Content Marketing Tactics: Earned Media Pros, Cons, Examples & Best Practices

For any brand, reputation is everything—and reputations are often built (or torn down) with earned media. From a glowing news article about one of your products to that horrific Yelp review, every brand experiences the benefits and drawbacks of earned media.

And in today’s socially connected world, marketers are increasing their use of earned media as a contact marketing tactic as it continues to be a crucial factor in consumer decision making.

In fact, a study by Nielsen and InPowered shows that expert content—credible, third-party articles and reviews—is the most effective source of information in impacting consumers along all stages of the purchase process across product categories. The study also showed that earned media is 88 percent more effective than owned media content alone.

Definition of Earned Media

Earned media, also referred to as media relations, word-of-mouth, PR or publicity, is an unpaid brand mention or recognition such as a news article, published interview, or online review by a third party. In addition, earned media can also refer to a byline or article written by someone associated with the brand that is published by a third party.

Earned media is one of three major marketing categories, with the other two being owned media and paid media. Owned media is any content created and managed by the brand such as a website or blog. Paid media is–as it sounds–any publicity, advertising, or content published by a third party that’s paid for by the brand. Many would call earned media the Holy Grail of the three media types, and often earned media is the result of your paid or owned efforts. (e.g. running a promotion (owned) on your website that results in people around the web talking about it (earned).)

These days, social media and review curation sites are major earned media platforms. Everything from that nice tweet about your fabulous customer service to Facebook shares to poor reviews on independent review sites is part of earned media. And viral content is probably the ultimate example of earned media.

Pros

As a content marketing tactic, earned media is one of the most affordable and impactful strategies that a marketer can take advantage of. Here are just some of the benefits of using earned media in your content marketing strategy:

• Expert content allows brands are able to build reputation, credibility and trust with new customers, while reinforcing current customer relationships.
• Since credibility and trust are established, earned media also inspires customer action.
• Earned media is incredibly cost effective because it requires your time, not a large budget.
• Social signals such as likes and shares send positive juice to search engines and organic search results can be positively impacted.

Cons

While earned media can be have a positive impact on your brand, it does have its drawbacks, too. Here are some of the disadvantages of earned media:

• Since you don’t own the content, you can’t control the message—which can include negative press, reviews, and comments about your brand.
• Cultivating quality relationships with your customers and media outlets who cover your business is time consuming and doesn’t happen right away.
• Newsrooms are slimmer on editorial staff than ever and earning placements is also more difficult.
• The cost to pay a media relations firm for earned media in major publications does not bring a guarantee.

What Experts Are Saying

“Content is the currency for building social relationships with journalists and bloggers that can boost earned media. Companies that invest in content marketing through brand publisher models are able to attract more inbound media coverage due to their demonstrated expertise. Brand content also enables those same companies to bypass traditional media and connect with consumers directly.”

Lee Odden, CEO, TopRank Marketing

“Content marketing can be a powerful tool for brands, but the key is to ensure that the messaging is relevant and consistent to the brand narrative. Otherwise it can become extra noise in an already loud space.”

Mark Delcorps, Public Relations Manager at Overstock.com

“The earned strategy, or publicity gained through editorial influence, is something that has been around for awhile but has become more important due to the advent of social media. Not unlike earning coverage in an industry magazine article, gaining shares, ‘likes,’ re-tweets, posts, and every other social signal related to your business has become an important criteria for promoting your business’ authority. It provides Google with an opportunity to understand if your content is important and, in return, helps to move that content up higher in relevant search engine results pages (SERPs). Online earned media has taken the place of the “word-of-mouth” advertising we all coveted.”

Christopher Baldock, contributor to Content Marketing Institute. (Source: contentmarketinginstitute.com)

Brand Examples of Earned Media

TopRank Marketing

TopRank Marketing CEO Lee Odden has established himself and the agency as thought leaders and innovators in content marketing. As a result, his expertise is often sought after for interviews, contributed articles and webinars. As an example, last year Lee participated in an interview with Content Standard by Skyword.

