How to Build a Content Machine that Actually Drives Demand

In a previous post, I outlined why it’s essential to produce more great content than ever before. Once you understand the importance of scaling your content machine, the question becomes: how? Maybe you’re starting from scratch and produce little or no content today. Maybe you’re producing but the machine isn’t running as smoothly as you like. Or maybe you’re a high powered, V12 content engine that’s always looking for ways to improve. Regardless of where you are in your content journey, there are things you can do today to increase your content marketing maturity and produce more (and higher quality) content.

Here’s the 6 steps you need to take to build a high-performance content machine that actually drives demand:

1. Get clear on your “why”.

before you dive in, it’s important to take a step back and really ask yourself: why do you want to produce more content? Why do you want to build a high-functioning content machine? Is it because you read somewhere that it’s what you’re supposed to do? Or do you genuinely believe that your organization has incredible stories to tell that the world will benefit from hearing? If you’re not passionate about your own stories, why would you expect anyone else to be? Take the time to clarify your own reasons for wanting to produce more content this year, as this will be essential for step 2.

2. Get organizational buy-in on your content goals.

From the very top of your organization (including board members, prominent investors / advisors, etc.) all the way down to your most junior employee on day 1, everyone needs to clearly understand your content goals and be 100% invested in helping make them a reality. Content is a team sport. Every person in your organization is a content producer, whether they know it or not. Every employee represents your brand in everything they say or do publicly. All employees should be able to articulate the content goals of the organization and know what their potential role is, even if it’s “just” on the promotion / distribution side (which is still incredibly important). Special attention should be given to high-profile Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). More on them in step 3.

3. Enlist Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and get them excited about your content goals.

Your organization is filled with experts on your market and topics of choice. You need to tap them to glean their insights, which serve as the raw material for the content you produce. Spend as much time with them as you need to get them fully excited about producing content – you will need them to achieve scale. Clearly communicate to them what you’ll need from them, including content workflows, expected turn-around-times on reviews and approvals, and what the “plan B” option is if they’re not able to review / approve in time. You need SMEs to make time for content. If they’re too busy, then you may need to readjust your content goals to something more achievable, or better yet, double down on inspiring them to help. When people are excited about something, they’ll make time for it regardless of how packed their schedules are.

4. Align on how you’ll measure the success of your content.

There’s a myriad of ways to measure content performance and track against KPIs. The key is not to get too bogged down in the framework. You need to measure against what’s most important for your business, and if that’s driving demand, be sure to set up a line of measurement all the way through from initial impressions to revenue influenced by a particular piece of content or overarching campaign. Each CRM / marketing automation platform might approach this differently, but the important thing is to align internally on what the metrics will be and set up a regular reporting cadence that consistently tracks them. While your KPIs will naturally evolve over time as you become more mature, avoid constantly tweaking them and give yourself time to establish some benchmarks against which you can measure future performance.

5. Have the right players in the right positions.

As you build out your content function internally, it’s incredibly important to hire the right person to lead this effort. The best person for this role has a “quarterback” mentality: they’re comfortable calling the plays (including audibles), know when to pass or hand off the ball to others, and can run with the ball when necessary. Some of the most successful content managers have a PR background and have transitioned to content. Why are PR folks so successful? They’ve made a habit of keeping their eyes and ears open for great stories, can write, edit, and manage agencies, and are used to the fast-paced nature of content. In terms of building out a full internal agency, this is certainly an option, but it can be difficult (and expensive) to find specialized talent, as many of the best copywriters and video producers are freelance.

6. Supplement with external resources as necessary.

As an in-house marketing leader and content producer, I was faced with a daily dilemma that might resonate with you: do I spend time working on the piece of content I need to get out, or do I spend time on strategy and planning for the next great campaign? Of course, for many the answer is “both / and,” but this good intention can lead to underperformance against content goals and burnout, as there’s only so many hours in the day. I’ve found it easiest to scale content production when I’ve brought on outside resources that can focus on production while I work with internal SMEs on developing the messaging and stories that we need to tell to build brand and drive demand. Things will come up and you’ll need to jump in and get producing, but with dependable external resources, this really frees up valuable time and energy to focus on other important aspects of growing the business that only you can do.

As you can tell, I love talking about this stuff, so if you’d like to chat about scaling your content machine, don’t hesitate to message me. And please comment below – does this resonate with you?