Has your marketing and communication team identified the role content marketing plays in your public relations strategy? Producing relevant content that positions your business and its leaders and industry experts, along with collaborating with influential partners, can have a profound effect on your ability to expand reach, expand relationships and strengthen your brand. Part one ofNotable Ways Content Marketing is Making an Impression on PR focused on collaborative content – specifically guest blogs, influencer outreach and establishing partnerships. In part two, the focus shifts to four additional key areas that can improve your brand’s PR evolution and content marketing integration.

While some marketers may have not yet recognized the profound effect content marketing is having on public relations, others are noticing the natural extension both functions form in relationship with one another. Acontent marketing strategy should be representative of your brand and voice, convey your business’ main principles, all while being entertaining, useful and relevant. If you are a PR professional, do these objectives sound much different from the work you are doing to communicate how your business is making an impact on your industry? The bottom line is, both functions of content creation and PR are built on the foundation of establishing relationships and motivating others to become ambassadors for your brand. Check out these key impressions that content marketing has made, and will continue to make on PR:

I like to think of a great content marketing plan like an exceptional server at your favorite restaurant. There are a few key ingredients that go into creating an effective content marketing plan that serves up more visitors, leads and sales.

As if inbound marketing wasn’t exceptional enough as is – it now has its own dedicated week where professionals from around the globe will unite. In partnership with HubSpot and Eventbrite, Inbound Marketing Week will take place June 2nd – 6th, 2014 with a series of events happening globally which will allow professionals to collaborate, share knowledge and ideas, best practices and trends. Whether you'll be hosting your own event or attending one in your area, here are 3 elements to help plan your Inbound Marketing Week:

Day to day, situations present themselves that make human beings naturally skeptical. From weather reports to religious beliefs, aggressive work deadlines, or if a co-workers lunch is actually edible - skepticism represents the absence of knowing all the facts. Information is what converts a skeptic into a full believer.

Like any evangelist, inbound marketing professionals face circumstances where their philosophies and beliefs will be questioned.  Thankfully, the foundation lies in the undeniable proof and statistics that show the impact inbound marketing can make for those who use it successfully. The challenge is effectively communicating facts and examples in a way that is adapted to best make an impact pertaining to the skeptic’s particular service or business. Frank the Tank (Will Ferrell) displays this style best.

If you tap into these 4 characteristics of how an individual’s brain works, you may just transform a skeptic into a believer.

When it comes to inbound marketing plans, kicking off a new campaign can be intimidating whether you are a rookie or a seasoned player. Change yourgame by identifying the way people learn about your company online, align your marketing goals and create the best experience for your prospects. Whether you are planning your first campaign or brushing up on inbound basics, we have 5 must-haves to plan like a pro.

Each year, our Stream Creative team heads to Boston for the annual Inbound conference hosted by HubSpot. The best part about attending the conference is the opportunity we have to meet and network with some of the most creative and talented individuals from around the world. This past November, we came away from the event inspired to bring a similar experience to the sales and marketing professionals of Southeastern Wisconsin. That was when Experience Inbound was born and to be honest, we weren’t sure if anyone would come. Thanks to our event speakers, sponsors and supporters, we were thrilled to have more than 150 attendees join us for the inaugural event. Here are a few of our favorite actionable takeaways our event speakers shared to help boost your inbound efforts in the year ahead.

1. “Traditional marketing is like renting space on someone else’s assets”

Brian Halligan, Co-Founder & CEO of HubSpot

Brian kicked off the morning with a dynamic talk about the future of inbound marketing and sales. He began his discussion by mentioning the brisk walk to the Harley-Davidson^® Museum from the Iron Horse Hotel – which in his compliments to the city of Milwaukee he mentioned was the “nicest place he has ever stayed.” He focused on many key inbound facts and areas of consideration including how to build your marketing assets.

Quick Tip: Marketing assets are thought of very differently today than they were 20 years ago, partly because of the way we now live and work. Instead of interrupting your way to get the attention of prospective buyers or clients through “renting space” on someone else’s assets (traditional advertising), how do you pull them in? That can be achieved through increasing webpages, links, keywords, followers, remarkable content, etc. Brian told us to think about building these assets as if you were building a moat around your business.

Watch a video of Brian Halligan’s Experience Inbound keynote presentation, view his slides and read his interview with Jeff Sherman of OnMilwaukee.com.

When our friends at Hubspot asked me to contribute as a guest “instructor” for their brand-new back-to-school e-book: “ABC’s of Inbound Marketing,” I jumped at the chance to cover “Y” – Youtube. I want to help marketing professionals understand how important and easy incorporating video into your marketing strategies can be and the success you will experience from increased lead generation and stronger customer loyalty.

In a recent post announcing HubSpot’s launch of their new inbound experience and content optimization system, we gave a brief overview of a tool called Social Inbox.  It’s a resource we’ve been testing out with some of our clients and have found that it has an incredible ability to allow sales and marketing representatives to make social initiatives what they always intended to be – a way to personally connect with and address prospects and customers’ needs. While weeding through the clutter can be a challenge, social media and email marketing are highly recognized by company executives, marketing and sales leads as a way to grow business.  Social inbox incorporates functionality that allows for social conversations to be organized and prioritized in a way that better examines marketing analytics and represents ROI.

This week, 5,000+ marketers from around the world have come together in Boston, MA for Inbound 2013 – a four-day event hosted by HubSpot featuring more than 100 keynote sessions, product demonstrations and entertainment.  The Stream Creative team is onsite and not only are we learning from colleagues representing other parts of the country and sharing a bit of our own expertise, we are hearing all about the incredible new product offerings being launched this week by HubSpot.  One of the biggest announcements happened today with the unveiling of The Content Optimization System, Social Inbox and Signals. Here’s the latest on what HubSpot platform users have to look forward to with many more details to come…