For marketers in any industry, creating new content can be daunting. No matter how much content you’ve written and designed in the past, it can be hard to know where your next piece should begin.
The key thing to remember is that all great marketing content is as strategic as it is creative. That’s why you need to start with a blueprint before you can dream in full color. Don’t get carried away with creativity before outlining your strategy.
To create a content blueprint that really works, there’s a handful of questions every marketer should ask themselves. Here’s the set of questions we ask at Salesforce before setting out to create any piece of content — including the blog post you’re reading!
HOW DOES THIS CONTENT BENEFIT YOUR AUDIENCE?
Every piece of content should benefit your audience. When thinking of new content to create, start by considering how it can serve your audience and their journey with your brand.
Ask questions like these:
- Which audience (or sub-audience) is this content for?
- Where will this content live?
- How will the audience access the content?
- What stage in the customer lifecycle should this content address?
- What actions should your audience take after reading this content?
The best marketing content provides actionable insights: information that your audience can actually learn from and use in their own lives. Try to research relevant and interesting statistics that you can weave into your content, and provide examples of how your audience can put what they’ve learned into action.
HOW DOES THIS CONTENT REPRESENT YOUR BRAND?
While all content should provide value to your audience, it should also represent your brand well. Consider the values your company is built upon and how your content can represent them.
Ask questions like these:
- What are our brand values?
- Which values does this content represent?
- How will audiences see our brand based on this content?
- How is this content different from existing content on this subject?
- Will external influencers promote this content?
- Does this content meet our standards?
All of the content you create should be designed to tie into one or more of your brand themes.
HOW WILL YOU MEASURE THE SUCCESS OF THIS CONTENT?
What does “successful” marketing content look like today? That depends on what you want your content to achieve. Do you want your content to be widely shared and read by experts in your industry, or are you more interested in generating new leads through a highly-targeted gated content campaign?
Ask questions like these:
- Will this content be gated or ungated?
- Is this content for SEO? Does it have the right keywords?
- Is this content for Share of Voice? Do we have the right experts weighing in?
- Is this content for influencer engagement? Do we have the right ones on board?
- Is this content for a paid campaign? What’s the cost per click?
- How can this content move the audience to the next step with us?
Another major part of content planning is making sure that you know where your content will be distributed and how it will be activated. Consider the right time to publish, and check the news and industry trades to see whether there are moments you can capitalize on.
With thoughtful planning and these key questions, you can create great content that helps your brand connect with audiences and achieve business goals. The right mix of strategy and creativity will set you up for content marketing success with blog posts, social media, and beyond.
Check out more blog posts about content marketing from Pardot.