Budweiser

During the 2015 Super Bowl, Budweiser aired its “Brewed the Hard Way” advertisement that challenged the craft brewing industry a bit. The LA Times wrote an article titled “How the ‘Proud to be macro’ Budweiser Super Bowl ad got it all right.” Not only did the article make the beer company look great, but the LA Times is also a very trustworthy source. This is also a perfect example of earned media working with owned and paid media.

Copyblogger Media (client)

In early 2015, Copyblogger Media—a well-known content marketing software and training organization—was preparing for its second annual Authority Rainmaker conference. With the conference still in its early years, Copyblogger partnered with TopRank Marketing to create an eBook that would leverage event speakers to raise awareness and attract registrations for the event. Promotion of the eBook included several earned media guest posts to industry blogs such as Kapost, SlideShare, and Simply Measured.

Combining earned media with other content marketing tactics, the eBook had a total of 26,859 views, more than 1,000 shares, and 139 downloads. A total of 19 referrals were logged as assisted conversions, with an additional 4 direct conversions.

Earned Media Best Practices

• Create awesome, share-worthy content. Remember, content is king. Create quality, engaging content that serves a useful purpose. If you can address a paint point, provide valuable insights, or educate your audience, they’ll share.
• Build and nurture relationships. Reach out to publishers, editors, journalists, influencers, and any other relevant third-party. These are the people who can cover your business when a new product launches, as well as special events, industry news and so on.
• Be prepared to work on someone else’s deadline. Journalists and editors are always working on hard deadlines. Be prepared to speed up or delay your own efforts to fit with their needs.
• Earned media should be just one part of your content marketing strategy. Think about how your owned and paid media efforts can result in some earned media. For example, Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign that launched last summer was a huge multi-faceted campaign—that got a whole lot of people sharing photos of their Cokes on social media platforms.
• Share positive press and reviews. If people are saying awesome things about your brand, show people. Add customer reviews to your website and share on your social media pages.

Software & Resources

The following resources can help you connect with media organizations and journalists, craft quality content ideas, and track the publicity you’re getting on social media.

Software

• Cision
• Prezly

SEO and Analytics

• Google Webmaster Tools
• Moz
• Majestic SEO
• ahrefs

Social Media

• Hootsuite
• Followerwonk

Content Distribution

• PRNewswire
• Marketwired

The reality is that earned media is really just a part of doing business. Every brand will earn some type of publicity simply for being. But, marketers have an opportunity to grow the amount and the quality of earned media they receive by making it a part of their overall content marketing strategy.

Cultivating earned media is certainly not without its challenges, but it definitely needs to be a consideration since consumers are looking to that content for guidance before they buy.

How does your brand use earned media within its content marketing strategy? What are some of your best practices? Please share in the comments section below.

If you liked this post, check out our content marketing tactics index page with links to more than 25 helpful posts just like this one!

Header image via Shutterstock

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© Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®, 2015. | Content Marketing Tactics: Earned Media Pros, Cons, Examples & Best Practices | http://www.toprankblog.com

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Marketing Day: Apple Dominates Holiday Device Activations, Twitter Updates Abuse Rules & More

Here’s our recap of what happened in online marketing today, as reported on Marketing Land and other places across the web. From Marketing Land: Twitter Updates Rules To Fight Abusive BehaviorDec 29, 2015 by Matt McGee Months after ex-CEO Costolo said company “sucks” at dealing...

Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

The Best Resources for Account-Based Marketing

I’ve spent the past few weeks discussing account-based marketing (ABM), a powerful but under-implemented strategy. My first post covers the history of account-based marketing, from the “Mad Men” days of the 1950s to today. My second post reviews the reasons B2B firms should implement account-based marketing.

Of course, understanding why you should implement account-based marketing and actually doing it are two different things. Knowing how to implement the right technology stack is essential to unlocking the true power of ABM. For the final post in this series, I’ll go over the best resources for setting up account-based marketing.

