Inbound in a sea of sameness - Kathryn Aragon, Head of Content at Sales Hacker _ Ampliz B2B Binge Ampliz Podcast

The question that most content marketers and inbound marketers run into is how do you stand out. I think when we ask this question while thinking tactically, there's so much more to it than meets the eye. Ultimately we need to answer what is inbound? Because inbound is so much more than just creating concepts. It's actually about creating value through our content and creating experiences that are so memorable that people want to come back for more.   

Therefore, it starts with your goals because inbound is a top of funnel thing. You should not necessarily be trying to sell. When you're doing inbound, what you do need to be focusing on is traffic and subscriptions. These are things that are easy to measure, and then some softer skills awareness and engagement. You know you're nailing it if your traffic numbers are high. You are getting your topics right if your subscriptions are extraordinary. You know you're building fans once you see awareness, word-of-mouth, and that your reach is extending. You know you're standing out and if you see real conversations taking place both with you and about you. You know you're building the relationships that will ultimately drive results, but there's no one way to do this. 

There are a series of tasks that you need to be focusing on to make this happen.   So, it always needs to start with quality content. If you get that you're going to attract readers, they will subscribe. You're going to build engagement that will forge a relationship. It will ultimately even attract people who want to be part of your brand, write to you, and show up on your blog. Those are the tasks you need to be doing.   How you do it is going to help your audience, your brand, the product you offer? It's just that you almost need to be testing to figure out the hell now here's what is working for me. At Saleshacker, the thing that I focus on most is quality content, and to achieve that goal, I don't have a team of writers. What I do is I seek out experts who genuinely know their stuff. So we get precise solutions. We don't get general fluffy content and because we don't want to be part of the echo chamber.   

So, if we want genuinely original, precious content and to achieve that, we end up narrowing the focus going deep rather than broad now. It will create value for your audience, but you also need to be aware you have to provide value for your own business. You have to be driving growth. It's important not to get distracted by the bright shiny topics that you might want to cover to achieve results. You need to stay on brand. You need to know what your talking points are. You need to understand what actions you are trying to drive and create content around that.  Now that you've understood that you're providing value for your audience and your brand. How do you create quality? 

There are two ways to do that: 

1. You're going to do a ton of editing. All of your content needs to be easy to read and easy to provide very high value. 

2. Plan your content in four to six weeks in advance. Now that may sound like it's going to tie you down, but in reality, it frees you up.