In my research I find many companies with content on their websites – white papers, e-books, webinars, etc. Those companies are undoubtedly asking themselves
Is our content really working?
Is it engaging our target audience?
Is it helping us sell?
To answer those questions, we need to first go back to the goals of Content Marketing. I see three key goals in our Content Marketing:
- To get the attention of prospects
- To earn their trust
- To move them though the buying cycle to purchase
While many companies do a decent job with goals 1 and 2, they often don’t have content (or content marketing strategy) to move buyers though their buying processes. Their content is not helping them sell.
How can we ensure our content is doing what we need it to do? And that it is in line with our content marketing strategy? I believe you need to conduct a Content Audit – a systematic analysis of your content to diagnose how it can be improved.
In order to conduct a Content Audit, you follow a process:
Step 1: Gather information for the Audit:
Two key elements are needed:
- Buyer Personas – deep insights on the people who buy your products and services
- Buying Process – the steps buyers go through to acquire your products and services
Step 2: Create your content map (a Campaign Message matrix)
With those two items, you can craft a Campaign Message Matrix. A Campaign Message matrix is a grid with the customer buying process and other variables laid out in a visual manner. (You’ll find a sample Campaign Message Matrix on the Free Tools page at Find New Customers.)
Step 3: Overlay your content and find the gaps
Take your content and lay it over the Campaign Message Matrix. This will enable you to quickly identify empty boxes (gaps) and boxes with too much content (redundancies). Look at each piece of content and ask yourself a few questions:
- Does it focus on what the consumer of the content cares about? In the book, eMarketing for the Complex Sale, it talks of Catch Factors like Urgency, Impact, Effort, Reputation and Intent.
- Is it simple and engaging?
- Is it open and honest? Are you genuinely trying to help?
- Does it contain a Call to Action – something for the person to do?
- Does it tie to the next piece of content, using a “cliff-hanger?”
By laying your content over the Campaign Message Matrix, you’ll find gaps and redundancies. And by asking yourself the questions above, you’ll improve the effectiveness of your content.
A Content Audit is an excellent approach to ensuring your content delivers the goals of a Content Marketing strategy.
About The B2Bblogger: Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor, is President of Find New Customers “Lead Generation Made Simple.” He’s also the author of two highly acclaimed white papers, How to Find New Customers and Definitive Guide to Making Quota, as well the ebook, Prospect Driven Marketing.
Find New Customers helps business develop and implement programs to improve the way they find and acquire new customers using best practices in lead generation.
