it’s safe to assume they know your company, these emails should take on a more personal tone. Make them plain text emails from a sales or marketing rep.

What to include? Here’s an example of what a simple four-email drip may look like and the types of content you may employ:

• Email 1: Hi, I’m _____. Here’s some information (ebook, infographic, product video) I thought you’d like. Take a look and give me a call.
• Email 2: Hi. Me again. Here’s a real-world example of how we can help (case study video). When’s a good time to talk? P.S. I also included a link to a (white paper, webinar, ebook).

Pro tip: Your drip may include fewer emails (or more)… You get the general progression. Also, don’t be afraid to use their name in the subject line and remember to keep the copy, tone and subject lines personal.

4. MQL nurture drip

As a refresher, an MQL is someone who opts to receive your business’ messages.

What to include? The middle of the funnel gets progressively narrower, so MOFU content should become more specific to your product or service offering. Say someone at the top of funnel had responded to earlier emails by reading a blog via email. Maybe they clicked on a link to an infographic and then raised their hand to receive an ebook or white paper.

The action of raising their hand has made them an MQL and triggers moving them into a new drip, similar to the one discussed in the section on Education Drips — a drip that will continue to guide them through the funnel based on their actions. Ideally, it will lead them to the bottom of the funnel and a sale.

1. The first email they’ll receive in this drip is a “thank you” email.
2. Then, you provide them the link to the requested content. At this point, they should be regarding you as a trusted authority, so the content here — be it ebook, white paper, webinar or testimonial video — should provide information specific to whatever problem they’re trying to solve, and more specifically, how you can help solve the problem for them.
3. Those who don’t open emails will be guided down a pathway that will either re-engage them or result at the end of the drip.  Likewise, opening content triggers the sending of more detailed, product-specific content. If they open the white paper, they may receive a video or webinar. A positive response to that will probably result in offering a test drive, free trial, consultation or product demo — something that will move them to become a Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) at the bottom of the funnel.

5. SQL nurture drip

SQL leads are your hottest leads and are primed to buy. The faster you can get them to a sale (or salesman), the better your chances of converting them into a customer.

What to include?

Your offer(s) of a free trial, consultation, evaluation or test-drive enticed the customer into trying your product or service. Now it’s up to a salesperson and/or a strong offer to close the deal.

Pro tip: Leads that don’t convert to a sale can remain in your subscription program. Why?

• Your content keeps your business top-of-mind for when they are ready to buy.
• Let them sit cold and re-engage them at a later date.

Marketing automation tools to use

These sequences are virtually impossible without an email service provider or marketing automation platform. In fact, 55 percent of marketers use software for email marketing automation.

And another 25 percent is planning to start in the coming year according to Thuiswinkel.org and Spotler “e-commerce marketing Trendrapport” (2019).

There are a number of email service providers or holistic marketing automation platforms to use.

Check out each of these to determine the right ones for your business:

• Marketo
• Hubspot
• Mailchimp
• Aweber
• Infusionsoft
• Constant Contact

Content intelligence

What is great content worth if it’s not being seen by the right people in the right place — if it’s being seen at all?

Enter content intelligence… a combination of semantic technology and information science. It’s a deep dive through your current data to find insights to create more valuable and effective content over time.

It informs:

• Who your actual audience is
• How they consume your content
• Where they are consuming your content
• Key phrases and words people are looking for to find your content

It bridges the chasm between what businesses think they know and what customers actually want and experience.

Let’s take a look at three kinds of content intelligence you can put to work for you right now.

1. Timing

When it comes to content distribution, timing really is everything.

Question two things:

• How often should you deliver content?
• When is the best time or day to deliver it?

Real success comes from understanding exactly where and when people are responding to your content. Gather this data and use it to inform your distribution timing strategy moving forward.

2. Relevancy

In an age where it’s easy to unfollow or unsubscribe from brands, be hyper-vigilant about understanding what content you’re sending to whom. That’s relevancy.

Knowing what works and what people want will help you consistently create timely, relevant content that people will consume and share.

You can find out:

• Words, questions and phrases associated with your target keywords
• Demographic information about the people asking the questions
• How customers are engaging with your content

3. Context

Lack of context creates a missing link in your content marketing chain. Context is about presenting content that is consistent with previous content and with the content a subscriber will receive next. Lack of content continuity creates confusion and results in missed conversions.

The understanding of context begins with knowing your target audience and their behaviors, then using the data to more successfully engage and influence them through their buying journey.

Key content intelligence tools to use

It’s easy to suggest processes, but harder to harness the power of the right content intelligence tools to make your B2B marketing automation efforts successful.

