Although I am not a fan of marketing buzzwords, “content development”, “content marketing” and “content management” are inescapable these days. In the last week, I’ve presented content development strategies to two companies and attended an educational event on the topic. But what is content development/management/marketing, why should your business engage in content marketing and how should you go about creating the right strategy?

First, think of “content” as anything original you create to communicate with your customers. This can range from a customer newsletter to a press release to a blog post or a YouTube video. This content needs to be relevant, fresh and of value to your customers in order for it to have any impact. With the advent of online and social media, disseminating and managing your content has become more and more important. Also, it helps to have insight into what your customers have found of value in the past (tracking and measuring any content you disseminate is as important as the content itself.)

It’s important for you to engage in content development to connect with your customers, the media, influencers and other relevant external audiences. You want to be connecting with these audiences because if you aren’t, your competitors are. Don’t miss this opportunity to directly communicate with these audiences to build your brand, deliver news (good and bad) and send a message.

While everyone’s strategy will be unique to their particular business and industry, there are a few guiding principles to creating the right strategy:

• You need to be consistent with your communication; whether it’s once a week with a blog post or three times a day with social media or two press releases a month, you have to stick to whatever you decide is the right frequency. All too often I run across a company’s blog that hasn’t been updated in months. There’s no value in starting to develop the content if you aren’t going to follow through.
• You need to have content that is of value to your audience and mirrors your brand character and voice. If your content is of value, your audiences will find a way to share it, creating high-impact word-of-mouth buzz.
• The same content can be repurposed across different channels, but the message should be tailored to each medium. A Facebook post should not be exactly the same as LinkedIn, although the underlying message can be the same.
• Think in terms of visuals to quickly convey or support your message. Again, certain mediums (such as Instagram) are well suited to visuals.

One way to keep your strategy on track is to create a calendar in advance that helps you plan, develop content key messages and think visually. Below is a sample of the headings you might use:

Feeling overwhelmed? Need help getting started or staying committed? Contact me and I can help you navigate Content Management and create a unique strategy to connect with your key audiences.

RTC