Content Marketing Mission Statements: How to Find Your Editorial Focus

When our team gets to a company’s blog during a site audit, a common theme, aside from design feedback, usually involves a lack of content strategy or purpose — and we’re not the only ones who see this trend.

According to Content Marketing Institute, only 38% of marketers feel their content marketing is effective, and just 32% have a documented content marketing strategy. The businesses that do have documented content marketing mission statements, however, feel their content was, in fact, more effective in achieving their business objectives.  

So what does that tell us? It tells us we need to clarify who and why we are producing content for in the first place so we know for a fact that it will help us reach our goals. I think most marketers have an idea on the “who” part, but what about the “why?”

If you are part of the 78% in need of an editorial focus, have no fear!

Let’s dive into what a content marketing mission statement is and check out some B2B businesses that rock at putting theirs into action.

What Is a Content Marketing Mission Statement?

I’m going to stick with my Content Marketing Institute sources on this one (This article is from 2012, ya’ll! So, let’s make this a focus in 2016 to fix this asap!).

Here’s a breakdown of what a content marketing mission statement is:

Your core audience + What you deliver to that audience + The outcome your audience can expect to receive by reading your content

It’s important to note that “what you deliver” does not mean what you sell. In this context, we’re talking about the type of content you are providing, as in how-tos, eBooks, blog articles, etc.

3 B2B Brands Rocking a Strong Content Strategy

As individuals who care about marketing strategy, you and I probably share similar sources for industry insight and information, so let’s pick on Moz, InVision, and Unbounce to help you see how content marketing mission statements can be applied.

Moz

I can’t think of anyone in marketing who doesn’t look to Moz for any and all things SEO. The company gets extra points in my book because it tells us what its content is all about right on the blog homepage:

The industry's top wizards, doctors, and other experts offer their best advice, research, how-tos, and insights—all in the name of helping you level-up your SEO and online marketing skills.

Let’s dissect this using the formula above:

The core audience: This isn’t stated overtly, but since marketers are typically the ones managing SEO and online marketing, it’s strongly suggested.

What it’s delivering: The best advice, research, how-tos, and insights

Outcome to expect: I can level up my skills!

Every single piece of content the Moz team creates is aimed at marketers with the goal to help them improve their SEO and online marketing skills.

The screenshot below is a perfect example of how their content reflects this mission.

There’s also a logical flow to the advice Moz provides and how it suggests using its software to implement it. I mean, if you’re in the market for SEO software, who better to choose than a thought leader with great advice on how to always level up?

InVision

If you’re not familiar with InVision, it’s an interactive prototyping and wireframing app popular with designers and developers. We use it here at IMPACT to collaborate with our clients when designing new website layouts and mockups.

It’s awesome and so is its brand’s content. InVision doesn’t come out and say what its content marketing mission statement is (and you don’t have to), but from reviewing its content, I’m going to take a stab at defining it:

The core audience: UX/UI designers, design leadership

What it’s delivering: Advice on user experience, design, and workflow management

Outcome to expect: Better design and collaboration

Browsing through the brand’s content, I can see how much its content aims at not only improving designers’ skills but also applying business savviness to round out the profession. Just like Moz, it is logical that I could then use the app to help me apply the lessons I learn from its content.

Unbounce

Unbounce is a tool that enables marketers to build responsive landing pages with conversion rate optimization in mind. When you first land on the team’s blog, you immediately see the value proposition to sign up for the blog subscription, “Learn How to Drive More Conversions.”

Taking the value proposition into consideration, along with reading through its content, I would surmise Unbounce’s content marketing mission statement goes a little something like this:

The core audience: Marketers focused on conversion rates

What it’s delivering: Advice on everything that impacts conversion rate optimization including copy, design, and landing pages

Outcome to expect: Actionable tips on improving conversion rates

This is another great example of how a clear, focused purpose behind your content and product alignment can assist in generating qualified leads for your business goals.

Also, I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that Unbounce probably tested having its blog subscription form right in the hero a zillion times, so you might want to look at testing that as well!

Your Two Homework Assignments

Before you immediately write up a content marketing mission statement, take a step back and review how you are positioning in the market.

If you could put a competitor’s logo on your blog and no one could tell the difference, you need to look at how your can differentiate.

Ask yourself why someone would read your content over anyone else’s? What’s the value you bring? How can you tap into the expertise of your business to have a voice that no one else has?

Once you answer those meaningful questions, then you can start shaping how you use that voice and expertise to attract qualified traffic and ultimately, sales opportunities.

Secondly, let’s all take a step in vowing to stop creating content clutter and start looking at how we can truly be valuable to our prospects.

After all, our content is many times the first impression our brand has to make. Let’s bring out our clarified voice and serve up content that serves a purpose for our prospects and achieves our business goals.

If you have any questions or thoughts, drop a comment or ask me on Twitter @BrieezyBrie!