Here are a few of our favorites:

Google Analytics: Google Analytics can tell you what’s driving traffic, and your email marketing service can give you a lot of data as to what’s working when it’s working and for whom it’s working.

Crazy Egg, Clicktale or Lucky Orange: Employ a heat-mapping service like these three. A heatmap takes the guesswork out of trying to figure out how customers are engaging your content. It shows you what people are moving their mouse to, what they’re clicking on and what they’re trying to click on. Some of these tools even provide video recordings of every visit, so you can see exactly how consumers are engaging with your content. Heatmaps offer a clear picture of what people want to see, what they care about and what they don’t.

Optimizely: The email marketing service you’re using may provide A/B testing, or you can employ services like Optimizely to see which content is working better than others, as well as for whom and where.

Final thoughts

Seth Godin suggests that content marketing is the only marketing left, and we believe he’s right. Luckily there are tons of resources out there to help you out when it comes to powering the content funnel through marketing automation.

Here are takeaways to remember:

• Automation isn’t a fad — it’s an increasingly popular way to hit all levels of the marketing funnel.
• There are multiple types of marketing automation campaigns. Get educated and then set up the right sequences that work for your business.
• When setting objectives, marketing automation has a huge impact on leads and conversions.
• Numbers don’t lie. Use content intelligence tools to inform your future strategy.
• It all comes down to the tools you use. Take the time and wherewithal to invest in the right content intelligence tools and email service provider/marketing automation platform.

Companies who have the ability to consistently produce timely, relevant and shareable content, are the ones on top. Few things will produce better returns than investing your time, resources and money into the creation of a robust funnel filled with content people will read and share.

Follow the steps above and you’ll be on your way to B2B marketing automation mastery!

The post How to Create Targeted Content for Every Stage of Your Marketing Automation Funnel appeared first on ClearVoice.

Sound impossible? It’s not. It’s happening for brands that leverage freelance talent to improve and grow their content creation efforts.

It’s nearly impossible to strategize and create great content at scale while juggling distribution, analytics, email marketing, social media, and so many other tasks. Freelancers can revolutionize the way you create content. These outsourced specialists allow you to produce more and better content, saving your business both time and money.

This article will break down how to find the best freelancers to match your needs and budget. Then, it will cover how to successfully work with and manage them to ensure the success of your content creation.

How Freelancers Help Boost Business

Most marketers understand the benefits of having brand content. It builds trust with audiences, nurtures sales leads, and boosts your brand authority. Yet just because you write content doesn’t make it engaging and conversion-driving.

So, how can you create high-quality content that builds brand awareness, brings in new leads, and solves customers’ problems? That’s where freelancers come in.

Freelancers can help your business in the following ways:

1. They take work off your plate

You might find yourself dedicating a little bit of time to all your tasks, rather than going deep to make sure they’re done right. Freelancers can take work off your plate so you can focus on things you need to do — or better yet — are passionate about.

Hire freelancers to complement what you’re already working on. Good ones can find ways to help you before you even realize it. They increase efficiency and offer guidance on how to optimize what you’re already working on.

Some of the most common projects you can outsource to freelancers are:

• Audience personas
• Blog posts
• Case studies
• Copy writing and editing
• Customer interviews
• Ebooks and resource guides
• General web copy
• Landing pages
• Content and SEO audits
• Email or newsletter copy

2. They offer the expertise you don’t have

You’re not an expert in everything. Sometimes it’s easier and more cost-effective to outsource your content to someone who is. The right freelancer can bring specialized expertise to the subject you’re writing about. That can ensure you create content that builds your brand’s authority and thought leadership.

3. They are more economical than full-time employees

Some freelancer rates may look daunting. And you may not be sure you have that kind of budget. Here’s the thing: Freelancers are a lot cheaper than full-time employees. If your company hires someone full-time, they’re not only responsible for a salary but also taxes and benefits.

The beauty of freelancers, from niche copywriters to book cover designers, is you use them whenever you need them. Dole work out as needed in an à la carte fashion. It can save your brand a lot of money, as opposed to keeping someone on a full-time salary

4. They are the cream of the crop

Having to “prove” themselves to new clients helps freelancers produce their best work on a regular basis. “[It] encourages me to stay on top of my game, fresh and tuned in to what’s going on in the digital world,” says freelancer Sarah Petraglia.

Freelancer James Durston also remarks:

“The freelance marketplace is, by its very nature, highly competitive. Freelancers are constantly in fear of losing out on jobs and income to other freelancers. They have to pitch for every job with no guarantee of the outcome, and even once they win an assignment, often have few resources should the client pay late, not pay at all or ghost them. All this means is that freelancers are incentivized to do as good a job as they can, each and every time. Compare this to the employee, who gets paid, often much better than a freelancer, at the end of every month no matter how much or how well or how badly they did.”

