We’re sold on the value of content because we develop it for clients regularly. Yet, we understand many professionals must justify the investment for decision makers. There’s no shortage of useful articles online that can help with this, some of which we share below. But, here we combine our experience with other good ideas to help you draft an effective internal proposal.
”B2B marketing departments need to build out their internal content teams.” —Crap. The Content Marketing Deluge., Velocity Partners
Agree on the Definition
The term content marketing can be misleading. Though content itself is an essential part of the strategy, it should stand apart from marketing efforts. Providing useful or entertaining content that customers value grants you permission to leverage it in your content marketing efforts.
“The essence of this content strategy is the belief that if we, as businesses, deliver consistent, ongoing, valuable information to buyers, they ultimately reward us with their business.” —58 Social Media Tips for Content Marketing, Content Marketing Institute, via Michele Linn
Invest for Engagement
Content marketing efforts are not new. It’s just become more important. As we are each exposed to hundreds of sales messages each day, our brains grow increasingly adept at tuning them out. Content can provide relief from that.
In fact, content is likely to become more essential to marketing initiatives going forward. The number of consumers devoting screen time to computers, smartphones, and tablets grows each day. That means increased exposure to social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. It’s valuable to participate in those arenas, but social engagement demands content.
In any case, why rely on websites, ads, and marketing alone when you can build a more qualified audience yourself?
“The content marketing imperative will become clear for more brands that want to survive (or at least stop wasting their marketing dollars).” —Michael Brenner, B2B Marketing Insider
Combine, Refine, Re-purpose
Good content has become part of the basic “social media contract.” High quality content can attract interest, build awareness, and encourage sharing. Outstanding content can help promote sales, brand loyalty, and referrals.
So, at minimum, you want content to raise awareness and help acquire qualified leads. Content marketing efforts can also serve as an on-ramp for solutions selling and other marketing.
But consider implications of the investment going forward. The more quality content you create, the more you own. This facilitates more opportunities to repackage it into other formats. As your posts and pages add up, you can combine them into more comprehensive white papers, e-books, presentations, and videos.
“Exceptional content, like remarkable products, induces conversations and sharing.” —The Grande Guide to B2B Content Marketing, Eloqua
Secure Internal Commitment
Making a business case for content development can be critical to gaining buy-in from decision makers, team members, and internal experts. Getting your strategy down in writing does three things. It makes the plan “real” for all involved, helps justify the resources you’ll dedicate, and provisionally guarantees a baseline amount of content that can be polished and repackaged later.
No doubt, everyone must put operational tasks first each day. But the more commitment you get for content development, the better able you’ll be to evaluate its effectiveness later. This may deserve a post of its own, but make sure you’ve set up the tools that will allow you to get the word out about your content in a smooth, hassle-free way.
“Having been at both large and small organizations, I can tell you content is a struggle no matter where you are.” —Michael Brenner, B2B Marketing Insider
Allocate Sufficient Resources
Consensus seems to be that at least 25% of your marketing efforts should be dedicated to content development. That sounds reasonable if you’re working with external resources to help create it. We’d submit the estimate should be much higher if you develop it in-house.
“Agile content development is best executed by a partner that has strategy, production, and analytics under one roof, combining what agencies traditionally do best with what production companies traditionally do best.”
“This eliminates the communication slowdowns of the old model, and makes the process more efficient, more cost-effective, and more cohesive for the consumer.” —The 3 Keys to Agile Content Development, Alex Krawitz and Eugene Chung, Co.Create
Outline Your Goals
What’s the best case result you’re looking for? What minimum threshold must it meet to continue past the first phase? Perhaps also beyond the scope of this post, but state what specific social media platform audience numbers you’d like to reach?
“2014 will be the year of brand publishing … Most brands will move from promoting themselves to creating content that is useful to their audiences.” —Michael Brenner, B2B Marketing Insider
Speak To Your Client’s Interests
When writing, narrow down your audience to actual people you know, when possible. Whether professional colleagues, current clients, or prospective customers, it’s easier to generate content for folks you can imagine appreciating it.
Try to envision the biggest challenges these people face in their jobs. What questions would they be asking? Think about how they would type that question into a search engine. Make that question the title of a blog post. How will the content you’d propose to cover help them solve their issues? This should help you generate a list of topics.
Choose Topics Wisely
Be strategic about what you cover. If there’s a shortage of topics directly related to your products or services, be creative. Genuinely entertaining, engaging, or informative content can still invite good exposure.
Consider this cheeky short film (language NSFW) created by Wes Anderson, for example. It features no product placement, yet helps convey the spirit of a fashion brand.
Offer Context and Quality
People value practical ideas from credible sources explained clearly. If you’re not yet an established brand or expert, cite examples how you’ve delivered value for others. Tell your story briefly, emphasizing the unique experience and perspective you bring.
Content usually develops over stages, so allow time for that. Once you finish a draft, it will benefit greatly from second and third substantive edits. This also allows you to generate ideas for images, quotes, information graphics, and diagrams that add value.
Don’t Just Tell
Good content demonstrates. Leverage a careful combination of words, images, diagrams, and video. It requires more time and effort, but will serve you better. Diagrams and information graphics communicate efficiently, provide visual relief, and help reduce overall word count.
“Give buyers engaging, compelling, thoughtful stories and they will gladly give you their attention, respect, and business.” —The New Rules of Content Marketing, Brendan Dell
Execute To A Schedule
An editorial calendar helps constrain seemingly endless work into manageable assignments.
When days get busy and clients are waiting for your work, content marketing and social media engagement are the first initiatives to be sidelined. So work ahead when time allows. Develop several pieces that are good enough to publish. You’re less likely to get crunched at deadline time.
“Great relationships, whether personal or professional, start with asking the right questions and truly listening to what other people have to say.” —Are You Listening? How to Deliver What Your Clients Really Want, Todd McCormick, Silverpop
Measure Results, Adjust As Needed
Don’t expect to calculate a return-on-investment directly from the content itself. You can measure the effectiveness of your other efforts, with an understanding those efforts are hardly possible without the content they’re based on.
“The most valuable lessons are often found in the things that didn’t work, so treat it all as a learning experience that keeps your content constantly fresh and worth talking about.” —A Three Step Approach to Strategic Content Development, Brian Clark
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