Expert Content Writers have the ability to transform raw ideas into captivating narratives that leave their audience wanting more.

Skilled marketers possess the knowledge to harness the power of content and convert it into compelling campaigns that prompt their audience to take action.

Your profession necessitates excellence in both areas, as well as in all other aspects of content creation and marketing. It’s no surprise that content marketers often feel stressed and overwhelmed.

The resources outlined in this article will help improve your team’s content creation abilities, enabling them to produce engaging brand stories and surpass your brand’s marketing goals.

To make managing all aspects of marketing content creation simpler and increase the likelihood of success, follow the expert tips, tricks, and guidance below.

The resources are organized to answer the following three questions:

Who will contribute to content creation?
How can we align our content creation with our strategic goals?
How can we develop captivating stories that will resonate with our audience?

Create a Content Creation Model That Fits Your Business Needs (Who Will Create Your Content)

There are multiple ways to establish your brand’s content creation team, each with its own set of advantages, drawbacks, and practical considerations.

To determine the most suitable creation model for your business, evaluate factors such as the nature of your business, the competition in your industry, the required expertise, and the resources available in your team and budget.

Here are some of the options available:

Hire full-time writers for an in-house team: If your brand prioritizes original content creation, produces a high volume of content, or needs content for multiple channels and platforms simultaneously, having a team of full-time writers can make the process more manageable and streamlined.
Leverage internal subject matter experts (SMEs): If your brand requires specialized expertise or technical knowledge, involve colleagues from other organizational functions, including executive management, sales personnel, product managers, and other employees. Training your content team to become subject matter experts may be more effective than trying to teach SMEs to excel at writing, as CMI’s chief strategy advisor Robert Rose points out.
Outsource to freelancers or specialists: Smaller businesses, startups, nonprofits, and other companies that are not yet ready to invest in full-scale editorial capabilities may prefer to work with freelance writers, trained former journalists, or partner with a content agency or another creative service provider.
Solicit external contributors: A B2B business with a robust and subscribed community may bring in industry thought leaders to write guest blog articles on the brand’s owned media platform. These writers often do so in exchange for valuable backlinks to increase their reach and exposure. If your business has a B2C focus, enable your passionate fans, followers, or relevant influencers to submit user-generated content on behalf of your brand.
Explore AI writing tools: Recent advancements such as OpenAI’s GPT technology have made artificial intelligence content creation more robust and affordable. AI can be a huge time-saver when used to create outlines and first drafts that your staff writers or freelancers can fine-tune, but skilled human creators are still necessary to ensure the content’s quality, relevance, and compliance with Google’s webmaster guidelines.

Shape your talent pool for marketing content creation to suit your business needs.

Consider these resources to help you determine the right creation model and leverage your contributors’ expertise:

Essential Skills for Every Content Creator
The Ultimate Guide to Outsourcing Content Creation
Fixing a Broken Content Team: A Comprehensive Guide

2. Align Your Content Creation with Strategic Goals

Creating engaging content that resonates with your audience is important, but it should also align with your overall marketing strategy to drive business results.

To achieve this alignment, it’s important to choose the right content formats and types that will attract your target audience and maximize engagement and conversion.

While short articles, videos, case studies, and virtual events are popular content formats, it’s important to evaluate which options are the best fit for your brand and audience.

Consider the strengths and limitations of each option and research the following content formats:

Blogging
Website articles
Video and visual content
Case studies
Virtual, live, and hybrid events
Email
Newsletters
Social media
Long-form content
Interactive content
Branded content
Data-driven stories and data visualizations
Podcasts and other audio content

To stand out from the competition, consider finding a content niche that your brand can cover better than anyone else in your industry. This can help differentiate your content and attract a loyal audience. Examples of content niches include Jay Acunzo’s Unthinkable podcast, which focuses on unconventional thinking, and Orbit Media, which provides website design and optimization advice.

To avoid content overload and ensure a clear connection to your brand’s strategic purpose, it’s best to focus your creative resources on a specific topic. This reduces the likelihood of paralysis caused by attempting to fill too many content buckets simultaneously. To determine a valuable niche, ask yourself the following questions: Can we dominate the conversation around this topic in our industry? Does our audience have an urgent, unfulfilled need for this type of content? Do we have the appropriate expertise and production abilities to consistently create this content?

To create exceptional content that aligns with your strategy and delights your audience, check out these essential resources:

Limit Your Options If You Want To Create Exceptional Content
6 Exceptional Content Marketers (and the Traits That Make Them Stand Out)
7 Steps to a More Strategic Editorial Calendar

When it comes to marketing content, successful creation requires more than just the typical creative considerations of topic selection, story generation, and maintaining quality. Your content needs to communicate your brand’s distinctive perspectives, capabilities, and value proposition. It must also tell a compelling story that resonates with your target audience and motivates them to take action.

Begin the creative ideation process by identifying worthwhile content topics and eliminating those that don’t reflect your brand’s identity in the most meaningful and targeted manner. Identify primary subject areas that your target audience actively searches for information on, and use keyword research or topic cluster modeling to gain a better understanding of their challenges and the type of content that could help solve them. Remember that the primary focus should be on delivering a user-friendly, satisfying experience to your audience, as per Google’s 2022 helpful content update. Answer your customers’ questions, demonstrate your brand’s utility, and add value to existing conversations to get the most search impact from your content.

Generating many creative ideas to fuel your content engine is crucial for consistent quality. Brainstorming sessions can assist your writers in generating many powerful, original ideas. Both free-form word association exercises and structured approaches like Trigger, Charrette, or Five Whys methods are worth exploring as part of your ideation process. Spend some time with The Creative Show, CMI’s monthly video series dedicated to discussing the issues and artistry of crafting content, for more creativity-boosting ideas.

It’s important to prioritize the ideas generated by your team to ensure that the content you create aligns with your business goals and target audience. Use a process to determine which ideas are most valuable and urgent.

To create effective content, you must turn your ideas into engaging stories. Follow resources like “How To Take Your Content Idea From Generic to Original” and “Content Marketing Writing Tips You Didn’t Learn in School” for guidance. Also, ensure your content is accessible to everyone and avoid gender bias in your language.

While good writing takes practice, it doesn’t have to be painful. Use technology and productivity tools to help generate ideas and keep yourself organized. Be sure to take care of your mental health and rebalance your workload if needed to avoid content fatigue.

To maintain the quality of your content, proofread, fact-check, and test every piece carefully. Use the mechanics of good writing to craft powerful headlines and engaging endings that draw readers in. Persuade your audience to take impactful actions with your content.

For more guidance on content creation, consult resources like “The Essential Content Marketing Glossary” and “Write Better Video and Audio Scripts.” By following these tips, you can create well-managed creative teams, strategic alignment, and compelling brand storytelling.