Advice From The Many Faces of Content Marketing That SaaS Teams Can’t Afford to Miss

As content marketers, we benefit from stepping inside each other’s minds from time to time. It’s how we gain inspiration from one another and helps us reach new levels of strategy. Or perhaps, it’s how we validate that our riskiest ideas are worth doing.

In the first season of The Content That Grows podcast, we are helping listeners/viewers like you do just that. We pull together some of the most prominent content marketers over the last decade to walk us through their successes, failures, and evolving opinions on the industry.

Here is a recap of what you’ll find:

Whether you’re reading his writing or listening to him speak, Rand Fishkin has a lot to share about creating great content. In this episode, we explore his learnings from the early days of the Moz blog to his most recent approach to Sparktoro’s content production. 

This includes the purpose behind the content he creates, how he hires, the 5-6 years of videos before Whiteboard Fridays gained traction (!?), and the types of content he thinks have a promising future.

TL;DR - Rand shares experiences and advice related to:

☑️ How they approached content at Moz

☑️ How the Whiteboard Friday series got started

☑️ One of the unexpected benefits of speaking at live events each year

☑️ What content he is bullish on

☑️‍ Considering an investment in content for their business.

Full podcast episode: Save Yourself the Heartache - Rand Fishkin 

In this episode, Sangram talks about writing his book, MOVE: The 4-Question Go-to-Market Framework. This includes what he learned talking to prominent CEOs in the industry.

We then jump back to his early career at Pardot. He talks about ICPs, shifting content marketing’s focus as Pardot became a part of Salesforce, and having interns dig through the data to help understand how content impacted their buyer journeys, 1:1 content and so much more.

Sangram is a wealth of content and community-building experience.

TL;DR - Sangram shares experiences and advice related to:

☑️ Generating leads from content while leading marketing at Pardot

☑️ How that experience led to co-founding Terminus

☑️ 1-to-1 content

☑️ Power of community

☑️ Writing his book, MOVE

Full podcast episode: Be Intentional - Sangram Vajre 

You’ve likely come across Erin on social media as a prominent member of the content marketing community. She’s a writer and consultant with a growing personal brand AND a marketing leader at The Predictive Index. 

In this episode, she talks about growing the team and content efforts at The Predictive Index. She also elaborates on using research and data to create reports that set you apart, testing what your audience wants to learn, and evaluating industry trends.

Oh yeah, and “Don’t be boring!”

TL;DR - Erin shares experiences and advice related to:

☑️ Building content teams

☑️ How to use proprietary data to create one-of-a-kind data

☑️ Reports, and content planning

☑️ Why your content can't be boring

Full podcast episode: Don't Be Boring - Erin Balsa 

Whether it’s from his community Some Good Content or via Databox, we have all grown to recognize John’s talent in the content world. 

In this episode, John talks to us about entering a company and updating already existing content. He discusses having a strategic, get-it-done attitude when resources are limited, which parts of attribution the team at Databox has focused on, and the purpose of his community from Some Good Content.

TL;DR - John shares experiences and advice related to:

☑️ Prioritization early in your content program

☑️ How to approach attribution & strategy with growth

☑️ Scaling content operations/formats

☑️ His community, Some Good Content

Full podcast episode: Scaling Content Operations - John Bonini 

Amy has a wealth of knowledge in the content marketing world. She brings with her the experience of directing content efforts for the likes of G2 and now Toast.

In this episode, she talks about what’s involved in helping a team shift from a quantity mindset to a quality mindset when building content. She also shares ways she’s tried structuring and managing content teams, setting team member expectations, as well as advice to marketing leaders looking to make a case for new or increased investment for content efforts.

TL;DR - Amy shares experiences and advice related to:

☑️ How G2 runs its content operation

☑️ Shifting from high-quantity to high-quality

☑️ The importance of specialization on your team, and more

Full podcast episode: Prioritizing Quality Content - Amy Lecza 

Kevin brings a lot of leadership experience to the table after holding prominent marketing positions with Review Trackers and at Sprout Social.

