Content is a means to an end.

That’s according to Omnipress Marketing Director Tracy Grzybowski.

“The whole reason you’re publishing your content is because eventually you want someone to take an action,” Grzybowski said. “You’re not just publishing it because you want people to read it. You want them to read it and engage with you further.”

Is that what your association’s content marketing program is doing? Are people in the industry finding your content? Is it answering the questions they have? Is the content causing them to want more—perhaps even become a member, attend an event, or become more engaged with your association in another way?

If not, your content marketing might not be operating as well as it could—and it might need an overhaul. For associations that want to revitalize their content marketing program, Grzybowski’s ultimate advice is to start small. While overhauling your content marketing program isn’t going to happen overnight, here are a few tips to get associations started:

Take stock of what content you already have. “Start with an audit of all of the content that you have and see how you can map that out over the course of three months,” she said. Then, you can think about how to repackage or repurpose it to get more mileage out of it.

Don’t go it alone. One of the most daunting pieces of content marketing is the idea that one person (or even a small team) is responsible for writing all of it. It doesn’t have to be that way. For instance, associations can ask past conference speakers or session leaders to create a follow-up article or host a virtual post-event Q&A. Grzybowski also recommended enlisting young professionals to write content on key issues in the industry.

Be realistic about your content calendar. Ensuring that you’ve established a repeatable process is key. Grzybowski said if weekly content isn’t realistic for your organization, producing content every other week could be more viable. “Look at what your workload looks like when you’re in your absolute busiest time” she said, and then think about what kind of program you can maintain even then.

Capture key metrics. “Establish your baseline,” Grzybowski said. “Capture some of your key metrics today because then it obviously makes it a lot easier to see an increase in performance—to see your progress when you look back.”

Have you overhauled your content marketing program? If so, what tips have you found helpful along the way? Please leave your comments below.

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