“The upshot of every marketing team being a de facto publisher is colloquially known as ‘content chaos’: a scenario of overlapping, invisible, and underused brand assets and collaterals.”— Forrester Research, Inc.
Rampant content chaos drains time and resources and stretches the sanity of marketing teams. Digital marketers today are expected to manage content organization while also crafting relevant content for every internal team.
Talk about a full plate! This is even harder to accomplish when teams work in silos, focused on their specific tasks and neglecting to share plans, campaigns, or marketing materials in a timely way.
The success of B2B organizations often comes down to effective communication with the customers you are both courting and serving, combined with the clarity and quality of your internal communication with employees.
It’s time to get to the root of why content keeps running wild and rein it in with a few key digital content organization tactics.
Get Clear, Then Get Creative
It’s difficult to maintain a one-team, one-mind mentality if digital content organization is always last on the list of priorities.
To avoid content chaos and keep digital marketing assets in check, marketing teams need to start with:
- A clear plan of action that spells out the type of content assets needed for the organization as a whole
- Providing clear, easy access to content, in a central location
- An organized system that details all the different marketing efforts happening at any given time, for every marketing or social media channel
- Knowledge of content gaps
- Insight on content effectiveness and needs shared by all content stakeholders, including sales, field marketers, customer service, etc.
“80% of top-performing companies utilize templates to streamline content production.” —The B2B Marketing Playbook
Even simple additions like content templates can maintain a simple, organized look and serve as a time-saver for digital marketing efforts.
Build the Pillars for Your Digital Content Marketing Organization System
Clarify common goals and initiatives and work toward them
As a B2B organization, your strength is in your ability to connect and resonate with all the different types of people who make purchase decisions within your unique sales pipeline. To build a cohesive buyer’s journey, each internal team needs to understand the big picture and how their efforts fit into it.
Get the ball rolling with these questions:
- What digital channels you use to communicate with customers?
- Do you have well-defined buyer personas?
- Is there a clear outline of the buyer’s journey, and is it working?
- Is there a way to track and report the results of digital assets and how they loop back to a specific stage in the sales pipeline?
- What metrics define the success of campaigns, downloads, click-throughs, social shares, and qualified leads?
Your answer to these questions will help you build the foundation for digital content organization that makes sense for your company and provides an incentive for everyone to get on board.
Build and Religiously Maintain a Master Calendar
It may not be glamorous, but the most powerful tool for any B2B organization is the master calendar.
Hosting the calendar in a shared content repository allows each team to provide information on their specific campaigns and plans in one spot, and offers a high-level view of what campaigns are planned, in progress, and completed. It also alerts the marketing team of any content needs.
“81% of marketers struggle with collaboration and coordination between content production resources.” —The B2B Marketing Playbook
The most powerful aspect of a master calendar is that it gives every team access to necessary information that will enhance collaboration, save time, and build a more cohesive buyer’s journey that loops back to shared goals.
Organize Digital Marketing Campaigns to Maximize Social Influence
Content themes and timelines are your best friends when organizing content development and social sharing.
Think of a content rollout for a new product or service like a three-course meal. Plan an appetizer, entrée, and dessert, spacing each out in a timely way for maximum impact. Then follow the same process for each campaign.
With a master calendar in place, it’s easier to manage all ongoing campaigns and marketing efforts, make tweaks as needed, and spark innovative cross-promotional opportunities. Organized digital marketing efforts also enable you to do more specific A/B testing and apply the results as quickly as possible.
The true value-add of digital content organization is the seamless integration of all your digital marketing efforts. When you can integrate your marketing and email campaigns with your chosen marketing automation tool, CRM, and content platform, you get a clear, organized view of what’s working and what needs a little love.
What are some simple digital content marketing organization tips that help streamline your internal and external communications?