1. 2 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEIS THIS BOOK RIGHT FOR ME?Not quite sure if this ebook is right for you? See the below description todetermine if your level matches the content you are about to read.INTRODUCTORYIntroductory content is for marketers who are new to the subject. This contenttypically includes step-by-step instructions on how to get started with thisaspect of inbound marketing and learn its fundamentals. After reading it, you willbe able to execute basic marketing tactics related to the topic.INTERMEDIATEIntermediate content is for marketers who are familiar with the subject but haveonly basic experience in executing strategies and tactics on the topic. Thiscontent typically covers the fundamentals and moves on to reveal more complexfunctions and examples. After reading it, you will feel comfortable leading projectswith this aspect of inbound marketing.ADVANCEDAdvanced content is for marketers who are, or want to be, experts on thesubject. In it, we walk you through advanced features of this aspect of inboundmarketing and help you develop complete mastery of the subject. After readingit, you will feel ready not only to execute strategies and tactics, but also to teachothers how to be successful.Share This Ebook!www.Hubspot.comTHIS RESOURCE

2. 3 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEHubSpots All-in-OneMarketing Software.... brings your whole marketing worldtogether in one, powerful, integrated sys-tem.Marketing analytics YShare This Ebook!www.Hubspot.comRequest A DemoVideo OverviewAnalyze your web trafficand see which sourcesare generating the mostleads.NBloggingCreate blog contentquickly while getting SEOtips and best practicepointers as you type.MemailSend personalized,segmented emails basedon any information in yourcontact database.s search optimization Improve your rank insearch engines by findingand tracking your mosteffective keywords.U Lead managementTrack leads with acomplete timeline-view oftheir interactions with yourcompanyqsocial mediaPublish content to yoursocial accounts, thennurture leads based ontheir social engagement. 3. 4 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEHow Hubspot doescontent.Written by Corey EridonCorey Eridon manages the HubSpotInbound Marketing Blog, creatingcontent about SEO, social media,analytics, business blogging,marketing automation, and emailmarketing. Before joining HubSpot,Corey worked as a marketer andconsultant.Share This Ebook!www.Hubspot.comFollow me on twitter.@Corey_BosFollow me on twitter.@bleaningDesigned by Brittany LeaningBrittany Leaning is HubSpotsSocial Media Manager. She isresponsible for strategizing, creating,managing, measuring, and scalingorganic social media efforts acrossHubSpots various accounts in orderto generate leads and grow reach. 4. 5 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINECONTENTS.06 INTRODUCTION07 Caeginrt a Cennott Culertu15 Jstu Do It AladeryCreate Content the Fast,Easy, & Efficient Way23Refining Your Content39 Caeinort Pceeorsss4854 CONCLUSIONIterating, Improving, andExperimentingShare This Ebook!www.Hubspot.com 5. 6 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEIntroduction.To do inbound marketing, you need to do content. But whenmarketers set out to actually build a content creation team, theres thedream ... and theres the reality.Heres what the dream looks like: .Publish amazing blog content every day. .Create new lead generation offers every week.. Design beautiful, engaging images to share on social media.. Newsjack in the blink of an eye. .Be on the cutting edge of new content formats and ideas.Share This Ebook!www.Hubspot.comHubspot.com 6. 7 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEHeres the reality: .Publish blog posts when someone has time to write one. .Plan to create a new lead generation offer all month, crank oneout before the end of the quarter.. Maintain a largely image-free social media presence, exceptfor the ones that get pulled in from the blog posts you put on yourTimeline. .Newsjacks a few days after news breaks.. Remain about 12 months behind adoption of new contenttrends.Some -- or all -- of that feel familiar? Whats with the disconnect? Whycant dreams become reality?At the risk of sounding like a Disney movie, your dream of turning yourcompany into a content creation machine can come true. Downloadingthis ebook that outlines HubSpots own content creation methodologywas the first step; reading on will show you exactly how to do ityourself, building your companys content machine from the ground up.Share This Ebook!www.Hubspot.comHubspot.com 7. 018 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEChapterCreatinga ContentCulture.Share This Ebook!www.Hubspot.com 8. 9 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEShare This Ebook!www.Hubspot.comEveryone has a talent.What is rare is the courageto nurture it.- Erica JongA well-run machine is built with solid, high quality parts that are allworking together to achieve the same goal. To become a contentcreation machine, you need to create a company culture that supportsthe goal of frequent, high quality content creation. In a content culture,content is not an afterthought; a fluffy pursuit; an optional expense.Companies that have created a content culture view content as thebasis for running an inbound company -- from Marketing, to Sales, toServices. In order to create this culture of content, we have four big tipsto follow. 9. 