Content Marketing has been around for quite some time.

We use it in inbound marketing, we use it in inbound PR, we use it in internal communication, we use it any time we need to interact with an audience. 

Content has become a business asset.

In fact, 88% of B2B content marketers say that creating content makes their audience view their organisation as a credible and trusted resource.  

I learned this from a very cool infographic from my friends over at PointVisible that I want to show you today. 

You can take a look at the full image below but I to run through some of the key statistics from my point of view.

6 Key Facts About the State of Content Marketing

Video is no longer an awareness play, left to big businesses with big agencies and big budgets. 

Video is now everywhere and anyone with a smartphone can play. 

Many brands are jumping on video marketing as they recognise the need for it but are still struggling to create the type of engaging videos that their audience can connect to or be interested in watching until the end. 

Social networks too are placing video at the very front - Facebook launched a whole section that surfaces personalised videos to your interests and past activity, Instagram Live is booming, YouTube is at an all-time high when it comes to usage. 

But creating videos that are personalised and authentic is hard. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn't. And everyone has a different opinion.

Take the latest Gillette ad campaign "We Believe" - it sparked a lot of controversy, some loved it, others really hated it. 

Happy New Year my readers!

I hope 2019 is going to be successful, happy, fruitful, filled with emotions and achievements and the most enriching experiences for all of you! 

As I said last week, I tend to reflect a lot when the year ends. Last week we reviewed the top posts on this blog based on views, this week I want to show you the 12 posts that defined 2018 for me. 

They explore Inbound PR and the book I published about it this year, internal communication, marketing, leadership and social media. 

Below is the selection of my favourite posts per month out of the 51 pieces that I wrote in 2018. 

On to a fabulous 2019 and more PR, inbound PR, marketing and business posts!

The 12 Blog Posts of 2018 that Defined Iliyana's Blog

 Nowadays, millions of organisations around the world do inbound. 

At HubSpot, we began the inbound movement about 13 years ago when we noticed a major shift in the market where customers were beginning to change how they were consuming information and making purchase decisions. 

The inbound movement began with inbound marketing which enabled companies to adjust to this new reality and attract customers to their products and services via content marketing, social media marketing, SEO and other types of owned media. This approach allowed businesses to generate a ton of leads and pass them onto sales to close them as customers. It worked really well and it still does but it's not enough.

Just as 13 years ago, we're now seeing another shift in the market that centres around customers as your biggest driver of revenue growth. 

With that, the definition of inbound and the inbound methodology had to adapt too to help businesses grow better in the 21st century. 

Let me welcome you to the era of Inbound 3.0 and help you understand how you can be a true inbound business. 

Bots, live chat, Facebook Messenger for business... All this conversational marketing stuff is overwhelming, isn't it?  

What's conversational marketing you ask? 

At HubSpot, we define conversational marketing as a new dimension of inbound marketing that allows you to use modern technology like live chat, messenger and bots to connect with your prospects and customers in a human, non-disruptive, speedy way that enables you to exceed their expectations. 

And why do you need to jump on any of this? 

Simple. How people communicate and want to get information about your business is evolving. Consumers are more demanding than ever before. They expect you to be always on, always there, always knowing who they are and how to help them. 

Prospects and customers nowadays want to chat with you at their convenience and get immediate answers to their questions. And because you probably can't afford to hire a 24/7 workforce that's glued to a laptop all the time, you'll need to rely on technology such as bots.