Inbound marketing and lead generation, automated lead management, customer education, social media and even sales engagements – are all dependent on content.

And what a shift we´re being asked to make: from building content that represents our companies, products and services, to creating customer-relevant education – oriented content that helps buyers navigate their buying process.

This shift has huge implications. Foremost, we have to build content that´s relevant – relevance is a function of the buyer´s role, their specific issue interests, buying stage, industry and solution alternatives. Creating tailored versions to address every combination means we´re facing huge content volume requirements.

Timeliness means content must be ready the instant buyers engage and need relevant content. This requires new strategies for when, how, and how quickly we create content.

Volume and speed put pressure on costs, especially since quality standards cannot be lowered.

Since content is replacing people in the early customer engagement role, it must be compelling enough to capture and hold attention which raises standards and shifts development techniques from text to more compelling, but more expensive, digital media.

• How ready is your content to fulfill the needs of this new era of content marketing?
• How well does your content strategy support these new content requirements?
• Where do you need to adopt new content creation methods to meet these requirements without breaking your budgets?

Clearly, the first place to start is with your existing content. Why create new content until you know whether your existing content fits the bill, can be modified, refreshed or re-purposed to address a requirement, or be salvaged for important content parts?

A marketing and sales content inventory and audit is a first step.

• Do you really know about all the marketing and sales content that exists in your organization?
• Do you know where it is, and how to access and re-use it?
• Do you know what condition it´s in, how relevant it will be, for which use cases?
• What´s required to leverage existing content before you invest in new development?

Even knowing you have existing content is a lot like saying, "yeah, we have plenty of logs back there in the woods." But they´re not cut to the length that fits the wood stove, dried and aged, and sitting under cover within easy reach when required in the middle of a snow impacted night.

To be relevant and effective, content must be tailored to the specific situation with the right information – and no more. Too often, content spans multiple roles, interests, and buying stages. It isn´t customer focused enough. It doesn´t really address the specific questions customers have at that particular moment.

A content inventory finds, lists, describes, categorizes, and tags content. Content is aligned to expected uses such as the buying process by topic, role, issues, stages, industry, competitors and other factors. A documented inventory makes content easy to locate and re-use, especially when required to support an automated lead management and nurturing program.

A content audit evaluates content readiness. Some will be ready to use, others will require refreshing or re-purposing, and some should be decommissioned, or perhaps used for "parts." The audit process can assess how content meets:

• Business goals
• Thought leadership
• Content quality
• Ability to capture and hold attention
• Scan as well as in-depth versions
• Fit with brand and style guide elements
• Keyword usage
• Format requirement

The result identifies gaps where new or more effective content is required. But it also shows where existing assets can be leveraged, saving time, effort and money.

A content inventory and audit is an early step in applying a strategic and planned approach to content marketing, and content is the fuel that drives your marketing engine.

Digital Body Language Blog – The Buying Process; Auditing Your Content Assets – Steve Woods, CTO of Eloqua discussed the need for a content audit

Marketo Blog – The 3 Rs of Content Marketing Optimization– Maria Pergolino reinforces the steps of the content audit, categorizing assets as needing to Reorganize/Repurpose, Rewrite or Retire

Adaptive Path – Doing a Content Inventory – Although referring specifically to a web site content audit (not a sales & marketing content audit), some of the same principles apply

Content Marketing Institute – Why Traditional Content Audits Aren´t Enough – Moving toward multidimensional content audits