Content marketing works. There is no denying. After all, 90% of B2B marketers can’t be wrong.

But to make content work for your brand, now that’s a completely different story.

Hell, you might even not know where to begin. Or you’re stuck and need inspiration. The list below is intended to help you overcome those problems. I collected a diverse range of resources that should help you get better at content marketing.

Ready?

Content Marketing Blogs:

• Content Marketing Institute – Founded by Joe Pulizzi, the CMI is without a doubt the leading resource on everything content marketing. The site publishes articles and other information daily and on top of that, the site features a plethora of other resources like research papers, ebooks, documents, how-to guides and more. A must read for anyone interested in content marketing.
• Convince & Convert – Led by Jay Baer, C&C provide digital marketing, social media and content advice and their blog is simply overflowing with information. Another must read.
• WebInkNow – David Meerman Scott is a leading figure in inbound marketing. A renowned speaker, author (his book “the new rules of marketing and PR” has introduced many themes we use in content and inbound marketing today) who shares insights on content and marketing in his hugely popular blog.
• Marketing Interactions – Ardath Albee’s blog covers a wide range of topics relating to content marketing with a strong focus on storytelling, gamification and sales. And while you’re there, check out their Up Close & Persona tool helping marketers create better buyer personas.
• Sparksheet – Sparksheet is a content, marketing and media magazine exploring how brands use different platforms to create and deliver content to their audiences.
• Idea Launch – Although it might seem a bit stale at the moment (last post was published in June 2014), IdeaLaunch contains a plethora of archived content marketing articles worth diving into when you have a chance.

Content Marketing Books:

• Flip the Funnel – not a content marketing publication per se but this Joseph Jaffe’s book is an eye opener in terms of how content can influence and build relationships with customers.
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion – one of the aims of marketing is to persuade customers. Persuade them to take action, change their habits, brands and products. This classic book on persuasion explains why people say “yes” and how to apply this knowledge to marketing.
• Epic Content Marketing – this Joe Pulizzi’s book is an absolute content marketing classic. A must read for anyone involved in promoting brands through content and storytelling.
• Positioning – Al Ries’ book introduces a concept of positioning a brand in prospective customers minds by looking and using the company’s own strengths and weaknesses as well those of their competitors.
• All Marketers Are Liars – another timeless classic, by Seth Godin explaining how marketing really works and why authenticity is the best marketing of all.
• Valuable Content Marketing – Written by content marketers and aimed at small business owners, this book teaches how to market a business by creating and sharing valuable content.
• Contagious – In today’s content marketing world, in order to make it, your content not only has to be outstanding but also contagious. And this book teaches exactly why some things catch on and others don’t (plus shows how to apply that knowledge).
• Lead with a Story – Storytelling is one of the most powerful tools for brands to communicate with audiences. But how do you develop stories for the corporate world? The answer is in this book.

Content Marketing Training:

• Marketing Profs University – Marketing Profs U features a number of courses and training sessions that can get you up to speed with content marketing, incl. a Content Marketing Crash Course, Marketing Writing Bootcamp and others.
• Online Marketing Institute – OMI’s Content Marketing Certification course is intended to give you a strong understanding of this marketing technique, develop own strategies and tracking methods to prove them working.
• Content Marketing Bootcamp – another content marketing crash course. This 3 day virtual session (or 2 day public session) will help you optimise your search visibility through publishing high quality content.
• Content Marketing Institute – Given the vast resources CMI offers on the topic, it should come as no surprise that they also offer over 19 hours of content marketing training and tutorials. Topics range from building a case for content marketing to advanced techniques and tracking.
• Econsultancy – Econsultancy offers content marketing and editorial planning course, giving an overview into this marketing strategy.

Content Marketing Infographics:

• Content Marketing vs. Traditional Advertising – perhaps today the distinction between the two is more obvious than in the past. It’s still worth to have a look at how the two marketing strategies compete with one another though.
• The benefits of content marketing – need to make a quick case for content marketing? This data will certainly help.
• The history of content marketing – Content marketing might be a buzz word today. But in reality it’s nothing new. This inforgraphic presents the supposed history of content marketing from …4200 B.C.!

Whitepapers and Research:

• Content Marketing Institute’s current research – CMI conducts a number of research projects every year which they then publish in PDF format. This page lists all the latest projects and findings (plus gives access to past year’s archives).
• Linkedin Content Marketing Score Research – this research analysed the influence companies reach on Linkedin through their content marketing.
• Hubspot & Smart Insights “Driving Content marketing success in 2014” – this research answers a very simple question – what drives a success in content marketing.
• 2014 Content Tactics Planner – Curata’s content marketing benchmark studies, focusing a lot on tactics of digital marketing.

Content Marketing Podcasts:

• Content Marketing 360 – hosted by Pamela Muldoon, CM360 showcases many of the top minds in marketing today. The show focuses on interviews to bring new ideas and information to its listeners.
• Content Marketing Podcast – hosted by Rachel Parker (of Resonance Content Marketing) helps you understand what content marketing is, why it’s important, and how to put it to work attracting and retaining customers for your business.
• Explore Marketing Uncensored – although currently inactive, with no new episodes published for over a year, EMU was information packed and is still worth diving into its archives. EMU’s goal seemed to be simple – “to provide marketing executives with the knowledge they need to be rock stars in their organization”. And that’s evident when you listen to those archived broadcasts.

Other:

• The Advanced Guide To Content Marketing – This is perhaps the most thorough interactive guide to content marketing produced so far. QuickSprout’s Neil Patel goes in-depth into all aspects of content marketing and presents them in easily accessible form (yes, there are graphics there too!)
• Practical Guide To Building Killer Content Marketing Strategy – This Hubspot’s publication reveals how to design a content marketing strategy, understand your audience, map content to their needs and develop ideas for actual content pieces.
• Creating Content That Sells – This guide by Marketo outlines how to start using content marketing for B2B demand generation, work with buyer personas and other materials to create, well, content that sells.

Creative commons image: Alejandro Pinto / Flickr

Last updated by Pawel Grabowski at September 16, 2014.

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