What’s ABM, again?

Let’s quickly review the definition of ABM:

• Account-based marketing focuses marketing and sales resources on a defined set of targeted accounts, where personalized campaigns are tailored to each account.

Now that we understand what account-based marketing is, the next step is incorporating the right technology. Many times firms adopt technology without understanding its real purpose, sometimes without any real marketing strategy. Before you fall into the same trap, you need to take a hard look at the health of your Marketing and Sales departments.

Understanding Your Experience with Technology and Training

Every marketing firm is different. From client experience to employee expertise, your firm is going to have unique resources and know-how. While this might include SaaS, you have to be willing to admit when you aren’t ready for new tech.

Is your staff experienced enough with SaaS solutions to adapt to new systems and processes? Do they have good habits in place with existing SaaS solutions, like LinkedIn Business? Have you introduced new systems in the past?

After answering these questions, you’ll be able to realistically determine what you’ll need for ABM. Asking yourself the hard questions will help you determine the right resources and training for your team’s success.

Make Sure Marketing and Sales Speak the Same Language

No matter the firm, Marketing and Sales should be on the same page. Marketing and sales alignment is necessary for marketing to ensure their campaigns align with the needs of prospects identified by sales, and for sales to make sure they’re selling the right stuff to the right contacts. Both departments need to have the same success metrics, otherwise efforts from one could be counter-productive for the other.

Implementing a technology stack makes this relationship more important than ever. Solutions are built to streamline processes such as updating lead and contact information and streamlining campaigns, so the more you have your ducks in a row, the better. (And let’s not forget the cost of purchasing new SaaS.) As with any investment, you need to make sure you’re getting the most value you can.

Understand the Purpose of Your Technology Stack

It’s not uncommon for many companies, big and small, to jump on new technology. The enthusiasm is great—the fallout, not so much. Many Marketing departments don’t have a clear purpose or strategy for incorporating their chosen technology into their existing sales and marketing pipeline.

Before adding a tool to your technology stack, ask yourself what value it will add to your sales and marketing efforts. Do you want to use ABM because of its laser focus on lead generation and management? Are you looking for automations tools to help with campaigns? Many account-based marketing solution companies offer more than one product. Knowing what you need will help you and your potential provider find your ideal solution.

Identify Tools to Help Achieve Your Strategy

Finally, we’ve arrived at the most important question: What should you look for in an ABM solution? Some important features may include:

Action-Oriented Insights

Any ABM solution can slice and dice data into metrics and charts. However, these insights are useless if you can’t create actionable plans from them. Solid account-based marketing programs will provide straightforward metrics that you can readily understand and use effectively. Ideally, the system will also offer flexibility for you to create customized drill-down reports as you become familiar with your particular needs.

Lead and Contact Data Automation

The very objective of having an ABM stack is to reduce time-consuming tasks so you can focus on engaging your targeted segment. Good ABM solutions will help manage contact and lead information, such as automatically updating contact information or mapping new contacts into the appropriate accounts.

Reliable Support and Services

Just as your firm focuses on marketing and tailoring your services to your customers, your ABM provider should offer reliable real-time support. While this includes a traditional help desk, some firms go so far as to provide consultant services and host educational events.

Integration with Existing Solutions

We’ve already mentioned that account-based marketing requires constant communication with sales. ABM tools that integrate with existing solutions like Salesforce and marketing automation solutions like Marketo will keep your teams running smoothly.

