Hello and welcome to the 96th edition of Fresh Salmon.

In the last edition of Fresh Salmon, I published exclusive insights on the evolution of the B2B Creator Ecosystem, which was well received by you all. 

In less than 48 hours after publishing, it became my most popular post ever! If you are new to Fresh Salmon or missed out the last edition, you can check out the post here.

State of Email Newsletters Report

Beehiiv, the newsletter platform, just released their “State of Email Newsletters” report based on the usage data of 4.5 billion emails sent in 2023 on their platform.

Core Newsletter Engagement Statistics across the board were: 

• Delivery Rate = 98%

• Open Rate = 38.7%

• CTR = 1.8%

Among the top performing categories were:

1. Venture Capital = 50.4% Open Rate 

2. Sports = 47.5% Open Rate

3. Food & drink = 45.3% Open Rate

Honestly, I'm surprised by how well the Food & Drink Category performed.

The worst performing categories were:

1. Cryptocurrency = 24.3% Open Rate 

2. Blockchain = 25% Open Rate 

3. Psychology = 26.1% Open Rate 

4. Art = 27.9% Open Rate 

5. Education = 28.5% Open Rate 

6. Marketing = 29.7% Open Rate (..smh!) 

Fresh Salmon Engagement Stats:

Open Rate ~ 43%

CTR ~ 4.2%

Once again, I can’t thank you enough for your continued support, much appreciated!

You can read the full report here.

Content Has Changed

The B2B marketing landscape has changed in the most exciting way ever. 

A decade ago, the biggest asset for B2B brands was their blog. The entire content strategy was to drive traffic to it, and convert visitors into leads.

But today the game has changed…

Media consumption habits have changed among the general population, creating exciting opportunities for B2B marketers. 

The distribution of multimedia content has become the new frontier for reaching and captivating the target audience. 

In the ever-evolving world of B2B marketing to position yourself for long-term success is only possible if you are embracing this shift and building a media-first content strategy.

It is no longer sufficient to rely solely on text-based content and search engine optimization. Increasingly, B2B brands are focusing on creating media content to build an audience. 

A media-first strategy is helping companies achieve remarkable results. With the use of talk shows, podcasts, and other audio-video media formats, they are engaging their audiences and building brand affinity.

All of these changes to content have resulted in the birth of the new content flywheel.

The New Content Flywheel

Take your content strategy to the next level with the ultimate content flywheel, where video podcasts reign supreme!

In this dynamic approach, you will begin by creating an engaging video podcast, which will be the cornerstone of your content strategy.

You can imagine your full-length video podcast making waves on platforms such as YouTube, engaging audiences with its enriched, visual storytelling. But that's just the beginning!

Next, we slice and dice the content into bite-sized, shareable clips appropriate for social media. You can use these snippets to capture the attention of scrolling audiences, offering them a taste of your amazing content.

The full audio version of your podcast finds a home across various podcast networks, including Apple, Spotify, Google, and Amazon. It ensures that your message reaches listeners wherever they are, maximizing your reach.

But wait, there's more! 

You then turn your podcast into an insightful blog post, including key takeaways and a written debrief. By doing so, you will enhance your SEO while also appealing to those who prefer reading over listening or watching.

Finally, this rich, multifaceted content is seamlessly distributed across your website and newsletter, ensuring none of your audience is left out.

Embrace the new era of content creation with the ultimate content flywheel, where every piece of content works in harmony to enhance your message and engage your audience like never before!

Goodbye Resource Centers, Welcome Media Rooms

Following the adoption of a media-first content strategy, and the creation of a content flywheel, it is important to provide your audience with a digital home where they can subscribe to your content and indulge in a guilt-free content binge.

This is why it’s important to host all the content assets that you created as part of your content flywheel to have a place on your website.

But this is where it gets interesting. . .

I believe that the old school “Resource” section isn’t enough to hold so much multi-format content in an organized way that would create a seamless experience for the visitors. 

And what about serving personalized content recommendations?

You want to think like companies like Netflix and Hulu when providing content experiences to your visitors.

Instead of “Resource Center”, your website needs a “Media Room”. 

A Media Room where you will showcase your content from videos, podcasts, blog posts, ebooks, etc. 

A couple of examples of companies who have already adopted the “Media Room” approach are: Nearbound.com and AudiencePlus.

In fact, AudiencePlus is the multi-format CMS software behind both of the companies I mentioned. So, shout-out to AudiencePlus! 

OpenAI’s Custom GPT Store is Open

OpenAI's GPT Store, a space where users can share custom chatbots, finally launched today (i.e. Wed, Jan 10th) following a monthslong delay. 

By adding the store to ChatGPT, OpenAI is expanding its ecosystem beyond what it provides to its clients.

I created the "Strategic Analyzer" – your personal Gartner Analyst in the digital realm. With this tool, you get in-depth competitive analysis with snazzy Executive Summaries for any business.

Try it for free here → the "Strategic Analyzer"!

Interesting Thing That I Read This Week

💥 Start hiring creators on your marketing team.

Tweet That I Noticed This Week

This feature announcement email is awesome!

The secret here is connecting their story (Feature announcement) with the hook (Oppenheimer movie). Masterful!

What Do You Think?

This concludes this edition of Fresh Salmon.

I would like to hear what you thought of today's newsletter.

Also, let’s connect on Twitter, LinkedIn, or TikTok.

Cheers,

Vivek

PS. I love you ❤️