By now, most marketers understand the massive impact content marketing can have for a business: 55% of marketers say blog content creation is their top inbound marketing priority, according to HubSpot.

But there's more to the content puzzle than just the writing—though no one is going to read a blog or other content that is boring, dry, or otherwise bad. The ability to write great content is a necessary skill, but it's very different from managing a content marketing strategy and program.

When leading the content charge, marketers have plenty to think about: The topics to cover, the keywords to include, the frequency of publishing, and the tone of voice for content all come to mind as obvious considerations.

But one massive part of content marketing that's often not given enough attention goes beyond basic campaigns. It digs into how the content machine runs: It's about the entire content marketing operation.

"Content operations" refers to everything that helps content marketing efforts run smoothly and drive impact for a business. That includes people, technology, and processes.

Marketers know that producing consistent, high-quality content is difficult: Writers may not be subject-matter experts; subject-matter experts might not be available; content must stay aligned with overall brand... And content marketing managers don't have time to do everything.

Clearly, the challenges for content managers are plenty.

A well-oiled content operations may not come quickly; and the people, processes, and technology may change over time; but having the following five foundational elements will help lay the groundwork for success and ensure companies set off on the right foot to creating consistent, compelling, impactful content at scale.

1. Develop a content marketing strategy

Fully 91% of B2B marketers are using content marketing, but only 37% have a documented content marketing strategy, according to research from MarketingProfs and Content Marketing Institute.

For small content marketing teams, having no documented strategy might fly: After all, many content marketing managers follow some sort of strategy; it's just not always documented. But for larger companies, that's a really inefficient approach.

The problem with having a strategy and failing to document it is that it's not scalable. If the only person who knows the strategy is the content manager, that person needs to communicate and talk with and align everyone else—continually.

But with a documented content strategy, marketers can efficiently educate stakeholders and individual contributors alike about whom they're targeting, what role content plays in the overall marketing strategy, which channels are priorities, and much more.

2. Create and share a style guide, contributor guidelines, and brand guidelines

Many people write in their own voice, with their own humor, verbiage, and sentence structure. As businesses increase content production and more people contribute to your blog, website, or other material, having a style guide and other guidelines to review in advance of writing will help authors stay on track in representing the brand.

Marketers will spend less time communicating back and forth over email; and, more important, the content being produced will be on target and will maintain the appropriate brand voice and identity.

Enter your email address to continue reading

Content Marketing Operations: Five Essentials for Consistent Success

Don't worry...it's free!

Already a member? Sign in now.

Sign in with your preferred account, below.

Did you like this article?
Know someone who would enjoy it too? Share with your friends, free of charge, no sign up required! Simply share this link, and they will get instant access…
  • Copy Link

  • Email

  • Twitter

  • Facebook

  • Pinterest

  • Linkedin


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

image of Mollie Kuramoto

Mollie Kuramoto is the marketing manager at Element Three, an Indianapolis-based full-service marketing consultancy that helps grow businesses through accountable, transformative marketing.

LinkedIn: Mollie Kuramoto

Twitter: @molliemoto