How do you get attention for your brand? How do you become a trusted resource to your audience? How do you build brand loyalty? Spoiler: You don’t do it by talking about yourself. 

Interruption marketing has been eclipsed by engagement marketing in recent years—and for good reason. Pestering people with ads that talk about how great you are, obnoxiously pushing your product on people, or creating overly branded content that doesn’t provide true value is not the way to build a community of lifelong fans. The only way to do it is by meaningfully engaging with people, getting to know them, and giving them what they need. The good news is you can do this through content marketing—if you know what you’re doing.

5 Tips to Gain Brand Loyalty

Whether you need some fresh inspiration or a total content strategy realignment, here are 5 tips to help you improve your content, create a community of fans, and build the brand loyalty you deserve. 

1) Talk about the things your audience cares about. 

No one cares about you until they have a reason to. Talking about yourself is not interesting to anyone. But talking about your audience’s interests, needs, wants, etc. is a surefire way to grab their attention, immediately prove that you “get” them, and nudge them down the path to purchase—one helpful article, infographic, e-book, or demo at a time. 

Think about how your content benefits your audience. Do they learn something? Do they solve a problem? Are they entertained? It’s these moments that make you stand out (and make them want to return to you). 

Tip: If you’re not sure what their pain points are, go old school and have real, human conversations. Leverage your people (e.g., account reps) to get inside their minds. (This is especially important in B2B marketing, where these types of relationships are the bedrock of business.)

For more tips, find out how to deliver value in every piece of content, use our template to map your buyer journey, and try these prompts to brainstorm value-centric ideas.

Example: Wistia is a video-hosting platform that creates a ton of helpful content to help their audience do everything related to video. A simple tutorial to create a DIY laptop telemprompter is the type of practical, helpful content that serves their audience. 

2) Tell your brand story—not stories about your brand. 

Brand storytelling is powerful in marketing. But when we talk about brand storytelling, people often misinterpret the phrase as “endlessly talking about your brand.” Thus, it’s not surprising that so much content marketing is self-indulgent or navel-gazing.

Instead, think about the stories you’re telling through your content. Do you share your failures (and your lessons learned) to help others avoid the same? That humility is part of your brand story. Do you dig into your data to find interesting insights to share with industry publications? That transparency is part of your brand story. Do you create innovative products? The people who create them are part of your brand story. 

The stories you choose to tell massively influence how people perceive your brand, so make sure you’re telling the right stories through your content. 

Tip: Find out why brand storytelling matters, try our tips to tell your brand story, and see how these 15 creative brands do it. 

Example: Zendesk is a platform dedicated to improving customer relationships, but the stories they tell go beyond empowering customer service professionals. From articles on the importance of workplace wellness to helpful webinars, they prove they’re dedicated to creating better businesses—beyond customer service.

3) Invite people to share their stories. 

Want to create community? Three words, baby: user-generated content. Savvy content marketers don’t talk about their brand—they let other people do it for them. With user-generated content, you can not only engage your audience but celebrate them and make them a part of your brand story. 

Note: When we talk about UGC, we’re not just talking testimonials on your site. We’re talking contests, quizzes, surveys, accounts takeovers—all sorts of creative and exciting ways to welcome your larger community into your story. Not only does this tactic let you fill your content pipeline but it makes people feel like they’re a part of your community. The more you can build that community, the more brand loyalty you’ll cultivate.

Tip: If you need more inspiration, here are 11 types of user-generated content you can create now. 

Example: KFC created the #KFCSecretMenuHacks on TikTok to encourage users to share their favorite KFC menu hacks. It’s a smart way to promote and highlight people’s personal preferences. 

@kentuckyfriedchicken ? ? ? @Jen Curley #KFCSecretMenuHacks #KFC ♬ Secret Menu – KFC Hack Pack

4) Let people behind the curtain. 

If you want people to like you, you can’t tell them who you are. You need to show them. From your supply chain to your company parties, there are all sorts of ways to let your audience behind the scenes to cultivate a more intimate relationship.

Ultimately, transparency is the key to building trust—with a variety of audiences. Remember: You’re not only selling to customers. The content you create and the way you present yourself to the world says a lot about who you are as a business, as a leader in your industry, and as an employer. 

Tip: See our guide to showcase your culture, and download our employer brand toolkit to make sure you’re telling interesting stories about who you really are. 

Example: Hubspot has an entire Instagram account dedicated to their people and culture—the perfect place to showcase the faces behind the brand.

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5) Nurture your relationship—after you sell. 

Your existing customers are your biggest asset, but marketers are focused on getting new people in the door. But your audience’s needs and wants don’t diminish the minute they buy your product or use your service. In fact, now that they’ve crossed that threshold, you can go deeper and give them that next level of attention. 

Tip: There are all sorts of ways to build brand loyalty and engage people after they become a customer. Fun welcome emails, gifts, guides, tutorials, surveys, etc. help you keep your relationship strong. 

Example: For the holidays, we often create a gift (such as custom playing cards) influenced by one of our company values. Not only does this gesture help strengthen our relationship but the story behind the gift helps us share more deeply about the way our brand works/what we believe.

How to Make Your Marketing More Effective

Good marketing stems from good strategy. If you want to strengthen your operation and improve your ROI, here are a few more things you can do to get the results you want. 

• Create a cohesive brand experience. Start by revisiting your brand strategy to make sure your content (and business practices) are aligned to your values.
• Make sure your content is consistent. To create a strong brand presence, you need a strong identity. Follow our tips to keep your content on brand, and download our brand identity toolkit to build a visual identity that is instantly recognizable. 
• Master content creation. Find out how to optimize your infrastructure to create high-quality content at scale. 

But if you’re short on bandwidth, you might need a few extra hands on deck. If you’re thinking about bringing in some expert help, find out what you should look for in a content marketing agency, learn about how we work through a content strategy, or reach out. We’d love to help you build your community.

A successful brand video benefits both your brand and your video marketing agency. It’s a powerful medium, but it also requires a lot of work. That’s why your relationship with your video agency is so important. It starts with the right partner. (If you’re on the hunt for one, see our tips to choose a video marketing agency.) But once you have that partner, it’s important to collaborate and communicate at every stage to create the best possible product. 

How to Work With Your Video Marketing Agency

If you’ve never worked with a video agency before (or have had a less-than-thrilling experience), here are some tips that will help your next video engagement result in a piece everyone is proud of.

1) Share your vision.

Your video agency is your creative partner, but they are likely new to your brand. Sharing your brand’s larger vision helps them get a sense of who you are and what your long-term goals are. In early conversations, share your foundational thinking, including:

• Brand vision, mission, and values
• How this project contributes to your content strategy

Even if you’re working on a one-off video, every piece of content your brand creates contributes to your larger goals and vision. This is important context that will inform your video agency’s creative approach, in terms of how they can best help deliver your story and differentiate from the competition.

2) Prepare a thorough distribution plan.

As with all content types, how you deliver your story is just as important as the story itself. Crafting your distribution strategy upfront is especially important for video because there are so many moving parts.

Video assets can constitute anything from a 15-second YouTube pre-roll ad, to a long-form documentary submitted to a film festival, to a video tailored for earned media. Understanding exactly how you intend to promote will greatly affect what you create.

Your video agency should be well-versed in content distribution channels and able to give recommendations based on your objectives. Any concepts they pitch to you should consider where the video will live, for how long, how viewers will encounter it, and what placement will cost.

Conversely, sometimes creative needs to be developed to fulfill a pre-purchased distribution plan (e.g., you’re looking to fill a 30-second ad buy). Make sure your video agency knows about details like this so they can plan for distribution channel specifics, such as audience skews, sizing specs, and call-to-action options.

Tip: See our complete guide to build a distribution strategy, and find out how to choose the best channels for your content.

3) Write great project briefs.

Oftentimes the earliest conflicts that arise in a working relationship stem from core misunderstandings about the project, which are informed by the creative brief. This document is the single source of reference for your video agency, so make sure it is airtight.

Common pitfalls in briefs:

• Too ambitious: “We’d like a 45-second educational video about multiple subjects, tailored to Millennials, Gen-Xers, and Boomers.” Make sure your goal is realistic for the project scope.
• Too vague: “We want a video that will really make our audience feel something.” The more specific you are, the stronger your story will be.
• Too much client-speak: “This video should speak to our [indecipherable acronym] audience about the value of [industry-specific term] in a [buzzword, buzzword] world.” The last thing your video agency wants is a follow-up meeting to decode a brief. Translate confusing terms for clarity.
• Too long: “In addition to this 5-page brief, here’s our employee handbook and our last 200 projects for quick reference.” This is why the early foundational conversation is important. It helps distill the high-level thinking so that the brief can get into project specifics.

A good brief clearly outlines your objective, audience, specifications, and other pertinent information in a succinct matter. The goal of the document is to provide sufficient context, background, and—above all—actionable information that will inform brainstorms.

There should be enough to inspire ideas, not to bog them down.

Tip: See our guide to write a brief that your creative team can actually use.

4) Ideate and iterate until satisfied.

A good client-video agency relationship is a healthy partnership, not a marriage on the rocks. If you aren’t happy with initial responses to a brief, don’t settle for what you’re given. (If you aren’t 100% in from the beginning, we can guarantee the project will not go well down the line.)

Both parties should be enthusiastic and engaged throughout the brainstorming process. When your video agency is pitching ideas, their excitement and interest should be tangible. If they’re half-hearted, they probably aren’t that jazzed on the ideas—and you shouldn’t be either.

Ask your agency to detail the risks of every direction they present. They’ll be able to tell you which concept will be a budget crunch due to multiple locations, which might be difficult for actors to deliver, or which might pose significant technical challenges. They’ll also fight for the ideas they really believe in, and that kind of energy will do wonders for the final creative product.

At every stage of the project, ask for more ideation or idea development if you’re just not feeling what’s coming through. When providing that feedback (see the next point), clearly articulate what is missing, what shift you’d like to see, or what additions you want. 

A note: We know that with video, sometimes you just need to “see it to believe it.” But that doesn’t mean you should wait for the video to be completed before deciding if you like the concept.

There are definitely steps you can take in the concepting phase to get a clearer idea of the vision. A moodboard, third-party references, sample script copy, or storyboard frames can give you the supplemental information you might need to make a decision.

Tip: Try our brainstorm tips to get better results in your next meeting.

5) Provide actionable feedback.

Your video agency wants to create something you love, so it’s important that you’re both able to clearly communicate what isn’t working. A few tips to help you do that:

• Provide feedback via email. You may arrange a call to discuss any details, questions, or open-ended items after, but written feedback provides a clear record of your thoughts. It also gives your video agency some time to synthesize the information and discuss internally before hopping on the phone.
• Don’t always jump to a solution. Highlight the issues you see as problems, and explain why they don’t land for you. If you stop there and leave the solutions open, a great video agency will be able to present a few alternatives and engage in valuable analysis of every option’s merits and risks.
• Point to the brief. The objectives you illustrated in the briefing stage are the anchor of the project. (Again, this is why that document is so important.) Highlight where things are falling short, as it pertains to the goal.

6) Keep each other inspired.

While it is important to keep everyone on the same page at each phase, there should be some flexibility to allow for even better ideas—from both you and your agency—if and when they arise.

You should have a free and easy exchange of inspiration with your video agency, whether it’s cool voice over examples or color palettes. (We’ve had clients send over everything from a Jean-Claude Van Damme video to Bourbon packaging, and we love it.)

Some of the specific things that can help inspire the team:

• Keep a running list of video assets that your competitors (and others) are putting out. Analyze the message, tone, story, and visual executions together to note how you may imitate or differentiate.
• When you see a particularly impressive execution, ask your video agency how much they think something like that might cost. In addition to keeping their creative wheels turning, this will help you benchmark costs and measure budget expectations next time a video project comes up.
• Keep an eye out for artwork of all types that moves you. A mood, story type, or personal reaction to a piece can steer your video agency in the right direction, whether that inspiration comes in the form of a movie, sculpture, or even a building.

In addition to encouraging pro-active ideation, set up some formal infrastructure for those suggestions, as well as a process to get the appropriate stakeholders to sign off if you do decide to switch gears.

Tip: If you want to get inspired by great work in the wild, see our roundups of awesome B2B videos and explainer videos.

7) Confirm creative before you get to set.

The pre-production phase is when the entire shoot plan is established. Some of the magic of being on set is the unexpected or impromptu changes that elevate production or solve unforeseen problems. But, more often, a set becomes a nightmare when details have not been finalized or last-minute stakeholders start to chime in.

To ensure your video agency is making the most of your budget, thoroughly review and sign-off on everything before you start shooting. This is not just an issue of creative preference. It’s a smart economic choice. Video production is costly and relies on maximum efficiency, particularly if you have multiple deliverables.

If you have everything locked and loaded, you can condense shoots into minimal days and locations. (External payments to crew, location, etc. are typically for day rates.) The more work your video agency can commit to at once, the better deal you get.

Once on set, it’s likely too late to make changes without torpedoing your budget and schedule. If you find yourself in a situation where you must make a change, speak with your video partner producer so you understand how it might affect your schedule, shot list, and budget.

Remember that shooting is typically an irreversible stage of the video process. This makes it different from other work types. Whereas in graphic design, you can always retrace your steps and redo visuals, after a shoot wraps, what you have is all you have for post-production. 

8) Consider the set to be education.

Being on set is the best. It’s one part high-stakes corporate production and one part Hollywood magic.

When you’re on set, consider it an opportunity to observe the process and learn about the ins and outs of video production. The more time you spend on set, the better you understand how an idea executes at the concept stage, where budget goes, and how each different role on set contributes to the production. If it’s your first time on set, it can be a truly illuminating experience.

