Audit Your Content to Document Content Marketing Strategy

The Content Cart
Often Comes Before The Horse
(aka) Content Marketing Strategy
How to Document a Content Marketing
Strategy When You Already Have
Content
Ann M. Gynn
Editor, Content Marketing Institute (@CMIContent)
Consultant/Trainer
IABC Heritage Conference 10/19/15

Content Marketing Defined
A strategic marketing approach
focused on
creating AND distributing
valuable, relevant, and consistent content
to attract and retain a clearly defined
audience
— and, ultimately, to drive profitable
customer action.
Presented by @AnnGynn IABC Heritage Conference 10/19/15

Is Your Strategy Written?

It Makes a Difference
O 60% of marketers with a documented
strategy say their content marketing is
effective
O 32% of marketers with a verbal only strategy
say their content marketing is effective
O 62% of most effective marketers follow
documented strategy “very closely”

Why More Effective?
O Share with the team (internal, external, adjacent)
O Onboard new employees more quickly
O Create and distribute content more deliberately
O Have platform to secure executive support
O Ensure your content marketing strategy aligns to
business goals

Don’t Start from Scratch
O You already have content …
O Newsletters (print and digital)
O Blogs
O Social media posts
O E-books
O White papers
O Videos
O Podcasts
O Infographics
O Collateral (brochure, sell sheet, etc.)
O Magazines

What You Will Discover
in Reverse Engineering
O You already have all the elements – now
you have a documented content
marketing strategy
OR
O You know what elements are missing –
now you can document your content
marketing strategy AND start filling
holes

It’s Audit Time
O Take 5-10 pieces of content in different
formats and distribution channels
O Choose what you consider to be your
most effective and most representative of
your content (TIP: Analytics can be helpful in selection.)
O Now Ask: What is it? What is its purpose?

Checklist Part 1:
What is Content?
Can’t easily answer? Go general or note with a “?” and move on.

What is Content?

Checklist Part 2:
What is Its Purpose?
Can’t easily answer? Go general or note with a “?” and move on.

Content Purpose
WHO WILL WANT TO VIEW?
O Identify a primary target audience
O Add secondary audiences as necessary
TIP: Be as specific as possible for each piece.
TIP: Some businesses develop personas to
describe audience.
NOTE: Your content marketing strategy may
have an umbrella audience and multiple niches

Content Purpose

WHAT’S THE POINT?
O Identify key message, news, information
being delivered in content
WHAT DOES USER GET FROM IT?
O Detail the benefit or takeaway that users
receive by consuming the content
Content Purpose

WHAT DOES THE BUSINESS GET FROM
IT?
O Reason for content investment
O May reflect the call to action or indicate
need for call to action
NOTE: Remember call to action most frequently is a
communication or content marketing goal, not direct business goal
Content Purpose

1 Audit Line Complete

Now What?
O Repeat process 7-9 more times
O Write a draft content marketing strategy

Reminder:
Content Marketing Defined
A strategic marketing approach
focused on
creating AND distributing
valuable, relevant, and consistent content
to attract and retain a clearly defined
audience
— and, ultimately, to drive profitable
customer action.

Cohen & Co.
Content Marketing Strategy
Audience:
O Business owners/decision-makers (could
add geography)
Create and Distribute:
O Craft content in formats friendly to busy
business executives that can be
repurposed across multiple channels,
including print and digital magazines, and
website

Cohen & Co.
Content Marketing Strategy
Content (Valuable, Relevant, Consistent):
O Regularly reveal opportunities, inspire with success
stories, and share accounting/tax insight to help
business owners thrive and their companies to
succeed.
Action (Profitable for Business):
O We invest in content marketing to position the firm as
a great resource for helpful information and expert
insight. We use it as a vehicle to increase the
frequency with which we interact with clients,
strengthen our connections, and introduce ourselves
to prospects.

Cohen & Co.
Content Marketing Strategy Statement
Cohen & Co. reaches out to business owners and leaders through useful
content in formats friendly to busy business executives that can be
repurposed across multiple channels, including print and digital magazines,
and website.
Its content regularly reveals opportunities, inspires with success stories,
and shares accounting/tax insight to help business owners thrive and their
companies to succeed.
Cohen & Co. invests in content marketing to position the firm as the go-to
resource for helpful information and expert insight in these matters. It uses
the content as a vehicle to increase the frequency with which it interacts
with clients, strengthens its connections, and introduces Cohen & Co. to
prospects.

Now What?
O Does this content marketing strategy reflect the
company’s intention?
O Does it align with the company’s business goals?
O Investigate, adjust, seek approval as necessary
O Get final documented content marketing strategy in
writing, secure approval, and SHARE!

Two More Columns:
Measurement & Promotion
O Identify what you want to measure with
your content
O Set content goals and benchmarks
O Explain how they relate to business goals
O Detail how target audience will find out
about your content (content promotion
or amplification)

You really want to test it?
O Have others on your team, in your
organization, or even your customers or
prospects complete the chart
O You’ll see what they know, identify areas
are the weakest, and take steps to
improve communication of the strategy

Resources
O ContentMarketingInstitute.com
O The Essentials of a Documented Content Marketing
Strategy: 36 Questions to Answer
(http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/the-essentials-of-a-documented-content-marketing-strategy-36-
questions-to-answer/)
O Simplify Your Strategy With One-Page Plan
(http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2015/01/simplify-content-marketing-strategy/)
O Hootsuite’s How to Create a Content Marketing
Strategy
(http://blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-create-a-content-marketing-strategy/)
O QuickSprout: The Advanced Guide to Content
Marketing
(http://www.quicksprout.com/the-advanced-guide-to-content-marketing/)

Thank You
O Questions, thoughts to share now?
O Questions after we leave?
O anngynn@gmail.com
O www.twitter.com/AnnGynn
O www.LinkedIn.com/AnnGynn
O 216.235.4566

Audit Your Content to Document Content Marketing Strategy

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