In this episode, Kevin and Nate walk you through some of the earliest and most effective SEO efforts they engaged in to grow Sprout Social via a content marketing focus. Kevin also talks about growing already existing content programs and the importance of trusting your team to create content that they believe in.

TL;DR - Kevin shares experiences and advice related to:

☑️ Early years of our SEO content at Sprout Social

☑️ Technical SEO work we did early on helped us scale organic performance

☑️ How we got started optimizing existing content

☑️ Big content bets like The Always Up-to-Date Image Sizes Guide, ☑️ Joining Review Trackers

☑️ Growing an inherited content program

Full podcast episode: Creating Content You Believe In - Kevin King 

Chelsea is one of the leaders behind the seemingly omnipresent Chili Piper brand. And she brings with her a mix of marketing and journalism that she believes more marketers can benefit from.

In episode 7, she discusses with us how the content team is structured and has grown in-house. Chelsea also talks about how to leverage journalism principles/best practices and ways they’ve been able to successfully market to marketers (listen for their LinkedIn campaign!).

TL;DR - Chelsea shares experiences and advice related to:

☑️ How the content team works at Chili Piper (planning/measuring content performance)

☑️ Leveraging journalism best practices for better content

☑️ The recent Chili Piper social campaign on Linkedin

☑️ How marketing advice is not one-size-fits-all

Full podcast episode: Journalism & Content Marketing - Chelsea Castle 

Melanie is an author, a speaker and the Chief Content Officer at Storyfuel, and she is perfecting the art and science of storytelling. If you’ve read her book, you’d also know that she has a lot of great ideas to avoid ever running out of content ideas worth doing.

In this episode, Melanie Deziel breaks down her simple, 2-part way of understanding content that helps teams come up with content topics and formats. She discusses the importance of focusing on what a piece of content is meant to accomplish, how to show your audience you’re thinking deeply as an authority in a space, and only choosing 1-2 content formats & channels to start.

TL;DR - Melanie shares experiences and advice related to:

☑️ How storytelling makes content marketing better

☑️ Native advertising

☑️ Content frameworks

☑️ Common pitfalls in creating a content strategy

☑️ Having fun

Full podcast episode: The Power of Storytelling - Melanie Deziel

Kristen Bryant Smith has experience working on some of the most creative, and perhaps most inspiring, content campaigns for prominent brands like Wistia and Help Scout.

In this episode, Kristen shares advice on how to enter a content and marketing leadership role for an already established, successful content program. She also talks about measuring unique types of content that are not designed to perform in the same way as traditional performance marketing channels.

TL;DR - Kristen shares experiences and advice related to:

☑️ Building a content strategy for a product launch

☑️ Creating In the Works at Help Scout

☑️ Measuring content that’s not meant to drive direct conversions

☑️ Producing Brandwagon at Wistia

Full podcast episode: Taking Risks - Kristen Bryant Smith

For the final episode of season 1, we brought our co-founder Kevin King back on to have a discussion around evaluating and understanding the investment side of content marketing.

In this episode, Kevin and Nate discuss the importance of leadership’s full buy-in and the importance of having someone on the in-house team who has experience investing in content. They also discuss the common pitfalls teams make when goal setting as well as what your competitors' content efforts can tell you about the required level of investment a company might need to succeed.

TL;DR - Kevin shares experiences and advice related to:

☑️ Why leadership buy-in is essential

☑️ Aggressive goal-setting limiting long-term growth

☑️ Tracking your competition's efforts when setting expectations

Full podcast episode: Investing in Content - Kevin King 

Subscribe Today For Season 2 - Coming Out Soon!

If you like this type of content, feel free to subscribe to our podcast (available wherever you listen to podcasts). In season 2, we’ll be sitting down as a team to discuss the ways in which the best SaaS companies leverage content marketing to help grow their businesses.

From understanding ICPs to repurposing content, this season is sure to be packed with valuable takeaways.

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Recommended Reading: SaaS Content Marketing Guide: Build a Strategy that Increases Brand Awareness and Influences Revenue