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Content – The Atomic Particle of Marketing: The Definitive Guide to Content Marketing Strategy by Rebecca Lieb


Rebecca Lieb is a strategic advisor, research analyst, keynote speaker, author, and columnist. Her areas of specialization are digital marketing and media, with a concentration in content strategy, content marketing and converged media.

Rebecca works with many of the world’s leading brands on digital marketing innovation. Her clients range from start-ups to non-profits to Fortune 100 brands and regulated industries.

Earlier, she was Altimeter Group’s digital advertising and media analyst, where she published what remains the largest body of research on content marketing, content strategy, and content’s role in paid, owned and earned media.

Prior to that, she was vice president at Econsultancy, where she launched the company’s U.S. operations and prior to that she was was VP and editor-in-chief of The ClickZ Network for over seven years, and for part of that time also ran SearchEngineWatch.com.

She has written two previous books: The Truth About Search Engine Optimization, an Amazon best-seller and Content Marketing which was one of the first books on that topic.

Interesting fact – she is a former former film critic!

The Host’s Perspective:

At the beginning of the book the author explains that 10 years ago, the perceived secret sauce of marketing was search. Before that, it was email. And for the past five years or so, social media has been the shiny object.

Suddenly, all that is changing again. Marketing, she explains, can’t be cutting edge in the digital sphere unless it’s connected to the word “content.”

And for a long-time leader in content marketing like Rebecca Lieb, while she’s delighted that there’s a growing acknowledgment and understanding of the power of content marketing, there are a number of issues that companies are still struggling mightily with that she addresses in the book (along with how to solve them) including:

Why marketers should shift their funds toward content and away from paid channels.

The difference between content marketing and content strategy and why companies are wasting a fortune on the former because they don’t have the latter.

The convergence of paid, earned and owned media and why the marketing effectiveness of organizations that don’t understand this convergence is suffering.

Why companies are making a costly mistake when they organize content around their existing organization instead of organizing around the content. Why companies with a culture of content are more successful in both their marketing initiatives and other success benchmarks such as sales, employee advocacy, customer service, audience engagement, thought leadership and hiring.

If you’re new to content marketing or are perhaps on the fence about what must seem like yet another marketing buzzword, this book will help you firmly understand that content, in all its forms, is the single most critical element of any marketing campaign.

And that’s not going to change.

Listen to the Interview:  

Show Notes

Content – The Atomic Particle of Marketing: The Definitive Guide to Content Marketing Strategy by Rebecca Lieb

Joe Pulizzi’s Books (Amazon.com)

Robert Rose’s Books (Amazon.com) 

Ann Handley’s Books (Amazon.com) 

34 of the Best Non-Marketing Books for Marketers Article by Carla Johnson

Be Like Amazon: Even a Lemonade Stand Can Do It by Jeffrey Eisenberg, Bryan Eisenberg, and Roy H Williams 

Rebecca Lieb’s Website (rebeccalieb.com)

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