How Paid, Organic, and Content Work Together Feat. Jonathan Bland

Inside a New CMO’s Team-Building and Strategy Playbook Feat. Tara Robertson of Bitly: In this episode of the Content That Grows podcast, Tara Robertson, CMO of Bitly, generously shared how she approaches the team-building process as a CMO entering an established company. From aligning the leadership and marketing teams to how she approaches outsourcing vs. expanding in-house talent, there are plenty of takeaways for any level of marketer. Key moments in the conversation: 1:30 - Creating alignment on the path moving forward 8:00 - Thinking about plans after the first 90 days 15:37 - When to build in-house and when to outsource 23:00 - Ensuring success with change management 33:15 - How Bitly measures marketing success by Content That Grows

40 min listen

7 Reasons Organic Traffic Isn’t Driving Conversions: In this week's episode, Nate and Derek approach the many reasons your organic traffic might not deliver results for your SaaS company.From empathy for the buyer's journey to incorrect CTAs, tune in to diagnose why your SEO and content might need some tweaking to produce the results you were hoping for.Key moments in the conversation: 1:00 - TLDR What the 7 topics are 2:00 - Having a weak brand and an unknown product 6:15 - Siloed SEO efforts or SEO as your only channel 10:00 - Focusing ONLY on short-term results 17:48 - Wrong mix of topics across the funnel 20:30 - Not covering enough topics 24:00 - Not having enough meaningful touchpoints with prospects 28:30 - Having the wrong CTAs by Content That Grows

36 min listen

Avoid These 10 Mistakes In-House Content Teams Make: In this week's episode, we're back and talking about the mistakes that most often plague SaaS content teams in their mission to scale a content marketing program successfully. This episode includes everything from moving too fast without goals to hiring the wrong first content marketer. There is something for everyone to learn and reflect on this episode. Key moments in the conversation: 1:20 - Starting a content program quickly without setting goals 4:00 - Moving too slowly when it comes to executing 6:45 - Hiring the wrong content marketer for your company's needs 10:05 - Creating content with one distribution channel in mind 14:45 - Creating content about topics based on your intuition rather than customer insights 18:30 - Forgetting about service and product-focused content 22:45 - Outsourcing solely to save time and money 27:50 - Judging content based on the performance of individual pieces of content 33:50 - Misunderstanding R by Content That Grows

44 min listen

Identifying Growth Stages, Your Channels, and Hiring Well Feat. Adam Goyette: In this episode of the Content That Grows, Nate is joined by Adam Goyette of Curdis.co to discuss ways he helps SaaS companies find the right recipe for growth. They discuss everything from the ways most SaaS startups initially grow to how to expand teams to hit the next phase of growth. Key moments in the conversation: 1:11 - Walking through the common stages of growth 7:45 - Finding immediate opportunities for marketing 13:00 - Hiring generalists vs. specialists vs. agencies 19:30 - Setting up your team and company for the next growth stage 23:40 - Hiring in-house vs outsourcing to agencies by Content That Grows

39 min listen

How Paid, Organic, and Content Work Together Feat. Jonathan Bland: In episode 38, we chatted with Jonathan Bland of Omni Lab for his expertise within the paid marketing space - particularly its place as it relates to content, non-paid opportunities, and SaaS marketing. He shared everything from when SaaS companies should start investing in paid marketing to the assets he's most bullish on making a part of your paid strategy. Key moments in the conversation: 1:22 - The relationship between paid and non-paid marketing efforts 9:11 - That's not how the paid (or any) buyer's journey works 17:00 - Common challenges for teams promoting content with paid channels 26:02 - Promoting product tours and contextualized demos 30:30 - Recent SaaS success story/learning from a crucial shift by Content That Grows

44 min listen

Nailing Your Distribution-First Content Strategy Feat. Justin Simon: In this week's episode, Nate Turner is joined by Justin Simon of JustinSimon.co to discuss content repurposing and distribution at SaaS companies.From the first time Justin started to see the value hidden inside existing content to the mistakes he sees some teams make in executing distribution, this episode is packed with helpful advice for you and your team.Key moments in the conversation: 1:25 - The trigger moment for an emphasis on content repurposing and distribution 8:00 - Biggest mistakes people make with content repurposing 13:00 - Is it cheating to repurpose your content? 18:35 - The biggest value proposition for companies to repurpose content 25:40 - Distribution opportunities for SaaS companies beyond social media by Content That Grows

