Hey there,

This week, we have guides for some high-level marketing topics, such as competitive intelligence, marketing automation, and integrated marketing communications.

We also dive a little deeper into content marketing, specifically about how to create a content map and the different types of blog posts you can create.

As always, click through to read each post. Or if you’re busy, read the tl;dr below each link.

New on the blog 🎉

A Complete Guide to Competitive Intelligence

Here’s how to build a competitive intelligence program:

1. Identify your direct and indirect competitors – Direct competitors act in the same market as yours and sell similar products, while indirect competitors act in the same market but sell different products that satisfy the same need.

2. Establish key objectives and metrics for each stakeholder – A good starting point is to ask the C-level executives what competitive threats keep them busy at night.

3. Gather data – Collect both external data (i.e., the information available online, sitting on your competitor’s website, social media, review platforms, etc.) and internal data (information that already exists within your business, such as call notes from a sales rep).

4. Analyze data – The most common CI deliverable is the battle card, a sales asset that packs short insights about a specific competitor with the goal of “depositioning” them.

5. Share insights with key stakeholders

The battlecard

What Is Marketing Automation & How to Get Started?

Fraser McCulloch

Marketing automation uses software, tools, or processes to automate repetitive tasks. up time for more important tasks or increases efficiency.

Here’s our seven-step guide to get started.

What Is IMC? Integrated Marketing Communications Explained

Integrated marketing communications (IMC) is the process of unifying a brand’s messaging to make it consistent across all media that the brand uses to reach its target audience.

Here are its best practices:

1. Be consistent with the message you send out to the world

2. Make all your marketing channels work together in the long term

3. The more channels you use, the better—as long as you can find your audience there

4. Split your marketing budget into approximately 60% brand-building and 40% short-term sales-boosting

How to Create a Content Map: Traditional Way & Ahrefs’ Way

Mateusz Makosiewicz

A content map is a document that lists stages of the buyer’s journey for every buyer persona and maps them with relevant content.

Follow these three steps to create your content map and fill any gaps with new content ideas:

1. Create buyer personas

2. Use our template to map existing content for each persona

3. Fill in any gaps in the buyer’s journey

10 Types of Blog Posts & How to Use Them Effectively

Rebecca Liew

When it comes to writing a blog post, there are multiple formats you can use—and it all depends on the goal of your article and what your audience is looking for.

Here are some popular types of blog posts to know:

1. How-to guides

2. Content hubs

3. Expanded definition posts

4. Listicles, aka list posts

5. Expanded list posts

6. News

7. Data studies

8. Case studies

9. Cheat sheets and checklists

10. Templates

What we’re reading 🤓

How We Fought Search Spam on Google in 2021

Google’s WebSpam report for 2021. Google caught 200 times more spam sites in 2021 compared to when it first started, thanks to SpamBrain.

Scammers Snatch up Expired Domains, Vexing Google

Mainstream coverage of SEO and expired domains. Our very own Patrick Stox is quoted several times in this article!

SEO Testing: How to Run Successful SEO Tests

Video

Learn how to run successful SEO tests with Emily Potter and Nick Swan in this episode of Crawling Mondays.

Till next time ;)
Cheers,