You should certainly speak up if you think a fatal error is being committed, but you should really trust the people you hired. You are working with talented, dedicated professionals who do have your best interests at heart. An empowered director and DP will give you the best creative product, because it has their name on it.

If you’re unsure about something, it helps to ask the appropriate stakeholders instead of barreling in mid-shot.

Oh, and enjoy the snacks and craft services when you can. Your video agency may turn to you for an important decision or call in a compressed timeframe. You want to be fresh, positive, and well-fed.

9) Don’t be afraid to talk about money.

Videos typically entail a fair amount of out-of-pocket expenditures. You should feel empowered to negotiate down the cost of a video—as you would any other work product.

However, if your video agency reduces cost, make sure they are clear about what line items, crew, or other expenses might be compromised.

Often there will be concessions to production value or team experience when a budget is slashed.

Tip: If you need more funds, see our tips to get more budget. 

10) Create a case study.

Video is a significant investment. At the end of the project, you want to be able to prove ROI to your stakeholders. Your video agency also wants to highlight your success. (If you look good, they look good.)

One of the best ways to do this is to document the process throughout. Track ideation, capture behind-the-scenes footage and photography, and measure your analytics.

You and your agency can build a great case study to show off after. This gives you both more exposure and solidifies your collaboration.

Keep Nurturing Your Relationship with Your Video Marketing Agency

While there are many practical details that can help elevate a project, the relationship with your video agency will underscore everything. Commit to being collaborative partners and nurturing your relationship to make it a successful engagement. When all goes well, we recommend beers—on your video agency of course.

And if you’re on the hunt for a new agency, we’d love to be in the running. Take a look at our FAQs to learn more about working with us, or hit us up.

We hate to say it, but way too much B2B content marketing, uh, sucks. Sorry, but it’s true. It’s dry. It’s dull. Or, worse, it’s self-indulgent. (And, trust us, we’ve been guilty of this too.) Ultimately, good B2B content marketing is about serving people interesting, unique, and relevant content—even if you’re not selling the most exciting product.

Luckily, with the right insights, you can still find ways to give people high-value content that connects with your audience and helps you achieve your goals. Want to know how to do that? You’ve come to the right place. 

5 Tips to Create Better B2B Content Marketing

If you’ve been stuck in a creative rut, or are working on a fresh B2B content marketing strategy, here are some helpful tips and reminders (based on the biggest mistakes we see brands make) to strengthen your content and improve your results.  

1) Ideate around pain points. 

In B2B, you’re usually selling a solution that solves a common problem. And you might think your content is speaking to that pain point, but we find that weak B2B content often talks around that problem instead of directly addressing it with valuable insights, tips, or expertise.

If you’re not exactly sure what your audience’s pain points are, or are struggling to come up with ideas to address them, do direct research. 

• Talk to customers. A quick phone chat or email can yield more ideas than you might realize.
• Search forums. This is a great way to find out what people in your industry are talking about. 
• Find out what people are asking. Use a tool like AnswerThePublic to find out what questions people have. (This is a particularly helpful tool to find ideas that can increase your SEO.)

When you do come up with ideas, vet them through your personas to make sure they resonate. 

Example: Zendesk’s mission is to make customer service better, so they produce a variety of B2B content marketing to help their customers help customers—at every level. From tutorial posts to expert sales advice, they present themselves as the go-to resource for all things sales and customer service.

2) Know what you want people to do after they interact with your content. 

This is one of the most common mistakes we see B2B marketers make. They view content as a standalone piece, not a key component of a larger ecosystem. Every piece of content you create should be made with intention (and, ideally, that intention is to move people along the path to purchase). So there should be a clear next step after they interact with your content, whether that’s an e-book download, a free demo, etc. 

• Know your content goals. Before you get into writing or design, you need to understand exactly what you’re trying to achieve—and how you can make it easier for people to take the step you want them to. 
• Map your buyer’s journey. Content marketing is not the sale; it’s the start of the conversation. But to move people along, you need to deliver the right message at the right time. If you haven’t mapped your messaging for each stage, use our template to do it. 
• Know your brand messaging. Use our free brand messaging template to clearly articulate your tagline, value prop, and key stories. The more your content reinforces your core brand story, the more the messaging will stick.  

Note: Make sure that everything is working—your newsletter signup, your download links, etc. We can’t tell you how many times we’ve experienced a dead-end thanks to a CTA that 404s.

Example: Mailchimp’s content is always on point, skillfully guiding readers down the path to purchase by offering a next step in every piece of content—across a variety of channels. Let’s start with this simple, colorful, case study snapshot on Instagram. 

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This includes a CTA to see the full case study in their annual report. Click through this endlessly entertaining interactive report, and we see three different options to explore their services. This is a seamless content journey from start to finish. 

3) Choose the right format for your channel. 

Thanks to so many content creation tools, you can create more content—and more types of content—than ever before.

However, you want to deliver your message in the right package (aka format) to make the most impact. Thus, knowing how people will arrive at your content (and how you want them to) is crucial to influence your creative decision-making. 

• What type of platforms are you targeting? 
• What types of content work best on those platforms? 
• What type of content does your audience prefer to see?

If you’re not sure what type of content works best for your audience, find out how to determine the best channel for your content, and consider experimenting with these types of creative formats.

Example: Again, we have to give a shoutout to Mailchimp. They’re pros at using Instagram carousels to share snackable content, such as these highlights from a recent podcast episode. This is the perfect way to create content for a particular platform and promote a larger piece of content elsewhere. 

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4) Use human emotion. 

This is probably our biggest complaint about 90% of B2B content. Although you may not be marketing the most glamorous product, there is still a human on the other end of the line. If your cloud-based-innovation-software-solution ultimately helps automate-innovate-elevate their lives, it’s important to hone in on those emotions, and speak to them like real people. Maybe you’re commiserating with them over shared frustrations, or giving them insider tips to make their lives easier. What matters most is that you’re engaging with them, not speaking at them. 

• Watch your language. We see a lot of brands throwing around buzzwords and jargon, hoping to prove their expertise or impress their audience. While certain industry terms might demonstrate your insider status, we cringe at most marketing gibberish. (TBH, we hate this buzzspeak so much we made a fake marketing gibberish generator to make fun of it.) 
• Add your personality. Adding a bit of humor, wit, or sincere emotion helps break down walls and better engage the people you’re trying to reach. In B2B, where relationships are the foundation of everything, demonstrating that familiarity and human voice from the jump is key. See our guides to identify your voice and personality if you don’t have yours well-defined. 

Example: Biteable is a platform that lets brands make videos effortlessly and easily. Naturally, the brand shines in its Instagram videos, using humor to commiserate with their audience about everything from working from home to peer reviews. 

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A post shared by Biteable (@biteable)

5) Invest in design. 

We can’t stress this enough. When it comes to design, B2B marketing has always been the overlooked stepchild. Just because you’re selling business solutions doesn’t mean you need to do it with ‘90s business photography. In this era, good design is a competitive advantage. (Research has even shown that design-focused companies produce more profit.) 

There is no question that good design makes your content more interesting, engaging, and easier to synthesize. Need to stand out in your audience’s social feeds? An eye-catching ebook cover will do it. Want to communicate a complex process? A bold infographic can deliver that information cleanly and effectively. Have a lot of data? A beautiful data visualization can deliver insights in a snap. 

• Explore examples of great B2B design. Get inspired by these next-level ebooks, explainers, and B2B infographics.
• Think like a designer. Learn about the ways that marketers can benefit from design. 
• Preserve your brand integrity. If you want people to recognize your brand, you need your content to be consistent and cohesive. Make sure that content creators have a brand style guide on hand, and follow these tips to keep your content on-brand.

If you don’t have a strong identity, use our brand identity toolkit to build a visual language that reflects your brand.

Example: Dropbox is a design-centric brand that understands the power of brand storytelling through visuals, as we can see in their blog headers alone. Through illustration, GIFs, and bold colors, they make their eye-catching content enticing and engaging. 

How to Improve Your B2B Content Marketing 

Content marketing requires a lot of moving pieces, no matter what size your team is. To improve your results, analyze every aspect of your operation to identify areas to improve.

• Strengthen your strategy. Use our content strategy toolkit to create a content plan that supports your goals and ensures your ideas will reach the right people. 
• Focus on value. Try these additional tips to create B2B content that converts.
• Improve your infrastructure. See our tips to optimize your content creation process to help your team work smarter, not harder.

And if you need help executing your marketing ideas, turn to the experts. See our tips to find a content marketing agency for you, find out what it’s like to work with us on a content strategy, or hit us up.

If you constantly face content marketing problems (especially in B2B), you’re not alone. No matter your industry or company size, limited budgets, weak strategy, and ineffective content plague everyone. Although these obstacles are frustrating, you can overcome them all with the right knowledge and resources. That’s why we’re breaking down the most common challenges marketers face—and offering our best content marketing tips, tools, and fixes to overcome them.

The 5 Biggest Challenges Content Marketers Face

While every brand has unique challenges, the 2021 Content Marketing Institute B2B Marketing Report identified the top 5 challenges that hinder marketers’ success. (These may be painfully familiar to you.)

Our Best Content Marketing Tips to Overcome Them

How do you navigate these challenges in your organization? Don’t worry. Just try these content marketing tips to power through your roadblocks and build a more effective marketing operation at every level. We promise.

1) Strategy Issues

Whether you’re a one-person content marketing machine or the head of a huge marketing department, having a strong plan is the key to working efficiently and effectively. Unfortunately, many marketers have a weak strategy—or no strategy at all.

Only 43% of B2B marketers said they have a documented content strategy.

—2021 Content Marketing Institute B2B Marketing Report

This lack of strategy is the biggest source of problems at every stage of content marketing, from ideation to distribution. That’s why it’s important to do your strategy work before you do anything else.

• Document your strategy. Make sure you have everything you need on paper to keep your team on the same page. If you’re not sure what a proper strategy requires, download our free content strategy toolkit, which includes the tools and templates you need to get through the process from start to finish. (Note: If you have an existing strategy, make sure you’re not making these common content strategy mistakes.)
• Review your strategy regularly. A stale strategy is just as bad as no strategy. Make sure your current strategy is up to date, approved by all stakeholders, and regularly reviewed to ensure it aligns with your larger brand goals.

Note: No matter how well you plan, unforeseen circumstances can affect the way you implement your strategy. It’s important to create a comprehensive yet flexible strategy that can adapt. That’s why regularly reviewing your strategy is so important.

2) Content Creation Challenges

Content marketers can—and do—generate more types of content than ever.

No matter how good your content is, if you can’t execute it, it simply can’t work for you. Without the right content creation resources and infrastructure, none of your good ideas will see the light of day. (We know firsthand how easily limited resources, lack of communication, and inefficient processes can sabotage any content marketing operation.) That’s why you need to strengthen your content creation infrastructure.

In general, we believe in working smarter, not harder.

• Optimize your process. See our guide to revamp your content creation process so you can work more effectively at every stage.
• Use the right tools. See our roundups of tools and resources to create content marketing, start a blog, produce infographics, ebooks, branding, copywriting, and more.
• Have your audience create content for you. User-generated content helps you take some of the pressure off your team while giving your audience an opportunity to tell your brand story. If you need ideas, here are 11 ways to create user-generated content.
• Bring in the right help. A content agency can be a huge asset to your team—if you find the right partner. (According to CMI, 49% of marketers outsource at least one content marketing task.) Here’s how to figure out if you should outsource your work. And here are our best tips to find and vet the right agency for you.
• Follow best practices for every type of content. There are more platforms and mediums available than ever before, and each provides a unique opportunity to engage your audience. But each type of content requires a different type of effort to produce. If you want to experiment with a certain format, see our guides to create…
  • Infographics
  • Ebooks
  • Data storytelling
  • Data visualization
  • Remote video
  • Explainer videos
  • Motion graphics
  • Interactives
  • Microcontent

No matter what types of content you create, always focus on telling a strong brand story and providing value to your audience.

3) Content Distribution Challenges

If your content doesn’t reach the right people, it can’t make the impact it should. Again, this comes down to planning and preparing. Distribution is a major part of your content strategy, and it requires its own strategy as well.

• Choose the right channels. Here’s how to find the right channels for your content.
• Partner with the right publications. Find out how a publication-tailored content strategy can help you expand your audience.
• Optimize for more traffic. Check out our guides to optimize your infographics and blog for SEO.

For more content marketing tips, see our complete guide to create a content distribution strategy that works.

4) Content Measurement Challenges

Your strategy is only as good as your ability to measure it. If you’re just churning out content without tracking its efficacy, you’re throwing content into the void. Before you brainstorm any idea, make sure that you have clearly identified how you plan to measure it.

• Choose the right metrics. Here’s how to figure out which metrics will matter most to your content strategy.
• Focus on ROI. See these 5 ways to measure ROI to make sure you’re seeing the investment you want.

5) Internal Cost-Cutting Measures

While lack of effective strategy and lack of content creation resources may be the most significant content marketing problems, both are related to another notable problem: budget constraints. In the wake of the pandemic and shifting industries, many marketers are facing frustrating budget cuts. (CMI found that 29% of marketers had to decrease their content marketing budgets.)

This can be a tricky subject to address, but there are ways to work with what you have—or work to get more.

• Ask for more budget. Try these tips to get the funds you need. (Psst: You’ll need dig into your data.)
• Do more with what you have. There’s nothing more frustrating than pouring your heart and soul into a project that, well, doesn’t have legs. If you’re putting in the work (and budget), it better work for you. Use a divisible content strategy to get the most mileage out of your content, and learn how to maximize publishing through microcontent.
• Repurpose or reuse existing content. This is one of the best ways to expand your reach. For example, an ebook can become a series of articles. Or an article may be condensed into an infographic. For more ideas, find out how to repurpose your ebooks, infographics, and data visualizations.

