By now, all of us know that content marketing works. The success stories are everywhere around us! But ramping up a small team’s fledgling efforts can be daunting, and there are many roadblocks along the way. We found a great blogpost on Content Marketing Institute by Arnie Kuenn, interviewing 8 content marketing experts on how to overcome these challenges. We really liked it, so we thought we’d give it our usual infographic treatment and turned it into a slideshow here. :) May your content marketing be glorious and fruitful!

1. BREAKTHROUGHS
7
PRESENTS

2. Content marketing works.
But getting it to work can be quite a slog.
Arnie Kuenn from Content Marketing Institute
interviewed 8 content marketing experts on the
challenges content marketers frequently face,
and how to overcome them.
Here they are:

3. FALSE
EXPECTATIONS NO PLAN
NO COMMITMENT

4. 1
LEAD
GENERATION?
BRAND
BUILDING?
WHAT’S
YOUR GOAL?
WHAT’S YOUR PLAN?
IDENTIFY DESIRED AUDIENCE
AND TOPICS THEY CARE ABOUT
HAVE A CONTENT
CALENDAR
KNOW YOUR
COMPETITION
IDENTIFY RESOURCES
YOU NEED
For most businesses, going all-in with content marketing is a journey. The
number one challenge is reaching the ‘maturity’ stage in their journey to
understand that they need to go all-in. If you’re serious about content
marketing (all-in), build the plan and just go do it!
BERNIE BORGES
CEO, FIND AND CONVERT

5. 1
THE TOP 5 MARKETING GOALS IN 2014:
BRAND AWARENESS
ENGAGEMENT LEAD GENERATION
CUSTOMER ACQUISITION
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
Source: http://www.iab.net/media/file/B2BResearch2014.pdf
STATS

6. GREAT, JUST
PUBLISHED MY
BLOGPOST!
DAY 1
WAIT, WHY
AREN’T THERE
RESULTS YET?
DAY 2 DAY 4
I KNEW IT!
MY CONTENT
MARKETING
PLAN FAILED
AGAIN!

7. 2
The world seems to have awoken to the idea that content marketing can improve
your marketing ROI and win business, but many sleep through the part about time.
Going all-in begins with a plan that documents goals, establishes processes, assigns
roles, and measures different degrees of response. You need to factor in good-sized
chunks of time, prepare to invest substantial resources, and refine perpetually.
BARRY FELDMAN
OWNER, FELDMAN CREATIVE

8. 2
STATS
OF MARKETERS HAVE A DOCUMENTED
CONTENT STRATEGY
44%
Source: http://www.iab.net/media/file/B2BResearch2014.pdf

9. my
content
le
content
ze moi
new
blogpost
stuffz
MY
STUFF
FOR
PUBLISHING

10. 3
TOP MANAGEMENT
GREAT JOB! CONTENT
CO
NTENT
CO
NTENT
CENTRALIZED
CONTENT
MARKETING
TEAM
Get beyond ‘random acts of content, where every silo in the organization
creates content at its own cadence and tone, and with no strategic purpose.
It’s often the case that a business will try content marketing in a limited way,
see initial success, and then fail miserably when they try to scale it. The way
through this challenge is by actually providing centralized content marketing
the investment, resources, business processes, and power it needs to thrive.
This can only be done when senior management, quite literally, buys in.
ROBERT ROSE
CHIEF STRATEGIST, CONTENT MARKETING INSTITUTE

12. 4
Most every organization today relies on outdated content production methods.
Until we fix this, we’ll not be able to make content work to maximum benefit.
Think about content strategically, as a business asset worthy
of being produced efficiently and effectively.
SCOTT ABEL
CONTENT MANAGEMENT STRATEGIST, THE CONTENT WRANGLER
COST OF
CREATING,
MANAGING,
DELIVERING
CONTENT.
ROI OF
CONTENT.
TO-DO:

13. 4
OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE
ORGANIZATIONS HAVE
SOMEONE
IN CHARGE
OF CONTENT STRATEGY
86%
Source: http://www.iab.net/media/file/B2BResearch2014.pdf
STATS