38 min listen

Being Bullish on SEO and Content Feat. Lauren Funaro: This week, Nate and Lauren Funaro from Scribe sat down to discuss the why and the how behind their investment in SEO and Content this year. In this conversation, they cover Scribe's decision to get started with an aggressive SEO strategy, what their return has been, how much content they're producing, and how they achieve high volumes with a small team + contractors. Key moments in the conversation: 0:55 - What convinced Scribe to go all-in on SEO & content 6:10 - How are your different teams convening and finding alignment 10:40 - How Scribe's product informs their content 17:32 - SEO is about answering the question well, not creating a novel 18:33 - What you'll need in place to publish consistently by Content That Grows

31 min listen

Achieving Organic Growth and Expanding Beyond SEO Alone: In this episode, Nate and Derek discuss the differences and overlap between what people mean when they talk about driving organic growth and doing SEO. From defining the phrases to what differentiates flourishing organic growth programs at software companies, tune in to make sure you're setting your company up for the best organic results. Key moments in the conversation: 1:45 - SEO vs organic growth 10:00 - Example of an entire organic growth program 17:00 - Differentiators for achieving organic growth at SaaS companies 22:45 - Takeaways to leave this episode with by Content That Grows

28 min listen

6 Essential Tips to Seamlessly Outsource Your SaaS Content: In this episode, Nate and Derek discuss how in-house teams can approach content outsourcing to ensure a positive, successful experience for their team. From alignment on roadmaps to having a process repository, there is something for all levels of content marketers in this episode.Key moments in the conversation: 3:00 - Trust + reputation + rapport 7:30 - Documentation and prepping agencies or freelancers 14:00 - Up-front alignment on strategy and roadmaps 18:45 - Close the gap between writers, editors, and approvers 23:00 - Create process visibility together 27:45 - Emphasize and respect the reality of outsourcing content by Content That Grows

38 min listen

Dialing in Product-Led Growth at SaaS Companies Feat. Andrew Capland: This week we're joined by Andrew Capland, founder of Delivering Value, where he provides 1:1 career coaching to Heads of Growth and advises B2B SaaS teams on product-led growth. In this episode, Nate and Andrew cover everything from interactive product demos to effective content types they've experienced working with PLG SaaS companies. Key moments in the conversation: 1:20 - Why Andrew's bullish on interactive product demos 10:20 - Different demo experiences for different companies 19:53 - Segmenting prospects by their experience level 21:55 - Content that feeds people into the product 32:24 - Mistakes companies make when implementing a PLG go-to-market motion by Content That Grows

50 min listen

Scaling Multiple Content Programs for PLG SaaS Companies Feat. Jakub Rudnik: We're joined this week by Jakub Rudnik, Director of Content Marketing at ActiveCampaign, to talk about his experiences scaling multiple content programs for startups (Scribe, G2, and now ActiveCampaign). This episode is packed with substance and candid, honest responses ranging from what it takes to scale, hurdles you'll face, and how different startups have measured success for Jakub's teams over the years. Key moments in the conversation: 1:05 - Defining "scale" and timelines 5:30 - Hurdles all content programs face to achieving scale 11:26 - Keeping leadership satisfied in the early stages 16:02 - Creating 100s of pieces per month and addressing decay 21:40 - Maintaining voice and style at a fast pace 27:48 - How ActiveCampaign, Scribe, and G2 defined marketing success by Content That Grows

40 min listen

Key Elements of a Comprehensive Organic Growth Strategy: In this episode, Nate and Kevin discuss the elements of a comprehensive organic growth strategy. They emphasize the importance of understanding the ideal customer persona (ICP) and how they buy, as well as having deep knowledge of the products or services being offered. They also highlight the significance of competitive analysis, technical foundation, evaluating organic search opportunity, thought leadership, and distribution in a successful organic growth strategy. 10:39 The Importance of Competitive Analysis15:08 Building a Strong Technical Foundation26:24 Thought Leadership and its Role in the Strategy30:40 The Significance of Distribution37:13 Continuous Adaptation and Staying Up-to-Date by Content That Grows

