THE FRAMEWORK

Content Marketing Insights to Help Grow Your B2B Company

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March 29, 2023

Strategy
Why the Middle of B2B Content Marketing Isn't Messy or Mediocre - It's Magical

Contrary to popular opinion, the middle ground in B2B content marketing is neither messy nor mediocre. This post explores why it's magical [...]

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March 22, 2023

Strategy
Why B2B Sales Should Go All In on Content Marketing

Salespeople who are skeptical about supporting B2B content marketing efforts should get fully onboard because it is a ticket to success, not an enemy [...]

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March 15, 2023

Anchoring & Authenticity
To Be or To Do: A Question for B2B Content Marketers

Is your B2B content marketing about projecting an image of your business or helping others do something great? This post explores a question faced by many growing businesses [...]

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March 8, 2023

Framework
11 Critical Tasks Content Marketing Can Accomplish for Your B2B Business

B2B content marketing isn't just about generating sales opportunities. In this post, we explore other ways content marketing can benefit a B2B business [...]

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March 1, 2023

Framework
The Six Defining Characteristics of the B2B Content Marketing River

This post examines the characteristics of a river as a metaphor for effective B2B content marketing, showing how consistent publication is key to maximizing the impact of your content [...]

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February 22, 2023

Strategy
Five Things Smart CEOs Get Wrong About B2B Content Marketing

Content marketing is mission critical for B2B companies but many CEOs are confused about what that means and what it will take. This post addresses 5 common misconceptions [...]

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February 15, 2023

Following Through
Avoid B2B Content Marketing Hacks and Learn to Help Instead

Get-rich-quick schemes are self-defeating. Real results take time, grow slowly, and require hard work. The secret to successful B2B content marketing is being helpful [...]

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February 8, 2023

Framework
Do I Need to Follow a Process to Succeed at B2B Content Marketing?

Search and social media algorithms reward publishers that contribute on a regular basis, which means B2B content marketing success depends on having a process [...]

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February 1, 2023

Strategy
B2B Content Marketing is a Team Sport. Learn to Lead Accordingly.

Effective content marketing requires intentional, conscientious leadership at all levels in your organization. This post explores why, and how to make it happen [...]

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January 25, 2023

Anchoring & Authenticity
Six Ways to Bring Purpose and Mission into Your B2B Content

Learn how to attract customers, employees, and investors by embedding purpose and mission in your day-to-day operations and then showcasing them in action [...]

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January 18, 2023

Branding
Taking Down the Decorations - The Impact of Branding on B2B Content Marketing

B2B buyers make decisions based on emotions so the materials that evoke those emotions must be carefully branded. This post discusses 4 key elements of B2B content branding [...]

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January 11, 2023

Framework
Use a B2B Content Marketing Framework to Avoid Random Acts of Marketing

Random acts of marketing are usually a waste of time and money—especially for B2B businesses. Learn how to avoid them by following a content marketing framework [...]

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January 4, 2023

Anchoring & Authenticity
Commit to a Year of Authenticity in Your B2B Content Marketing

B2B buyers do business with brands they trust, and a primary way to build trust is by being authentic. This post discusses 5 steps to bring authenticity into your content [...]

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December 28, 2022

Miscellaneous
Reflections on a Year of B2B Content Marketing (2022)

Sharing valuable insights gained during 2022 while researching, learning, writing about, and focusing on B2B content marketing [...]

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December 21, 2022

Budgets & Financial Impact
Always Talking Money: Calculating Return on Investment for your B2B Content Marketing

Calculating return on investment for content marketing activities is important for demonstrating value-add and benchmarking your performance [...]

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December 14, 2022

Evaluation & Evolution
Developing an Add-Drop List for B2B Content Marketing in 2023

Optimize your 2023 B2B content marketing plan by strategically adding and dropping tactics, themes, and channels following these simple steps [...]

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December 7, 2022

Strategy
Can Your B2B Business Afford NOT to Invest in Content Marketing?

The story of Antonio, a B2B buyer, illustrates why content marketing should be an essential element in any B2B company's marketing [...]

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November 30, 2022

Development & Delivery
What to Do With All Those B2B Content Leftovers?

There are several ways to turn leftovers into tasty dishes. This post explores similar ways of turning leftover pieces into useful, digestible B2B content [...]

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November 23, 2022

Customer Focus & Content
How to Make Thanksgiving Part of Your Content Strategy

Content marketing should include material targeting the fifth stage of the buyer's journey, loyalty, which includes thanking customers for their business [...]

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November 16, 2022

Framework
How to Make Content Marketing Work at a Smaller B2B Business

Content marketing can—and does—work for smaller B2B businesses. Here are some tips on giving it your best shot, even with limited resources [...]

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November 9, 2022

Budgets & Financial Impact
What Should Your B2B Content Marketing Plan Include for 2023?

This post provides advice on navigating the year-end hiatus, when long-term B2B content marketing plans must be evaluated, adjusted, and defended [...]

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November 2, 2022

Customer Focus & Content
Effective B2B Content Marketing - Seeing Both the Trees and the Forest

Successful B2B content marketing requires striking a balance between detailed and high-level content. This post explains why it matters and how to make it happen [...]

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October 26, 2022

Strategy
Why B2B Content Marketing Will Continue to Grow

Despite complaints that digital channels are getting too noisy and crowded, B2B content marketing will continue to grow for years to come. This post discusses the reasons why [...]

