Content MarketingMarketing & Sales Videos

What Is A Content Library? Your Content Marketing Strategy Is Failing Without Building Yours

Years ago, we worked with a company that had several million articles published on their site. The problem was that very few articles were read, even fewer ranked in search engines, and less than one percent had revenue attributed to them. They hired us for search engine optimization (SEO) but it quickly grew into a far more complex engagement where we developed internal processes to help them prioritize, organize, and enrich their content.

I’d challenge you to review your library of content. You’d be surprised at what percent of your pages are popular and engaged with by your audience, not to mention which pages rank in search engines. We often find that our new clients rank on branded terms only and have spent thousands of hours on content that no one reads.

This particular client had an entire editorial staff with editors and writers… but they had no central strategy on what to write. They wrote about articles they found interesting. We researched their content and found some troubling issues. We found multiple articles from different sources on the same topic. Then, we found many articles that weren’t ranked, had no engagement, and were poorly written. They even had a few complex how-to articles that didn’t even have photos included.

We didn’t immediately recommend a solution. We asked them if we could do a pilot program where we applied 20% of their newsroom’s resources to improving and combining existing content rather than writing new content.

The goal was to define a content library and have one complete and comprehensive article on each topic. It was a national company, so we researched the topic based on its audience, search rankings, seasonality, location, and competitors. We provided a defined list of content, scheduled monthly, that was prioritized in our research.

It worked like a charm. The 20% of resources we applied to build a comprehensive content library outperformed the 80% of other content that was haphazardly produced.

The content department shifted from:

How much content are we going to produce each week to meet productivity goals?

And shifted to:

Which content should we optimize and combine next to increase the return on content investment?

It wasn’t easy. We even built a big data analysis engine to identify the prioritized order of content production to ensure we got the best ROI on content resources. Every page was classified by keyword, keywords ranked, geography (if targeted), and taxonomy. We then identified the content that ranked on competitive terms – but did not rank well.

Interestingly enough, the writers and editors also loved it. They were provided with a topic, existing content that should be redirected to the new comprehensive article, and competing content from around the web. It provided them with all the research they needed to write a far better, deeper engaging article.

Why You Should Build A Content Library

Here’s a short introduction video on a content library and why your content marketing strategy should incorporate this methodology.

Many companies collect articles on similar topics over time, but the visitor to your site isn’t going to click and navigate to find the information they need. It’s imperative that you combine these topics into a single, comprehensive, well-organized master article on each central topic.

How To Define Your Content Library

For your product or service, your content strategy should engage at each stage of the buyer’s journey:

  • Problem Identification – helping the consumer or business understand their problem better and the pain it’s causing you, your household, or your business.
  • Solution Exploration – helping the consumer or business understand how the problem may be solved from a ‘how-to’ video through products or services.
  • Requirements Building – helping the consumer or business fully evaluate each solution to understand what’s best for them. This is a significant phase where you get to highlight your differentiation.
  • Supplier Selection – helping the consumer or business understand why they should select you, your business, or your product. This is where you want to share your expertise, certifications, third-party recognition, customer testimonials, etc.

For businesses, you may also want to help the person researching understand how to validate each of your competitors and position you in front of their team to build consensus.

  • Sections that were designed well and easy to skim through from subheading to subheading.
  • Research from primary and secondary sources to provide credibility to your content.
  • Bulleted lists with the critical points of the article clearly explained.
  • Imagery. A representative thumbnail for sharing, diagrams, and photos wherever possible throughout the article to better explain it and build comprehension. Micrographics and infographics were even better.
  • Video and Audio to provide an overview or short description of the content.

In working with our client, a word count wasn’t the ultimate goal; these articles went from a few hundred to a few thousand words. Older, shorter, unread articles were dropped and redirected to the new, richer articles.

Backlinko analyzed over 1 million results and found the average #1 ranking page had 1,890 words

Backlinko

This data backed up our premise and our findings. It’s transformed how we look at building content strategies for our clients. We no longer do a bunch of research and mass-produce articles, infographics, and whitepapers. We deliberately design a library for our clients, audit their current content, and prioritize necessary gaps.

Even on Martech Zone, we’re doing this. I used to brag about having over 10,000 posts. You know what? We’ve trimmed the blog to about 5,000 posts and continue going back every week to enrich older posts. Because they’re transformed so drastically, we republish them as new. Additionally, because they often already rank and have backlinks to them, they skyrocket in search engine results.

Getting Started With Your Content Library Strategy

To get started, I’d recommend taking this approach:

  1. What are prospects and clients researching online about each stage in the buyer’s journey that would lead them to you or your competitors?
  2. What mediums must you incorporate? Articles, graphics, worksheets, white papers, case studies, testimonials, videos, podcasts, etc.
  3. What current content do you have on your site?
  4. What research can you insert into the article to strengthen and personalize its content?
  5. At each stage and in each article, what do the search engine competitors‘ articles look like? How can you design better?

Writing about your company every week isn’t going to work. You must write about your prospects and clients. Visitors don’t want to be sold; they want to do research and get help. If I’m selling a marketing platform, it’s not just about what we can accomplish or what our clients are accomplishing using the software. It’s how I’ve transformed the career of my client and the business they’ve worked for.

Helping your customers and prospects drives your audience to recognize expertise and authority in the industry. And the content may not be limited to how your products and services help your customers. You may even what to include articles on regulation, employment, integrations, and virtually any other topic your prospects are wrestling with at work.

