Fix Your Content Marketing Workflow - Getmintent

FIX YOUR CONTENT MARKETING WORKFLOW Plug the leaks that cost you time, money and revenue

An effective content marketing workflow can help you create better content with less time and cost. A good content marketing workflow funnels all your resources to where it can make the most impact. It’s like filling a bucket. You generate ideas, turn it into content to fill up a calendar, and distribute it on different platforms. There’s opportunities everywhere, but not always the right opportunities to capture your ideal customer. Some people aren’t meant to be on your journey. This is because your target audience doesn’t include the entire world. IDEATION PRODUCTION DISTRIBUTION However, most companies struggle to find content that works, get stuck in confusing and time-consuming revisions, and then feel like their efforts are poured on a distracted audience who doesn’t even see their posts. Your messages are unclear. You’re either saying too much, or not saying it well. You spend hours searching through email threads for information and assets You’re not on the right platforms Your messages are not effective. It sounds good, but it doesn’t bring in sales The revision and approval process is stressful – and always running late You’re not posting consistently EFFECT: INEFFECTIVE CONTENT Your campaign yields no real business results. EFFECT: EXPENSIVE CONTENT It takes twice as long to create a single piece of content. EFFECT: IGNORED CONTENT Your brilliant strategy and creative work has no audience.

“When a marketing campaign fails, companies automatically think “There was something wrong with my idea.” They rarely consider that there was something wrong with the process.” The problem isn’t a lack of creativity or hard work. It’s how you work. Any leaks in the system – poor ideas, inefficient production, erratic distribution – causes you to lose money, time, and opportunities. This book will help you find and plug your leaks and get your ideas (and revenue!) flowing.

What’s in the guide? CHAPTER ONE PG 1. The Leaky Faucet who is your customer? who is not your customer? the 80/20 principle CHAPTER TWO PG 3. The Leaky Bucket you’re leaking content.and money find the leaks plug the leaks CHAPTER THREE PG 6. The Spilled Bucket what’s the best time to post avoid gaps with a content calendar reinvent your content analyze the spills CHAPTER FOUR PG 10. Connect the Bucket don’t drop the bucket connect the bucket to the pipes CHAPTER FIVE PG 12. Get a Leak Proof Bucket how can Mintent help you?

CHAPTER 1 THE LEAKY FAUCET Have you ever had a leaky faucet? It kills your water bill, and the sound of dripping water hitting the bucket drives you crazy at night. A leaky content strategy is just as expensive and noisy. Ideation needs to be controlled with a strategy. You turn on ideas that are aligned with your brand and sales objectives, and turn off ideas that aren’t. To do that, you need to know WHO YOU ARE TALKING TO and WHAT THEY NEED TO HEAR. WHO IS YOUR CUSTOMER? The buyer persona is a fictionalized representation of your target customer. For our purposes, let’s call her Customer Carrie (but you can call him or her anything you want). She is not just a Powerpoint full of graphs and demographics. Data is always a good start, but you have to give it flesh, bones and heart. You are not selling to a statistic, you are engaging a real human being. A good buyer persona helps your team connect to this buyer and sell your product/service/brand as a way to make her life better. Some things to consider: Daily routines Aspirations Pain points Preferences Language / lingo used Reading and social media habits Factors in her purchase decisions Key Influencers Key words and phrases To make Customer Carrie feel very real, phrase those considerations in the first person. Don’t say “She wants value for money.” Say “I am on a tight budget but I’ll spend more if I think it will save me time.” Speaking for Carrie – or more appropriately, letting Carrie speak to you – helps you create relevant, resonating content. You are not selling to a statistic, you are engaging a real human being. 1 Leaky Bucket

WHO IS NOT YOUR CUSTOMER? Out of 10 people that you think falls into your target market, there are a few that won’t buy your product no matter what you do. Think of them as Customer Carrie’s sisters -- Skeptical Susan and Nonchalant Nancy. Or maybe they’re a distant cousin who have similar needs and could buy your product, but have a completely different set of interests and triggers. This is where your faucet leaks the most. Many campaigns are too broad, too general, and too ambitious. Decide who you don’t want to reach. Ask yourself, “Why won’t this customer like us, and what would it take to convince her?” If you have limited resources, you may want to shut off that faucet and direct all your communication streams to the most important market. THE 80/20 PRINCIPLE The Pareto Principle – first used by an economist Vilfredo Pareto – states that 80% of a country’s land was controlled by 20% of the population. It was later adapted by the corporate world to explain that 80% of the sales come from 20% of the customers. 20% 2 80% 1 PICK THE BEST CUSTOMER 2 PICK THE BEST CAMPAIGN 3 PICK THE MOST POWERFUL MESSAGE Find your highest-spending customers and attract more people like them. Replicate your most effective campaigns. Rehash content in new forms. What words always work? Brainstorm on how to echo and amplify. Leaky Bucket

