This month’s publishing and marketing news round-up is focusing on success. We’re highlighting how you can conquer your content, enhance your company’s operations, and acquire the qualities to personally succeed.
Conquering content marketing
In her article for Business 2 Community, Juli Durante discusses content marketing 101, and what to write when implementing your content marketing strategy. Juli outlines the approach for beginning content creation, and the appropriate steps you need to take. She explains that it's important to be aware of your goals from the get-go, which will aid in deciding what content to concentrate on. If you want to climb the mountain in one shot and celebrate accordingly, she recommends starting with in-depth content, such as an eBook or white paper. Those who see the mountain but focus on smaller summits between the base and the peak, should start with blog posts. You should begin with blog posts if you need to attract visitors right away, don’t have a great deal of spare time for writing, or want to get the basics right first. Starting with an eBook, however, is for those who have traffic but need leads immediately, or if you’re learning a new topic or industry.
Hubspot features a blog post, written by Lindsay Kolowich, on the 25 most common grammatical errors we all need to stop making. Lindsay stresses how important good grammar is when posting online and how she is continually spotting avoidable errors. Some of the grammatical mishaps she highlights include the difference between ‘affect’ and ‘effect’, when to use ‘who’ instead of ‘that’, and the ever debatable use of the oxford comma. Other pet peeves include the regular misuse of the semicolon, and two words that seem almost identical but are actually quite different in meaning, ‘compliment’ and ‘complement’. It’s easy for small grammar mistakes to slip by, and Lindsay’s post is a healthy reminder of why it’s so important to be aware of, and avoid these mishaps in the future.
Enhancing your operations
Ramona Sukhraj’s article on Impact, discusses growth hacking with inbound marketing, and achieving the best of both worlds. Growth hacking is a style of marketing that is focused on immediate growth above all else, with every tactic, strategy, and decision being completely fixated around achieving growth. Ramona explains that inbound marketing is a holistic approach for big wins in the long-run, but with growth hacking tactics thrown into the mix, you can create small wins along the way. By focusing on inbound first, you give your brand a foundation to build on, making the small wins easier. She highlights the ways you can start growth hacking your inbound marketing right away, including running contests and giveaways online, posting links to your website whenever you can, and looking for and reaching out to influencers in your industry. Try to build personal connections with individuals at their organisations and explore opportunities to co-market.
Sandeep Kishore writes a piece for CMSWire on building service provider-client relationships for the long haul and how to create and retain these strong contacts. In his experience developing relationships across industries and geographies, Sandeep outlines the six key ways for making a relationship grow beyond the contract. The first three are staying relevant, being agile, and measuring and communicating business value. Leveraging bilateral wins and investing in leaders are also included, and finally, managing cultural alignment. Described by Sandeep as an often overlooked aspect, a strong partnership must ensure consistent and continuous focus on cultural aspects of the relationship at all levels of engagement. No two organisations are culturally the same - each has its own character, identity, etc - nor do cultures remain fixed, especially after a senior leadership change.
Signs of success
Finishing up this month’s news round-up is Bill Murphy Jr. and his piece for Inc. on 17 things really successful people never stop doing (ever). Bill outlines the seventeen qualities you’ll find in the most successful person you know. He believes there are a number of things that almost all really successful people do every day, and that others simply quit when they get too hard or inconvenient. Just some of these key qualities include learning, listening, asking, empathising, questioning, and giving. The final three points arguably stand out above the rest; risking, prioritising, and accomplishing. As Bill explains, at the end of the day, we’re judged by what we accomplish. Truly successful people know that you can’t build a reputation on the things you’re planning to do in the future.
Do you agree with these seventeen qualities for success, or are there other characteristics you deem even more vital for succeeding?
