Content marketing can show great ROI for both B2B and B2C companies, so why do so many companies, even those with dedicated marketing departments, struggle with getting it done effectively and frequently? Content marketing is complex and always changing, and hiring the amount of skilled staff that you would need to do everything from writing to editing, to promoting and social-sharing, is time consuming and costly to keep all functions of content production and promotion in-house. Additionally, implementation of a strong content marketing plan can be overwhelming for many small businesses. 

Each year, our team at Stream Creative is proud to issue our picks for the top Midwest marketing and advertising conferences. With budget and short-distance travel in mind, we’ve lined up a great list for 2016!

My list of posts from last week are all about social channels, live streaming and creating interactive and engaging online experiences for your customers. From Snapchat tutorials, Facebook Carousel ads to interactive content and writing the best meta descriptions - the best articles I read from the past 7 days show the transformation taking place in the world of content marketing to include more visually compelling elements.

Over the last decade, the purpose and functionality of an organization’s website has changed drastically. Websites are now storefronts, sales representatives, customer service personnel and ultimately, an extension of your team. If your website doesn’t tell your company’s story and go above and beyond to address a visitor’s needs, you’re most likely missing out on opportunities to convert a prospect into a customer.

Congratulations! You’ve successfully secured the green light to pursue your inbound marketing campaign dreams. But the biggest challenge you’ll face as an inbound marketer is yet to come and it’s not at all what you might expect.

Successful inbound marketers understand the link between campaign development, content marketing and branding, and the power it holds to staying competitive while boosting ROI. In fact, according to HubSpot’s State of Inbound 2015 Report, companies are three times more likely to see a higher ROI on inbound marketing campaigns than outbound. With the right mix of content contributors and promotion of content, businesses will experience more traffic, engagement, lead generation and sales.

According to HubSpot’s report, organizations that saw the largest increase in ROI from 2014 to 2015, expanded their content creation strategies by employing and including contributions from not only staff writers, but also guest contributors and freelancer / third party writers. Companies that called on fewer guest and staff contributors experienced a definitively lower ROI for the year. What this tells us is that successful inbound content creation, takes as much balance as walking a tight rope.

More and more businesses are discovering the value of using visual content and video as an inbound marketing tool to help generate leads and create loyalty. It is now apparent that marketers do not need to be turned off by the common misconception that video should be produced in a costly way. The reality is, video has an important place in your marketing workflows and it can be quite easy to do – not to mention fun. By far, it is one of the easiest tools you can use to build an emotional connection with your website visitors, prospects and customers.

Most marketers understand the link between content marketing and branding, and the power it holds in regard to staying competitive and boosting your product or service. With the right mix of content marketing strategies, businesses will experience more traffic, engagement, lead generation and sales. Nobody understands this more than Chad Pollitt, VP of Audience and Co-founder of Relevance.com, an online publication dedicated to helping marketing and communications executives solve their online content visibility challenges.

Tasked with a goal to improve your online presence and increase website traffic, your small marketing team and limited budget may initially discourage you. The truth is -- growth strategies do not have to be complicated to be successful.

Inbound Wisconsin is a conference that will give sales and marketing professionals the opportunity to learn strategies with highly actionable instruction that is guaranteed to help businesses grow. The event is in collaboration with HubSpot, Google, Relevance.com and other leading technology companies.