It wasn’t too long ago that we weren\u2019t collaborating much across Marketing.<\/p>\n
If I published a blog post on \u201cSEO strategy\u201d, it became a happy coincidence if the YouTube team had covered anything similar that I could use in my post.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n Teams just weren’t creating content cohesively across different verticals. Let\u2019s be honest: We’d grown too large.<\/p>\n On the Blog team, this also meant we had limited non-organic channels to use to get our posts in front of the right audiences.<\/p>\n Today, I’m going to pull back the curtain (sorry, I just saw Wicked<\/em>) on how HubSpot’s Blog team reimagined our approach to content \u2014 transforming what used to be a siloed blog strategy into a dynamic, multi-channel storytelling machine.<\/p>\n (Psst: Curious what else is happening in the world of blogging? Check out our brand-new 2025 State of Blogging report<\/a> with data from 500+ marketers \u2014 the first time we’ve ever run such a comprehensive audit on what’s happening across the blogging landscape.)<\/p>\n When we first started our Original Research program in 2017, something became immediately clear: our blog readers are absolutely obsessed<\/em> with data.<\/p>\n Like, Taylor-Swift-friendship-bracelets-level obsessed.<\/p>\n In our first full year, we drove over 1.4 million views through original research. Turns out, people love data \u2014 regardless of platform.<\/p>\n The challenge? Quality research is pricey and time-consuming. We needed a more strategic approach to not just create research, but to distribute it effectively across multiple channels to make sure we were getting the biggest bang for our research-bucks.<\/p>\n For instance, you shouldn’t have to be a blog reader to access our State of Marketing data \u2014 although, selfishly, I\u2019d love it if you were.<\/p>\n But if instead you’re an avid YouTuber, newsletter subscriber, or IG follower, you should still be able to access the top marketing trends on those platforms, too.<\/p>\n Enter: Media Narratives.<\/p>\n In June 2022, I piloted our first Media Narrative \u2014 a quarterly approach that would transform how we think about research, content, and cross-team collaboration.<\/p>\n What started as an experimental program quickly became a powerful distribution engine for our original research, blog, and brand.<\/p>\n Media Narratives is, at its core, a collection of multimedia content centered around one data-backed theme<\/span>.<\/p>\n Think: A YouTube video, podcast episode, blog post, and a TikTok vid, all discussing the same trending topic and driving traffic towards one final offer.<\/p>\n Each Media Narrative is fueled by the Blog’s original research and expert thought leadership, and always has one corresponding research-backed report.<\/p>\n Let’s break it down in bullet-point format. A Media Narrative consists of:<\/p>\n One targeted, research-backed offer (think: State of Marketing<\/a>, State of Sales, State of AI) \u2026 With original research as the foundation for each individual channel’s content.<\/p>\n And, to-date, Media Narratives have driven over 6<\/span>M+ views<\/strong> to the Blog.<\/p>\n\n How Media Narratives Help Us Solve for Channel Volatility<\/strong><\/p>\n As organic search became increasingly unpredictable in 2024, we developed a brand-new, robust strategy<\/a> that doesn’t just rely on traditional SEO tactics.<\/p>\n But we had another secret weapon, too: Media Narratives.<\/p>\n Media Narratives have helped cushion the blow of search volatility over the past year for two reasons:<\/p>\n Media Narratives leverage multiple distribution channels \u2014 like YouTube, social media, and podcasts \u2014 which help us create content for platforms that are less impacted by the organic tides. In other words, Media Narratives guarantee we don’t have all of our eggs in one basket<\/span>.<\/p>\n We distribute content on all the channels our audience might prefer, so they can decide how, where, and why they want to consume our content.<\/p>\n Well \u2026 Hopefully they’re not asking why.<\/p>\n Plus, we publish content for Media Narratives like \u201cMarketing Budgets: How Much Should Your Team Spend in 2024?\u201d and \u201cThe Top 5 Marketing Challenges Expected Globally in 2025, And How to Overcome Them\u201d \u2014 two topics I’d rather not <\/em>ask a robot about.<\/p>\n Okay, okay \u2014 I know this is an obvious one.<\/p>\n But it’s also surprisingly difficult. Our Blog strategy still relies primarily on organic traffic.<\/p>\n Because, let’s face it \u2026 Social media users aren\u2019t too eager to click on a blog link that takes them off of TikTok. I get it.<\/p>\n But we’ve found it increasingly vital to test content on new channels.<\/p>\n Non-organic content deserves its time to shine<\/strong>. You’ll probably never Google keyword terms like \u201c$400K fighter jets\u201d and \u201cAnti-marketing Liquid Death\u201d, right?<\/p>\n And yet \u2014 and I hope this isn’t too presumptuous \u2014 I think you\u2019d like to read<\/a>, \u201cMartha Stewart, $400K Fighter Jets, and Comedy Writers: How Liquid Death Wins at Anti-Marketing, According to Liquid Death’s VP\u201d.<\/p>\n\n So give it a shot \u2014 share your blog posts via newsletters, social posts, YouTube descriptions, and more. And try out some newer UGC distribution channels, like Substack, Reddit, and Discord.<\/p>\n You want to play by the rules of each platform (cough, cough: Don’t spam your followers) but you should still get creative when it comes to how you get your content out there.<\/p>\n Still curious what other marketers’ are up to? Give our 2025 State of Blogging report<\/a> (with data from 500+ marketers) a read.<\/p>\n We’ve all seen it first-hand: In the age of AI, way too many marketers are getting comfortable publishing generic “5 Marketing Trends” posts straight from the fingertips of good ole\u2019 GPT.<\/p>\n So\u2026 What’s the Batman to ChatGPT\u2019s Robin? Real, human perspectives.<\/p>\nWhy We Launched Our Media Narratives Program<\/strong><\/h2>\n
What is a Media Narrative?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n 15+ in-depth blog posts discussing the subtopics of that overarching report (i.e. \u201ctop marketing challenges\u201d, \u201ctop marketing channels\u201d, \u201cmarketing KPIs to focus on\u201d)
\n Expert interviews
\n Videos
\n Podcast mentions
\n Social content <\/p>\n
\n Media Narratives content helps us compete against AI, since Media Narrative content is too difficult to replicate using AI. You know\u2026 Being focused on human perspectives, and all. <\/p>\nWhat This Means for Marketers [3 Lessons for 2025]<\/strong><\/h2>\n
1. Don’t just rely on search.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
2. Invest in original research.<\/strong><\/h3>\n