Enterprises are notorious for having content conundrums. Typically, that’s because lots of stakeholders are part of the process. That presents unique challenges. That doesn’t mean you can’t have successful enterprise content marketing that’s agile and adaptable.
The question on the minds of many content teams is how to do this in a way that’s consistent and streamlined. Let’s dive into the question and answer it.
Enterprise Content Marketing Trends and Challenges
To start the journey, you’ll want to look at the research and data. We’ll start with the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) 12th Annual B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends.
The survey asks content marketers about how they’re adapting and what continues to be a pain point. New challenges emerged as well with the pandemic. The report provided these insights on enterprise content marketing.
- 67% of teams have had to do more with the same resources.
- The list of challenges grew. Those related to adaptability included internal communication silos, overcoming traditional marketing and sales mindsets, integrating technology across the organization, and the ability to be agile when needed.
The themes in these data points indicate that the larger and more distributed a company, the more challenges exist for teams to work together effectively. If content collaboration is cumbersome, then it’s hard to define ROI and attribution.
Netline’s 2022 State of B2B Content Consumption & Demand Report is the second research to add to the conversation. The report has a lot of great nuggets of wisdom on the rise in consumption of content by B2B buyers. It includes statistics by industry, job titles, and other metrics. These changes matter because they illustrate the shifts and adaptability needed to stay current and in front of audiences.
Understanding that content marketing is fast-moving and dynamic and there’s greater demand, the need to be adaptable is more important than ever. So, how do you reconcile the gaps? Content marketing operations and the technology to support them are key!
Rethinking Content Marketing Operations
As with everything else in business, you’ll need to operationalize your content marketing. Content operations, including the people, processes, and technology, are crucial to adaptability. To centralize this, you’ll need to break down those silos and start aligning efforts.
When you have a structure in place that drives what you do, you’ll be able to navigate change more easily. You’ll have to pivot, as we all learned in 2020. Some enterprises did this well because they were ready for it. Others struggled because they weren’t. It’s essential to work toward being the latter, and that includes everything you learned from failures.
Eliminating silos and streamlining workflows is a more achievable task with the right technology.
How Technology Empowers Enterprise Content Marketing
Your technology is the third leg of the pyramid, joining people and processes. A content marketing software platform is the ideal framework to use.
Your team may have a great structure and the best intentions. Yet, without technology, being agile is a long shot. Technology drives scale, which you desperately need. It also assists in pinpointing and solving roadblocks like reviews, approvals, and resource allocation.
So, what does a content marketing tool need for your enterprise content team to thrive? First, let’s examine the key features.
Dynamic Content Calendars
Not just any content calendar makes you agile. You need a dynamic one to be your central hub for content projects. It supports the daily management of content, providing a transparent view of all your efforts. Anyone can look at your calendar and know what’s in the works.
Having content calendars also invites greater flexibility. Most of your content planning is completed well in advance with all the tasks for each content type. Surprisingly, this also helps you be more agile. For example, when something timely happens, you need to be ready to move. A content calendar empowers your team to do this with fewer bumps.
Content calendars can also be great places for ideation. Anyone on your team can drop in ideas, which can lead to conversations and projects. This is especially helpful if you’re in a fast-changing industry where outside factors are always influencing your content.
Content Collaboration Features
Content calendars offer transparency and visibility. Content collaboration functionality allows each contributor to work together with less friction. These content workflows can be part of your content marketing platform as well.
Seek out features that enable collaboration, such as project management tools, commenting and tagging, and automatic notifications.
Project management features give you the guardrails for projects. Should the time come for change, you can easily tweak what you have without the panic. Automated notifications also support collaboration. When something gets updated, all parties know about it.
By using technology to facilitate collaboration, your team may be more productive.
Aggregated Content Analytics
Measuring content marketing is essential to any enterprise. What you learn drives how you pivot. The problem (and delay) often occurs because data lives in many places. Aggregating on your own is time-intensive. It’s a function your content marketing system should deliver.
Having dashboards with data in real-time and consolidated reporting allows you to take what you learn and apply it to change course. You’ll understand what’s resonating with audiences in terms of topics and channels. These content analytics are extremely valuable and are often the catalyst for repositioning. How advantageous would this access bring to your team? It could be a key ingredient to working toward greater agility.
Is Your Enterprise Content Team Agile Enough?
Agility and enterprise don’t have to be opposing terms. It’s possible to be nimble, even for an enterprise content team. With the right processes and technology, it can be easier than you think.
If you want to boost your agility, check out the DivvyHQ platform and its features. You can start for free today.