10 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINE1 Invest in Qualified Content Hires.Time to level. Content isnt free, and its not easy to create. Historically,content creation has been relegated to free interns and content farms.The success youll see from that method is little to none, and sends thewrong message to your team -- that content is not important enough foryou to invest serious resources in.Invest in bringing at least one excellent content creator into yourorganization. This person should know about your industry so he orshe can write intelligently about the subjects that matter to your targetaudience. If you dont have the budget to hire one more employee,identify a current hire with writing chops and industry know-how,and adjust their job description to allocate some time toward contentcreation.These steps set the stage for a strong content culture, because theyshow that you value content so much, you are willing to allocate budgetand time to high quality content creation.Share This Ebook!www.Hubspot.com 10. 11 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEMobilize Every Employee to CreateContent. 2Everyone in your company should have the ability to contributecontent. Its how youll build a scalable content creation machine. Tofoster a culture of content creators, however, you need to reiterate-- over and over -- the concrete benefits to participating. You shouldexplain that: Being a regular content creator will helpthem move upward within the company. Thismust actually be true, ideally with examples youcan point to. Content creators are often also thought leaders, andit will help them gain credibility with leads, customers, andeven future employers. The content will serve as a built-in online portfolio they canreference years down the road. Content drives critical business metrics, like lead- and customer-generation.Share This Ebook!www.Hubspot.comUsing closed-loop analytics, you can demonstrate theactual dollar value of one piece of content to your business. .Being a published author might lead to future opportunities, likespeaking engagements, or quotes in high-profile publications. 11. 12 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEInspire Every Employee to CreateContent. 3Youve explained why everyone in your company should create content.Now make them want to. Reward it. The authors of content that performs particularlywell should be highlighted for their contribution. You can do thisat your next team or company meeting, in an internal newsletter,Share This Ebook!www.Hubspot.comor in a group email. Be sure to detail the specific resultstheir content drove for the business, like leads oropportunities generated, or customers won.Again, using closed-loop marketing software,this information is just a click away. Make it a competition. See who cancreate the best piece of content to movea specific business metric -- like the mostleads generated from a post about a certainsubject matter, or the most socially sharedpiece of content. Lead by example. Whether youre in an official leadershipposition or not, you can lead by example if youre championinga content creation culture. Be an active content creator yourself.Practice what you preach. 12. 13 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEYoull come across some employees that want to contribute content,but dont feel capable. To create a scalable content creation machine,its up to you to enable their success.First, remember that creating content shouldnt be reserved for justMarketing -- or even just a couple people within Marketing. Enableanyone in your organization to contribute content, from Sales, toServices, to R&D. This is beneficial because youre getting content thathighlights different perspectives, and different areas of expertise, bothof which make your content arsenal more well-rounded and able toaddress the needs of different buyer personas.To make it easier for everyone to contribute, create guidelines they canfollow to make it more likely their content fits your publishing standards.You can even have content specialists on your team who train thoseextremely interested in contributing content on the types of editorialguidelines the marketing team follows. These folks -- your marketingteams editors, if you will -- can be the ones who brush up the contentyou receive so everything thats published aligns with the tone, style,and other guidelines youve established for your brand. More details onhow to do all this in coming chapters.Share This Ebook!www.Hubspot.comFoster and Enable Employees4 Content Creation Abilities. 13. 14 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEShare This Ebook!www.Hubspot.comNothing crushes a contributorsheart more than when you saytheir content isnt fit for publishing.By creating and enforcing a setof editorial guidelines, your contributors knowexpectations and are set up for success. Thatshow Ive ensured all the HubSpot blog contentpublished lives up to the same quality standards. 14. 0215 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEChapterJust Do ItAlready.Share This Ebook!www.Hubspot.com 15. 16 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEShare This Ebook!www.Hubspot.comAll growth dependsupon activity. There is nodevelopment physically orintellectually without effort,and effort means work.- Calvin CoolidgeThe more you do content, the easier it will be.Now that were done fostering and enabling, lets get down to brasstacks. Nothing in this ebook about content creation will just happen.Reading a lot about it, and understanding the theories behind efficientand scalable content creation, doesnt get any content actually created.So here is the part of the ebook where we tell you ... JUST DO ITALREADY.This may be the most painful thing you have ever done in yourmarketing career. Or it may not be that bad at all. Either way, the moreyou do it, and the more you encourage colleagues and employees to doit, the easier, more natural, and frequent content creation will become. 