Research from the Content Marketing Institute shows that fewer marketers are documenting their strategy than in 2015. And despite 77% of us using content marketing, only 9% of companies consider content marketing to be very effective.
9% is not a number to be proud of. And it’s proven that those who document their content marketing achieve a higher level of success. This makes documenting your content marketing strategy an easy win. And in short, a damn good idea.
At Fresh Source Digital we document everything. We document so much in fact that even Google Drive struggles to deal with us. If in doubt, we stick it in a folder – but we record everything. Days are frequently dedicated solely to documenting process, progress and wearing ourselves out with numbers and data. And if you want proof of how it works; we generated 112 qualified leads and 29 sales qualified leads for our most recent client in a three month period.
Documenting your content marketing is essential. And it leads to, well, more leads.
And AND we’ve made it a little bit easier. Read on for what to document at each stage of your content marketing campaign.
Preparation
Map out your buying personas – figure out who makes the decisions, their pains and create a concise profile for them.
Write the things they would say to figure out the fact they need you – ie “I’m not generating enough leads. How to I figure out the most effective ROI for each channel to better the use of my marketing budget…”
Map out the buying journey – each phase from awareness to completion, and how they would move from one to the other.
Research the channels your target personas inhabit
Map out what to measure for each channel
Come up with content titles and formats for each stage of buying journey – Each content must have a purpose – don’t create content for the sake of creating content
Create a final funnel – this should include goals for each stage of the funnel that you can measure, from visits and awareness, right through to sales and business won
Here is a handy guide on how effective different type of content are, taken from Content Marketing Institute.
Boom – you’re finally ready! You go live… now what?
Below is a simple guide on what to look out for daily, and what to focus on monthly at a macro level:
Just by setting goals and getting something down on paper, something tangible you can measure, you’re putting yourself ahead of the curve when it comes to content marketing.
You can learn more about the things you should be monitoring and looking for in our free eGuide, available by clicking the banner below.