How to Find the Right Type of Freelancer

1. First, know what you want

As of right now, there are 73.3 million freelancers in the U.S., believe it or not. But just because there are a lot of freelancers doesn’t mean they’re all good. How do you sift through the masses — and the freelance marketplaces — to find those “golden creators”? The first thing to do is start by knowing what you want…

2. Discern what type of content needs to be produced

Freelancer writers all write, sure, but they specialize in specific areas. Figure out what your real needs are in the content production cycle. Do you need help with blog creation, management, promotion, or editing?

These are a few of the different types of freelance talent out there who have varying abilities:

3. Decide what level you are comfortable with

Many brands are happy to hire someone green as long as they’re good with words. These freelancers are less expensive but require more time training.

Answering these questions will help you determine what level of expertise to hire:

• Does my freelance writer need to have experience in my industry?
• Can I afford premium freelance writers?
• Do I need help with developing content topics?
• Do I need someone to help with SEO and keyword research?

Where to Find Freelancer Writers

Once you’ve determined the type of freelance writer you need, it’s time to find them. These are common routes to source freelancers:

1. Ask for referrals.

Ask colleagues, business acquaintances, and existing contractors for referrals. This might be a shot in the dark, but referrals are always a golden source. Be specific about what and who you need during the ask.

2. Read your favorite blogs and approach writers directly.

Look at who’s writing on your favorite industry blogs and assess which voices you like. Many blog posts are written by freelance writers, and with a quick search, you can find them and contact them directly.

3. Post within vetted talent networks instead of job boards for randos.

Job boards are a total mixed bag. Although they can help you source a large number of writers, you may have to do some serious digging. If you’re taking this approach, you have to be willing to sift through the less-than-desirable writers to find the good ones. And even then, you won’t a have platform where you can collaborate together.

If you want to skip all that legwork, feel free to use our Talent Network. With it, we can match you with the talent that’s exactly the right fit for what you need. You can even go a step further and use our managed content creation services. That’s where we build fully managed freelance teams to help you simplify and scale your content creation all in one platform.

Get to Know Your Freelancers

Many in-house marketers know they need help, but they’re not sure where freelancers fit into the mix.

Follow these steps to properly vet freelancer talent:

1. Read their previously published work

Any freelance writer who’s worth hiring will have published work online. Read their content to get a good idea of their style, what industries they write about, if their content is easy to read, and if you like their voice. Reading their previously published work will help you figure out if they’re worth contacting.

Once you’ve created a ClearVoice account, check freelancers out in the Talent Network. If you’re looking at hiring a particular freelancer, plug their name in. You’ll find a CV Portfolio for the freelancer, and see samples of their published work and specialties. You can also search by content type, subject, and role.

Although a freelancer will have published work online, they may have additional ghostwritten pieces or other relevant samples to show. You can always ask them for specific samples, such as ones from your industry or directed at your target audience.

2. Check them out on social

While you don’t have to Facebook-friend a potential freelance writer, it’s a good idea to check out their social profiles, especially on LinkedIn. You can sense their level of professionalism and read up on what they’re passionate about. You can also view their recommendations, endorsements, and clients listed on social profiles.

3. Pay for a trial piece

Ask freelancers to complete an assignment and see how they do. And, yes, the assignment should be paid.

4. Interview them

When you’re interviewing a freelancer, make sure you have answers to the following questions to gather intelligence on their strengths and weaknesses:

• What industries do you specialize in?
• How do you deal with writing about things you’re not an expert in?
• What kind of writing do you do most often?
• How would you go about doing research for a new piece of content?
• Do you have experience interviewing experts and turning them into stories?
• What’s your philosophy about what makes content great?
• Do you incorporate SEO into your work?
• What do you charge? Do you have any minimums?
• Do you require a deposit?
• How many revisions are included in your rates?
•  How much lead time do you need before completing a piece?
• What happens if I don’t like the work you deliver?
• What can I give you to make this job easier and give it the greatest possible chance of success?

Budgeting for Freelancers

How can you effectively budget for freelance writers? First, you need to figure out how they charge and then balance what you want with what you can afford.

How do freelancers typically charge?

Some freelancers prefer to charge by the project, while others charge by the hour or word.

You’ll also pay more depending on what you want. If you need a freelancer to do heavy research, conduct interviews, provide supporting images, or additional time-consuming tasks, be prepared to shell out more cash. There are additional variables that determine pay. Will the freelancer turn in clean drafts that barely need edits? Will the freelancer share the finished product on their social channels? Is it ghostwritten or bylined? This all has an impact.