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October 19, 2022

Customer Focus & Content
How to Use a Gap Analysis to Focus Your B2B Content Marketing Efforts

A gap analysis will help your B2B content marketing team decide what to publish as a priority to have maximum impact on helping prospects complete their buyer's journey [...]

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October 12, 2022

Strategy
Common Reasons Why B2B Content Marketing Fails and How to Avoid Them

Content marketing is critical for B2B businesses to attract prospects and grow. This post will help you recognize and avoid some of the most common content marketing pitfalls [...]

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October 5, 2022

Anchoring & Authenticity
5½ Tips for Increasing Authenticity in Your B2B Content Marketing

Exploring what is meant by authenticity in B2B content marketing and tips for maximizing it in your own content [...]

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September 28, 2022

Strategy
Debunking 10 Myths About B2B Content Marketing

This post explains and debunks 10 of the most common myths about B2B content marketing so that you can ignore them and be more successful [...]

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September 21, 2022

Following Through
Why You Should Treat Content Marketing Like Going to the Gym

Here are six reasons why you should treat developing content writing skills just like going to the gym to exercise your body and build muscles [...]

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September 14, 2022

Budgets & Financial Impact
Uncertain Times - Ways to Approach Planning for 2023

How should we go about planning for 2023 amid so much uncertainty? Start with your status quo and vision, and then construct plausible scenarios [...]

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September 7, 2022

Development & Delivery
How to Make Your Presentations and Webinars More Accessible

Quick tips on making your presentations and webinars accessible to those who have difficulty seeing, hearing, reading, or processing the information [...]

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August 31, 2022

Strategy
Does Marketing Belong in the C-Suite?

Content marketing has become mission critical for B2B businesses in the Information Age. This post makes the case for a CMO seat in the C-suite [...]

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August 24, 2022

Development & Delivery
Understanding the Difference Between Messaging and Content Marketing

What is the difference between messaging and content marketing? The two terms are frequently confused. This post explains how they differ and how they interrelate [...]

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August 17, 2022

Customer Focus & Content
Are You Into Content Marketing or Marketing Content?

Content marketing requires time and effort. Learn why you should make that investment and avoid hustlers promising rapid content-driven success [...]

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August 10, 2022

Strategy
Should a B2B CEO Champion Content Marketing?

Content marketing has become a mission-critical activity for most B2B companies. This means a B2B CEO must establish content marketing as a priority for the team [...]

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August 3, 2022

Development & Delivery
8 Reasons Why a Ghostwriter Can Outperform an In-House Blogger

Does hiring a ghostwriter produce less authentic or less effective content? Here are 8 reasons why ghostwriters can produce more effective content than your in-house team [...]

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July 27, 2022

Development & Delivery
5 Reasons to Include Traditional Channels in Your B2B Content Marketing Strategy

B2B content marketing isn't exclusively digital. Traditional channels can still be valuable. Here are 5 reasons to consider them [...]

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July 20, 2022

Customer Focus & Content
Is Your B2B Content a One Night Stand or the Start of Forever?

Writer's intent makes the difference between losing a reader and starting a relationship with them. Tips on writing with the end in mind and starting conversations that lead to revenue [...]

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July 13, 2022

Branding
Brand Guidelines - Key to Successful B2B Content Marketing

Successful B2B content marketing requires many ingredients. One that’s often overlooked is consistency of brand. This post summarizes six factors to consider [...]

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July 6, 2022

Following Through
How To Make B2B Content Marketing Part of Your Day-to-Day Business

Why B2B companies struggle to prioritize content marketing, plus a 12-point checklist for making it part of your day-to-day business [...]

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June 29, 2022

Evaluation & Evolution
6 Types of Research that Will Make Your B2B Content Marketing More Effective

In today’s B2B marketplace, content must be great if it’s going to stand out. This post explains six areas of research that are key to producing effective B2B content [...]

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June 22, 2022

Development & Delivery
5 Reasons Why LinkedIn is Such a Popular Channel for B2B Content Marketing

LinkedIn is one of the most popular channels for sharing B2B content. We examine why that’s the case and 5 reasons why you should make LinkedIn a priority channel for your business. [...]

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June 15, 2022

Strategy
Five Content Marketing Blockers at Smaller Companies and How to Overcome Them

Smaller B2B companies suffer from five ailments that impede their progress to effective content marketing. Here’s how to diagnose and remediate them [...]

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June 13, 2022

News
Introducing the MessageUp Content Marketing Blog - "The Framework"

An introduction to "The Framework" - the MessageUp content marketing blog for small-to-mid-sized B2B businesses [...]

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June 8, 2022

Customer Focus & Content
Who Is Your Solution For? Developing an Ideal Customer Profile

Your ideal customers need you and will deliver the highest lifetime customer value. First, you have to identify who they are. [...]

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June 1, 2022

Branding
Giving Your Brand a Humanizing Personality

Adopting a distinct personality helps to humanize your brand and establish an emotional connection with your customers [...]

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May 25, 2022

Budgets & Financial Impact
4 Questions to Learn Why You Should Invest in Content Marketing

Ask yourself these 4 questions to evaluate whether your team can benefit from investing in content marketing [...]

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May 18, 2022

Framework
What's the Difference between Messaging and Content Marketing?

Establishing the importance of - and difference between - two key terms: messaging and content marketing [...]

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May 11, 2022

Framework
An Overview of the MessageUp Content Marketing Framework

The MessageUp Content Marketing Framework breaks into six parts. Here's a quick introduction to get your journey started [...]

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