40 min listen

Audience-First Strategies & Company Evangelists Feat. Ramli John: Welcome back to this week's episode of the Content That Grows. Nate was joined in the studio by Ramli John of Appcues to discuss using an audience-first approach to your marketing strategy. In this episode, the two of them go over why audience-first approaches and evangelists can help your company grow effectively, who is doing this well right now, and what your company needs to think about to execute its own version. Key moments in the conversation: 1:10 - What audience-first means and its advantages 6:30 - The skillset needed to thrive as a company evangelist 11:00 - What companies is this strategy working for? 18:55 - Risks of building around an employee evangelist 23:05 - Your creators need dedicated creation time by Content That Grows

36 min listen

Are we at the end of content as we know it? Feat. Ronnie Higgins: In this week's episode, Nate sits down with Ronnie Higgins of OpenPhone for an in-depth conversation about the current state of content marketing. They cover a range of exciting topics like how Ronnie and OpenPhone have diversified content offerings after building an initial revenue engine, the original speech that coined the term, "Content is King" and the interesting place we're in as an industry as a result of individual creators and media company emulation. Key moments in the conversation: 2:00 - The end of content marketing as we know it...what does that mean? 9:50 - What the death of B2b content looks like 16:15 - The evolution of content at OpenPhone over the past two years 28:37 - How to talk about investing in new channels with decreased visibility 48:28 - Why the media company conversation is Ronnie's least favorite happening right now by Content That Grows

59 min listen

PLG and the Power of Using Interactive Product Demos Feat. Natalie Marcotullio: Nate is joined by Natalie Marcotullio, Head of Growth and Operations at Navattic, this week to continue a conversation that more and more PLG companies are having: Should we build an interactive product demo? In this episode, the two of them discuss why this style of demo is so effective, how people are getting them in front of their prospects, and how teams are measuring their impact. Key moments in the conversation: 1:10 - The obvious & non-obvious impact of interactive demos 4:50 - Ways you get interactive demos in front of people 8:45 - Combining SEO and the use of product demos 13:35 - How are teams measuring the effectiveness of interactive demos 17:45 - Why Natalie joined Navattic after using the product by Content That Grows

25 min listen

Finding marketing wins without competing Feat. Stuart Balcombe: Welcome back to another episode of the Content that Grows. This week, Nate sat down with Stuart Balcombe, Head of Growth at Arrows, to talk about finding key wins without competing with how and where everyone else is. In this episode, they cover how to increase your odds of finding these opportunities, how Arrows found their content-market fit and what that content looks like, and Stuart's least favorite marketing conversation on social media right now. Key moments in the conversation: 1:20 - What does it mean to find low/no-competition wins? 7:25 - How do you find these low-competition opportunities? 11:40 - Taking a product management approach to find opportunities faster 20:00 - Examples of content that has worked this way for Arrows 34:10 - Stuart's least favorite marketing conversation happening on social by Content That Grows

36 min listen

Keeping B2B content teams focused on business impact: In this episode, Nate & Kevin talk about several ways that B2B content teams drift from being aligned with business impact, why it matters, and what marketing leaders can do to resolve these issues. Key moments in the conversation: 2:40 - Workflows bottlenecked with too many people involved8:05 - Investment cases being made but not shared 10:55 - B2B content marketing is expected to drive growth 15:45 - Mindset needed to drive growth 22:07 - Creating content on topics your competitors already cover 28:00 - Leverage reporting to drive alignment across the company by Content That Grows

31 min listen

Bringing podcasts into 2024's content playbook feat. Alli Tunell: On this week's episode of Content That Grows, Nate is joined by Alli Tunell, Director of Strategy at Sweet Fish, who talked about her approach to modernizing the content playbook. In this episode, Alli shares why she believes there is a genuine desire for a change from the old content playbooks, how the team at Sweet Fish uses a podcast-forward approach to lay out the overall content strategy, and how to approach podcast experimentation. Key moments in the conversation: 5:50 - What's causing people to adapt their content playbooks 9:00 - Talking trend predictions 11:00 - Pushing companies to go beyond the basic interview podcast 13:20 - Approaching podcast experimentation 25:45 - Stop letting AI create your ToFu content by Content That Grows

29 min listen

Studying SGE and Having a Plan to Take Advantage of It: This week marks the 50th episode of the Content That Grows. In it, Kevin and Derek are discussing a topic that's still a moving target: Google's SGE. In this episode, the two of them discuss what it is, what's changed since Google first announced SGE, and how teams can best prepare for its launch. Key moments in the conversation: 1:40 - What is SGE and what's it able to do? 6:15 - Why SGE is so challenging to discuss right now? 11:00 - Our responses to SGE opinions floating around the internet 18:30 - How to approach learning to use SGE in your SEO plan 24:21 - Beware the SGE fearmongering consultants by Content That Grows

