Our last post outlined the elements of a content factory. It’s time to address why a content factory matters, and why now? There are many reasons. We start with three reasons, those that shape a mindset to improve communications and marketing that engage existing customers and attract new ones.

1.     Budget constraints that come from a contracting economy,
2.     Keeping the conversation alive with customers and prospects, and
3.     Activating content to engage in a 360-degree view with those we care to impact.

Budget

Many spend the year working on dozens of events, campaigns, launches and more. During these challenging economic times many cut promotional campaigns and marketing budgets. Yet, so many spend their budget on content that is used once and never again.

With an increasing number of digital touch points available to reach customers we can repurpose content for other engagement points with customers and prospects. For example, you can take a keynote from an event and share its thought leadership messages that would be of value in a follow up with customers and prospects. Find ways to repurpose your highly-produced content, and you will save time, resources, and a significant portion of your annual budget.

Keeping the conversation alive

There might be good attendance at an event but how many would have attended but couldn’t due to the investment in time or cost. They may still have interest. This can represent many more people than the number of those that attended in person. How many would benefit from a personalized follow up after an event? Have you designed a journey to offer them a great content experience that demonstrates you value them.

The information you convey on your market, products, and services should not only be informational but also be designed to deliver an experience that informs and entertains. In the early days this was called “Infotainment”. If you manage your content with a mindset – a content factory mindset – that considers the informational needs of customers and prospects, you will improve your brand following and bring personalized value to those in your respective markets.

Activating content to engage with a 360-degree perspective

Email still rules even though we see more excitement in other channels like social or internal comms. We store a ton of content from events, meetings, campaigns in so many ways and places. This offers several ways to activate content and design personalized engagement for after-events or product rollouts that better engage using existing and emerging touch points.

A content factory can help frame a mindset that ups the game for those that want to improve customer engagement. Add in purpose and social impact purposes and you start to reconnect the vast library of content available to you to engage with.

If we were approaching the end of next year, can you identify what content increased retention, customer acquisition with clear metrics that measured the business outcomes, beyond you measuring how much content was touched?

A content factory mindset helps you improve how you budget to extend the value of your existing content. Can any employee and marketing team locate the content that moves the needle in communications? IT organizations went through in the 90’s assessing IT expenditures against business outcomes. We are now at a point to challenge this for content.

You should think about establishing a content factory that behaves like the control room of a 24/7 TV network, and one that is intended to better connect to customer needs.