ABM Technology to Add to Your Stack

Now that you understand what to look for in an account-based marketing system, I’m sure you’re wondering where to even begin looking for the solution that’s best for you. Fortunately, there aren’t too many out there right now:

• Engagio – Though new to the ABM scene, Engagio delivers reliable automation and analytics no matter the size of your target segment. This solution connects to your existing Salesforce and Marketo accounts and your website to keep track of leads, marketing programs and site visitors. The utilization of metrics such as “engagement minutes,” allow for a more straightforward way of tracking lead interest.
• LeanData – This California-based company delivers two ABM products. Sales Accelerator focuses on lead management, including automated lead conversions and contact owner assignments. Demand Management focuses on account-based reporting and nurturing, ensuring you have the proper data to adjust campaigns and properly target leads.
• DemandBase – DemandBase offers a full suite of solutions, called the Marketing Cloud, to help teams streamline every step of the marketing process. Solutions include advertising, personalized site experiences and account-based measurements. DemandBase also provides consulting services by experts that will help create a marketing plan that’s best for you.

Before You Hit “Start”

Finally, we come to the $6 billion question: Is it time for you to implement account-based marketing? To review, here’s what’s on the table:

• The opportunity to target “whale” accounts with tailored marketing campaigns.
• The power to engage contacts and create organic referrals within accounts.
• The confidence to sell more than ever before once you’ve set up your stack and hired in the right talent.

Like I’ve said before, ABM really is a no-brainer. But you have to be prepared.

Jumping the gun and setting up an ABM stack the wrong way will just make life harder for Marketing and Sales. Take the time to review your existing solutions and align your firepower with your targets. ABM will help you get where you want to go, but you need to be facing the right direction, first.

About the Author: Alp Mimaroglu is a Marketing Luminary. He specializes in marketing automation, demand generation, analytics, and marketing technology. Alp has extensive experience with both business and consumer marketing. He’s passionate about how technology is rapidly becoming the key to success in both the corporate sales and marketing landscapes. Follow Alp on LinkedIn and Twitter.

The 10 Challenges Facing a CMO Faces When Trying to Lead the Customer Experience

Today's CMO faces a multitude of challenges and at or near the top of the list is overseeing the customer experience, assuming you believe the CMO should oversee it in first place. Last week in fact we posed the question Should the CMO Oversee the Whole Customer Experience?

The entire topic is at the heart of a recently-released report entitled, surprisingly enough Should the CMO Oversee the Whole Customer Experience? The report addresses the rewards and risks for a CMO to step into an all-encompassing role to deliver the end-to-end customer experience. Conversations with CMOs highlight 10 challenges that can inhibit a CMO’s success if an organization decides the CMO should step into this expanded role without changing how the business is run and the role of the CMO.

The 10 key challenges are as follows:

1. Ownership of the customer experience. Confusion abounds on who should lead (own) the customer experience. Many organizations are facing the issue of who should lead the “collected” customer experience.

2. Agile, design- thinking. Agile, design-thinking is required to lead changes needed for successful customer experience. Design thinking fosters cross-organizational collaboration, brainstorming, and execution.

3. Communication vs. innovation. Marketing is often focused on communications rather than innovation, product development and business innovation.

4. Measurement and metrics. Marketing only recently became more accustomed to being highly measured, so building the business case for the additional responsibilities of the “new” CMO role may be difficult.

5. Consumerization of IT. The Consumerization of IT has created often unfulfilled customer experiences.
Great customer experiences require technologies beyond traditional email and marketing optimization.

6. Immediate analysis and action. The abundance of data requires immediate analysis and action to provide meaningful mass personalization at scale.

7. Data management and utilization strategy. The plethora of data requires a data management and utilization strategy. Digital media serves as a strategic resource for sharpening customer focus because it is full of highly differentiated market and customer data, providing critical information from around the world, 24/7 and at a minimal cost.

8. Breaking down isolation. Marketing can be isolated from other departments that affect customer experience and that isolation hurts the ability to lead change. It takes a village to deliver superb customer experiences because there are so many touch points along a customer’s journey that are not “owned” by marketing.

9. Customer experience drives top-and bottom-line. Customer experience means bottom-line business, so it should be taken more seriously. Research has shown that it is less expensive to keep existing customers than to obtain new ones.

10. Cross-functional collaboration. Customer experience requires a highly collaborative individual to lead cross- functional collaboration. The role of Chief Customer Officer is all encompassing and requires a varied and vast skill set.