How to Research Your Content Library Topics

I always start with three research resources for the content I develop:

  1. Organic keyword and competitive research from Semrush to identify the most highly searched topics and articles associated with the prospect I wish to attract. Keep a list of the ranking articles handy, as well! You’ll want to compare your article to ensure you’re better than them.
  2. Socially shared research from BuzzSumo. BuzzSumo tracks how often articles are shared. If you can intersect popularity, the shareability and write the best article on the topic – your chances of it producing engagement and revenue are much higher. BuzzSumo wrote a great article recently on how to use it for Content Analysis.
  3. Comprehensive taxonomy analysis to ensure your article covers all the subtopics associated with a topic. Check out Answer the Public for some amazing research on the taxonomy of topics.

Understanding and catering to the unique needs of your target audiences are paramount. By building a content library that addresses the challenges and success factors relevant to your customers, you can establish your brand as a thought leader and a valuable resource. This guide outlines a strategic approach to creating a content library complemented by a dynamic content calendar for non-evergreen articles, ensuring your content remains relevant, engaging, and informative.

Engaging Your Target Audience

Begin by segmenting your target audiences based on their roles, industries, and the challenges they face. This segmentation will help you tailor your content to address specific needs, making it more relevant and impactful. For each segment, consider:

  • The common challenges they face in their roles.
  • The solutions your business can provide.
  • The features and benefits of your products relevant to them.
  • The trends and changes within the industry that affect them.

Your content library should consist of two main types of content: evergreen and ongoing.

Evergreen Content

Evergreen Content focuses on timeless topics that remain relevant over long periods. This content forms the foundation of your library, offering deep insights into your industry, products, and business values. It includes:

  • Fundamental challenges and solutions within your industry.
  • Key product features, benefits, and usage guides.
  • Core business values and mission statements.
  • Basic industry guides and best practices.

Ongoing Content

Ongoing Content addresses current trends, updates, and events. This content is dynamic, reflecting the latest developments in your industry, business, and products. It includes:

  • Industry trend analyses and forecasts.
  • New product launches and feature updates.
  • Customer success stories and case studies.
  • Upcoming events, webinars, and participation opportunities.

Crafting a Content Calendar for Non-Evergreen Articles

A content calendar is crucial for planning and executing your ongoing content strategy. It ensures that your content is timely, relevant, and aligned with your marketing goals. Here’s how to create one:

  1. Identify Key Dates: Mark important industry events, product launch dates, and seasonal trends that are relevant to your audience.
  2. Plan Content Releases: Schedule articles to coincide with these key dates, allowing enough lead time for your audience to engage with the content.
  3. Diversify Your Content: Incorporate a mix of formats, such as blog posts, videos, and infographics, to keep your content engaging and accessible.
  4. Allocate Resources: Ensure you have the necessary resources, including writers, designers, and subject matter experts, to produce high-quality content on schedule.
  5. Monitor and Adjust: Use analytics to monitor the performance of your content and adjust your calendar as needed to reflect audience interests and engagement patterns.

Implementing Your Content Library

  1. Audit Existing Content: Review your current content library to identify gaps and opportunities for new or updated content.
  2. Engage Your Audience: Use social media, newsletters, and other channels to promote your content and engage with your audience, encouraging feedback and participation.
  3. Iterate and Evolve: Continuously refine your content strategy based on audience feedback, engagement metrics, and industry developments.

By following this comprehensive approach to building out your content library and maintaining a dynamic content calendar, you can ensure that your sales and marketing efforts are both informative and impactful. This strategy not only positions your brand as an industry authority but also directly supports your audience’s success, fostering long-term engagement and loyalty.

As you combine older articles into new, more comprehensive articles, be sure to replace the old articles with redirects. I often research how each article ranks and then utilize the best ranking permalink for the new article. When I do this, search engines often rank it even higher. Then, when it becomes popular, it skyrockets in rank.

Your Content Experience

Consider your article as a pilot would be coming in for a landing. The pilot isn’t focused on the ground… he’s first looking for landmarks, descending, and then focusing more and more until the plane has touched down.

People don’t initially read an article word for word; they scan it. You will want to effectively utilize headlines, bolding, emphasis, block quotes, imagery, and bullet points. This will let the reader’s eyes scan and then focus. If it’s a lengthy article, you may even want to start with a table of contents that are anchor tags where the user can click and jump to the section that interests them.

If you want the best library, your pages must be amazing. Every article should have all the mediums necessary to impact visitors and fully provide them with the necessary information. It must be well-organized, professional, and have an exceptional user experience in comparison to your competitors:

Don’t Forget your Call to Action

Content is useless unless you want someone to take action on it! Be sure to let your readers know what’s next, what events you have coming up, how they can schedule an appointment, etc.

Douglas Karr

Douglas Karr is CMO of OpenINSIGHTS and the founder of the Martech Zone. Douglas has helped dozens of successful MarTech startups, has assisted in the due diligence of over $5 bil in Martech acquisitions and investments, and continues to assist companies in implementing and automating their sales and marketing strategies. Douglas is an internationally recognized digital transformation and MarTech expert and speaker. Douglas is also a published author of a Dummie's guide and a business leadership book.

Related Articles

Back to top button
Close

Adblock Detected

Martech Zone is able to provide you this content at no cost because we monetize our site through ad revenue, affiliate links, and sponsorships. We would appreciate if you would remove your ad blocker as you view our site.