For CEOs and their marketing teams, two words can spike blood pressure in an instant: content marketing.
It’s daunting to think about all the content you need (or want) to produce, who is going to do that, who has time to do that, which channels to distribute to... the unanswered questions go on, and on.
Let’s take a moment to think about how to approach your content marketing strategy so it’s not such a conundrum. In my experience, a few key steps can make a significant difference in effort, investment, and results.
Build Once, Use Often
Content marketing is one area of your overall strategy where you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. The concept is to build once, then use often.
For example, you could take an already-produced asset—like a long-form ebook—and break it down into:
- Blogs
- Social Media Posts
- Email Copy
- Webinars/Presentations
Conversely, if you have a collection of blogs that are cohesive in messaging, why not put them together for an ebook? Or a webinar?
There’s no need to start from scratch. But, there are a few key considerations to keep top of mind when creating and repurposing content.
Tips for Creating an Efficient Content Marketing Program
First, consistency and frequency are very important—both in messaging and distribution. By ensuring your value proposition stays true throughout, your audience will begin to understand what exactly you do, and why they’ll benefit from your expertise. And, it’s best to get in front of your targets with a Goldilocks approach. You don’t want to be “in their face,” but you also don’t want them to forget about you.
[If you’re uncertain about what your Goldilocks formula looks like, I can help.]
“The concept is to build once, then use often.”
Another recommended approach is to isolate a bucket of topics, and also categories of those topics, that you’re aiming to share with your audience. This usually encompasses questions, objections, sometimes a proof case. When these are clearly defined, it’s much easier to dig down into all the different ways (assets, channels) you can create and share that content.
Finally, no matter how amazing the content is that you create, the reality is not everyone will read it. For example, the best email open rates are 25-30%.
By isolating the categories that are the most important—and continuing to talk about those categories in different ways across different channels—you’re not just creating a content marketing program… you’re creating an efficient content marketing program.
Next Steps
If your company might benefit from some assistance in getting started, here’s how I can weigh in:
- Check out The Strategy Lab to help businesses break the vicious cycle of random acts of marketing through a proven 3-step framework to help them maximize every marketing dollar they spend.
- Let some air out of your marketing strategy “balloon” by exploring a part-time CMO to guide your in-house or outsourced marketing teams. Make sure your tactics have a strategy to stand on. Let's talk specifics.
- If your team needs a strategy primer to finesse your current strategy roadmap, get in touch so we can set up time to discuss timing and cost so you're in good shape moving into 2022.
