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Guest post by: Jeff Ogden Become an Author

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In my research I find many companies with content on their websites for their lead generation programs– white papers, e-books, webinars, etc. Those companies are undoubtedly asking themselves… Is our content really working for b2b lead generation? Is it engaging our target audience? Is it helping us win business? To answer these questions, we need to first go back to the goals of Content Marketing. I see three key goals:

1. To get the attention of prospects
2. To earn their trust
3. To move them though the buying cycle to purchase

While many companies do a decent job with goals 1 and 2, they often don’t have content to move buyers though their buying processes. Hence, these companies need to do a Content Audit. In order to do a Content Audit, you first need to gather a couple of items:

1. Buyer Personas – deep insights on the people who buy your products and services
2. Buying Process – the steps buyers go through to acquire your products and services

With those two items, you can craft a Campaign Message Matrix. (You’ll find a sample Campaign Message Matrix on the Free Tools page at Find New Customers.) Take your content and lay it over the Campaign Message Matrix. This will enable you to quickly identify gaps and redundancies. Look at each piece of content and ask yourself a few questions:

• Does it focus on what the consumer of the content cares about? In the book, eMarketing for the Complex Sale, it talks of Catch Factors like Urgency, Impact, Effort, Reputation and Intent.
• Is it simple and engaging?
• Is it open and honest? Are you genuinely trying to help?
• Does it contain a Call to Action – something for the person to do?
• Does it tie to the next piece of content, using a “cliff-hanger?”

By laying your content over the Campaign Message Matrix, you’ll find gaps and redundancies. And by asking yourself the questions above, you’ll improve the effectiveness of your content. A Content Audit is an excellent approach to ensuring your content delivers the goals of a Content Marketing strategy. What do you think? We love comments and people who share.

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