14. GREAT
CONTENT NOT
ENOUGH
RESOURCES
POOR
DISTRIBUTION
SYSTEM
INEFFECTIVE
WEBSITE
MARKETING
1.
2.
3.
4.

15. 5
More than great content is needed. Specifically, marketers are so focused on
the need for amazing content that they overlook critical factors.
HEIDI COHEN
ACTIONABLE MARKETING EXPERT, HEIDICOHEN.COM
CREATION DISTRIBUTION CONVERSION
GREAT
CONTENT!
EDITORIAL
DIRECTION
VISUALS &
DESIGN
COPY
EDITING
TECH
1. 4.3.2.
EMAIL LISTS/
WEBSITE
SOCIAL MEDIA
ADS
GUEST BLOGS
ITUNES (PODCASTS)
AMAZON (EBOOKS)
ABOUT OUR PRODUCTS
SIGN UP!
SIGN UP IN JUST ONE SIMPLE STEP!
LANDING PAGES &
PURCHASE PROCESS
MUST BE
EFFICIENT
& EFFECTIVE!

16. NO IDEA WHAT HE’S
SAYING, BUT IT’S
LOUD, SO IT MUST
BE GOOD, RIGHT?
COMPETITOR
GREAT
CONTENT!
WHAT
ABOUT MY
CONTENT...

17. 6
GREAT
CONTENT!
LOOK
HERE,
LOOK
HERE!
WOW!
AWESOME!
MUCH..
CONTENT..
PLEASE..?
LOOK
AT
OUR
GREAT
CONTENT!
If you make it, they will not necessarily come. You need to create
useful content that people actually want to consume — absolutely.
But you also need a great system for making sure people know
that content exists. It takes production and promotion to succeed with content.
JAY BAER
PRESIDENT, CONVINCE & CONVERT

18. 6
THE AVERAGE B2C MARKETER
ENGAGES IN CONTENT PROMOTION ON
SOCIAL MEDIA
PLATFORMS6
Source: http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/B2C_Research_2014-withlinks.pdf
STATS

20. 7
I CAN
HELP!
3RD PARTY CONTENT CREATOR
CONTENT
CO
NTENT
CONTENT
GREAT!
TECHNOLOGY
& SOFTWARE
IDEAS
SCHEDULE
SH
A
R
IN
G
O
U
TR
EA
C
H
CONTENT
TWEETS
SHARES
LEVERAGE
AUTOMATE
SOCIAL MEDIA EMAIL
LANDING PAGE
SEO
BLOGGING
ROI
RESULTS
OUTSOURCE

21. 7
The biggest challenge I hear of is a lack of resources.
Companies know they need to have a content marketing
strategy but they don’t have the time/knowledge to
execute it. As someone who has been in this situation,
external help is often your best bet.
CASIE GILLETTE
DIRECTOR OF ONLINE MARKETING, KOMARKETING ASSOCIATES
Even if you have a small budget, services
like Contently can be extremely helpful.
I used them for six months or so and
it was an easy way to get content created.

22. 7
There are many ways to address not having the time to get
content done. Outsourcing, leveraging, and automation are
your friends when it comes to content!
JON WUEBBEN
CEO, CONTENT LAUNCH
Content technology/intelligence tools like
PaperShare, Inbound Writer, Kapost,
OutBrain and TrapIt... help you get
content done easier and quicker.
A marketing automation tool like
HubSpot will also bring efficiency to your
content operation and, more importantly,
help you measure it to ensure you
get a solid ROI from your efforts.

23. 7
Source: http://www.iab.net/media/file/B2BResearch2014.pdf
OF SMALL
COMPANIES
OURSOURCE
THEIR CONTENT
CREATION.
33%
OF LARGE
ORGANIZATIONS,
72% AND
STATS

24. Great content is just one facet of
a complete customer acquisition strategy!
Visit ReferralCandy.com to learn what else
you can do to earn more customers.

25. CRafTED BY
Sources:
http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2014/05/go-all-in-content-marketing-experts/
http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/B2C _Research_ 2014-withlinks.pdf
http://www.iab.net/media/file/B2BResearch2014.pdf