Download Should the CMO Oversee the Whole Customer Experience? and learn a lot more including the risks that come with the rewards for the CMO who steps into the Customer Experience role.

Solar Panels A Safe Investment Option

Green energy sources are more sustainable energy production resources. These renewable energy sources can be used several times and do not cause environmental pollution. These are not very expensive. On the other hand, non-renewable energy sources can not be renewed. At the current rate of consumption, the future generation will be under the threat of energy. While green energy sources such as solar energy should be used to meet energy demands.

One of the main dangers of using fossil fuels such as coal oil and natural gas is dramatically affects nature. Carbon emissions through the use of fossil fuels causes global warming and many other health risks. Vehicles and households contribute to global warming. Over the years, people have realized the harmful effects of using them and they are slowly changing to other energy sources that are friendly to the environment. Other sources, solar energy is becoming increasingly popular because it has many positive factors. The sun’s energy is used to generate power here. Solar panels are used to exploit the sunlight, which is converted into other forms. This is also the best method to get rid of electricity bills as the power to homes and commercial organizations can be recovered by the solar panels. People slowly recognize the many benefits of using this technology and make investments in solar panels to produce energy.

Usually, a lot of energy for heating and cooling in the summer and winter use. The use of solar panels for heating, a lot of power and money can be saved. The use of this alternative energy, you help the environment welfares. Green energy sources can also be used for lighting and running appliances. The only drawback is that solar panels can not be used when sufficient sunlight is not available. However, if the sunlight received during the day can be stored in solar cells and can be used at night to power generation. Most people have a misconception that these panels are very expensive and difficult to install. Installing solar panels is not a difficult task if the right help is requested. In addition, the installation cost is not very high in relation to future prospects. Considering all these factors, the investment in solar panels is a good investment to make.

What Size Solar Panels Do You Need?

Solar panels come in different sizes. And when it comes to sizes, usually we refer to the wattage of a panel can produce, or physical size. Both are linked because the watt panel can produce, the bigger.

Decide on the size of your solar system depends on two factors: the amount of electricity used his house, and the money they are willing to invest in the solar system. Solar systems can be very expensive, and even if they pay for themselves over time, buying all panels to power an entire house can be financially out of reach for many families.

The average size of a solar system

Just to give an idea, an average solar panel can produce about 150w. 150w a group of about 1 square foot size. So you should always keep in mind is the fact that the panel can produce as much energy as perfect on sunny days, when the sun falls directly on it. Therefore, the panel will produce 150 watts only 3-4 hours a day (when the sun is brighter) depending on the isolation of the area where you live.

The size of a solar system is calculated in kWp, an abbreviation for kilowatt peak. A 1.5 kWp system can generate 1500 watts of sunshine. This system consists of 10 solar panels 150w and each occupies 10 square feet of roof space. 1500 Wp solar system can not provide all the energy needed for an average household, but it would do a decent job of providing it.

This is just an example and may not apply to you. Unfortunately, a typical house uses a lot of energy, and if you want to provide all the power with the help of a solar system, you would have to pay thousands of dollars on it. It would be best to find a compromise solution that alleviates at least some of the energy needs of your home.

If a solar system which gives all the energy needs of your home is too big, and you have or not have enough space or enough money to pay, there are some solutions you can try. One would be to reduce their energy consumption. You can also buy energy efficient appliances for your home. Another idea would be to buy solar panels one at a time, when you have money. Other financial solutions are also available, such as green tax rebates and incentives, so that would be a good idea to find out about those in force in your state.

12 Content Marketing Lessons Learned in 12 Years of Blogging

Happy 12th Birthday to TopRank Marketing’s Online Marketing Blog!

In Malcom Gladwell’s book, Outliers: The Story of Success, he mentions the “10,000-Hour Rule”, which describes the key to achieving world class expertise in any skill as a matter of practicing for a total of 10,000 hours or so.

