3 Techniques to Just Say No to Random Acts of Content Marketing

Every executive, marketing leader, and stakeholder has his or her signature phrase that the content team knows will likely lead to A Random Act of Content Marketing. Here are some favorites:

• “We should think about...” 
• “What if we...” 
• “It would be cool if...”
• “I saw this article and…”

The problem isn’t the free flowing ideas – some truly great content assets have flowed from these starters. The problem is unchecked brainstorming that immediately translates into production of content that doesn’t add value, generate demand, convert a browser to a buyer, or establish compelling thought leadership. Below is a story of a particularly egregious example and three specific methods to stop the madness.

Use these three approaches to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the content team.

The video podcast series that never was

After wrapping up a successful 15+ episode first season of a thought leadership podcast series for senior executives, we were planning season two when the executive sponsor proffered that “It would be cool if we did a video podcast series to make it more interactive.” My reaction was something between a panic attack and wondering if I hit the mute button fast enough before my “Are you kidding me” fell out…

This request would have buried the content team and not moved any of our key metrics forward, while not adding demonstrable value to the listener experience. It would have been more interactive, sure, but not worth the production effort. Someone once told me that you get to a certain point in your career by saying yes and then making things happen and then you get to the next level in your career by saying no so that the right things can happen. I started down the yes path and researched video editing platforms and formats before realizing this was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It was time to say no.

The all-you-can-eat content buffet

Great ideas can emerge from “What if we…” thinking - it’s just that they need shape and alignment to agreed-upon themes, pillars or persona needs to be worth the resources required to make the idea a reality. This affliction is felt most acutely at start-ups but can also popup at the enterprise level, though larger organizations tend to have more developed prioritization muscles.

Too many content shops are treated like a pre-pandemic, $8.99 all-you-can-eat Las Vegas buffet. I once went to one of those on a climbing trip to Red Rocks and brought Tupperware - now that is how to do a Vegas buffet right, but I digress...

The content leader's job is to operationalize 

It’s the job of the content leader to use their diplomacy skills and emotional intelligence to push back on vague ideas not tied to strategy and to operationalize those skills across the team through formal stage gates and prioritization mechanisms that allow the team to stand tall in the face of unchecked ideas that become de facto requests because they come from an executive. Here are three techniques that have worked in taming random acts of content marketing. Use these three approaches to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the content team.

1. Create an ideation stage gate

Codify the specific questions that need to be answered in a yes/ no checklist in order for an idea to pass muster. Focus the questions on key personas, their specific information or learning needs in the buying journey, editorial themes, and strategic pillars. Keep the list to five questions max so it doesn’t become a burden to complete at scale.

• Does the idea meet a specific buyer need or stage in the journey? (yes/ no). List the need
• Is the idea meant for a specific persona? (yes/no) If so, which one?
• Does it align to a specific content theme or topic in the plan? (yes/ no) List the theme
• Is it worth dedicating a creator’s time that could otherwise be used elsewhere? (yes/no) Why?
• Will the idea meet the specific buyer need? (yes/ no) How?

The goal is to force a yes answer across the board. No wiggle room and no horse trading allowed. If you are still getting requests for vanity projects or executive push back, then try technique two:

2. Outline the implications

Highlight the resource requirements that will be needed to deliver on the idea. Use data to fight the battle. Did that video from last quarter generate any leads or increase traffic? If it takes 5 hours or $500 to write an article then you either have 5 hours of capacity or $500 or you don’t. That eBook idea will cost $7,000. Do you really want it? Content marketing is not a blank check function. For the video podcast season, we outlined the time it would take creators and audio editors to build a new format and how that would burn out the team and take them away from other, high value projects, which leads to the third technique: lay out the opportunity costs.

3. Detail the opportunity costs

If all else fails you may need to produce specifics of what will have to stop in order for the random idea to start. This is the old “ if we do this we will have to pause or stop that.” We can produce that webcast but will need to stop production on that eBook and article series. This is where having a demand plan for content and tracking resource utilization comes in handy. 

What’s your favorite phrase that signals a random act of content marketing?