There's Good Content, And Then There's GREAT Content – Part II

So, how do you attain great content?
One effective discipline is for Marketing to prepare a Workplan for each strategy that results in a campaign or communication. The Workplan not only guides the execution, but it also comprises a benchmark to spotlight bad content: off-target concepts, ineffective copy, nebulous calls to action and so forth. 

The Workplan defines:

• The audience and the objective
• The creative approach or "big idea" – how you are going to attract attention to and awareness of your selling message
• The principal buyer benefit or Unique Selling Proposition
• The supporting features and benefits
• The basic sales pitch outline that the individual piece or series of communications will follow through the selling cycle
• The "net take-away" or call to action

So to whom do you commit the Workplan and execution to attain great content? Clearly, the process should be spearheaded by Marketing. But rare is a marketing department that has within it all the skills necessary for producing great content. Equally rare is a marketing organization that has the independence to rise above interdepartmental turf battles.

Third-party benefits
Here's where a third-party marketing services team spells the difference between good and great content. Such a team contributes a practiced understanding of technology, marketing, graphic design, technical illustration, multimedia, social media and the Internet. The resulting great content connects with your sales prospects across a broad spectrum of media, whether eBlasts, blog posts, white papers, Tweets, videos, exhibit graphics, ads, web sites, brochures or other examples of traditional and new media.

Great content builds relationships and accelerates the selling process. It's a goal too important to compromise!