Note: Working with the wrong creative partners will also cost you more money in the long run. This is another reason why it’s important to vet any agency or freelancer you work with.

A Few More Content Marketing Tips Before We Go

With a strong strategy, content creation infrastructure, and distribution plan, you can do wonders. But don’t forget that the most important part of content marketing is the content itself.

• Brainstorm the right ideas. If you’re stuck in a content rut, think about your marketing personas. Who are they? What are their needs? And how can your content give them what they need? Try these tips to come up with unique and interesting stories, improve your brainstorms, and vet your ideas.
• Experiment with different content. It’s easy to get stuck in a creative rut, especially when it comes to the types of content you produce. Try something different, and experiment with these different formats.
• Curate the right mix. A content marketing strategy is like a well-balanced meal. Learn how to structure a healthy content marketing mix to serve your audience the things they want and need.
• Create consistent on-brand content. Every touchpoint of your organization is an opportunity to communicate who you are. From your sales pamphlets to your infographics, your content should tell your brand story in look and tone. See our guide to ensure every piece of content you create reflects your brand.

Ultimately, the best thing you can do for your content marketing efforts is stay educated—and ask for help when you need it. If you want to know what it would be like to work with us on your content strategy, see our FAQs or reach out. We’d love to help you bring your brand story to life.

A good content marketing machine is a thing of beauty, each piece well-oiled and optimized for ultimate production. But like any machine, if a piece isn’t working the way it should be—or missing entirely—the whole machine will suffer. (We’ve seen and experienced this more often than we’d like to admit in the teams we’ve helped counsel.) Unfortunately, when a content marketing team isn’t functioning to the best of its abilities, the symptoms aren’t always blatantly obvious. It’s less about the mistakes made and more about the opportunities missed.  

• It’s the lack of expertise that could have turned a basic blog post into a cornerstone piece of content.
• It’s the social strategy that needs a little more fine-tuning.
• It’s the analytics that go unanalyzed—or, worse, aren’t properly set up.  
• It’s the process inefficiencies that eat up time.

Of course, the truth is many marketing teams are limited in how many people they can hire or outsource to, so they are often forced to do more with less. It’s no surprise that things slip through the cracks. However, even the smallest organizations can make great strides—as long as they have the right roles covered. 

55% of B2B marketers only have between 1-5 people on their content marketing team.
35% don’t have anyone dedicated to full-time content marketing.

—CMI’s 2021 B2B Benchmarks Report

If you want to build a great content marketing team, whether you have two people or 20, you need to make a simple mental switch. Focus on covering the right roles—not hiring the right job titles. 

Job Titles vs. Roles in a Content Marketing Team

One of the problems we consistently see in content marketing teams is checklist hiring. You know you need someone to run social, so you put out the call for a social media manager. You need content, so you hire a writer. Thus, content marketing operations tend to have the same combination of positions, including the standard titles like marketing manager and social media manager. 

But just because you think you have a full team doesn’t mean that every necessary role is covered. (After all, the devil is in the details and things fall through the cracks all the time.) On the flip side, just because you have a small team doesn’t mean you can’t create a seamless content marketing operation. 

We believe the smartest way to build a content marketing team is to take a holistic approach by focusing on roles vs. job titles. Whereas job titles are associated with specific duties, we think of roles as a particular skill or superpower. One person may hold several of these skills. 

• Your editor may be a superb project manager and copywriter. 
• Your marketing manager may be data literate and social media savvy. 

When given the space and support to embrace these talents, you can cover multiple roles even within a small team. This approach also allows for more creative collaboration and experimentation, as people feel less constricted by their particular job titles.

So what roles do you need to fill to create your strongest content marketing team?

The Roles You Need on Your Content Marketing Team

Each brand may have different needs, but every content marketing team performs the same duties. Ensuring you have everything covered, from editorial calendar maintenance and ideation to distribution and analytics, is crucial. 

Based on years of experience (and a few mistakes of our own), we’ve compiled this list of the most important roles in content marketing. Each of these roles performs a core function, fills gaps, keeps you on track, and provides the quality control needed to build a healthy operation.

Note: While there are many outlined here, you don’t need to go on a hiring spree ASAP to build out your content marketing team. Most of us are battling resources, budgets, and higher-ups. The goal is always to work more efficiently with what you have at hand (although asking for more budget never hurts—here are 5 ways to do that.) For that reason, we’ve also included some resources to help you find—or better perform—each role. And for convenience, we’ve organized them according to each stage of the content marketing cycle: strategy, content creation, and distribution.

As you continue to refine your operation, review your team’s workload periodically. It may be better arranged to support everyone’s needs. 

1) Content Strategy Roles

The strategy phase is the core of your entire content marketing operation. This is the time to craft a solid strategy, informed by data, that aligns with your company goals. If you need help with that, see our ultimate guide to build a content strategy, and download our content strategy toolkit to walk through the process. 

Of course, the key to crafting an effective strategy is including the right stakeholders from the get-go. Here’s who you need on your content marketing team to make sure you do it well. 

Marketing Leader

Whether it’s your company founder, your CMO, or other higher up, the content marketing machine needs a driver. This role acts as the liaison between business development and marketing, as marketing’s primary function is to support sales. Marketing leaders coordinate with company leaders (to ensure content strategy aligns with the company’s goals) and brand stakeholders (to ensure all content reflects the brand’s voice and visual identity).

Marketing leader resources: 

• Chief Content Officer: The monthly print and digital magazine from the Content Marketing Institute.
• The Content Strategist: Contently’s publication, covering content marketing news and analysis.

Marketing Manager

There are many parts to a marketing machine, from production to distribution. A good marketing manager works as a mechanic, running point to make sure everyone on your content marketing team has the resources and direction to complete the task at hand. A marketing manager helps guide content strategy, stays abreast of industry trends, supports content creation and distribution, and does whatever else is needed. 

Marketing manager resources:

• Basecamp: A project management tool that gives you great transparency into the status of projects.
• Marketing Brew: Marketing news you want to read.
• American Marketing Association: A ton of great info, especially this piece on the 5 types of marketing managers.
• HubSpot’s Blog: News, trends, and tips for marketers at all levels.

Data Expert 

One of the most important keys to a strong content strategy is the ability to measure it. Thus, you need someone who can manage your analytics. This role is not just about pulling numbers; it’s about extracting important data-driven insights from those numbers. (This type of brain is also infinitely valuable to help generate content from in-house data.) Most importantly, this person’s work influences everyone else’s role. Their data insights may inspire the marketing manager to tweak newsletter CTAs, or convince the managing editor to produce more e-books. 

Data expert resources: 

• Google’s Analytics Academy: Tons of info about how to make the most of your analytics.
• How to Determine ROI: Smart ways to calculate ROI.

2) Content Creation Roles

Once you have your goals outlined and keywords selected, you’re ready to deep dive into generating and producing solid content ideas that will resonate with your audience.

Content is the most labor-intensive part of the process. I’ve heard it said that no matter how long you think a piece of content will take, multiply it by three—or even five, in my experience—and that’s how long it really takes. It’s no surprise, then, that it takes a focused content marketing team to create truly effective content. Here’s what that looks like. 

86% of B2B marketers outsource content creation.

—CMI’s 2021 B2B Benchmarks Report

Managing Editor

A managing editor oversees all content, manages publishing volume and cadence, and keeps the content machine running. That means masterfully managing an editorial calendar, coordinating contributors, curating a healthy mix of content, and ensuring that content strategy is properly implemented. This role is the connecting piece between content strategy and production. 

Managing editor resources:

• CoSchedule: A super easy editorial calendar, social scheduling, and task management tool. (Sign up for their newsletter, too.)
• Feedly: A content aggregator and organization tool that lets you store relevant articles, blogs, and sites in one place, so you can easily peruse next time you need content ideas.
• Stormboard: A tool that helps you collaborate, communicate, and brainstorm with contributors on a digital whiteboard.
• Editorial Calendar Template: A handy tool to plan content. 

SEO Expert

In the content marketing world, SEO is everything. Having a go-to expert to audit, keep track of progress, and keep pushing and optimizing your content is absolutely essential. From choosing the keywords that inform your brainstorms to constantly experimenting and testing various plugins, this role is both tactical and analytical. They may be a contractor, brought in to educate the team and available for specific questions, or an in-house resource. (They may also be your data expert.)

SEO expert resources:

• SEMRush: Awesome resources for all levels of SEO experts, including e-books, guides, etc.
• Search Engine Land: News and daily coverage of all aspects of search marketing.
• Neil Patel: Great hacks to increase traffic and conversions.

Subject Expert

The biggest value you can give your readers is your expertise. To create helpful and credible content, you need a credible source (aka a subject expert). 

69% of B2B marketers say finding partners with adequate topic expertise is particularly challenging.

—CMI’s 2021 B2B Benchmarks Report

Luckily, there are many ways to find one. You may find your expert in a specific group, community, organization, or online resource. You may find an expert in-house—even if they weren’t hired for that specific person. (For example, a former business development leader at our agency had a master’s degree in business analytics—very handy when we needed someone to help create and vet our data guides.)

Resources to increase your expertise:

• Expertise Finder: A creative marketplace that helps put experts, writers, and businesses together.
• Qualified data sources: Our roundup of free data sources to help boost the credibility of your content. 
• ClearVoice: Find expert writers and creatives to create your content.  

Editor

Even though you’ve heard it over and over, a lack of editing remains a huge problem in content marketing—even among the “thought leaders” out there. Having someone who can truly edit saves you from embarrassing mistakes and helps elevate all of your content.

Note: There is a major brand in the marketing industry, which I will not name, that is a good (bad) example of this. They pump out a ton of content and have a significant newsletter audience, but the content is riddled with typos and sloppy posts. Over the years, this has degraded my trust in them.

Editor resources:

• Grammar Girl: A useful blog featuring quick and dirty editing tips—think of it as editing 101.
• Grammarly: A great Chrome plugin that catches common spelling and grammatical errors (especially helpful for emails and WordPress).
• Upwork: A site to find freelance editors.  

Designer(s)

Visual content should absolutely be a part of your content mix. Whatever your needs—infographics, interactives, e-books, white papers, social content—good design communicates your brand’s visual language, makes content easier to synthesize, and enhances your audience’s experience. An effective designer should be skilled in design, as well as data visualization. 

Designer resources:

• Behance/Dribbble: Portfolio sites that give you access to thousands of freelancers. You can see their portfolios and reviews, ensuring you find the right designer for the job.
• Visage: A super easy design tool from our sister company that lets non-designers design all sorts of visual content, including charts and social assets. (Using tools like this to design the little stuff frees your actual designers up to work on more important pieces.)
• Data Visualization 101 e-book: An awesome (free!) primer for designing some of the most common charts and graphs. 

Note: Depending on the type of content you’re creating (e.g., static vs. interactive vs. video), you may also need additional players here, including: 

• Developers: Learn more about the keys to make great interactive content. 
• Video pros: See our guide to create brand video, or check out our tips for choosing a video agency.
• Audio pros: Podcasting, sound mixing, composing—there are all sorts of experts with specialized skills who can drastically elevate your content.

Writer

If you’re lucky, you can find an expert and a writer. However, those two do not often come in the same package. A good story is lost if you don’t tell it the right way, which is why it’s so important to hire a solid writer who can communicate your message (in your voice). A word of warning: Just because someone can type words does not mean they are a writer. You need someone who can produce quality, compelling copy. 

Writer resources:

• Ann Handley: A great blog from a content expert that includes useful tips, tools, and thoughts on creating compelling copy.
• Headline Analyzer: A handy tool that analyzes and scores headlines for emotional and SEO impact.
• Hemingway Editor: An easy way to upgrade your writing, you just copy/paste your text and get recommendations for how to improve.
• Tips to Write Compelling Messaging: Good tips to tell a better brand story. 

3) Content Distribution Roles

You’ve heard it a million times. Good content is nothing without an audience. Your distribution team is the conduit to get your content in front of the right people. The right team will help you build a following on social, grow your email list, get placements in major publications, and gain visibility through partnerships to increase brand awareness and get conversions.

Distribution Strategist

To make a big impact with your content, you need to get in front of the right people. This is where a distribution expert comes in. Someone in this role has contacts at major publications, knows what type of content is going to land with publishers, forms smart relationships with other brands, and knows how to strategize earned and paid placement. A distribution strategist should also strive to extend your reach through partnerships with publications and influencers, including guest posts, content campaigns, etc. 

Distribution strategist resources:

• Muck Rack: A database that helps you find journalists in your industry.
• Boomerang: A great Gmail tool to schedule and follow-up on pitches.
• Respona: Tips to find influencers in your niche.
• The Ultimate Guide to Content Distribution: Our handy guide on all things distribution, from optimizing your content for distribution to pitching journalists.
• How to Pitch Like a Content Agency: Our best tips to get publisher placement. 

Email Marketer

There is nothing more powerful than a captive audience. Your email list is your gold mine. This role is all about nurturing and growing that relationship to increase conversions. Your email marketer should focus on best practices, effective subject lines, A/B testing, powerful CTAs, and anything else needed to strategize. 

Email marketer resources:

• Sumo: A great suite of tools to help you optimize your site to increase conversions, including heat maps, list builder popups, social sharing buttons, CTAs, and more.  
• HubSpot: All-in-one marketing software that helps every aspect of your machine, from analytics and CTAs to landing pages and SEO.
• Unbounce: Easy-to-build landing pages to help you convert leads (great blog, too).

Social Media Expert

Remember when “social media guru” was on everyone’s business card? That title has started to fizzle out, thankfully, but social is only continuing to evolve. You need someone to stay ahead of the curve. A social media expert should be immersed in social culture and best practices, find tactics for engaging your audience (especially through paid social), strategize distribution, and put your brand’s best foot forward on social.