CHAPTER 2 THE LEAKY BUCKET Most companies create and approve content through a combination of Microsoft word, Google Drive, email, and chatrooms like Skype or WhatsApp. It works – if you only have one article and a very linear content production. In reality, content is shuttled across different departments. Requests for information, revision and approval flood everyone’s inboxes, and answers are sent across different platforms. If you’ve ever woken up to over 100 notifications, or wasted valuable time backreading through convoluted chats or email threads, you must sense that this is not a content marketing workflow – it’s a scavenger hunt. Missing information or images Vague creative briefs Confusing communication Multiple layers of approval YOU’RE LEAKING CONTENT AND MONEY It takes twice as much time and water to fill a bucket full of holes, and that’s true for content creation as well. Here’s a simple formula to compute what inefficiency is costing you: Average number of days creating an asset) x [Daily rate of Employee/s Daily Rate of Approving Manager] Cost This does not include opportunity cost. Instead of writing 5 articles, your team has produced 1. Instead of launching a campaign by deadline, you’ve lost several days of sales or missed a potentially powerful viral hashtag. Eventually, the confusion and exhaustion affects not just quantity, but quality. Your team will eventually focus on meeting deadlines rather than standards. You may not feel it, but your customer will. 3 Leaky Bucket

When you improve your workflow, you give your people the best environment to create efficiently and effectively. The idea faucet flows, the content bucket is filled quickly, and you send out messages at the right time to the right people. Eventually, the confusion and exhaustion affects not just quantity, but quality. You may not feel it, but your customer will. Find the Leaks 4 WHO WHAT Who is responsible for which tasks? Who can give the information needed? Who is responsible for approval? Who can represent the interests of other stakeholders? (sales, marketing, client, legal, etc.) In case of conflicting requests, who has the last say? What are the key messages? What content form and platform is this for? What are the goals and metrics for success? What departments are involved, and to what degree can they control the content? What was the feedback on similar content done in the past? WHEN WHERE When is the internal deadline? When should someone from the creative team tag a delay? When should this be published? When are on-ground or other related campaigns going to run? When should this content be republished or repurposed? Where will this content be used? Where can related assets, info and logins be found? Where should drafts and approved materials be saved? Where should comments be sent? Where should approved assets be stored for future reference? Leaky Bucket

In terms of manpower hours, the time and money spent on automating the content management workflow is often equivalent to hiring 2 or 3 more people. Plug the leaks 1 5 ASK THE 4WS AND ASSIGN ROLES, TASKS AND PROCESSES. Every company has its own way of working. Standardize it, and set guidelines and timelines accordingly. 2 SET REALISTIC PRIORITIES AND DEADLINES 3 AUTOMATE WHAT YOU CAN If you have three approving bodies, then take that into account whenever you plan a project. If someone has multiple roles, agree on what has the most weight, and create a back-up plan for the inevitable Hell Week when everything is due yesterday. Templates and project management systems save hours of repetitious tasks and superfluous meetings. Tools like Mintent also allow teams to create and manage a content calendar, share and store assets, comment and revise in one place, and publish to different platforms. In terms of manpower hours, the time and money spent on automating the content management workflow is often equivalent to hiring 2 or 3 more people. Leaky Bucket

CHAPTER 3 THE SPILLED BUCKET What happens after you hit “Publish?” That’s when content marketing, social media marketing and SEO and website user experience all come together. Your blogs, posts, e-books and videos need to be properly delivered to your market. Otherwise, all your hard work goes down the drain. RIGHT TIME RIGHT PLACE RIGHT WAY When is your audience What platforms does she Is this the best format for online? use? that platform? When is she most likely to Is she on mobile or Does she have to work too want this information? desktop? hard to find the information? What stage is she in the buying cycle? Is it easy to save, share or act on this information? WHAT’S THE BEST TIME TO POST? Social media platforms each have their own optimum post times. Your market will have their own quirks, but there are a few general behaviors. 6 Leaky Bucket

FACEBOOK Facebook use tends to drop on Monday and Tuesday, then picks up on Wednesday to Friday. One rule of thumb: the less people feel like thinking, the more likely they’ll be on Facebook. Experiment with posting during the midday slump (1pm or 3pm), or late night when they’re trying to fall asleep LINKEDIN LinkedIn posts are better shared on Monday and Tuesday – and whatever you do, don’t post on Friday when work is the last thing on their minds. LinkedIn is more important for B2B brands or companies who wish to become industry thought leaders. TWITTER AND INSTAGRAM Both tend to have steady use throughout the week. Some social media tools will suggest a peak time, but observe your (and your competitor’s) feeds. Posting is not enough. For both these platforms, you need allocate time every day for liking, following, and replying. YOUTUBE YouTube is a platform that depends less on what time you post, than when you promote what you have. Users are more likely to search for a term, follow a link posted on Facebook, or watch an embedded video on a website. 7 Leaky Bucket