When it comes to being strategic, most Content Marketing isn’t. It sits there and begs for attention while it struggles through the rest of its digital half-life.

As you think about creating content for your marketing, see if you can put each content piece into one of these strategic categories. To discuss the categories, we’ll take the example of Suresh who exports organic spices.

 

1. Core Content

This is your foundational material. It establishes your position, convinces someone to notice you, and demonstrates that you have something of value to offer.

Core Content should be carefully thought through. It takes time and experience. Core Content is unique because it demonstrates exactly what makes your organization stand out from others. Your Core Content should be unique and incredibly valuable. It is usually created once and then edited or added to only occasionally. The topic should be evergreen and consistently interesting to your Ideal Audience. Core Content might take the form of an email autoresponder, a course, an eBook, a whitepaper, or a manifesto.

In our example, Suresh decides to write up a short eBook on the dangers that have entered the spice industry. In it, he sheds light on practices that have led to harmful practices in spice production over the last few decades. He then talks about best practices for organic spices and why production practices are so important.

 

2. Publication

Your publication is what you use to stay engaged with your Ideal Audience. It is published consistently and regularly. While your Core Content is likely what will draw your audience in, your publication is what you will use to communicate with them. Most clients/customers need seven to eleven touchpoints before they are ready to buy from you. You get those touchpoints with a consistent publication. Publications are also a huge advantage because they train your audience to open up the things you send them.

In our example, Suresh puts out a weekly blog article highlighting a different spice. He talks about where it comes from, what it looks like in its natural form, and key ways to spot good quality in that spice.

 

3. Hook

A hook is something that you use to start a quick relationship with your Ideal Audience. You offer something of equivalent value to someone handing over their email address (which is getting more expensive these days).

Your hook should be on a very common topic and should solve an easy problem. It needs to be packaged in a way that makes you seem like you’ve thought through the solution, but is set up for a quick exchange.

Here, Suresh creates a nicely designed checklist for teaching people the top seven signs that show whether their spices are of high quality or not.

 

4. Aggregated

The final category is a way to reuse all the content you have created from your publication. Aggregated content might also include yearly reports, conferences, or consolidated books. They are usually summaries of existing content with a little additional research or packaging added.

Suresh takes some of his most popular blog posts about spices and turns them into a calendar that he sends to his best clients. On the back of each page, he also includes a personalized recipe that highlights the best use of that spice.

 

 

Not every organization needs all these types of content, but your should be thinking through them as you put a strategy together. Also, not every piece of content is only going to fit into one bucket. Suresh might have taken his eBook and aggregated it with some additional research to produce a short video highlighting his main points.

Take some time to think about the content you are creating. Is it being used strategically? Does it fit into one of these categories? If not, you are likely not getting enough value out of what you are creating.