Social media expert resources:

• Social Media Examiner: An industry publication with news, tips, and tricks.
• NUVI: A helpful real-time social monitoring tool.
• BuzzSumo: Insights on the most-shared content on any topic.
• Guide to Choose the Right Metrics for Your Social Strategy: Find out how to track and measure your content on social. 

The Other Folks

While not the core players, there are other roles within your company that can contribute to content marketing success. As always, leveraging what you have at hand will help you stay ahead of the curve.

• Customer advocate: As a brand, your primary content marketing goal is to show that you understand what problems your customers are facing and that you have experience in solving those problems. Regular conversations with sales teams, project managers, and anyone who is client-facing will help you identify those problems.
• Tech support: When your blog crashes, you can’t figure out how to insert an iframe, or you want to explore interactives, you need someone with the tech knowledge to pull it off.
• The wildcard: There are people who work at your company who, while they might not work in marketing, always have great ideas and a unique perspective that your content marketing team can benefit from. These weirdos can be your secret weapon; use them!

How to Support Your Content Marketing Team (Even More)

No matter how equipped your content marketing team is, there are always times when you might need a little extra help. Whether you’re looking to learn more or get an extra pair of hands for a big launch, you can always turn to the pros. 

• If you’re not sure what to outsource, here’s how to figure out if you need an agency or freelancer.
• If you need a content agency, here are 12 things to look for in a content marketing agency and our best tips to collaborate effectively once you find the right partner. 

Of course, we’re always happy to chat about how to support your team the way you need.

If you’re at the visual identity stage of your branding (or rebranding), there are many things to think about. What are you trying to communicate through your visual identity? What do you need to include? How do you make sure it’s applied the right way? It can feel a bit intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be.

Here, we’ll walk you through the things you need to include in your visual identity and the things you might want to consider adding, along with our free visual identity checklist and our best tips to make designing it a bit easier.

Before You Start

Know that all of the components we mention here are for a detailed visual identity, ideal for brands that create a wide variety of content (e.g., interactives, video, motion graphics, etc.). Naturally, different brands have different needs (say, a lean startup vs. a global corporation), so it’s important to think about your needs now and how your brand might evolve as you go forward.

We like to think of a visual identity like buying a car. You might order the top-line model with the powerful engine, sunroof, and leather seats. You might just need a basic model to get around town. Or you might upgrade that basic model with a bike rack and stereo system for your weekend adventures.

Ultimately, there is no one-size-fits-all template. It’s really about assessing your specific needs. So, with that said, let’s talk about what makes a good visual identity—no matter what it includes. (BTW, before we dive in, you should also see our Ultimate Guide to Build a Brand Identity and download your free brand identity toolkit to make the process easier for yourself.)

What Makes a Good Visual Identity?

A strong visual identity isn’t pretty; it’s purposeful, helping you communicate who you are, no matter the medium. More specifically, a good visual identity is:

• Distinct: It’s unique and stands out from the crowd. (Think of iconic brands like Nike or Apple.)
• Memorable: It makes an impression. 
• Scalable: It should be able to grow with your brand, whether you’re branching out into new products, services, or even new industries. As you go through the process of designing, remember that you aren’t just designing for today. You’re designing for your brand’s future.
• Flexible: It works across different mediums, such as web, print, etc.
• Cohesive: Every piece works together. Thus, your content stays consistent.
• Easy to apply: You want to equip your brand designers (and any content creators) with the tools they need to properly do their job, so it needs to be intuitive to use. 

What to Include In Your Visual Identity

Again, depending on the space you play in and the type of content you create, you can customize your visual identity according to your needs. However, there are some core basics that all brands need: 

• Logo
• Color palette
• Typography

Beyond that, you’ll want to consider:

• Photography
• Illustration
• Iconography
• Data visualization

Designing these elements well is crucial to your brand’s success, but it takes care and intent to do it successfully. 

FYI
Things can get a bit chaotic, depending on how many people are involved in your visual identity design. Know who needs to approve each element of the identity, and create a reasonable timeline (with built-in approval stages) to make sure everyone is on the same page throughout the process.

Your Visual Identity Checklist

We’ve helped many brands bring their visual identities to life, and we’ve learned something from each one—including the big pitfalls to avoid and the little things that can make a huge difference in your final outcome. Here’s how we suggest you tackle each element as efficiently and effectively as possible. 

We’ve also created this handy checklist to get you through the process from start to finish.

1) Logo

Your first goal is to design a strong but flexible logo that reflects your brand personality and is easy to apply.

Tips

• Design in black-and-white first to make sure the design stands on its own (without the influence of color).
• Ensure the logo design works for web and print.
• Test that it renders well at small sizes. 

To find out how to get through the process with less stress, check out our step-by-step guide to design a logo you love, and find out what logo mistakes to avoid. You can also take a look at these 15 examples of brands with an awesome identity for early inspiration.

Example: We created a new visual identity for the Expanded Special Project for Elimination of Neglected Tropical Diseases (ESPEN), a WHO organization on a mission to eliminate five specific tropical diseases. To bring their mission to life, we created a symbolic logo that features a rendering of the African continent, made of five bars: one for each disease they’re battling.

2) Color Palette

Color is a highly emotional element of branding, but it’s a bit tricky because people’s emotional response to different colors can be so subjective. For your brand, it’s important to curate a simple but flexible palette that you feel best represents your personality. You also need to build a comprehensive palette that allows designers enough options to work with—without overwhelming them. 

Tips

• Choose 1 main color, along with…
  • 2 primary colors
  • 3-5 complementary colors
  • 2 accent colors
• Make sure colors can render correctly on screen.

For more on the science of color and how to select the right palette, see our guide to find the right colors for your brand.

Example: The Visage visual identity includes a bright and bold color palette to reflect the brand’s personality.

3) Typography

We think of branding like building a house. You start with your foundation, then build from there. If you think of your logo and colors as a foundation, typography is simply the natural extension of the visual language. 

Tips

• Typography should be influenced by the shape and style of your logo, as you always want a complementary and cohesive look.
• Identify a primary, secondary, and tertiary typeface.
• Consider mixing serif and sans serif. 
• Test for legibility in print and on screen. (FYI, a 2012 study from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin found that larger font sizes can foster a stronger emotional connection.)

For more on where to find typefaces, how to choose them, and more, see our guide to choose the right typography for your brand.

4) Photography

Photography is more important than ever now that so much of your brand story is communicated through images. If you’re using people-centric imagery, be cognizant of your viewer and how imagery reflects upon your brand (e.g., diversity and gender). A good visual identity will dictate how to select and treat photography. 

Tips 

• Use consistent, cohesive visual styles.
• Ensure imagery is high quality and high resolution.
• Be mindful of inclusive representation.

A note on stock photography: People love to harangue brands for using it. While it is a widespread problem, you can still create a unique design treatment that turns a bland stock image into a photograph that tells your brand story. Just make sure you clearly lay out the dos and don’t for things like filters, design treatments, resolution, etc.

To learn more about the role of images in storytelling, see Fabrik Brand’s guide to brand photography.

Example: Visage provides direction for photo treatments, specifying the color, text, and photo quality.

5) Illustration

Developing a unique illustration style is a smart way to visually brand your content, but you don’t want to go overboard. You also want to ensure the style is replicable (especially when you have multiple designers creating branded content).

Tips 

• Choose a single style.
• Keep it simple. (Use illustrations to visually enhance, not overwhelm.)
• For character illustration, be cognizant of how you’re depicting people, characters, or products.

To figure out how to illustrate your brand, follow Smashing Magazine‘s tips for drawing a strong visual identity.

Example: Our Popcorn Project interactive site for Girl’s Inc. uses animation and illustration to communicate the brand’s personality.

6) Iconography

Iconography is a visual shorthand to communicate info quickly and simply. That said, the goal of iconography is clarity and understanding—not to show off your artistry. 

Tips

• Avoid clipart. Custom iconography is preferred.
• Make sure the image is relevant to the subject and that the symbolism makes sense. (Run them by someone else to make sure they do make sense.)
• Don’t mix and match illustration styles—choose a consistent style.
• Double-check that icons render clearly at small sizes.

Remember: Iconography is part art, part science, so you want to make sure things are as clear as possible. For more tips, see Design Systems’ complete guide to iconography.

Example: The packaging for Trezo d’Haiti coffee includes iconography that is clear, simple, and on-brand.

7) Data Visualization

Not every brand needs data visualization guidelines, but as data becomes more pervasive, it’s wise to create them, as design can significantly affect a reader’s understanding of data.

Great design enhances data comprehension and makes it easier for the reader to consume. Bad design skews or misrepresents data and erodes trust in a brand. Thus, when designing data visualization guidelines, make sure to follow best practices.

Tips

• Avoid chart junk. (If it doesn’t help enhance comprehension, it doesn’t need to be there.)
• Avoid clashing patterns. (Use color instead.) 
• Don’t over-illustrate or use 3D charts.
• Order data intuitively (alphabetically, ascending, or descending).

If you’re not familiar with designing data, find out how to design the most common charts and graphs with our Data Visualization 101 guide, and check out these 25 tips to improve your data visualizations. 

Example: The HP 20/20 white paper features stylized data visualization in the brand’s signature colors, creating a cohesive feel overall.  

Don’t Forget Your Brand Style Guide

To make sure your visual identity is applied correctly, you need a comprehensive brand style guide that shows your team (and any outsiders you might be collaborating with) how to create on-brand content every time.

If you haven’t created one before or your current one needs an update, find out how to build a brand style guide that people will actually use. 

How to Complete Your Brand

A visual identity is only one aspect of your brand. Make sure your team is equipped with the tools they need to communicate who you are, what you do, and why people should choose your brand by building a comprehensive brand identity. 

• Identify your Brand Heart. Start with our free Brand Heart workbook, and see our complete guide to build a brand strategy to build a strong brand from the ground up.
• Find your personality and voice. Start with these 5 tips to find your brand personality, and use our free questionnaire to find your brand voice.
• Articulate your brand messaging. Fill out your brand messaging framework to identify your tagline, value prop, and messaging pillars, and follow our tips to write compelling messaging that converts.
• Tell your brand story effectively. Follow our tips to brainstorm strong brand story ideas, and check out our guide to create high-quality content.

But if you get stuck, don’t be afraid to bring in expert help. Find out how to choose the right creative agency for you. And if you need help with any part of your brand strategy, find out what it’s like to work with us on your brand identity or hit us up. 

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: Content marketing isn’t about creating content. It’s about creating the right type of content—content that grabs attention, connects with people, and keeps them coming back for more. To be successful, you need to serve quality content consistently and give people what they need at every stage of the customer journey. In short, you need to produce the right content marketing mix. But how do you figure out what that is? Good thing you’ve come to the right place.

Good Content Marketing = Good Content Strategy

As much as we wish there were one single formula for the right marketing mix, it really depends on a specific brand’s needs. The problem is that many brands don’t have a solid content marketing plan—or even goals—and so they struggle to create content that is truly effective.

This is evident in the Content Marketing Institute’s 2021 B2B Content Marketing: Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends report, where marketers cited the top two biggest challenges that hindered their success:

1. Content creation challenges
2. Strategy challenges

Without the right strategy, creating the right content is incredibly difficult. Hence, we take a strategy-first approach to creating the right content mix.

How to Curate the Right Marketing Mix

The steps we’ve outlined here will help you craft an editorial plan to reach the right audience across all channels—and avoid some of the common pitfalls in content creation. Naturally, the ideas you come up with will be unique to your brand, but following these steps will ensure you’re creating a well-rounded editorial calendar from the jump.

1) Understand what content your audience needs at each stage of the customer journey.

Look, a long-time brand loyalist doesn’t need to hear the same messaging that someone who’s never encountered your brand before does. Take a look at your content operation as a whole, and make sure you’re addressing customers across the journey: awareness, consideration, analysis, purchase, and loyalty. For example, you may be putting all your energy toward awareness content when you should create a little more consideration or analysis content. Look for the content gaps in your journey, and brainstorm ideas to fill them. 

Tip: Use our free template to craft marketing personas that outline who your audience is, what they need, and how you solve their pain points. Then use our guide to map your customer journey at each stage. With this insight, you can brainstorm a better variety of ideas that will truly fit your audience’s needs and wants.

2) Experiment with different formats.

The marketing world is constantly evolving. Trends change, distribution platforms change, and consumer tastes change. This is especially true when it comes to content formats. You probably know firsthand that just because one type of content was popular a few years ago doesn’t mean it will be popular forever (hi, BuzzFeed quizzes!). If you want to be successful in content marketing, you need to deliver the right message via the right package.

There are so many formats that can help you engage your audience, from infographics and ebooks to motion graphics and videos. As you brainstorm ideas, think critically about the most effective way to present them. (This is especially important depending on the distribution channels you’re using. Things like video are better for certain platforms over others.)

This is by no means a comprehensive list, and some formats can fit well into other stages, but here is a general example of how different formats can help you connect at different stages of the customer journey:

• Awareness: Infographics, whitepapers, e-books
• Consideration: Blog posts, social posts, online articles
• Analysis: Webinars, demos, explainer videos
• Purchase: Case studies, testimonials, free trials
• Loyalty: Newsletters, special offers, follow-up consultations

Tip: For more ideas, find out how to create different campaigns for your customer journey.

3) Choose a sustainable publishing cadence.

