Try keeping up with the demand for content and you’ll quickly understand how tough it is. You need to develop a high volume of high-quality assets. And without a well-organized content production process, your organization will quickly find itself behind the 8-ball.
Workflows, worksheets, and templates are critical to getting a process launched and refined.
Below, we explore the three best ways to do it, and provide you with the templates you need to be successful.
1. Develop Content Marketing Workflows
To be successful at content marketing, you need more than a strategy. You need workflows that outline exactly how that content will be produced, edited, published, and tracked, who is responsible for each asset, when your content will be published, and where it will be published.
Workflows will vary from organization to organization. However, there are fundamental attributes that apply across the board. To build your own workflow, follow these five steps for each campaign. If you’re like most marketers, and don’t have the capacity to develop a brand new system, download our customizable workflow templates, which you can incorporate immediately into your content marketing production process.
2. Build Content Pillars
Producing enough content is one of the biggest challenges for marketers today. What many content creators don’t realize is that you don’t have to come up with a fresh new idea for each asset—you can repurpose the large campaign assets you already have. We call these large assets “content pillars.”
Content pillars—including (but not limited to) eBooks, presentations, webinars, and reports—usually address one content theme head on. They can be broken up and turned into derivative assets, equipping you with the content for every stage of the sales funnel. A single pillar can generate 200+ assets that will help drive traffic, populate your editorial calendar, convert prospects, and meet customer needs.
Want to build one for your campaign? Check out our step-by-step worksheet.
3. Create a Campaign Flowchart
Content campaigns require cross-team collaboration. Any one campaign usually involves a myriad of assets and contributions from people across your organization.
The best way to stay on top of all these moving pieces? A campaign flowchart.
A campaign flowchart is a diagram that reveals how all of the assets in your campaign connect. It includes the pillar asset anchoring the campaign and each supporting asset, from emails to social media posts.
Campaign flowcharts keep your inbound and outbound teams on track, reveal gaps in your campaign’s progression, and display the ideal path of your users/readers.
Create your own campaign flowchart by following the steps in our template.
Don’t lose sight of the larger campaign goals by trying to reinvent the production process wheel for your organization. Incorporate these templates and bring your content marketing efforts to the next level.