Are expensive freelancers really worth it?

In general, there are two guiding principles when it comes to paying top-tier freelancers here:

1. You get what you pay for

As you’re searching for freelance writers, remember that if you want content that shines, you should invest in writers who have the experience and writing skills you need.

If you want to find someone who can write an article for cheap, you can find them, but you’re likely to spend a long time editing their work, and they’re unlikely to have any clout on social media.

2. Hiring (even expensive) freelancers is almost always cheaper than hiring an in-house employee

When freelance rates seem expensive, check yourself. How much would you be paying a full-time employee? Remember what we stated above — your company is not on the hook for providing benefits or long-term work.

When you see freelance writing rates, you might be surprised at the expense, but these writers can provide a ton of value to your business. Their ability to write well — and to your audience — can make your content shine and end up saving you money in the long run.

Long story short, invest in good talent.

What if You Don’t Have a Large Budget?

If the marketing budget has already been allocated, and there isn’t a huge amount of room for content marketing, you’ll have to go lean. But fear not — you can accomplish a lot with a small budget.

First, strategize. Successful teams have their plans written down, even if it’s a one-person team on a small budget.

Then, figure out what you can get from your budget. If you only have $1,000 to spend each month, your freelancers can offer ideas on how to best optimize that spend.

How to Successfully Work with Freelancers

The best freelancers are not ones you hire for a project, only to say goodbye when it’s complete. When you work with regular freelancers, they will know your brand inside and out — and feel like a part of your team. Yet, you don’t get these kinds of freelancers unless you’re deliberate about how you work with them.

Here are a few tips to forge successful freelancer relationships:

1. Get them up to speed

Be careful about how you onboard freelancers. Give them an editorial style guide, take the time to create assignment briefs, and have a process in place for effective communication.

How to create an editorial style guide:

Sometimes, marketers don’t want to hire freelancers because they feel it will be impossible to get them up to speed. But you don’t have to spend a lot of your precious time trying to onboard freelancers. Instead, develop a style guide to pass off to any new freelancer.

It will help them understand your expectations, editorial tone, audience, grammatical nuances and goals.

Your style guide should include:

• Info about marketing personas, target audience and customer base
• Information on voice and tone
• Formatting and grammatical preferences
• Lists of competitors not to reference
• List of favorite sources to reference
• Any majors do’s and don’ts
• Sourcing and keyword preferences

[Get more tips on what to include in your style guide from Content Marketing Institute.]

2. Set your expectations

The freelancer works for you, so it’s your job to set expectations around what you want. Are you flexible or rigid on due dates? Do you expect to hire the freelancer for one project, or do you have ongoing work for them?

3. Understand what freelancers want from you

Just because freelancers don’t work in your office doesn’t mean they don’t want a lasting relationship. In fact, freelancers are much more motivated when they feel connected to the teams they’re working with.

Freelancers want to feel valued and respected. If you start treating them as though they are suppliers, they will quickly begin to feel undervalued and overworked.

4. Use a platform for communication

No one should be trying to manage content creation and distribution via email and Google or Word docs. It’s a poor, antiquated system compared to what’s available today. It’s unwieldy and clumsy, and you can’t grow at scale. With a content marketing platform, you can scale any content initiative with ease and collaborate with the world’s top freelancers.

• Pro tip: With ClearVoice, you can do everything from one handy platform — plan, hire, collaborate and publish. Use it to manage all of your freelancer relationships and chat with them directly. Use a consolidated suite of content creation features so you don’t have to purchase or juggle separate tools.

5. Learn how to deal with freelancer feedback, edits and revisions

If you’re happy with a freelancer’s work, make sure to tell them. You may be a great client to work with, but most freelancers have seen their fair share of difficult people. If things aren’t going well, you need to be honest and straightforward.

Most freelancers are open and accepting of edits. Even so, sometimes editors change really minor things, send it back for reviews, and then do it again and again. The process takes forever. It’s always better to simply fix small things yourself and use a platform that easily allows you to collaborate and track edits.

Time to Level Up

As an in-house marketer, you have a lot of responsibilities. The good news is you don’t have to do it all yourself. Freelancers can offer a hand when you need it most, and their individual expertise can shape your content. We should know — we’ve built our entire company around connecting freelancers with people like you.

Discover our solutions or connect with a specialist to learn how we can help you harness the power of freelancers to take your content creation and production to the next level.

The post The Ultimate Guide to Finding, Hiring and Working With Freelancers appeared first on ClearVoice.