To publish the right content marketing mix, you need to serve the right content consistently. This is where editorial planning, resource management, and project coordinating come in. The keys to making this happen: 

• Publishing frequency: This is where many brands get tripped up. If you’re overscheduling content but undersupported in creating that content, your publishing presence will be inconsistent. It’s better to start with a sustainable cadence, then scale from there. What would the sweet spot be for publishing on your blog? Newsletter? Social media? What kinds of posts do people expect to see regularly, semi-regularly, and just every once in a while? This should inform your marketing mix. 
• Scheduling: According to the CMI B2B report, 30% of marketers don’t even use an editorial calendar—yikes. The more organized you are, the easier it will be to publish content consistently, establish a presence, and cultivate the right audience. Use our free editorial calendar template to start. And make sure you’ve built a comprehensive timeline to ensure you move smoothly through each page of production. 

Tip: Find out how a divisible content strategy can help you get more mileage from every piece of content you create.

4) Establish a production process to maximize content creation efficiency.

You may have grand plant to create a documentary series, custom whitepapers, or a comprehensive how-to guide for your service. But if you don’t have the time, funds, or people power to produce it, it doesn’t belong in your marketing mix. If you want to create good content, you have three options:

• In-house: To do this, you need to cultivate a solid infrastructure and process to create content—no matter the medium. Every member of your team should have the knowledge and resources to produce that type of content. For more tips, see our guide to master content creation effectively. 
• Freelancer: They are often easy to get on board, but they make lack the expertise and ability to scale.
• Agency: Successful agencies have expert teams on hand to produce a wide range of content. They are most helpful if you’re looking to create and execute a large content strategy. Find out more about the benefits of working with an agency.

Tip: See our guide to figure out if you should use a freelancer, agency, or your own team. 

5) Measure and study what worked.

Guesswork has no place in content marketing. Knowing your goal and choosing the metrics to measure your success is crucial. Whereas many brands focus on pushing out more and more content, understanding what content is worth putting out is much more important.

For example, for our own marketing, we’ve sunk weeks of work into interactive content that is beautiful and thorough yet less successful than our simple template toolkits. If we didn’t take an analytical look at the results—or were too stubborn to acknowledge that it didn’t resonate the way we hoped it would—we would continue to sink time, energy, and resources into projects that don’t give us the ROI we want. Instead, we’ve chosen to work smarter, not harder on the content we create.

Tip: Find out how to choose the right metrics for your content strategy to track your success effectively, and hold regular post-mortems to review the content you’ve created. Ask yourself:

• What pieces of content were most successful?
• What platforms did they live on, and where were they promoted?
• On what day and time were they published?
• What made them work?
• What can you learn from this?

Once you start to deconstruct what does work, it will be easier to brainstorm your best ideas.

Always Put Strategy First

Finding the perfect content marketing mix is both an art and a science. Ultimately, it takes both critical thinking and courage to try something new. If you’re not sure what your next move should be, focus on the basics:

• What are your goals?
• What does your audience need?
• What content would best deliver what they need?

But if you’re overwhelmed and don’t know where to start, consider turning to the pros. Here are 12 things to look for in a content marketing agency. You can also holler at us. We’d love to help you bring your content strategy to life.

If you want to get eyes on your brand, there is no question: You should start a blog. A blog helps you maintain a steady presence, create content marketing that speaks to people’s needs, establish your brand as a thought leader, and create a stronger relationship with your community. That said, starting the blog is one thing. Keeping it going is another.

Luckily, with some helpful tools, tips, and hacks, you can manage every part of your mini-empire with less stress. Best of all, you don’t have to hunt them down. We’ve rounded up our favorite blog resources to help you launch and grow your blog from day one.

100 Helpful Tools to Start a Blog

From editorial calendars and headline helpers to grammar checks and SEO optimization, these 100 resources will help you with every part of the publishing process. For that reason, we’ve organized these tools by category. We hope you find this list helpful.

Content Strategy

If you want to connect with your readers, you need to deliver high-quality content that is relevant and interesting to them. Before you start a blog, you need to establish your content strategy and brand identity to ensure the content you create is consistent and on-brand.

1) How to Build a Content Strategy: Find out how to plan a complete and effective content strategy from day one.

2) How to Create a Brand Style Guide: Get our tips to create brand guidelines that are easy to use (especially important if you’ll be working with freelancers).

3) How to Create Personas: Follow this guide to create marketing personas that you can vet your ideas through.

4) Make My Persona: Another handy tool to build your personas before you start a blog.

5) How to Find Your Brand Messaging: This framework will help you identify the key messages your content should deliver.

6) How to Find Your Brand Voice: Try these exerci

ses to hone in on your brand voice.

7) How to Use a Divisible Content Strategy: Get the most mileage from the blog content you create with this handy strategy.

Editorial Calendars/Organization

You don’t want to start a blog without a plan to maintain your publishing cadence. Turn to these tools to keep you on schedule.

8) Basecamp: Basecamp gives you a private and secure space to talk about and organize projects with team members. You can track, discuss, and act on various tasks, discussions, deadlines, and files all in one dashboard.

9) ContentCal: ContentCal is a content marketing planning tool that puts everything in one place.

10) CoSchedule: This is the perfect editorial management tool to start a blog. It seamlessly integrates a large library of external content marketing tools, such as Google Docs, WordPress, Google Analytics, and a long list of social media platforms.

11) Divvy HQ: The dashboard gives you a snapshot of what’s due, what’s done, and what the rest of your team is working on (super helpful when you first start a blog). 

12) Edit Flow: Edit Flow provides a WP editorial calendar that gives you the option of having multi-user support, which you can also synchronize with iCal or Google Calendar to keep track of all your projects. 

13) Editorial Calendar: This plugin for WordPress lets you see all your upcoming posts and when they’ll be posted. It’s a simple tool if you mostly just need to manage posts, edit post titles, publish posts.

14) Column Five’s Editorial Calendar: This is a simple Google Doc to get you started.

15) Flow: Flow allows you to effortlessly organize teams, delegate tasks, and prioritize your to-do list to make sure that nothing gets overlooked. It’s easy to see who needs to do what, when it will be completed, and what comes after. 

16) GatherContent: Unlike other content management tools on this list, GatherContent allows you to carry out a project to its entirety on the platform, much like WordPress. 

17) Kapost: This is a great tool if you produce large volumes of content or have numerous team members. Kapost tracks the workflow of content marketing, starting from strategy and execution all the way through distribution.

18) LooseStitch: This is a great tool for companies that outsource content production. It allows you to create concepts and outlines that can be shared with selected users for collaboration. 

19) Marketing.AI: This gives you access to standard calendar features, such as tracking production schedules and task status. You can also keep track of all the stages of content assets and keep track of all content published over time. It’s great for monitoring the impact of all your content marketing efforts.

20) SocialCast: This tool allows you to create posts, assign tasks, collaborate, and track the progress of all your content. It’s easier to talk to team members about content, e-books, and other marketing materials.

21) Story Chief: Try this tool to manage all your content marketing, including blogs, social media, and more.

22) Strive: This editorial calendar plugin helps you manage and master your publishing schedule on WordPress.

23) Trello: While not a proper editorial calendar, Trello can help you keep track of blog-related projects with your team. It uses visual organization techniques to help organize and collaborate across teams smoothly and quickly. 

Design/Images

Strong visuals are crucial when you start a blog. Here are handy resources to bring your brand to life through design.

24) Animate It!: This plugin lets you add cool CSS3 animations to your content.

25) EWWW Image Optimizer: The EWWW Image Optimizer automatically optimizes your images as you upload them onto WordPress and reduces the file size in bulk for images that have already been uploaded.

26) Fotor: Fotor is a fantastic online photo editor that allows you to edit images using filters, frames, text, and more. It’s quick and easy to use and offers many tools to create custom images and collages.

27) Design Wizard: Easy tools to create images and videos.

28) Gimp: Gimp provides you with tools to customize and enhance your images. The program is easy to use and comes with multiple tutorials to help you learn various techniques to create awesome images.

29) File Renamer: This plugin changes the names of your media files directly from the WordPress backend and updates all the links associated with each image.

30) Kaboom Pix: Free stock photos and color palettes.

31) Pexels: Pexels is a great resource for free stock photos that you can use for various projects. The site contains a huge library of images and videos sorted into multiple categories.

32) PhotoPin: Awesome stock photos for free, especially handy when you first start a blog.

33) SEO Friendly Images: This helpful plugin automatically updates all your images with the proper titles and ALT tags so you don’t have to worry about it.

34) Skitch: Skitch lets you draw attention to what’s important through the use of annotations and markups in an easy-to-use app. You can use it on your phone, tablet, or desktop.

35) Visage: Column Five sister company Visage created this easy-to-use design tool that lets you create visual content for your site. There are a number of readymade templates at your disposal, and you can create your own. Sharing with your team is simple and straightforward, letting you complete projects quickly and seamlessly.

36) WP Smush: This plugin optimizes your images so the page loads faster. Smush strips images of unnecessary information, reducing the file size without sacrificing image quality. The best part is that it performs this operation automatically when you upload a media file—and it can optimize your existing images in bulk.

Brainstorming

Creating the right content is the key to connecting with your audience. When you’re ready to start a blog, try these tips to come up with the best ideas.

37) 5 Ways to Know Your Idea Will Work: These are the key questions to ask before you move forward.

38) 10 Tips to Brainstorm Fresh Content Marketing Ideas: This handy guide will help you break through creative blocks.

39) BuzzSumo: BuzzSumo analyzes your audience’s interests so you’ll have a better idea of what they’re attracted to. It looks at your competitor’s sites to see what keywords and content performs best, so you can build upon them and create better resources.

40) Feedly: This tool helps you keep tabs of your industry content. You can take all those blogs and sites and keep them in one place, organized by subject or folder, so you can easily peruse next time you need blog inspiration.

41) Google Trends: Google Trends is the perfect tool to help you determine if your content idea is currently trending. 

42) How to Keep the BS Out of Your Content: These are helpful reminders to ensure your blog content provides true value.

43) How to Curate a Healthy Content Marketing Mix: Our best tips to help you give your audience what they want/need.

44) Hubspot’s Blog Topic Generator: This allows you to input three keywords on a topic and generates several ideas for a blog post.

45) Scoop.It!: This tool is good for queueing up content for your blog. It allows you to search for great content that you can put your spin on and lets you publish it at a later date on various social sites.

46) Quora: A great place to find the questions people are asking.

Editing/Writing

Don’t let sloppy writing distract your audience. Use these resources to become a better writer.

47) 7 Exercises to Write Better Copy: Try these handy exercises to improve your skills.

48) 100 Tools to Write Better Copy: Here’s another roundup of copywriting resources from Column Five.

49) Cliche Finder: Unlike other proofreading tools, this one is designed to specifically filter through your text to determine which phrases have a weaker impact.

50) CoSchedule Headline Analyzer: CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer is the perfect tool for headline optimization, especially if you’re using the CoSchedule calendar plugin. The analyzer will give you tips on how to get the perfect headline, analyzing your word balance, type, and sentiment to let you know what you can do to make your headline better.

51) E.ggTimer: It’s easy to get distracted when you first start a blog. Keep yourself on task with this awesome tool, which lets you create deadlines and countdowns for projects.

52) Emotional Marketing Value Analyzer: This analyzer from the Advanced Marketing Institute returns a score based on the total number of Emotional Marketing Value (EMV) words in relation to the overall number of words that are present in your headline.

53) Grammarly: This browser extension proofreads your text, checking for 250 types of grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors, as well as any form of plagiarism.

54) Hemingway: The Hemingway app is perfect for determining if your text is too dense, too complex, or unreadable. After analyzing your content, it gives you hints on how to improve your text by highlighting words or sections that may need replacing.

55) How to Write Content That Converts: Use these tips to make sure your copy is as effective as possible.

56) ShareThrough: ShareThrough’s headline analyzer uses over 300 unique variables to help you create engaging headlines that will deliver stronger impressions to your audience. 

57) WordPress Distraction Free Writing: If you just want to focus on content (not all the distractions of the WP interface), enable this mode to keep yourself on task. 

Conversion Tools

Once you’ve captured people’s interest through your blog, don’t let them get away. These tools will help you keep in contact and grow your relationship.

58) GetSiteControl: This all-in-one widget lets you do it all. You can create surveys, email and contact forms, popups, and live chat windows.

59) HubSpot: HubSpot helps you attract visitors and convert leads with tools that help you optimize your posts for search engines and social media using inbound marketing. It allows you to create email forms and perfect landing pages to increase your traffic and keep your readers engaged.

60) MailChimp: MailChimp helps you manage campaigns, including email and popup forms. There are a variety of ready-to-use templates to choose from or you can create your own using HTML.

61) OptimizePress: This tool lets you set up easy landing pages for sales, e-books, or whatever you need.

62) Optin Monster: With customizable and easy-to-make lead capture forms, this tool helps you get more email subscribers.

63) Postmatic: Postmatic is an email-based commenting plugin that allows users to subscribe to a post in order to receive notifications, which they can then comment on through email.

64) SumoMe: This plugin gives you a ton of tools to increase conversions and optimize your site, including popups, social sharing, heatmaps, CTAs, and more.

SEO/Site Optimization

Try these tools to make your content more visible.

65) All in One SEO Pack: This plugin optimizes your site for search engines by automatically optimizing titles, overwriting default meta details, and generating the optimal meta keywords for various search engines.

66) Akismet: Akismet is an anti-spam plugin that performs real-time data analysis of millions of sites to block spam automatically.

67) Broken Link Checker: This scans all your posts, pages, images, comments, redirects, and more to ensure that there are no broken links. You can edit directed links straight from the plugin’s page, so you don’t have to manually edit each piece of content.

68) Crowd Control: This plugin was created by Postmatic and is perfect for comment moderating. Instead of manually filtering through comments on your site, Crowd Control gives readers the ability to report comments that they believe are violating your site’s commenting policy.

