Sophie Bennett
1. What is your business trying to achieve and why?
Always first ask what role content plays in supporting your marketing goals? Then ensure your content is working hard by first defining the scope of each project. This should happen before you start working on an editorial calendar and producing assets.
2. Who is your audience?
Get granular – trying to reach anyone and everyone will leave you reaching no one. Research where your audience hangs out and what kind of content they prefer to consume? Then map out what content will be most useful to them
3. How does the content plan and each specific asset help move your customer along their journey with your brand? How will it result in your business objective being achieved?
The more specific you can be, the more you can create content that is valuable to your audience and their specific needs.
4. Is this format, platform, or piece of technology really necessary?
There are so many digital channels, tools and platforms – rather than jumping from one to another – take a step back and ask, “Does this format, platform or tech work for what we are trying to achieve? Is it suitable for our audience? Is it really necessary?" If it neither serves your audience nor helps drive value to your bottom line, it’s best to admire it from afar. It will also help you keep your budget on track.
5. What are we going to talk about?
When it comes to finding the right topic, always come back to why do you want to create content. Who is the audience that will consume it and find it useful? What information do they need and how can it be delivered so that it adds value to their lives? Look at what your competitors are talking about and ask how you can add to the conversation with a new perspective or how you can share an insight that others haven’t previously?
6. How do you know your content did the job?
Measuring the success of your content can be done much more effectively if you first work out the expectations of each asset or each content campaign. Ask how you will track its effectiveness and prove its value.
Create KPIs with clear goals, rather than just vanity metrics. It’s great if it was shared or liked several hundred times on social media but did it convert or increase leads? Is it working for you the way you need it to?