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Welcome to Volume 130 👋🏽
Happy Thursday!
Yesterday was gloomy for the tech industry.
It’s hard to put into words the deep pain and shock we all feel about the passing of Bob Lee, the visionary creator of Cash App and former CTO of Square. We offer our deepest condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues during this difficult time 🙏🏽.
In this week’s email, we cover:
- 📄 Don’t publish just for the sake of it.
- ⚠️ 6 content distribution misconceptions that are hurting your conversions.
- 👀 What’s the latest in B2B SaaS this week?
- 🧠 This week’s brain food.
- ➕ The best content across the web and job vacancies to consider.
Let’s dive in.
🎧 Listen to the latest Create Like the Greats episode while you work to hear Ross Simmonds share why you should work hard and smart.
B2B MARKETING
📄 Don’t Publish Just for the Sake of It
We’re only six days into Q2 2023, and it’s that time of the year when brands start reviewing, revising, and executing the next phase of their marketing strategies.
With the rise of generative AI tools, it’s easier than ever before to create and publish more articles. However, just because you can create more content at scale doesn’t mean you should, especially without a clear goal.
You see, hitting the publish button without a clear goal often results in fewer conversions, even if you know your audience well. To get the most ROI from your content marketing efforts, you should set specific, measurable, and realistic goals.
These goals should have measurable outcomes and timelines built into them. Without them, you risk publishing content just for the sake of publishing it, which will only add more noise to an already noisy year.
To truly add value to your readers, avoid vague goals like “we want to increase our following on LinkedIn this quarter.” Sure, it’s a good aspiration, but it’s not a goal. What you need is a more actionable and specific goal.
For instance, set a goal to share data-driven and thought leadership content 2x daily on your CEO’s LinkedIn page to increase their following by 25% by May 1st.
This kind of goal is not only specific, measurable, and achievable, but it’s also realistic and has a due date. So, make sure to set clear goals for your content marketing efforts this quarter, and you’ll see the results you’re looking for. And if it doesn’t go as planned, you can go back to your analytics to see where you missed the mark.
If you want to set real content goals that you’d actually achieve this quarter, read the full article here or download our content calendar template to get started.
Become an Insider today to access the full BRICK report, exclusive B2B SaaS growth, SEO, & content case studies, and other resources.
The BRICK report is a goldmine for C-suite executives and marketers.
We cover critical issues such as the importance of product vs. brand, the impact of social media channels on revenue, and the relationship between blog posts and traffic. The full report is only available to Lab Insiders.
CONTENT DISTRIBUTION
⚠️ These 6 Content Distribution Misconceptions Are Hurting Your Conversions
Want to know the one mistake that most content marketing teams make every quarter?
Well, it’s allowing their existing content to collect dust while they churn out more pieces.
Let’s be honest: we all love the rush of coming up with new ideas and developing them into new pieces of content. But the problem is, we tend to hit publish, do a little victory dance, distribute links on social media a few times, and then move on to the next shiny idea.
This is where we miss out on tons of relationship- and revenue-generating opportunities.
To get maximum ROI from existing content pieces, you have to go beyond publishing, hoping the right people stumble upon our content, dumping links on social media without a strategy, or jumping onto social media trends that don’t align with your business goals.
Instead, embrace active repurposing and distribution.
A single piece of content repurposed the right way and repeatedly shared across different distribution channels can generate hundreds of thousands of dollars of ROI through revenue and relationships. That’s the power of content distribution!
Even though some marketers already know the power of distribution, they have some misconceptions about it that keep them from generating massive ROI from distribution.
If you’ve been struggling with distribution, you’ll benefit from this piece in which I debunked six content distribution misconceptions, so you can fully embrace and leverage content distribution.
The tips in each section will help you boost organic reach, build stronger relationships with your audience, generate qualified leads, and increase conversions.
👀 What’s the Latest in B2B SaaS This Week?
🚀 AWS has launched a 10-week program designed for generative AI startups worldwide, giving founders access to advanced AI models and tools, machine learning stack optimization, and custom go-to-market strategies.
🔥 Substack has unveiled a new tweet-like feature, “Notes,” which allows users to publish short posts of different content types such as images, quotes, comments, links, and more.
👀 Have you seen Stanford’s 386-page report on the state of AI in 2023? The report breaks down current industry trends you shouldn’t miss reading about.
🧠 This Week’s Brain Food
Let’s talk about empathy.
I used to think empathy was just about being able to feel what others are feeling and helping them work through those feelings. But there’s so much more to it than that!
Empathy also means taking the time to review your actions at work, how they affect your teammates, and how you can do better to eliminate stress for your team and boost productivity. It’s about being present and asking questions to learn more about your team and uncover any unmet needs or unresolved issues, so you can help.
So, how can you develop empathy?
Start by asking questions like, “How can I support you better at work?” or “How do you prefer to receive feedback?”
These help you understand your team’s preferences and needs better than making assumptions does. They also let you get to know your teammates on a deeper level, especially in today’s world of async communications where emojis and GIFs can mask our true feelings.
To give this a try next week, reach out to your teammates and learn something new about them to help you collaborate better.
Practice empathy. That’s how you create a more supportive and productive work environment for everyone.
🏆 Hiring Brilliant B2B Marketers
🏅 Twitter Thread of the Week
How to break into speaking at conferences by Ross Simmonds
🎖️ LinkedIn Post of the Week
Airtable’s SEO and Growth Strategies by Ross Simmonds
🤳🏽 Nice Finds You Should Binge
- How Linktree Became Worth $1.3B [A Product-led Marketing Case Study] by Jessica Tee O.
- HashiCorp’s Multi-Product Strategy for Taking Over a $630-Billion Industry by Ethan Crump
- How Zapier Uses Listicles To Drive 5+ Million Sessions by Ryan McCready
🎧 What We’re Wired Into This Week:
Work Hard or Work Smart? Why Not Both? [Create like the Greats Podcast]
This charcuterie board of insights is brought to you by me, Jessica Tee O. ✌🏾!