16. 17 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEThink of it this way: content creation is like running. The first time youdo it, you might kind of stink. But you got out and did it, which is betterthan not doing it at all. The next time you do it, and each subsequenttime after that, it wont be as painful ... until eventually youre pretty darngood at it, and its actually pretty painless. Maybe even enjoyable.Youll get your processes down pat. Youll get good at this. Contentcreation will be part of how you operate. You might even end up liking it.But you wont become a content creation machine if you dont just getstarted.One of the most common issues we see when it comes togetting started, is getting past writers block. Weve identifiedkey problems weve heard time and time again, followed withour solutions for combatting each.How HubSpot Does It:At HubSpot, we encourage content creation from the very beginningof an intern or employees career. Our rule of thumb is, If you havenothing left to do, go write a blog post. And content doesnt fall onthe shoulders of a few writers, or just the marketing team; we receivecontributions from everywhere. Weve had sales reps write posts abouta topic they hope will attract the right leads for their quota. Weve hadexecutives write posts to help attract more C-suite audience. We evenhave customers contribute from time-to-time to share their externalperspective on all things inbound marketing.Share This Ebook!www.Hubspot.com 17. 18 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEGetting Past Writers Block.Writers block is a state of mind, and its a very real, very debilitating malady --even for the most prolific content creators. It helps to try and pinpoint the sourceof your writers block outside of just, The blank screen is taunting me. Often itfalls into one of these buckets.Share This Ebook!www.Hubspot.comThe Problem:I dont know what to write about.The Solution:Fall back on your editorial calendar, where you keep abacklog of topics to write about. You can also reach out topeople in Sales or Services and ask them to share somefrequently asked questions they receive, which typicallymakes for excellent and quick blog posts. 18. 19 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEShare This Ebook!www.Hubspot.comThe Problem:Im just not in the mood to write.The Solution:Use the laptop trick. Unplug your laptop and go into a quietroom, free of distractions. Your challenge is to completeyour blog post before your battery runs out. See if a littlecompetition with yourself can kick things up a notch. 19. 20 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEShare This Ebook!www.Hubspot.comThe Problem:I cant find the words.The Solution:Write like you speak. Content should be free of jargon andbusiness babble, anyway. If you write like you speak, it will bean easier writing and reading experience. Do not, however,write like you think. Our brains are jumbled messes. We filterourselves for a reason. 20. 21 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEShare This Ebook!www.Hubspot.comThe Problem:I dont know how to approach this topic.The Solution:Your topic isnt specific enough. Refine your working title tosay what you really mean. It doesnt have to sound good now;you can finesse it later. Just ensure its clear, specific, andtells you exactly what the post is about. 21. 22 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEShare This Ebook!www.Hubspot.comEver wonder how HubSpot postsso many social media updates?We do it by taking a piece ofcontent and presenting it in uniqueways. This can further emphasize a specific pointto help get our message across better, in waysour audience gets excited about. Dont ever beafraid to repackage and repurpose your content! 22. 0323 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEChapterCreateContent theFast, Easy, &Efficient Way.Share This Ebook!www.Hubspot.com 23. 24 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEShare This Ebook!www.Hubspot.comGet er done.- Larry the Cable GuyNow that youve started exercising your content creation muscles, itstime do it better, faster, stronger. In other words, lets make your lifeeasier and marketing results more remarkable -- yes, you can havebetter marketing and an easier life -- by enabling you to create morecontent, with less pain. This is where you transform from a contentcreator, into a content creation machine. This is where you becomeunstoppable. Now, lets jump into the tips. 24. 25 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINE1 Quick Content Formats.To become one of those companies that always has something great towrite about, you have to embrace multiple content format types. Someof them might take a long time to write -- such as the thought leadershippieces your favorite executives are writing, or the big research reportsthat required a ton of surveys, data slicing, and analysis.You should create that kind of content.But you should also make your life easier, and realize there are a ton ofcontent formats that are extremely valuable to readers, drive seriousbusiness results, and dont take that long to put together. Heres yourquick content toolkit, from which you should draw every day.Share This Ebook!www.Hubspot.com 25. 