69) Easy External Links: This plugin is an SEO-friendly external link handler for WordPress. Some features include domain handling and external image hosting support that standardizes the format of external links to create steady on-site SEO.

70) Epoch: This is a commenting/chat experience that uses fully native comments while being compatible with page caching, CDNs, mobile, other comment plugins, and SEO best practices.

71) Google Analytics: This plugin seamlessly connects Google Analytics with WordPress to create a dashboard directly to the backend to help you track downloads, search results, and 404 errors.

72) IntenseDebate Comments: IntenseDebate allows readers to create profiles and build reputations through a comment-voting system. This grants readers the ability to develop a community, which increases social interactions on your site.

73) Jetpack: This plugin gives you visitor stats, security services, speeds up images, and helps you get more traffic.

74) Keyword Planner: This free tool is perfect for researching keywords to determine how difficult it is to rank for a particular search term.

75) Keyword Tool: This tool is linked with Google’s autosuggest feature to generate a list of possible optimal keywords for not only the Google search engine but also Bing and the Apple App Store.

76) KingSumo Headlines: This lets you A/B test headlines, showing different options to each visitor and selecting the best-performing headline over time as readers post and share your content with others.

77) Moz: Moz checks your competitor’s sites to see where they get their links from, what their top pages are, as well as their domain and page authority.

78) Rankie: This WordPress plugin tracks your rankings on Google while keeping a close eye on keywords to help improve your overall search engine exposure.

79) Open in New Window: This handy plugin makes sure external links open in a new window, leaving your page open to ensure consistent on-page SEO ratings. 

80) Premium SEO Pack: This tool optimizes your site for search engines, improving internal link building, optimizing images, handling 301 redirects, and optimizing your site for social media.

81) Redirection: This helpful plugin automatically sets up redirects for posts that have had a URL change. It also provides statistics about how often the redirects are being accessed and where the original links are.

82) SEMrush: This tool analyzes your competitors’ sites to determine where their traffic comes from, which keywords they rank for, and who links to their site.

83) SEO by Squirrly: This plugin is helpful for the non-SEO experts. It helps you create content that is human and search-bot friendly, which helps your site rank better in search results and keep users engaged. 

84) SEOPressor: SEOPressor offers a lot of impressive features to help optimize your blog posts, such as a built-in keyword research tool to find the perfect keywords related to your content. 

85) Ultimate SEO Video Plugin: This is a must-have plugin for any video blogger. The plugin automatically generates schema.org video object markup and automatically fetches SEO details from its video hosting service. 

86) Yoast SEO: This free plugin is your best friend when you start a blog. It has a large list of features that optimize your website, including XML site-mapping and on-page analysis. The comprehensive optimization setting panel allows you to manage each element of the plugin easily to help you understand how well your post is being optimized.

87) wpDiscuz: This tool allows readers to comment on your content, vote comments up or down, and load previous comments in a thread. The plugin also provides support for popular anti-spam plugins available for WordPress.

Distribution

When you start a blog, you might think that good content is everything. But you need eyes on that content. Use these tools to expand your reach.

88) AddThis: AddThis is a great tool to use when trying to publish content on various social sites. It supports over 300 social media services and provides you with a variety of icon designs and sizes and analytical support to update you on what people are sharing across platforms.

89) Better Click to Tweet: This Twitter-specific WordPress plugin makes it easier for visitors to tweet memorable lines and snippets from your content, meaning your content will be shared more frequently across Twitter.

90) Buffer: Buffer makes it easy for readers to quickly share your content on social media while they are reading a blog post. 

91) ContentDJ: This helps you track and plan original content, optimize your posts for social media, and source new content for curation all from the dashboard. It also tracks in-depth metrics like how far your content reaches, how many retweets your content has had, and how many times your content has been clicked on.

92) How to Optimize Your Blog for Distribution: Try these handy tips to make your blog popular.

93) Monarch: Monarch tracks and displays share counts with a built-in statistics tool and also provides an easy-to-use interface that allows you to display social sharing widgets, popover, and fly boxes across your site for popular social networks.

94) ShareThis: ShareThis supports 120 different social channels, allowing your visitors to spread content across multiple platforms, including email, quickly and easily. 

95) Simple Share Buttons Adder: This simple plugin is a no-frills tool that allows you to add basic social buttons, customizing what text and images are shared.

96) Social Metrics Tracker: This tracker collects data across various social sites to tell you which posts are most popular based on the number of shares.

97) Warfare: This tool helps you increase shares through social buttons, tweetable quote boxes within your content, Pinterest-specific images, etc.

98) Ultimate Guide to Content Distribution: This is a must-read before you start a blog, featuring our best tips to get the most eyes on your content.

99) WP Facebook Open Graph Protocol: This fantastic social optimization tool makes sure your posts and pages are displayed properly on Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn.

100) WP Social: This free plugin works seamlessly with other WordPress plugins such as Yoast SEO and All in One SEO to increase your social media traffic. It automatically implements Rich Snippet Tagging to all your content in order to optimize your social media content.

Think we missed any? Let us know what tools you’ve found. And if you need any help launching your blog or creating content, turn to the experts. Follow these tips to find the right content agency for you, or reach out to us. We’d love to chat.

Our partners often come to us with the same problem: They’re eager to establish a presence through their marketing blog by creating engaging content that will transform their audience into lifelong fans—but they don’t know exactly what type of content they should be publishing to achieve this.

We’ve faced this same challenge firsthand. What topics should you cover? What formats should you experiment with? What will make you stand out from your competition? Ultimately, the key to a successful marketing blog comes down to balance. Serve up a healthy mix of the right content, and you’ll attract—and keep—the people you want to build a relationship with.

How to Curate a Well-Balanced Marketing Blog

Through your marketing blog, you can tell your brand story in all sorts of ways to feed many different audiences. But arbitrarily creating this content won’t get the results you want. You need a clear strategy that supports your brand’s goals and serves your audience’s cravings.

We’ve found it can be helpful to think of your marketing blog content as a healthy meal. You need to give people what they need and want, but the balance is tricky. Give them too much junk and you lose credibility; serve too many dense thought leadership pieces and you put everyone to sleep. So how do you serve up the right stuff? Here, we break down what a healthy content diet looks like.

1) Meat (The Nourishing Stuff)

The goal of content marketing is to establish yourself as a trusted resource and build a relationship from there. This starts with establishing your expertise through thorough, high-value content.

What it looks like:

• Strategic research and analysis
• Data-based stories
• White papers, ebooks, guides, in-depth articles

The real meaty stuff is your cornerstone content—these are the big pieces that you can hang your hat on. It may be an “ultimate guide” to a topic you know well. It may be a surprising report that dispels a long-held industry belief. This is the big content that proves you know what you’re talking about, you’re invested in educating your audience, and you are a clear thought leader in your space.

How to make it: 

• Create a hefty guide or ebook. See our tips to write, create, and design your ebooks, and take a look at these excellent ebook examples.
• Dig into your data. Here’s where to look for internal data, how to find stories in your data, and how to design visualizations correctly.
• Know the stories you want to tell. If you’re stumped for ideas, think about the key elements of your brand story: who you are, what you do, why you do it. Use our brand messaging template to identify the three main stories you want to tell, then consider what cornerstone content can help you communicate it.

Note: Having a strong brand strategy is crucial to create the right content strategy. If you haven’t locked down your brand strategy, focus on that first (and see our ultimate guide to building a brand strategy for more tips).

Example: We’ve created a library of ebooks, templates, and toolkits to help establish our expertise and empower people to do better content marketing. 

2) Whole Wheat and Grains (The Filling Stuff)

People are hungry for useful content, and they want a steady diet to consume. That’s exactly what you can deliver with this type of stuff. Beyond the cornerstone content, it’s the smaller pieces that fuel people’s interest in your brand.

What it looks like:

• How-tos/tutorials
• Tips/articles on relevant topics
• Third-party guest posts
• Repurposed older content

One of the keys to a truly healthy marketing blog is publishing with a regular cadence. This type of content is ideal to help you stay connected and maintain a steady presence. It’s often less time-consuming to produce than your larger cornerstone pieces, but it is just as valuable.

How to make it:

• Walk people through a topic or process. Think about the topics or skills that people need to learn. These can be great fodder for how-tos and tutorials. You can also learn about the keys to a great explainer video, and get inspired by these impressive explainer video examples.
• Identify relevant topics. Craft marketing personas to help you understand what your audience is interested in. Then identify 3-5 main topics to brainstorm content ideas around.
• Use existing content to create more content. Pro tip: If you have created cornerstone content, like an ebook, you might do a deeper dive into a topic through a series of articles. Or you might turn the data from a report into an eye-catching infographic. Here are 10 ways to turn your old ebooks into fresh content.

You can also learn how a divisible content strategy lets you get more mileage from the content you already have.

Example: One easy way to offer something of value is to create curate roundups of tips, tools, or examples. Our roundup of 100+ free data sources is especially popular. 

3) Vegetables (The Nutritional Stuff)

This is the type of content that not only feeds people’s needs (like meat and whole grains) but feeds people’s curiosity about your brand in particular. If you want to eventually convert people, this content is crucial.

What it looks like:

• Thought leadership
• Case studies
• Guest contributorships

How to make it:

• Solicit publication partners. Doing a guest post or creating publication-tailored content is a great way to expand your reach and exposure with publications and influencers in your industry. Follow our tips to pitch content ideas like a creative agency would.
• Turn case studies into stories. Case studies can be boring and bland, or they can be compelling and engaging. If you want people to be wow-ed by your work, identify the emotional story. (Psst: It’s always grounded in how your product/service helped a human being.)
• Share your own wins and failures. One of the greatest ways to demonstrate your expertise—and ability to grow—is to tell stories about times you failed but learned a valuable lesson. This lets you connect on a human-to-human level, which helps people feel a stronger kinship with your brand.

For more tips, learn more about the keys to strong brand storytelling.

Example: We collaborated with Newscred to visualize the results of their content marketing survey. This helped us get content in front of their audience while providing valuable insights. 

4) Desserts (The Sweet Stuff)

Everybody loves a sweet snack. This type of content can be more entertaining, light-hearted, humorous, novel, etc. It’s the fun stuff that lets you show off your brand personality.

What it looks like:

• Culture content
• Entertaining videos, stories, articles
• Shareable graphics

How to make it:

• Take people behind the scenes. People want to know people—not brands. So show off the people behind your brand through culture marketing. For more ideas, try these 5 tips to turn your culture into great content. BTW, it isn’t just potential customers who are consuming your content. Potential employees will take a look at your content to get a sense of who you are too. So this type of content can serve two very important purposes.
• Create microcontent. Microcontent is simple, shareable content that helps you entertain and engage with people. A meme, a quote card, a GIF—these little bits and bites are the perfect complement to your content. Find out more about how to make microcontent work for you.
• Share your values. People want to know who you are and what you care about. For more inspiration, here’s how other brands have put their values front and center.

Example: Here’s a shareable infographic we created with LinkedIn Marketing Solutions to help visualize what this perfect mix looks like. 

5) Condiments (The Extra Stuff)

You can make great content, but how do you make sure you really stand out? How do you ensure people enjoy your content everytime? By adding the little things that elevate your brand experience.

What that looks like:

• Helpful links
• Strong point of view
• Brand personality

How to do it:

• Infuse your brand personality. See our guides to define your brand voice and personality if you don’t have an established identity.
• Create a brand style guide. This is especially important if you’re working with an outside agency or freelancer. A style guide ensures your content reflects your brand personality, both in copy and design. See our guide to build your brand guidelines.
• Be informal. Write in second-person (e.g., say “you” instead of “they). This creates a sense of intimacy and makes anything you write feel more personal and relevant.

Get more tips to craft compelling copy that converts.

How to Bring It to Life

Ultimately, the best way to grow your marketing blog is to focus on creating quality content consistently. Even if you don’t publish every day, the key is to start small and scale—sustainably.

• Create a strong production infrastructure. Too often we see brands get bogged down because they have grand ideas but don’t have the resources or infrastructure to actually produce them. To make sure your team is working as efficiently as possible, see our guide to master content creation.
• Assemble the right team. You don’t need a 20-person department, as long as everyone on your team is covering the right roles. Learn more about creating the right content marketing team.
• Try different formats. Experimenting with different mediums is a great way to keep your content fresh. From slideshows and infographics to interactives and videos, there are so many options. Learn more about how different types of visual content can help you tell different stories.

And if you need any extra support for any part of your content marketing operation, turn to the experts. See our tips to find a creative agency, or reach out to us. We’d love to help you serve the perfect content marketing meal—every day.

A great ebook is a huge asset for your brand. It educates people, demonstrates your thought-leadership, and helps you generate leads like nobody’s business. But good content is not enough; it’s good ebook design that really draws readers in. From an attention-grabbing cover and sleek data visualizations to unique illustrations and an intuitive layout, there are many ways to use design to keep readers engaged. But what does good design look like IRL? Here, we’ve rounded up 75 excellent ebook examples from around the web. 

75 Amazing Ebook Examples

From content marketing and big data to social media and web design, here are 75 interactive and static ebooks that feature A+ design. We hope these ebook examples give you the inspiration you need to create an ebook that really connects with your audience.

1) Web UI Design for the Human Eye by UXPin

Your ebook design doesn’t have to be complicated. A simple bold and graphic treatment is a great way to grab attention.

2) Elegant Web UI Design Techniques: Flat Design & Colors by UXPin

Cover design is everything, and a bright and colorful treatment is sure to turn heads.

3) The Future of Data by Import.io/David White

A thematic cover is a great way to enhance content. This beautiful abstract data visualization looks like its own art piece—a great way to reinforce the theme.

4) The Future of Marketing by Shift Communications

This design notably stands out because of its hand-drawn aesthetic. Whereas most marketing ebook examples are sleek and pristine, this cover is so unique it piques your interest from the jump.

