The Content Marketing Matrix

?A content marketing planning tool to help marketers generate ideas for the most engaging content types for their audiences

We created our Content Marketing Matrix to help our members audit their content marketing assets as part of creating a content marketing strategy. It can also be used for content ideation, i.e. to brainstorm future content ideas to generate leads, nurture prospects, encourage sharing, and generate backlinks for SEO.

Since we created it eight years ago it's been shared many times and has inspired many 'mashups' in different formats as this Google search shows; great to see it's been useful!

I think our Content Marketing Matrix is a powerful mindtool for marketers since it's a?content mapping tool, structured to help you think through two key dimensions of which types of content will best support the path to purchase for your target audience. The two dimensions are:

• 1. Awareness through to purchase conversion funnel shown on the horizontal axis
• 2. Emotional to rational content engagement formats available shown on the vertical axis

Here is our latest version:

The two dimensions used in this marketing matrix help you review how content can support the business to achieve its goals against how different formats appeal to different types of people.

As you read from left to right the matrix shows how different content assets can develop audience awareness and reach through the purchase process to nurturing and prompting purchase. This can be categorized as:

• TOFU - Top of Funnel
• MOFU - Middle of Funnel
• BOFU - Bottom of Funnel

More visual, interactive content to support emotional buying triggers is shown at the top of the matrix with more static content at the bottom supporting rational decision-making, also recognized as:

• Limbric brain - Your trust/'gut' feelings
• Neocortex - Your rationalization and communication brain

For more detail, don't miss my blog on the?Golden Circle model, ie the what, how, and why of consumer decision-making.

If you're looking to develop your approach content marketing, I strongly recommend doing so within a strategic marketing structure, such as the RACE Framework, which will help you tie together all your different assets, channels, and platforms.

?Thousands of Smart Insights members around the world are applying the RACE Framework to their marketing campaigns, to monitor KPIs at each stage of the customer journey and use data to rapidly optimize their marketing funnel. If you haven't already, download our free digital marketing plan template to structure your plan.