26 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEShare This Ebook!www.Hubspot.comHow-ToIf you know how to do somethingyour readers would want to knowabout, its easy to transfer yourknowledge to paper -- or yourcomputer screen. Remember, justwrite it out like youd speak it if youwere telling a lead, customer, orcolleague.Top ListsA tried and true content method,top lists are a mix between originalcontent and aggregation. Youaggregate the ideas, and write shortblurbs about each. This is excellentcontent for a new writer, becauseeach blurb in the list is quite short,and the post provides a built-instructure to work around. 26. 27 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEShare This Ebook!www.Hubspot.comCurationRecognizing remarkablecontent from others is acore link- and relationship-buildingstrategy, and requiresa mix of original writing andaggregation -- perfect forthose just whetting theirwriting chops.FAQThink of the questions leads and customers ask you every day, and turnthat into a piece of content in which you answer the common question.You could also pose a question on a social network, at an event, orduring a webinar, and then respondto them in aggregate in a blog post. 27. 28 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEShare This Ebook!www.Hubspot.comDataWhether you have your owndata or you stumble acrossinteresting industry datain your reading, take oneor many data points andcompile them into a post.Data makes very shareablecontent, and tends to say a lot in few words. Factbrowser.com is agood resource for discovering and citing stats.Excerpted ContentWhen you publish a gated piece of content(typically lead generation content that isgated behind a form on a landing page --such as a whitepaper), a quick source ofcontent is an excerpt of that piece. Theexcerpt also serves to promote the gatedcontent, showing readers what theyllget if they download the full version. Itsthe same as when an author shares a freechapter of their published book. 28. 29 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEShare This Ebook!www.Hubspot.comVideo ContentIf cats got your tongue, a videocould be the way to go. Videos areexcellent alternatives to how-toposts in which you talk through aconcept like you would to anyonein-person -- no bells and whistlesneeded. You might also schedulean interview, another helpful video format that doesnt require a lot ofinvestment.NewsjacksBy their very nature, newsjacks arequick content formats. When a pieceof news that would impact yourindustry -- or for which you could finda relevant spin for your audience --hits the press, hop on it like a rabbitduring mating season. 29. 30 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINESourcing Content Internally andExternally. 2Part of becoming a content creation machine is having a never-endingShare This Ebook!www.Hubspot.comsource of content, about a variety of topics. One, or even acouple, content hires isnt going to get you there. Source content fromcontent creators outside of Marketing. This taps into different areas ofexpertise among your staff, and creates a more robust topic catalogueas well as a higher volume of content coming your way.Additionally, consider a content creation requirement fromcertain employees; everyone on the marketing team shouldbe required to contribute a certain volume of content eachmonth to set a good example.How HubSpot Does It:At HubSpot, we built blogging quotas for every team in the marketingdepartment. The quotas are based off the number of people on teamto understand what they can best contribute each month. That teamthen decides how to split up the posts. For example, a two-person teamwith a 4-blog post goal may take on two blog posts each a month. Or,if one person is crunched for time, the other may take on an additionalpost to help make the quota. This puts the power of contributions intothe teams hand, while ensuring the blogging team receives the properamount of content for the month. 30. 31 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEYou should also be open to accepting guest blogging submissionsfrom external sources, which have the added benefit of helping builda stronger link profile. Be discerning when accepting guest bloggingsubmissions, only accepting the highest quality content from legitimatefolks in your industry. As your domain gains authority, youll receivemore and more inquiries about guest blogging; its important you siftthrough the content coming from shady SEO firms and link farms, andpublish only good content from credible sources.Centralize the flow of all this content, promoting at least one memberof your marketing team to act as the editor of any content that comesthrough. He or she will ensure any content that comes from internal andexternal sources is high quality enough to be published.Share This Ebook!www.Hubspot.com 31. 32 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINE3 Repurposing Content.To squeeze more ROI from the content creation work youre alreadydoing, its important you get comfortable with finding new ways to usethe content youve already created. This is your content repurposetoolkit -- even if you get time-crunched and content creation seemsimpossible, these repurposing tactics should keep your machine fromdying out.Share This Ebook!www.Hubspot.com 32. 33 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEShare This Ebook!www.Hubspot.comMost content creators view thecreative process as: 1. Write thecopy, and 2. Throw in visuals tomatch. In reality, there should beno distinction. The relationship between text andvisual elements is not sequential in nature. It isone of interdependence. 