You wrote an article! Now what?

Congratulations! As a writer and editor I celebrate each and every piece of content that is made, even the messy, seemingly incoherent pieces. It’s no small feat to sit down, focus, and bring 800 words or more to a thought.

Some may think of writing as more of an art than a science. Some go so far as to call it a soft skill. But I’m always impressed when people find the space and time to organize their thoughts on the page. I could offer bonus points for using big complex words, but my heart really sings for those who manage to take complex ideas and make them relatable to the masses. Effective communication is hardcore.

I could also go on and on about graphic and video content. In this digital era there are many ways to tell a story. Perhaps yours is hundreds of words, or maybe you are gifted with creating images or video. The point being, all formats lead us to the same place–you’ve found your medium to tell a story, and you made the effort to get it out. Great job! Now what?

I don’t want to take away from what you have already accomplished, but this is just the beginning. You have a story, you’re ready to share it with others, so now it’s time to think about what you’re trying to accomplish with it.

First, What did you make?

Before I can make any suggestions, I would like to know what your piece actually is–written words, infographic, video, podcast, or a combination thereof. This will tell me a lot about where we can publish it and how we can share it.

Then I’d like to better understand why you made it. What is the story you want to tell? Who is your intended audience? And ultimately what did you hope to accomplish with this? If we know why you created this, who you hope to reach, and what you want people to do after reading/watching/listening–then we’ll know what to do with it.

These might feel like soft questions, but stay with me for a moment. In marketing we strive to have a clear understanding of the channels we can leverage to publish and promote materials. (Learn more about channels and mediums here.) And while one could just put everything on a blog and hope for the best, we are also very aware of what channels to use as a means to an end. So understanding the goal of a piece is critical. 

Do you want to inform existing customers of a new feature? Or did you also want prospective customers to learn about it? Did you want either of these groups to be inspired to do something after engaging with your piece? Perhaps you want to see customers seek it out on the platform, and prospects excited to sign up for a trial to see it for themselves. 

In working with this example, we’ve now recognized two separate audiences that could find interest in this new feature. Does your piece speak to both of them in a way that conveys all relevant information? Or is it pointed more at existing customers, and might leave prospective customers wanting more? If you want your article to result in specific action, then we need to understand how we can set it up to succeed.

So we’ve decided to take your article for existing customers and publish it on the blog. We’ve added links to the docs so that customers can learn more about the feature. We’re going to promote your blog via customer emails and in-app notifications. The Customer Support team has been made aware of it so that they can help promote it. And the social media team will include it in their posts throughout channels and community forums. 

Now let’s Run with it

While that is one strategy for publishing and promoting your article, the campaign doesn’t have to stop there. Notice what I did there? Your piece of content is part of what could be a larger campaign. (Learn more about campaigns here.) 

In marketing we are very goal oriented, and a good marketer will always ask, ‘what is the goal of this?’ While the details matter, we like to pull back from one-off activities and make sure we’re aligned with higher level goals. Your piece was born out of a need to promote a new feature. You want people to know about it, be excited for it, and use it. We found a way to publish that article and use appropriate channels to promote it to the intended audience. Now we’d like to consider additional activities and tactics that will continue to support that goal.

We would start by taking inspiration from your original piece. As that first piece was written for existing customers, we would spin up another complimentary article that addresses prospective customers. In this case it will be a product page on the website, and it will invite people to sign up for a free trial so they can try this amazing new feature for themselves. We will promote it via a banner on the home page. We’ll create some ads and add those to the regular channels we find great traction with. And we’ll make the Sales Team aware of the article, encouraging them to use it in their outreach. 

Next we might consider hosting a webinar or podcast episode to explore the new feature with a power user. This could be weeks later, but that’s ok. When we publish a piece of content, we like to promote it and let it get as much attention as possible before publishing something else that might distract from it. This webinar could inspire even more pieces of content afterwards, maybe write up the Q&A session that followed the demo. But in this way we can continue supporting the goal, increasing awareness and usage of the new feature.

By now I think you get the point. We’ve shown where you can find a home for your creation. We’ve strategized ways to promote your piece as broadly as possible. And we’ve looked at opportunities to expand upon your initial idea. And through it all, we haven’t lost sight of the initial inspiration, the goal you had in mind when you sat down to create this. So that ultimately, the article you spent so much time and effort on has an opportunity to make the biggest impact possible.