By many definitions, this humble marketing blog has involved many more than 10,000 hours of practice. While we’ve achieved many milestones from being the only blog ranked the #1 content marketing blog three times by CMI to helping our boutique digital marketing agency reach a worldwide audience, it continues to be a work in progress.

There are multiple dimensions for evaluating a blog’s impact. Here is some statistical trivia about TopRank’s Marketing Blog (thanks to BuzzSumo) representing some of this “practice makes expert” effort.

• 3,943 posts and 1.9 million words (overall)
• 1,026 average social shares per post in 2015
• 1.5 million+ unique visitors in 2015
• Lists and How to Posts attract the most average social shares in 2015
• Monday and Thursday are the top days for social shares in 2015
• Posts with 3-10k words attract the most shares in 2015

Our industry is in a constant state of flux and many companies continue to come in and out of the blogging world. We’ve found blogging to be effective in numerous ways, long before the popularity of social media, content marketing and influencer marketing.

From recruiting to reinforcing customer relationships to growing industry thought leadership to direct customer acquisition, blogging is one of the most demanding yet rewarding marketing investments a company can make. Some of that popularity is measured through social media and to get a sense for what kind of content resonates with our community, here are the top 10 most popular posts for 2015 (by social shares)

1. 50 Influential Women in Digital Marketing – 6,283 shares
2. Social Media Marketing Management Tools List – Updated! – 4,259 shares
3. 5 Social Media Marketing Tips for Business – 2,928 shares
4. Where Social Media and SEO Fit in Today’s Content Marketing Mix – 2,688 shares
5. 6 Steps to Build a Massive Audience with Content Marketing – 2,674 shares
6. Content Marketing Tools A to Z That You Can Use in 2015 and Beyond – 2,624 shares
7. 4 Digital Marketing Investments All Companies Need to Make – 2,562 shares
8. 25 Inspiring & Actionable Content Marketing Tips – 2,421 shares
9. Report: True Impact of Social Media Marketing for Business – 2,301 shares
10. 6 Bad Content Marketing Habits – 2,225 shares

The dynamic of being active in the industry and sharing insights as well as lessons learned is essential of a longstanding blog. Along those lines, here are a few insights you may find useful whether you’re just starting a new business blog or evaluating the direction of your current blog.

12 content marketing lessons I’ve learned from 12 years of blogging:

“Be the best answer.”

1.  Decide what you stand for and aspire to becoming the best resource for your community on that thing. To many companies try to be all things to all people with their blog, emphasizing a “more is better” approach. Specificity rises to the top in all things – especially in social media, search and the offline world.
2. Document your success in a specialty area and then duplicate that success in others. Expand your scope of knowledge and industry thought leadership following your own lessons learned in the process of  becoming “the best answer” for your community.
3. Optimize for answers in your blog content planning. Leverage search keyword data as well as social topic trends for voice of the customer insights you can use in content optimization. You can also monitor questions being asked and answered between customers and your sales and customer service teams. Being the best answer is a continuous effort of understanding the questions your audience is asking and optimizing your answers through content in an info-taining way.

“A blog is only as interesting as the interest shown in your community.”

4. Recognize your community by featuring influencers, internal team members, customers, members of the media, your community, or prospective customers in your blog content. Make lists, co-create, do interviews, liveblog and get quotes for blog posts to shine a light on talent. Becoming influential is great. Helping others become influential is how you gain true influence. Show an interest in your community, engage and recognize. Do that, and you will never run out of relevant topics to blog about.
5. Listen to your community through social media monitoring tools, sentiment analysis of blog comments, and contact forms, using social search tools like BuzzSumo and reviewing your own web and search analytics. Understand what your blog community is interested in and give it to them through blog content.
6. Inspire others by actively engaging on social networks, at industry events and in the right places where your community can participate. Social engagement can be overwhelming for many understaffed business blogging departments. Focus on just a few minutes a day consistently and use tools like social media monitoring or social search to uncover opportunities to poll your community, recognize their interactions with your brand and to answer questions – be useful.