33. 34 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEShare This Ebook!www.Hubspot.comBlog BundleCreate a lead generationoffer by bundling together thecontent youve created onyour blog -- all around onespecific topic -- into a longer-formcontent asset.Presentation SlidesWhen anyone presents, whether inan internal meeting or at a publicspeaking event, consider whetherthose slides can be tweaked tobe a SlideShare presentation,standalone social media images,or featured on your blog. 34. 35 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEShare This Ebook!www.Hubspot.comPersonaAlignmentIf you target multiplepersonas, rework existing,successful contenttargeted at anothersegment to speak to adifferent persona.Internal ContentIf you have an internal companycollaboration tool, repurpose anyindustry insights shared there thatmight be interesting to your targetaudience. 35. 36 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEShare This Ebook!www.Hubspot.comContent UpdatesContent that performed well inthe past, but has since gone outof date, should be updated andrelaunched.Written Content,VisualizedHow-to content can take visualformats if you strip down thecopy, and reformat the headersinto one-sheeters or checklists.These are perfect for socialmedia, particularly Facebook and Pinterest. 36. 37 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEContent Cross-Channel and Cross-Department Promotions. 4For the most returns from yourmarketing content, its important allyour marketing channels are workingtogether on promotion, and folksacross your entire company knowabout the content in your campaigns.Heres a sample scenario for you:Youve just finished writing a fantastic new lead generation offer -- suchas an ebook -- that youd like to email to a segment of your list. Howcan you better support that offers success? First, promote it with a blogpost; excerpt a chapter that can stand alone, and let blog readers knowthe excerpt theyre reading is a small part of a larger ebook on the topic,which they can download via the call-to-action in the blog post. Thengive social media a heads up that pages 2, 5, and 8 in the ebook havesome interesting quotes that could be turned into compelling visuals tobe shared on social media networks -- with a link to the landing pageto download the ebook, of course. The image you choose for your blogpost should also keep social media in mind, since youll surely sharethat blog post on your social networks, and a compelling post imagewill help drive more engagement.Share This Ebook!www.Hubspot.com 37. 38 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEAnd since those that receive the email for the new ebook are probablygoing to be further down your sales funnel, and this might be the actionthat incites them to get in touch with Sales, its a good idea to let yoursales organization know about the latest ebook youre launching, andprovide them with a short synopsis of the key points you touch on sothey can carry on a productive conversation with new and existingopportunities. Your Customet Support team would also like to knowabout the new ebook, since it might address the questions they answeron a daily basis. Finally, alert employees in all departments that anew offer is being released, and ask them to share eitherthe landing page or the blog post on their personal socialnetworks -- Twitter is great for this -- to benefit from thenetwork effect of multiple people recommending a piece ofcontent within a short time frame.How HubSpot Does It:HubSpot does this by communicating offer creation with the entirecompany -- from marketing to Sales to Services, and even Product andsupport! We send out a weekly email titled, This Week in Marketingthat highlights the upcoming ebooks, whitepapers, webinars, etc.,with a short sales soundbite. In addition, employees can also opt-into receive notifications via a Google Group every time a new offer iscreated. The content team sends the offer, along with assets such aslanding page, email copy, and social media images, in this email sosubscribers can quickly access everything they need to know aboutevery piece of long-form content the company publishes.Share This Ebook!www.Hubspot.com 38. 0439 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEChapterRefining YourContentCreationProcesses.Share This Ebook!www.Hubspot.com 39. 40 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEShare This Ebook!www.Hubspot.comIts the little details thatare vital. Little things makebig things happen.- John WoodenYoure creating a ton of quality, helpful, valuable content. You are anundisputed content creation machine.But youre v1 (version 1) of that machine right now.How do you make your content creation machine the best on themarket? You get rid of the hiccups that prevent you from running assmoothly as possible. This is the cherry on top stuff that makes yourcontent creation machine the best in the biz. Heres how to make ithappen. 40. 