M. Sharon BakerHubspot has a gem inside its Pocket Guide to Writing Good: a post by Jay Acunzo, which contains 16 Free Tools that Make Content Creation Easier. I’m checking out a few of them, and sending Hubspot love.
M. Sharon BakerFor the third year in a row, I’ve written the top B2B case study on RainToday.com, based upon traffic the case drew for the top online resource for sales and marketing for professional services.
My case study on Babcock & Jenkins Inc. was honored for 2013, and featured the story of how the Portland, OR Content Marketing Agency competes with global giants.
I interviewed Lauren Goldstein, vice president of Strategic Planning, who told me how the agency created a highly personalized, database driven, multi-touch marketing campaign designed to rise above the messages that typically bombard B2B technology marketers.
The case story included how the firm used gourmet brownies to appeal to their target audience.
Read how the B2B Agency landed six new customers, and increased sales by more than $1.5 million in the RainToday Babcock Jenkins case study.
RainToday.com is the leading site professional services firms turn to for marketing and sales advice. With more than 120,000 members, RainToday serves up great content –insights, advice and tools –from top experts such as Jill Konrath, Charles H. Green and its own experts Mike Schultz and John Doerr.
Reader’s Choice Award May 1
I also earned RainToday’s Reader’s Choice Award on May 1 for another case study, which analyzed how Mahoney Internet Marketing used LinkedIn and content marketing to revamp its sales process.
Top Case Study in 2012: Law Firm Rebranding, Content Marketing, New Fees
In 2012, my top case study featured Michelle Bomberger of Equinox Business Law and how she rebranded the firm to appeal to large business clients, and launched a content marketing plan to increase awareness. Bomberger also added unlimited general counsel services for a monthly flat fee, which was a new fee structure. These moves helped her increase revenues nearly 84% in just two years.
Read the RainToday Equinox Case Study to learn exactly what Michelle did.
Top Case Study in 2011: Telecom Firm Guarantee, Implementation Fee
In 2011, my top case detailed how Consulting Firm ATC attracted large clients and grew revenue 50% using an implementation fee and a guarantee. Doing so helped Advanced Technology Consulting of Cincinnati take some of the risk out of the equation when large firms started working with them.
It also gave them a significant selling point, said CEO David Goodwin.
Read about the common small business mistakes Goodwin made and how the implementation fee works in the ATC Case Study.
Will You Be the Top Case Study in 2014?
I’m always on the lookout for service professionals (technology, marketing, accounting, law, and consulting, etc.) that have quantifiably increased their business through a specific marketing or sales activity or set of marketing activities.
Your company must operate in the B2B realm and have measurable results you are willing to share. Email me if you have an idea you’d like to pitch.
Additionally, I love to help companies sell with case studies. Feel free to contact me if you need help writing stories that sell.
M. Sharon BakerWe’re fresh off the free call hosted by Carol Tice at the Freelance Writers Den, and I understand that a lot of our listeners are not yet members of the Den.
So, if you have additional questions about contributed articles, please feel free to ask them in the comments below and I’ll answer as soon as I can.
Please note, I won’t be answering too many specific questions about press releases, retainers, or public relations as these are all topics I’ll be sharing information about in the upcoming Bootcamp, which is a real steal –especially since you also get to join the den free for the first month. (And the Den is currently closed to everyone else.)
So, What can I tell you about contributed articles? Ask away and I’ll try to help as much as I can.
M. Sharon Baker
Carol Tice, a friend and colleague from our days at the Puget Sound Business Journal and Den Mother at the Freelance Writers Den, has asked me to teach freelance writers the ins and outs of public relations.
I’ve agreed to create and lead a 3-session bootcamp Dec. 5, 12 &19. You can check out the details by clicking on the banner above.
I will be covering how to write press releases that get results, how I land PR retainers as a writer and our special guest Karl Sakas from Agency Firebox based in North Carolina will devote a whole session on how writers can work with PR agencies.
Next Tuesday, Nov. 19, Carol is hosting me on a free conference call at 2 p.m. where I will reveal how I make $1,200 on articles that other freelancers only make $300 on.
Want to Join us on the free call? Leave a note in the comments below, and I’ll add you to my private list that will receive the call details, or shoot me an email.
On Tuesday, I’ll also have a guest post on Carol’s blog Make A Living Writing blog talking all about how I added public relations services and grew that part of my freelance businesses. (Hint: I worked with a lot of great people who have their own PR agencies.)
M. Sharon BakerAfter I started wandering around the web looking for good examples of B2B storytelling, I found a few resources that required a deep dive.
Yes, I got diverted.
One is a conversation with B2B content strategist Ardath Albee* of Marketing Interactions where I asked her for a good example of hers on B2B Storytelling since she’s among the industry’s experts. She gave me a good example and I’m waiting for her to answer a few questions before I write a post on it.
Another is a book I stumbled upon when I followed a Carol Tice tweet that led me to The Word Chef – who has a concept I thought of using when I first started freelancing since my last name is Baker, but discarded thinking it was too corny. (For her, it works!) On Tea Silvestre’s Word Chef blog, she has a list of 30 marketing books she recommends, and I jumped at the chance to read Made to Stick when I learned my library had a copy.
How do you create ideas that stick is the question answered by brothers Chip and Dan Heath in their book Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die.
They suggest using a simple principle to create sticky ideas:
Create simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional stories.
I promise to write a review post, and I’ll recommend every content marketer, especially B2B marketers, read it to improve or start their storytelling.
I also found an interesting post by Phil Johnson on Forbes called Not Just for Bedtime, Marketers Corner the Market on Storytelling.
In it, Johnson has three tips on how corporate marketers can adopt storytelling but not confuse it with marketing. His tips echo the Made to Stick principles:
I also want to interview the creative artists at 321 FastDraw, who draw wonderful stories – they call them Telestrations – on white boards. I discovered their wonderful videos when writing stories on Seattle and Microsoft for the Kaufmann Foundation’s entrepreneurial site ID8 Nation.
Tell me: Do you have any great storytelling tips or resources for marketers that I should check out as part of my research? I’d love to explore more.
*Full Disclosure: Ardath is a client.