“Great content isn’t great until people find, consume and act on it.”

7. Use search, social and target audience data to inspire content themes, topics and keyword optimization. Topical relevance is as important as keyword relevance for blog content discovery. Far too many companies focus entirely on content creation without considering blog content promotion. Make sure the blog content is what your community is actively looking for and talking about on the social web. Being relevant in this way will fuel inbound traffic and social sharing, which will attract even more blog traffic.
8. Empathize with your readers and create relevance through context and content that is meaningful. Learn the content preferences of your audience from topics to visuals to what devices they most often use to consume your blog. Go beyond thinking about your blog as a marketing tool and consider what would be the best experience for your readers.
9. Continuously review blog content promotion efforts and traffic sources to optimize performance. Conduct SEO, Content, Social Media and Conversion audits on your blog at least quarterly. With specific goals in mind for your blog, you should be able to tie blog performance back to goals. Performance is not just contribution to marketing, but the ability of your blog to satisfy the information needs of your community.

“If you want your content to be great, ask your community to participate.”

10. Identify the distinct audiences of your blog and create ways for those specific communities to contribute. Content co-creation can inspire promotion and improve blog quality. Most blogging efforts within companies are understaffed with high expectations. The most effective way to scale quality blog content and promotion is to involve the very community you’re trying to reach in the content creation.
11. Develop a mix of specialty post and recurring posts that allow you to attract new contributors and co-creators as well as a platform for return contributors. Content is a great relationship builder between any constituent audience and your brand whether they contributors are prospective clients, members of industry media or potential business partners.
12. Recognize contributors in a meaningful way. Share quantitative performance as well as qualitative feedback. People will work for a living, but die for recognition – as long as it means something.

Thank you to our community for being supportive of TopRank’s Online Marketing Blog over the past 12 years. Thank you to the candidates and companies that have taken that important step of following TopRank Marketing’s point of view on marketing through our blog and then engaging as an employee or customer.

I can’t tell you how many people have approached me over the years or who have sent letters and emails to say they’ve been reading our blog for years and that it has helped them in their marketing careers. It is very satisfying to know that something like a blog can both help you grow your business but also positively impact your industry.

A BIG THANKS to the TopRank Marketing agency team of blog contributors in 2015 including:

• Ashley Zeckman, who has made a huge contribution in 2015 with over 75 posts including the most popular post of the year. This is the first time someone has published more posts than me  and it feels great!
• Ben Brausen for consistently publishing helpful Friday news roundups. (54 posts)
• Josh Nite who has raised the bar on TopRank Blog content and has inspired the rest of us to improve our writing and content quality. (13 posts)
• Alexis Hall who has shared posts on client side marketing, marketing automation and has helped with livebloging. (11 posts)
• Evan Prokop who has found the time to share his SEO expertise and help with liveblogging. (11 posts)
• Debbie Friez who has done a great job with sharing her social media marketing smarts and liveblogging. (7 posts)
• Michael Bak who has shared his online advertising expertise for search and social media. (5 posts)
• Leila De La Fuente who has shared a mix of digital marketing expertise including online advertising, search marketing and ecommerce. (4 posts)
• Joel Carlson who has contributed several highly useful social media marketing posts. (4 posts)
• Caitlin Burgess who has jumped right into one of the toughest types of posts not long after coming on board at TopRank Marketing. (3 posts)
• Nick Ehrenberg who has published some very popular social media marketing posts. (3 posts)
• Jolina Pettice who is the busiest person I know at our agency (besides Susan Misukanis) and still found time to contribute (1 post)

What does 2016 have in store for TopRank’s Online Marketing Blog? A long overdue re-design, more contributions from the fast growing team at TopRank Marketing and even more useful insight to help our community become smarter and more creative marketers that can achieve real business results.

Thank you for reading, sharing, commenting and being a part of our community!

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TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®, 2015. | 12 Content Marketing Lessons Learned in 12 Years of Blogging | http://www.toprankblog.com

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