A successful content marketing strategy starts with defining who you want to reach, what you’ll provide these people, and how they’ll benefit from consuming your content. Sounds easy enough, but it’s deceivingly difficult to set a subject and stick to it every week. That’s where this new thing called a content manifesto comes into play.
Full transparency, I’m blatantly stealing this idea from someone else (more on that below).
The logic behind it is too simple, functional, and effective not to use. And in my opinion, the best marketers don’t invent new concepts, they shape what works into their own system. That’s exactly what you’ll get in this article, my version of a proven content marketing methodology. Let’s get into it…
I’m a sucker for a simple communication framework.
And yesterday, I got just that from Andy Crestodina. If you don’t follow Andy and you produce content that you want to rank on Google, go follow him. You can thank me later after you soak up some of his SEO wisdom.
His email yesterday mentioned a content mission statement framework that looked like this…
Our company is where [audience X] gets [content Y] for [benefit Z].
This is beautiful.
His content mission statement reflects the exact brand script process I use for every single client. It’s just adapted to be a content marketing script.
I’m stealing this idea with a couple of modifications. Here’s what my variation looks like…
Our content is where [audience X] gets [content Y] to help them [benefit Z].
These are subtle changes, but they’re important. By changing “company” to “content” this statement forces people to focus on what they’re producing. This simple tweak transforms the statement into a directive from its previous form as a mission statement.
Directives get followed, mission statements get forgotten.
The other change, swapping “for” with “to help them” compels the person writing to think value. Great content provides value. Bake that into your manifesto from the start and then obsessively live up to it every week.
I challenge you to take the next twenty minutes to put together a content manifesto. It’s refreshingly simple and productive. I’m willing to bet you’ll come out of it with a clearer view of who you’re targeting, what you’ll send them, and how they’ll benefit from your content marketing.
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