5) The Video Marketing Handbook by Vidyard

Again, a simple cover can be a much wanted break from content overload (especially in a social media feed), so using color and typography intentionally is a smart move.

6) Predictive Analytics and the Future of PR by Shift Communication

The brackets around the “PR” here are particularly clever, as they use a common coding element to reinforce the theme (analytics).

7) The Ultimate Guide to Effective Data Collection by Social Cops

This ebook example uses just the right amount of color to create an eye-catching cover without overwhelming the viewer.  

8) The Field Guide to Human-Centered Design by Design Kit

We just love the simplicity of this design, especially the intriguing abstract shapes.

9) The Freelancer’s Bible by Route1 Print

Using things like callouts and a strong hierarchy, as this ebook example does, is a great way to help readers easily navigate content.

10) The Experience Optimization Playbook by Optimizely

Subtle design can also be a nice touch, as this “playbook” theme shows. The design is simple but effective, as the symbols create a nice border for the text.

11) The Joy of Data-Driven Storytelling by Leslie Bradshaw

This ebook adds colorful whimsy via illustration, commuincating the “joy” of data—not just the dull numbers.

12) Build Smarter with Tech by Dropbox Business

Ebook design doesn’t have to be particularly fancy. Basic illustrations can still bring content to life effectively.

13) Everything You Need to Know About Visual Content by Column Five

Charts, diagrams, and other information design can be tremendously helpful to communicate information quickly and easily, as this ebook proves.

14) Product Management by Intercom

Not all ebooks need to feature a bold palette. Using a minimal palette in brand colors can also work nicely.

15) Data’s Untold Story by RJMetrics

Ebooks that look more like traditional books can be particularly interesting, as this illustration-heavy ebook demonstrates.

16) Rethink the B2B Buyer’s Journey by LinkedIn

By playing with perspective (as in this overhead shot), this image presents a different visual aesthetic that captures attention.

17) The Definitive Guide to Marketing Metrics & Analytics by Marketo

Visualization will always capture attention. This cover is minimal but demonstrates how a marketing ecosystem is interconnected.

18) Create Better Work Together by Dropbox Business

Dropbox does a fantastic job of carrying its brand aesthetic across its properties. Bold typography and a bright palette make their ebooks much more dynamic.

19) How to Produce Better Content Ideas by Mark Johnstone

Whereas many of these ebook examples boast a colorful cover, this black-and-white ebook cover uses shapes and minimal typography to create a clean, minimal aesthetic.

20) The ROI of Great Content by Acrolinx

Unique shapes, pops of color, and an abstract visualization bring this cover to life in an unexpected way.

21) The Creative Aid by Nicole Smith and Richard Tapp

Is this an ebook or a coffee table? The beautiful visuals here make it hard to tell.

22) The Ultimate Guide To Code Reviews by Codacy

This is one of our favorite minimal ebook examples that shows how much impact you can make with minimal imagery.

23) Native Advertising by LinkedIn

LinkedIn uses bright and bold color, balanced by minimal imagery, to bring this cover to life.

24) Grow Your Business Without Increasing Headcount by Firm of the Future and Intuit Quick Books

Illustrations are a great way to enhance book content throughout the chapters.

25) Content Strategy: a Guide for UX Designers by Liam King

This unique ebook uses a single impactful illustration to grab attention.

26) The Beginner’s Guide to Email Marketing by HubSpot

Marketing content is always at risk of being a little too stuffy. This illustration adds more humanity while conveying the theme.

27) The Conversion Marketer’s Guide to Landing Page Copywriting by Unbounce

As an ebook about copywriting, this cover lets typography take the main stage—a smart choice.

28) The Ultimate Guide to Prototyping by UXPin

Again, information design can be a powerful tool to communicate. Injecting visualizations throughout this ebook is a smart way to deliver information quickly and impactfully.

29) Data-Driven Recruiting by LinkedIn

Ultimately, recruiting is about finding the right people, so LinkedIn uses people-centric imagery throughout this ebook to reinforce the theme.

30) Intercom on Jobs-to-be-Done by Intercom

This collage style imagery adds more texture and depth to the design, enhancing the viewer’s experience overall.

31) The History of Graphic Design by Jacob Shourd

Most of the ebook examples featured here are heavy on illustration, but this one is proof that great typography can create a cover just as impactful as an elaborate illustration.

32) Connected Shoppers Report by Salesforce

Here we have another ebook example that uses a visual theme to support the story. This can add more excitement to the content and let you express more creativity throughout your design.

33) B2B Blogging Ebook: Basics, Best Practices and Blunders by MLT Creative

White space is a powerful thing, helping the viewer focus on what really matters.

34) The Ebook Ebook by Kranz Communications

The unique typography here is something to behold (even the watermarked background is a unique touch that elevates the cover).

35) Maximize Your Citrix Workspace by Citrix

For a book about simplicity and clarity, this cover is the perfect choice.

36) The B2B Content Marketing Workbook by Velocity Partners

Typography alone can add plenty of personality; that’s why we love this “hand-drawn” cover.

37) The Essential 8: Top Reports That Every Marketer Needs by Marketo

We love covers that reflect the theme. This cover uses simple design elements to create imagery that piques your interest.

38) The Complete Guide to Influencer Marketing: Strategies, Templates & Tools by Content Marketing Institute

This comic book vibe is a departure from common marketing materials. If they wanted to make us turn our heads, mission accomplished.

39) The Ultimate Guide to HR Analytics by Officevibe

When a cover can instantly elicit an emotion, you know it’s doing something right. This is a great ebook example that brings a smile to our face.

40) The Art of Agile Marketing by Workfront

All we can say is A+ for creativity.

41) The Secret Sauce by LinkedIn

This secret sauce bottle imagery appears throughout the book, as a tasty visual treat.

42) The Definitive Guide to Lead Generation with Facebook Ads by AdEspresso

Yes, this is the second book with a magnet-centric cover, but there’s a reason these images stick. (Sorry, we had to.)

43) The Ultimate Guide to Everything API by Safe Software

Can you tell we have a thing for hand-drawn illustrations? Only because they stand out so much, no matter how simple they are.

44) The Optimization Benchmark Survey by Optimizely

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel with your content design. This is one of those ebook examples that takes a straightforward approach, which works just fine.

45) Attention-Driven Design: 23 Visual Principles for Designing More Persuasive Landing Pages by Unbounce

Some people are bothered by literal visual interpretations, but people are busy. Showing them what an ebook is about via illustration saves them time (and helps you connect with visual learners more effectively).

46) Consumer Banking by Blend

A cool lavender palette is an unexpected color choice for a financial institution, but it makes it stand out.  

47) Windows 10 IT Pro Essentials Support Secrets by Microsoft

The eye-catching pattern here adds a jolt of personality you might not expect.

48) The Essential Guide to Internet Marketing by HubSpot

Putting the main title front and center (literally) helps people instantly understand what the ebook is about

49) Getting Started with Zendesk Talk by Zendesk

Zendesk is all about customer service solutions that help people help people. Using human-centric illustrations is a great way to promote their mission.

50) A Marketer’s Guide to Sales Enablement by Kapost

Photography isn’t always used in marketing ebooks, but it can be a great way to differentiate yourself.

51) The Blueprint of Modern Product Launch Marketing by Kapost

This distinct illustration style, blue brand color, and overall ‘60s vibe showcases the brand’s personality perfectly.

52) 10-Step Guide to Social Link Building by HubSpot

We’ve seen social media logos used in ebook covers, but using the bird/nest visual here is a creative twist.

53) Bright Ideas: IT Customer Stories by Zendesk

This photo grid may be a basic layout, but it keeps it looking clean and minimal.

54) How Live Chat Helps Businesses and Consumers by Zendesk

Again, Zendesk comes through with yet another ebook example featuring people-centric imagery, maintaining a consistent identity across all their content.

55) The Definitive Guide To Marketing Your Business Online by Audience Bloom

This ebook cover isn’t just a cluster of images; it feels dynamic and exciting.

56) The Modern Entrepreneur: How To Build A Successful Startup by Audience Bloom

In business, there are so many cliche ways to depict things. This cover adds a little more creativity with the mix of photography and hand-drawn illustrations.

57) The Ultimate Guide to Event Planning by Expo Logic

We love that this guide almost looks like a really cool textbook. Purple is a less used color that offers a welcome change.

58) The Ultimate Guide to Landing Page Optimization by Unbounce

This cover isn’t very elaborate, but the blue color makes it stand out—and that’s what matters.

INTERACTIVE

59) The Power of Visual Storytelling by Newscred and Getty Images

For an interactive ebook about the power of visual storytelling, you naturally need to lead with strong visuals. This hero photo is a great way to drop you into the story from the first click.

60) Data + Design by Trina Chiasson and Dyanna Gregory

For the data geek, you know that opening image isn’t an abstract mountain range. It’s an area chart—the perfect nod to the subject covered in this interactive.

61) Pixel Perfect Precision by Ustwo

This interactive ebook is marked by clean visuals and bold pops of color to call out the most important information.

62) Interactive Content Marketing for Lead Generation by Ion Interactive

One of the best ways to dress up stock photography is to customize with filters and unique graphic treatments.

63) Guide to Interactive Marketing by Ceros

A clear, easy-to-navigate layout is the key to communicating information effectively. Bold section breaks, callouts, etc. make it easy to consume this information.

64) How to Build a Brand Newsroom by Contently and Ceros

Animated elements bring this guided narrative to life, telling the story in a more engaging way.

65) The Definitive Guide to SEO by Data Dial

The tasteful pops of color, simple iconography, and easy navigation make this interactive a great piece of storytelling.

66) The Definitive Guide to Conversion Optimization by Quick Sprout

The creativity in illustrations is particularly notable, especially for a seemingly dull topic like optimization.

67) 2017 Connected Banking Customer Report by Salesforce

Animations don’t have to be terribly elaborate to be effective. This ebook brings illustrations and data to life with simple movement that creates a more dynamic experience.

68) People for Periods by Column Five

The content design here is particularly unique, letting the user explore the parts of the story they’re most interested in.

69) Email Marketing Strategy Challenges of the Modern Marketer by Campaign Monitor

We love data, and the data visualization motif here is all kinds of cool.

70) From Good Intentions to Great Outcomes: Designing Effective Systems of Instruction and Intervention by Pearson

This is another great example of exploratory storytelling, presenting all the information in a unique way to let the viewer choose their destination.

71) Break Free of Boring B2B by Ceros

There’s nothing boring about this massively creative interactive with splashes of color, photography, and movement.

72) Think City by IBM

The impressive 3D animations here make you feel like you’re in a video game. 10 out of 10.

73) Diversity & Inclusion by Comcast

D&I is all about people, so Comcast also uses people-centric imagery to connect with viewers.

74) Reaching the Summit of Success by Salesforce

We love a theme, and this map-inspired interactive adds a novelty that is refreshing.

75) Chatbots and the Future of Real-Time Communication by Zendesk

Who doesn’t love robots? This interactive ebook smartly brings robots to life through animation.

How to Create Your Own Ebooks

We hope these ebook examples were inspiring, but don’t just stop at inspiration. Follow our tips to bring your next ebook idea to life—as efficiently as possible. 

• Follow best practices. See our complete guide to create an ebook for more tips to improve every part of the process.
• Create a strong design. Here are 30 tips to design better ebooks.
• Work smarter, not harder. If you want to reduce the time and resources you spend on your ebooks, repurpose your existing content. Here’s how to turn your old content into lead-generating ebooks.

And if you need any expert help, we’re here for ya. Let’s chat about how we can help you lighten the load.

Ebooks take a ton of work to create, so it’s always a shame to see great content sabotaged by poor design. Unfortunately, there are plenty of ebook eyesores out there. Unfortunately, bad design isn’t just an oversight; it can hurt your brand.

Ebooks are valuable lead generation tools, but they only work if people engage with the content. A bad cover won’t entice people to see what’s inside. Dense blocks of text will make them tune out. And a mislabeled chart will have them questioning your credibility. That’s why great ebook design is so important.

How to Design a Better Ebook

Even the best designers can overlook design issues, so it’s important to take a final pass before you send any ebook out the door. To help you cover all your bases, we’ve compiled a helpful list of 30 ebook design tips. (We also broke them down by category for easy reference.) Use it as a checklist to make sure your design is as strong as possible—every single time. 

The Basics

1) Create an eye-catching cover.

The cardinal sin of ebook design is a boring or distracting cover. Design a compelling, eye-catching visual that communicates the theme and entices people to see what’s inside. (This goes for your thumbnail images, too.)

Example: Marketo uses a bold, graphic, and colorful cover to grab attention. 

2) Apply your brand identity.

A visual language is crucial to communicate your brand story across all marketing content. Make sure your design adheres to your color palette, typography, illustration style, etc. (If you don’t have a visual language, find out how to build a brand identity and create brand guidelines to help people apply it.)

Note: While your ebook should reflect your brand identity, avoid over-branding: Too many logos, CTAs, or brand mentions will make your ebook feel like a sales brochure instead of marketing content. 

3) Use the correct dimensions.

You want to present content in its most optimal form. Where will your ebook live? Do you want people to be able to print it out if they want to? Double-check that you have the appropriate dimensions and resolution.

4) Make your TOC clickable.

Anything you can do to improve user experience will be much appreciated. Hyperlinking your TOC so that it jumps right to a specific chapter makes navigating the content so much easier, especially if someone is looking for specific information. 

5) Confirm page numbers are correct.

The devil is in the details. No matter how sure you are, take another pass to make sure every page is correct and in the proper order.

Color

6) Limit your colors. 

Don’t go color crazy. A good rule is to use 1 or 2 dominant colors, plus 2-3 accent colors.