41 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINE1 Invest in Editors and Proofreaders.Hiring, outsourcing, or promotingemployees to be proofreaders andeditors is the first step to uppingyour content creation game. Todo it right, its important you knowthe difference between the roleeditors and proofreaders play inthe marketing world.Proofreaders are ... thefolks that make sure there arent typos in your content, look for commasplices, check to see if you put two spaces after a period or one, thattype of thing. This is important for making your content look uber-professional,Share This Ebook!www.Hubspot.comand can do a lot for your street cred. If you dont have thebudget to hire a professional proofreader, fall back on a word processorwith a spell- and grammar-check. Proofreading is a very hard job, andrequires someone with superhuman attention to detail. Even if you fancyyourself an excellent proofreader, its always best to leave proofreadingyour own content to someone else; youre too intimately connected tothe content to be able to pick up on little errors that, to others, would beobvious. 41. 42 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEEditors are ... the folks that identify whats wrong with content,and either communicate how to fix it with the writer, or fix it themselves.In the marketing world, editors sometimes also play the role ofproofreader. Its very difficult to be a good editor, because they notonly have to know something is wrong with a piece of content (thatsrelatively easy), but they have to be able to identify exactly what thatis (thats unexpectedly difficult). Not only that, they have to articulateit clearly to the writer, explain precisely how to fix it, or be capableand knowledgeable enough as a writer to fix it themselves. This is anexcellent career path for a great writer within your marketing department-- its difficult to find good editors that arent also good writers -- and aprime example of investing in a content culture at your company.Share This Ebook!www.Hubspot.com 42. 43 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINE2 Establish Your Style Guide.Editors and proofreaders jobs are made much easier when you havean established style guide that everyone knows about, and has accessto. This enables content creators to reference things like:. What tone should I use? .Does the tone change for different personas? .By the way, who are our personas? .Do we welcome humor? .What industry terms do we treat as proper nouns? .How do we cite data?Illustrating this in a document and periodically opening up teachingsessions to your content contributors so you can walk them throughthis and other protocol will help makeyour submissions better onthe first try, alleviatepressure on editors andproofreaders, anddecrease the numberof required revisions.Share This Ebook!www.Hubspot.com 43. 44 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEabcHow HubSpot Does It:At HubSpot, we have our own Style Guide on our internal wiki (a hubfor sharing company information). We ask all our content creators --whether thats email copy, social media copy, or product copy -- tobookmark this. The Style Guide was written by our blog manager andour user experience writer and editor. This allows us to have the sameconsistency in copy from notifications in our software, to posts onFacebook, to copy in ebooks and blog posts. You can check out ourMarketing Style Guide here.Share This Ebook!www.Hubspot.com 44. 45 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINE3 Create an Editorial Calendar.An editorial calendar is just what it sounds like-- a calendar that details the content youll bepublishing every day. You can create an editorialcalendar with varying levels of sophistication tomeet your needs, but the benefit is the same:To elevate your content strategy from randompublishing, to creating content with a purposethats meant to serve a specific business need.The most simple version of your editorial calendar can simply be withyour blog. Schedule out content for anywhere from two weeks, to amonth, to a quarter, and include topics, date of publish, and assignedauthor. Keep authors to a submission deadline that works for youreditorial team, whether that means authors submit one business day inadvance, or one week in advance.You can elevate your editorial calendar by also incorporating otherchannels and campaigns. For instance, v2 of your editorial calendarmight pull in content used to promote blog posts on social media,and might coordinate campaigns around new lead generationoffers scheduled to be created. This is how you can facilitate otherdepartments and sub-teams within your Marketing department workingtogether.Share This Ebook!www.Hubspot.com 45. 46 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINE4 Align Content With Strategy.Youre planning your content inadvance now. This is where youget really good at creating contentwith a purpose, not content for thesake of content. Every topic youcreate content around, whether in aFacebook update, a case study, a blogpost, should solve a business needgreater than, we need something topublish.Because your rich content culture hasmade it so you arent the sole person responsible for content creation,its time to tighten the reins on what content you allow to go public.Whereas before you may have allowed contributors to write aboutjust about anything thats relevant for your industry, now you shouldrequire contributors to run topics by you before they begin drafting. Thissaves them time creating content that doesnt align with your goals,and its important you position it as such to ensure they dont feel theircontributions arent appreciated anymore.So, for every piece of content you set out to create, ask yourselfwhat business goal that piece of content helps achieve.Share This Ebook!www.Hubspot.com 46. 47 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEShare This Ebook!www.Hubspot.comReaders always wonder whyHubSpot cranks out such a highvolume of ebooks, templates, andwebinars. What they dont see isthat every piece of content has apurpose -- to educate, to blow up the internet, togenerate leads. The marketing world is movingtoo fast to not share the latest tips and tricks asthey come. 47. 