Content marketing takes a lot of time. We have to fully understand our audience, translate this into content pieces designed to inform and help them, and research specific topics for relevant stats and insights that back up our argument. We then have to get sign off, write the thing, find images, make graphs and visuals, get sign off AGAIN, and then upload our work to our CMS (or wherever you are going to distribute the content). There’s a lot to do!
Given this is the case , one of the worst things you can do is waste time on content that isn’t focused and doesn’t make a real impact on your audience or your business. To ensure that your content marketing investment pays off, you should align your efforts around a guiding mission.
A Mission Starts with Your Editorial Strategy
Greater productivity means you do more in less time.
One of the easiest ways to save time is to have a documented strategy, complete with an editorial calendar. If you walk into the office every morning wondering what you could write about that day, you are going to waste precious hours in a constant state of indecision.
Instead, make it clear exactly what content you are looking to produce, where you are going to distribute it, and what timeframes things should get done. This will immediately give you purpose, and speed up the time it takes to create content, purely because everything is well-planned and not a last minute dash.
Every editorial strategy starts with writing an “editorial mission statement.” This is a statement which outlines overarching purpose and the reason why your audience will read your content.
Developing an Editorial Mission Statement
An editorial mission statement outlines why you’re creating content, who you’re writing for, and how it will help to educate them.
Here are a few examples of editorial mission statements:
“We will educate amateur photographers on how to use their camera to its full potential.”
“We will inform graduates about how to get started on the career ladder in a light hearted manner.”
“We want to show office managers how to cut office costs and support their organisation.”
In each case, it’s clear why content is written, and even how it should be written. It gives the content marketing team purpose behind everything they do.
Benefits of an Editorial Mission Statement
1. It’s an important part of commercial success with content marketing
Research from the CMI shows the most successful content marketers document their editorial strategy. This makes sense – an editorial mission statement is all about giving you purpose. It shows you’ve given thought to what your product actually does for your clients, and what your clients want to learn about.
2. It provides internal alignment
Having a documented editorial mission statement ensures everyone is aligned, both internally within departments and externally with agencies. They’ll understand the reason why the content marketing department exists and what they’re looking to achieve. There will be fewer disputes about the quality of content, and fewer revisions to sign off on.
3. You know what content you shouldn’t produce
Marketing departments and agencies are rarely stuck for potential content ideas. The time-consuming part is sorting which content should be given more investment and which should be thrown out. When you have an editorial mission statement, it becomes a lot clearer which content topics you should focus on and which won’t help with your commercial success.
Creating Your First Editorial Mission Statement
This is not an easy thing to do. However, writing down the answers to the following questions should help you craft your first mission statement.
- Who are we? What is the company mission statement?
- Who buys our product? These are your customer personas.
- What are my buyers’ pain points? What information do they require?
I work for a start-up, and as a result, we’re constantly revising our editorial mission statement as we learn more about our customers and product. The answers to the above questions are fluid, but as the company mission statement grows, I’m agile about documenting the editorial mission statement.
Even so, my team knows what we are working towards, and we know what constitutes success for our content. Our editorial mission gives us purpose, and it makes us more productive.
The Next Steps
This is where many marketers believe their editorial mission statement begins and ends. They’ll reference it when planning their editorial calendar, and check it at the beginning stages of preparing for a content piece. However, I think this is a missed opportunity to be more productive with content production.
Remember, being productive means doing more with less time – and one of the main ways that you can be ineffective as a content marketer is not having enough purpose in what you are doing. This is why it’s vitally important to translate your editorial mission statements in mini-mission statements for every single piece of content you’re planning to produce.
Creating Mini-Mission Statements
It’s remarkable how many marketers don’t put together solid mini-mission statements (known as briefs in the agency and publishing world) when thinking about their content marketing. Here’s a structure for giving purpose to every article that you write.
- Contributors: Who is involved in the piece? Who will write the copy? Who will edit the copy? Who will be involved in research? Who will sign off on content? Ensure everyone who is expected to have a role in the content piece knows what they should be doing.
- Title: What is the title of the content piece? Are there specific keywords you’re aiming to hit?
- Word Count: How long should the piece be?
- Deadline: include multiple deadlines for multiple stages if necessary
- Audience: Who is this content written for?
- Distribution: Where will the content be shared?
- KPIs: What metrics will the content be judged successful by?
Why Is This Helpful?
It is rare that content starts and ends with one individual. Marketers need to collaborate with other parts of the organisation, as well as locate external experts for interviews or points of view. In order to ensure that everyone’s time is well spent, everyone needs to be aligned with the commentary and input required.
At Cronycle, we do this very easily. When we know a piece of content is coming up (because it is on our calendar), we create a board—an online collaboration space for content. We then invite a specific team to work on the board to help with our research, and detail exactly what the piece is about.
In Summary
The more purpose you give your work, and the more you strategise about what piece of content is meant to achieve on a macro and micro level, the easier it is to be more productive in your content marketing.
Content Marketing with Purpose: Developing an Editorial Mission Statement
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