Thread by @I___DEREKflint

Advice from the many faces of #contentmarketing that SaaS teams can’t afford to miss [Thread 🧵]

Let's run through 🔟 of the conversations our agency (@npturner) had with some of the top #marketing professionals in the #content space this past year 👇

1️⃣ Save Yourself the Heartache with @randfish

Rand has a lot to share about creating great content.

We explored his learnings from the early days of the Moz blog to his most recent approach to Sparktoro’s content production.

This includes:

✅ How he views content

✅ How he hires

✅ The 5-6 years of videos before Whiteboard Fridays gained traction (!?)

✅ The types of content he thinks have a promising future.

✅ How they approached content at Moz

✅ The unexpected benefits of speaking at live events each year

tenspeed.io/podcast/rand-f…

2️⃣ Be Intentional with @sangramvajre

We talked about his experience writing his book, MOVE: The 4-Question Go-to-Market Framework.

This includes what he learned talking to prominent CEOs in the industry.

We also covered:

✅ ICPs

✅ Shifting content marketing’s focus as Pardot became a part of Salesforce

✅ Having interns dig through the data to help understand how content impacted their buyer journeys

✅ 1:1 content and so much more.

✅ Power of community

tenspeed.io/podcast/sangra…

3️⃣ Don’t Be Boring with @ErinBalsa

She’s a writer and consultant with a growing personal brand AND a marketing leader at The Predictive Index.

We talked about:

✅ Growing the team and content efforts at The Predictive Index

✅ Using research and data to create reports that set you apart

✅ Testing what your audience wants to learn

✅ Evaluating industry trends

✅ Reports, and content planning

✅ Why your content can't be boring

tenspeed.io/podcast/erin-b…

4️⃣ Scaling Content Operations with @Bonini84

Whether it’s from his community Some Good Content or via Databox, we have all grown to recognize John’s talent in the content world.

We chatted about:

✅ Entering a company and updating already existing content

✅ Having a strategic, get-it-done attitude when resources are limited

✅ Which parts of attribution the team at Databox has focused on

✅ The purpose of his community from Some Good Content

tenspeed.io/podcast/john-b…

5️⃣ Prioritizing Quality Content with @amylecza

Amy has a wealth of knowledge in the content marketing world. She brings with her the experience of directing content efforts for the likes of G2 and now Toast.

We talked about:

✅ Structuring and managing content teams

✅ Shifting from high-quantity to high-quality

✅ The importance of specialization in your team

✅ Advice to marketing leaders looking to make a case for new or increased investment for content efforts

tenspeed.io/podcast/amy-le…

6️⃣ Creating Content You Believe In with @kking4120

Kevin brings his leadership experience from his time in prominent marketing positions with Review Trackers and at Sprout Social (and now Co-founder of Ten Speed!)

We chatted about:

✅ Early years of SEO at Sprout

✅ Technical SEO work that helped scale organic performance at Sprout

✅ How we got started optimizing existing content

✅ Big content bets like The Always Up-to-Date Image Sizes Guide

✅ Joining Review Trackers

✅ Growing an inherited content program

tenspeed.io/podcast/conten…

7️⃣ Journalism and Content Marketing with @ChelseaCastle

Chelsea is one of the leaders behind the omnipresent Chili Piper brand. She brings with her a mix of marketing and journalism that more marketers could benefit from.

We talked about:

✅ Leveraging journalism principles

✅ How the content team is structured and has grown in-house

✅ Ways they’ve been able to successfully market to marketers (listen for their LinkedIn campaign!)

✅ How marketing advice is not one-size-fits-all

tenspeed.io/podcast/chelse…

8️⃣ The Power of Storytelling with @mdeziel

Melanie is an author, a speaker, and the Chief Content Officer at Storyfuel, and she is perfecting the art and science of storytelling.

We sat down to discuss:

✅ Focusing on what a piece of content is meant to accomplish

✅ How to show your audience you’re thinking deeply as an authority in a space

✅ The power of only choosing 1-2 content formats & channels to start.

✅ Her 2-part way of understanding content that helps teams come up with content topics and formats

tenspeed.io/podcast/melani…

9️⃣ Taking Risks with @_kristenbryant_

Kristen Bryant Smith has experience working on some of the most creative, and perhaps most inspiring, content campaigns for prominent brands like Wistia and Help Scout.

We talked about:

✅ Building a content strategy for a product launch

✅ Creating In the Works at Help Scout

✅ Measuring content that’s not meant to drive direct conversions

✅ Producing Brandwagon at Wistia

tenspeed.io/podcast/kriste…

🔟 Investing in Content with @kking4120

We brought our co-founder Kevin King back on to have a discussion around evaluating and understanding the investment side of content marketing.

We chatted about:

✅ The importance of leadership’s full buy-in

✅ Aggressive goal-setting limiting long-term growth

✅ Tracking your competition's efforts when setting expectations

✅ What your competitors' content efforts can tell you about the required level of investment a company might need to succeed.

tenspeed.io/podcast/invest…

For an overview/TL:DR of each of our conversations plus links to the videos and audio from the Content That Grows podcast - you check out the post below:

tenspeed.io/blog/advice-fr…

For those interested in following along (and in Season 2), you can subscribe to the Content That Grows #podcast wherever you normally listen:

Our YouTube channel youtube.com/channel/UCjvou…

Spotify Podcasts open.spotify.com/show/3RPh1PN0X…

Apple Podcasts podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/con…