0548 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEChapterIterating,Improving, andExperimenting.Share This Ebook!www.Hubspot.com 48. 49 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEShare This Ebook!www.Hubspot.comWhen youre finishedchanging, youre finished.- Benjamin FranklinNew content formats and promotion channels emerge frequently,and you will not need to add every one to your marketing toolkit. Thecompanies that have built unstoppable content creation machines,however, do know how to figure out what of the latest and greatest isworth investing resources into, and which ones to throw out. 49. 50 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEExperiment With New Types ofContent. 1Marketers that have the most prolific content catalogues providea healthy mix of not just topics, but content formats. They are alsotypically agile marketers -- people that dont shy away from newtechnological advancements, love experimentation, work, adapt, andadopt quickly, and use measurement to determine whether a newcontent type worked.Most importantly, though, they dont view an experiments failure asa personal failure; its just the cost of doing agile business. Theyvealso mitigated the risk by investing very little resources into the initialexperiment, instead opting to iterate on that initial piece of content tosee how and if they can make the new content format, platform, etc.work. Some examples of how you could do this include:Share This Ebook!www.Hubspot.com Trying out new social networks. See if a new orunderused social network is a good platform to share yourcontent. Adopting the content format of a particularnetwork. See if you can create visual content that workson, say, Pinterest, or short Vine videos for Twitter. Creating videos. Many marketers shy away fromvideos because of the initial barrier to entry. See ifyou creating a low-cost, low-resource video paysyou any dividends, and if so, iterate from there. 50. 51 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINE2 Measure Content Performance.All content, whether part of an experiment or a regular guest in yourcontent creation machine, needs to be pulling its proverbial weight.Measuring content performance allows you to assess whether a pieceof content was worth the time you put into it, and whether you would doit again in the future. Here are the metrics you can track to evaluate thesuccess of your content assets.Share This Ebook!www.Hubspot.com 51. 52 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEOffer or Landing Page SubmissionsLanding page submissions is the raw number of people who redeemeda content offer. You can also look at the conversion rate to see thepercentage of visitors to a landing page that redeemed your offer.New Contact RateThis number tells you how many of the people that redeemed a piece oflead generation content were new to your database. Reconversions areimportant, but its also critical your content is helping you continually fillthe top of your funnel.Page Views and TrafficAn excellent metric to determine the success of your overall blog andindividual blog posts, this will tell you whether certain subject mattersare more appealing than others, and help you inform your contentstrategy.Share This Ebook!www.Hubspot.com 52. 53 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEInbound LinksAn indicator of content quality, inbound links also help you identifywhich content is helping you improve your SEO.Social Media SharesSocial sharing is another indication of content quality, and also helpsyour organic search strategy. If you need to fill the top of your marketingfunnel, identifying which content garnered a lot of social media sharesand replicating it will help you score another success.Conversion RateYou can get a conversion rate on just about anything -- a landing page,a thank-you page, a blog post call-to-action. Measure the conversionrate across different content assets to see what correlation you seebetween content topics and formats, and the channel on which itlives. For instance, you could compare the conversion rate of a CTApromoting the same offer on a blog, versus on social media, to assess ifone audience is more interested in the content asset than another.Share This Ebook!www.Hubspot.com 53. 54 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINEConclusion.Share This Ebook!Hubspot.comOpportunity is missed by mostpeople because it is dressed inoveralls and looks like work.- Thomas EdisonIf youve made it this far, you might feel like you can attain some ofthis ... but you dont have the time, budget, or staff to create a contentcreation machine that can do all of this.Youre not expected to.If your content creation machine is running on fumes, the tricks andtactics in this ebook will help you get up and running again. And whenthose tricks and tactics come to you naturally, youll find you have a littlebit more resource to invest in the next step up.You wont build an epic content machine overnight, but discipline anddedication will yield something amazing.www.Hubspot.com 54. 55 HOW HUBSPOT DOES INBOUND: CREATING A CONTENT MACHINELET US HELP YOUIMPROVE YOUR CONTENTMACHINE .In order to create a better content machine, you need to first assesshow your current content is performing. Talk to one of our marketingspecialists today to receive a free consultation on your content strategy.TALK TO USShare This Ebook!www.Hubspot.comTODAY.http://bitly.com/IMA_HubSpot