28 min listen

11 Most Common Site Migration Issues: In this episode, Nate Turner and Kevin King discuss the 11 most common site migration issues when moving to a new CMS. They cover topics such as internal redirect chains, no index tags left on, staging site getting indexed, canonical URL issues, URL structure changes leading to 404s, page speed and site performance declines, metadata loss, image issues, header tags and content formatting, site maps not updated, and JavaScript and tracking codes. by Content That Grows

25 min listen

Thinking through the authority challenge in SaaS content Feat. Ryan Baum: Welcome back to the Content That Grows. This week, Nate spoke with Ryan Baum about his approach to creating content that uses authority to drive added value and trust for readers/viewers. In this episode, Ryan gives us a first-hand look into why he believes authority is so vital for SaaS content and the ways he's been able to implement it into his strategies. This episode is for people who love getting a front-row seat into how other content marketers are processing the fast-changing digital marketing landscape. Key moments in the conversation: 3:11 - Ryan's "Aha moment for prioritizing authority in content 6:50 - Different SMEs for different responsibilities and products 16:15 - Understanding authority and trust's impact on the reader 27:50 - Exploring the relationship between trust and authority 41:41 - Having multiple leaders with different goals by Content That Grows

52 min listen

Going Beyond the Blog in Content Marketing feat. Josh Palmer: In this episode, Nate Turner interviews Josh Palmer, the Head of Content for OnBoard, a board governance and collaboration platform. They discuss the growth of OnBoard over the past 12 to 24 months, with a focus on shifting from paid to organic traffic. They also explore the importance of building on an SEO foundation and expanding beyond traditional content marketing. Takeaways Shifting from paid to organic traffic can lead to more sustainable and efficient growth Building on an SEO foundation is crucial for content marketing success Internal marketing is essential for ensuring that content assets are utilized effectively within the organization Understanding the customer and product is key to developing targeted and impactful content Marketers should strive to have a business mindset and understand the broader context of their organization. Chapters 00:36 Overview of OnBoard and Growth 04:11 Benefits of Organic Growth by Content That Grows

35 min listen

Key ingredients in a high-impact content brief: In this episode, Nate Turner and Ryan Sargent discuss the importance of content briefs in creating quality content. They explain that content briefs provide guidance and information to writers, ensuring that they understand what is expected from the content. The conversation highlights the components of a good brief, including the purpose of the content, style guide preferences, and subject matter expertise. They also discuss the pitfalls of relying solely on AI-generated briefs and emphasize the value of detailed briefs for success. Takeaways: Content briefs are essential for providing guidance and information to writers, ensuring the creation of quality content. A good content brief includes the purpose of the content, style guide preferences, and subject matter expertise. AI-generated briefs may lack originality and fail to differentiate content. Detailed briefs with specific instructions lead to successful content creation. Cont by Content That Grows

19 min listen

Demand Generation vs. Brand Awareness w/ Kamil Rextin: In this episode, Nate Turner and Kamil Rextin discuss the differences between demand generation and brand awareness in marketing. They explore the importance of aligning on definitions and metrics, as well as the need to focus on both the top and middle of the marketing funnel. They also emphasize the significance of revenue operations (rev ops) in ensuring accurate measurement and performance tracking. Overall, the conversation highlights the need for marketers to prioritize business outcomes and avoid getting caught up in semantics or overcomplicating marketing strategies. by Content That Grows

28 min listen

How to Get the Most Out of a Research Report: In this episode, Nate Turner and Ryan Sargent discuss how to get the most out of a research report. They define a research report as a long-form written piece of content based on original data, such as first-party data or data collected through surveys. They highlight the benefits of research reports, including the ability to add something unique to the conversation, establish brand authority, and drive backlinks. 01:08 Defining a Research Report 07:36 Planning and Structuring a Research Report 13:32 Distribution Strategies for Research Reports 24:29 Repurposing Research Reports 30:35 Long-Term Impact of Research Reports by Content That Grows

32 min listen

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How Paid, Organic, and Content Work Together Feat. Jonathan Bland

How Paid, Organic, and Content Work Together Feat. Jonathan Bland

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