7) Keep colors consistent. 

Don’t arbitrarily use colors from page to page, especially for elements like charts and graphs. Stick to one consistent color to highlight pertinent info or data points.

8) Use strong contrast. 

This makes it easier for people to distinguish between colors, especially for color-blind people. 

Example: HubSpot uses contrasting brand colors throughout their ebooks. 

Data Visualization

9) Choose correct data visualizations.

There are many types of charts you can use to display data, but choosing the right presentation is crucial if you want to deliver information in its most impactful form. For example, if you want to compare data, it may be more effective to use one grouped bar chart instead of three individual bar charts. 

Of course, not all designers are well-versed in data design, so it’s important to do your due diligence. See our guide to design the most common charts and graphs.

Example: HubSpot makes it easy to compare data sets with a simple, clean grouped bar chart. 

10) Optimize for comprehension. 

Good data visualization isn’t just about displaying information; it’s about enhancing the comprehension of that information. Beyond chart choice, small design tweaks can improve or interrupt the way people perceive data. (For example, things like 3D charts or patterns on a bar chart can skew perception.) To ensure you’re presenting content as effectively as possible, see these 25 tips to improve your visualizations.

11) Triple-check your chart labels.

Make sure all numbers, labels, and legends are present and accurate. It’s a little thing, but it’s also one of the most common mistakes we see when in data visualizations across all content.

Imagery & Illustration

12) Choose a visual theme.

Strong imagery and illustration elevates your ebook design and enhances the story. That said, make sure you choose a theme that makes sense for the content. Remember: Design is meant to enhance—never distract.

Example: Secret Sauce: How LinkedIn Turns Up the Heat on Their LinkedIn Marketing Campaigns is a LinkedIn guide to help marketers make the most of the platform. The ebook features a culinary theme, including LinkedIn-branded sauce bottles and chili peppers in the brand’s signature blue color. This is a clever and playful way to bring the content to life. 

13) Use a single illustration style. 

Consistency is the key to good design. You don’t want to add to visual clutter, so stick to a specific style, and use illustration sparingly. If you can’t justify why an illustration enhances the design, ditch it.

14) Use intuitive icons. 

This is a common problem in corporate communication. Icons are either too generic (e.g., a lightbulb to represent an idea) or too abstract to understand. Again, focus on how your iconography can enhance comprehension. 

15) Avoid stock photos (if you can). 

If you must, at least add filters or other elements to customize the image.

16) Be aware of who you’re depicting. 

Whether you’re using stock or custom photography, be mindful of who you’re depicting. You may want to add more diversity of ethnicity, gender, etc. to better connect with your audience.  

17) Check your resolution. 

Pixelated images are the bane of a designer’s existence. Always work with hi-res images (and double check that they’re rendering appropriately).

Layout

18) Create a clear visual hierarchy. 

You want to help the reader easily navigate content and identify the most pertinent info, so create a consistent and intuitive layout. Note: While you can be creative with your visuals, don’t get too creative with the actual hierarchy. Mixing it up page to page can be disruptive to the reader. 

19) Add white space. 

If content is too crammed, readers feel fatigued. Let the visuals breathe, and cut copy if you need to. Also, beware of visual junk. Kill any unnecessary ornamental illustrations, imagery, and chart junk. (This is an easy way to get more white space.)

20) Highlight important information.

Use headers, pull quotes, and sidebars to draw attention to the most important insights. This is another huge help to your reader. 

Example: Marketo integrates callouts throughout the ebook, making it easy to glean information at a glance.

21) Be mindful of length.

We’ve seen ebooks double in size simply because the designer injected elaborate chapter breaks or filler pages. While you don’t want to cram, you do want to be economical with your space. 

22) Avoid redundancy.

If you have a chart title, section header, and callout that all say the same thing, condense and cut. Design is there to improve comprehension, not overly explain.

23) Double-check your alignment.

The eye craves symmetry and balance. Watch for alignment in your body copy, as well as sidebars and headers. 

24) Keep it simple. 

Things like overly ornate borders or footers usually just distract. Clean, simple design is always a safe bet.

Typography

25) Limit your fonts.

Use no more than 3 or 4 fonts total, and keep type styles consistent throughout. See our guide to find the best typography for your brand for more guidance. 

26) Distinguish your hyperlinks.

If content is hyperlinked in a PDF, make sure it is underlined or color-coded so that people know to click. (And double-check that it works!) 

27) Don’t over-design your text.

Legibility is everything. Sometimes designers get too creative with things like headers or chapter breaks, adding all sorts of detail and illustration that actually make it harder to read the text. 

Example: Blend uses simple typography and a clear hierarchy to guide readers through the content. 

28) Check for widows and orphans.

Do a final pass to make sure you’ve caught them all.

29) Eliminate inconsistent spacing.

Make sure your tracking, leading, kerning, and paragraph spacing are all on point.

30) Be mindful of text size.

Your audience may be reading the ebook on a variety of devices, from desktop to smartphone. Make sure text will be legible regardless of device. 

Don’t Be Afraid to Experiment With Your Ebook Design

No matter how talented you are, you can always learn something or try something new with your ebooks. If you’re looking to mix it up:

• Take a look at these awesome ebook design examples for some good inspiration.
• See our complete guide to create awesome ebooks. 
• Learn how to turn your ebook design into different pieces of content.

But if you’re still feeling stuck and need some design help, let’s talk.  

Over the last decade, research has confirmed that companies that put design first are consistently more successful.

• In 2014, the Design Management Institute found that design-driven companies such as Apple and Coca-Cola have outperformed the S&P 500 by 228% over a 10-year period.
• In 2018, a McKinsey study found that design-focused companies saw 32 percentage points higher revenue growth and 56 percentage points higher TRS growth over a 5-year period.

“Good design matters whether your company focuses on physical goods, digital products, services, or some combination of these.”
—McKinsey (The Business Value of Design, 2018)

For the most part, this conversation has largely focused on the design of physical goods and UX, yet there is another application for design that can greatly improve the health of your organization: visual communication.

How Good Design Benefits Your Brand

The foundation of a healthy company is good communication. The more effectively your team communicates with each other, the more effectively you can do your work. The better you communicate with your customers, the easier it is to give them exactly what they need.

But good communication can be challenging (or even blocked) in an organization for a variety of reasons. When teams are siloed, information is buried, or data isn’t easily understood, valuable communication isn’t shared, and that can affect everything from company culture to major business decisions.

Even if you don’t have those blockers, not all communication is “good” communication. In an era where the majority of content is disseminated digitally (email, social media, etc.), people can easily suffer from information overload. Thus, company-wide memos go unread, reports collect dust in your servers, and emails are quickly scanned before a meeting. How much meaningful communication gets missed or ignored entirely? Too much.

How, then, do you help your team communicate more effectively both inside and outside your company walls? By using visual communication. Like any type of communication, it’s not just what you say but how you say it. Well-designed visual communication isn’t just about adding pictures to things to make them pretty. Design targets a viewer’s brain, enhancing the efficacy, impact, and experience of information. For a brand, this can have many benefits.

1) Appeal

Design elements such as shape and color stimulate the visual cortex. This is a pre-wired response that attracts viewers to visual cues, making them want to interact with your content. Whether you’re trying to persuade your boss to give you more budget or reach a new audience, applying design principles can help you…

• Differentiate from your competition.
• Capture (and keep) your reader’s attention.
• Make your content more enjoyable to consume.

2) Comprehension and retention

As visual creatures, we benefit from seeing the big picture. (A study by neuroscientists at MIT found that visual information is processed in as few as 13 milliseconds.) Visualizing relationships, values, or sequences can increase and expedite comprehension exponentially. Good information design also helps readers recall information later. This makes visual communication a powerful tool to…

• Deliver valuable insights effectively so nothing gets lost in dull spreadsheets or dense reports.
• Save the viewer time and energy by presenting content in an easy-to-digest format.
• Make branded content more memorable, helping you create a deeper relationship with potential customers.

Example: To see how design instantly helps your brain comprehend information (specifically data), take a look at this video.

3) Brand reputation

Poor design is a subtle plague that is widespread in organizations. Picture the last deck you or someone on your team sent to a key customer. Was it designed to deliver the information with the most impact, or were you just rushing to get it off your to-do list? Good design isn’t just a nice-to-have. If your presentation is cluttered with pixelated images and misaligned formatting, it can be downright embarrassing. Through strong visual communication, you can…

• Deliver a consistent brand experience from start to finish.
• Reinforce your brand story.
• Preserve your brand integrity.

Tl;dr: Good design boosts the impact of every piece of communication, from client reports to blog posts, increasing the value of the content you create.

How to Use Design Across Your Organization

When it comes to design, organizations tend to focus their resources on a small handful of external-facing projects due to time and budget constraints. However, everyone in your organization can be empowered to incorporate design thinking into their everyday work. Just follow these tips to identify your biggest communication challenges and apply design solutions to improve communication at every level.

1) Assess your current efforts.

Ask yourself the following questions to identify the best opportunities to incorporate and improve visual communication across your organization.

• Why do we create communication the way we currently do?
• What is the most important content we produce for both external and internal audiences?
• What vital message do we need to deliver more effectively?
• What are the use-cases that can benefit most from better visual communication?
• What are the most painful and redundant reports and presentations we create?
• What are the communication contexts in which people are forced to fend for themselves in PowerPoint, Keynote, and other tools, and how can we empower them to best represent our brand?

Tip: One helpful way to view these questions is to think about what your most valuable pieces of communication are. Sales collateral, reports, etc. are often the things that influence key decision-making, so they may benefit from the visual treatment.

2) Prioritize areas of focus.

Now that you’ve identified the areas that can incorporate more visual communication, think about which ones are most valuable to your brand (both internally and externally). We often break this down into three key areas of focus.

EMPLOYER BRAND

• Culture content: Although it may seem insignificant, design can greatly enhance the way people experience your employer brand. Would you rather get a dull email inviting you to a virtual game night, or an entertaining flyer with the promise of a custom award for the winner? See our guide to culture marketing for more ways to cultivate a strong culture through content.
• Recruiting: Want to show potential employees what your company looks like? Visual communication is a great way to do it. Whether you visualize the demographic data of your company (e.g., gender breakdown of leadership), provide a virtual office tour, or spotlight current employees, visuals help bring your brand to life in unique ways.

Example: Ben & Jerry’s features a visual timeline of the company’s history on their site. This adds personality while walking people through their 40+-year journey.

BUSINESS

• Reporting: Reports contain key information that shows progress, influences decision-making, and guides strategy. Whether it’s a report for a client, a marketing report to get more budget, or your annual report, good design and data visualization can make these insights much easier to consume. See our guide to create reports for more best practices.
• Sales content: Anything that is meant to sway a customer can probably benefit from a visual makeover, including sales decks, explainer videos, and other collateral. Best of all, if you can use visual content to deliver information your reps often have to repeat, you can let the content do the heavy lifting and let salespeople use their energy to engage more deeply with current and prospective customers.

Example: In just under 2 minutes, this simple video by Visa explains how Visa Purchase Alerts protects you from fraud. It’s a great way to educate customers quickly and effectively.

MARKETING

• Content: When speaking to the masses, you’re competing for both time and attention. Ensuring that your content is both engaging and delivers real value is vital. Whether you’re creating microcontent for social media, unique interactives, lead-generating ebooks, or shareable infographics, design can transform the way people experience your content.

Example: We partnered with NYS STOP-DWI Foundation on a PSA campaign to encourage young people not to drink and drive. Through a variety of visual content, including infographics, checklists, and explainers, the organization was able to effectively reach their audience across channels.

3) Establish a visual identity.

Whether you’re designing visual communication for internal or external use, you need a strong visual language to ensure consistency and strengthen your brand’s presence across all touchpoints.

You might not flip the switch and make all of your content on brand instantly, but you need to have these conversations, build strong guidelines, and empower content creators to apply them correctly.

Tip: See our guides to build a brand identity and create strong brand guidelines. Remember to include elements such as data visualization in your guidelines, as that is an often overlooked piece of visual communication.

4) Educate your team.

Across your organization, there are important team members collectively shaping the sum total of experiences that define your actual brand.

The good news is you don’t necessarily need a huge internal design team to create strong visual communication. Refresher tutorials in presentation software or basic design principles can help your team produce more effective content all around.

Tip: Explore design tools like Visage to make it easy for non-designers to create content, and find out which common mistakes to avoid in your visual content.

5) Optimize your content creation process.

Some large brands spend exorbitant sums to create a strong identity—but lack the tools and infrastructure to support the broader team to execute it. (We’ve heard this complaint for years from clients at major corporations.) In these cases, people often choose to do nothing for fear of creating something that might upset the “brand police.”

The solution? Create a seamless process. Make assets easily accessible, provide templates, and use checklists to make it easy and less stressful to create branded visual content.

Tip: See our guide to improve your content creation process to help your team create on-brand content across your organization.

Bring In Expert Help If You Need It

If you follow these steps, you will ultimately save your most skilled design resources (time and money) by empowering the rest of your team to do the fundamentals properly. Even better, your design team will appreciate being freed up to focus on the most creative and visible projects.

Tip: If you don’t have easy access to an expert design team, follow our tips to find the right content agency for you.

You can’t become a design-focused company overnight, but we hope these steps will help you approach design more holistically throughout your organization. You just have to start where you are, and improve from there. The more you embrace design, the more effective your brand will be—especially when it comes to your marketing efforts.

If you’re looking for more ways to improve your content…

• Find out how to think like a designer.
• Download The Ultimate Guide to Visual Content Marketing to learn about how to incorporate it into your content strategy.
• Experiment with these 7 design styles to mix up your content.

And if you need any support or guidance to bring your brand to life through design, let’s talk.