THE STRIPPED-DOWN GUIDE TO CONTENT MARKETING

A content marketing strategist outlines how to source, create, and share informational material that can help promote a brand and business in this beginners’ guide.

Egan begins this manual by noting that content marketing is “not PR. It’s not straight-up marketing. It’s producing and sharing content, in an array of forms, that resonates with your target audience. I like to think of it as marketing infused with the DNA of journalism.” The author, who has a journalism background, then proceeds to share tips and tools on how to develop and deploy content marketing material, drawing from his own work for storage and lawn care companies, among others. His advice includes finding data, trends, and other information that can be leveraged into infographics, lists, blog posts, and more and connected to a business and brand. He notes the value of developing timely and sexy content (he tied into World Naked Gardening Day for the lawn care company) but also foundational and evergreen “pillar” material. (He wrote “Everything You Need To Know About How to Start a Self-Storage Business” for the storage company.) In addition, Egan underscores the importance of mastering search engine optimization, since “if you fail to artfully weave keywords into your content, your desired audience won’t be able to find your content.” Each chapter ends with a “Stripping It Down” list of its key points. The author’s conversational tone and practical tips will help anyone struggling with the fear factor regarding this marketing strategy. His mention of many specific, often free tools by which to gather intelligence on keywords and trends and even create infographics, will be particularly valuable to beginners, especially those with limited resources. While readers may crave even more insights from Egan on such topics as handling the dizzying world of social media, this book is an encouraging call to arms to “adopt a scrappy mindset” and dive into this important marketing multiverse.

A motivational primer full of worthwhile advice on devising an effective content marketing strategy.