Welcome to the first installment of 98ToGo’s weekly content marketing rewind where we’ll be reviewing our top 
picks for the best content marketing posts of the week. In this edition you learn how to use UX techniques to create better content, what your content creation workflow SHOULD look like, the correct way to create and utilize an editorial calendar, and much more. So check out all the articles and let us know what you think.
Crush Content Marketing in 2014: 5 Outside-the-Box Techniques That Get Results
By Brian Dean – click to follow @backlinko
Want to kick your content into overdrive in 2014? Then checkout this short but sweet post where Brian Dean of Backlinko gives some awesome tips on how to squeeze more juice out of your content marketing strategy and examples of each. Tips include head turning headlines, paid content promotion, and using outreach.
Key takeaway: “Write ONLY In-Depth, 1500+ Word Blog Posts”
Content Planning: How to Use UX Research to Uncover Hidden Needs - by Caitlin Vlastakis Smith – click to follow @caitvsmith
UX or user experience design describes a process of using customer research to design services, experiences, and products that better meet the needs of the end user. The two key methods of UX research, conducting interviews/field research and monitoring social habits/content consumption, can also be extremely helpful when planning and developing content. In this article Caitlin Smith explains how to use these two research methods in your marketing to create content your customers will absolutely love.
Key takeaway: LinkedIn groups are great places to research your target customers
Content Strategy Gets Tactical: Establishing The Content Workflow by Rebecca Lieb - click to follow @lieblink
For content marketing to be successful, sustainable, and scaleable, companies must have repeatable processes and systems in place. These process need to be as simple and efficient as possible. In this post, Rebecca Lieb describes a solid content strategy workflow and supporting tools to help you get your content machine up and running smoothly.
Do's and Don'ts of Your Brand's Content Calendar by Allie Gray Freeland – click to follow @alliegrayfree
In the previous article Rebecca Lieb introduces the editorial calendar and gives some tips on how to use it which segues perfectly into this article by Allie Gray Freeland. Allie shows us what to do and what not to do in this post chocked full of great takeaways. I especially liked the “Establish a Vision” section where she shares some great market research tools for persona development. Thanks Allie!
Content Planning: How to Use UX Research to Uncover Hidden Needs - by Caitlin Vlastakis Smith – click to follow @caitvsmith
UX or user experience design describes a process of using customer research to design services, experiences, and products that better meet the needs of the end user. The two key methods of UX research, conducting interviews/field research and monitoring social habits/content consumption, can also be extremely helpful when planning and developing content. In this article Caitlin Smith explains how to use these two research methods in your marketing to create content your customers will absolutely love.
Key takeaway: LinkedIn groups are great places to research your target customers
9 New Examples of Youtility and Incredibly Useful Marketing by Jay Baer - click to follow @jaybaer
I always love seeing examples of companies doing creative and useful marketing, and there’s no one in better at sniffing out these nuggets then Jay Baer, author of Youtility. Jay coined the phrase Youtility to describe companies that are all about helping their audience, not hyping their products. In this post, Jay finds 9 more excellent examples of companies that hit the mark and get it right by providing “marketing so useful, people would pay for it.
The New iPhone Feature That Could Change Your Mobile Content Strategy by Ann Meany – click to follow @annkmeany
In this post, Ann Meany introduces a new iPhone app call the iBeacon, which could be an incredibly profitable tool for the creative marketers out there. Basically iBeacon uses Blue-tooth technology to communicate with sensors in stores that then send targeted alerts to their phones as they maneuver around. Sounds a little invasive to me, but what do I know. Check out this post where Ann gives marketers some neat ideas on how to use this app to sell more products.
Well that’s it, thanks for reading, be sure to join us next week to get your weekly dose of the best content marketing posts on the net. If you enjoyed the articles in this edition please share with your network, and follow the authors on Twitter.
Did we miss any great articles this week? Any subjects you’re more interested in reading about? Leave us a comment and let us know.
