Destroy Endless Content Reviews with Clear Brand Messaging

Endless review cycles are a marketer’s trap

Do you have blog posts and white papers drafted but unpublished? I’ve been there myself. Many times.

If I create a blog post or piece of content that doesn’t “feel” right, it usually sits on my desktop for months. Meanwhile, my content team is bugging me for approval, but I just can’t seem to sign off on it.

Sound familiar? If you’re nodding in agreement, it’s likely because you don’t have your brand messaging documented. Or maybe it’s because your team isn’t trained on how to use it. I found that one out the hard way.

Consider the amount of time wasted on those pieces. Your writer’s time. The time you wasted reviewing the same piece of content over and over again. These endless review cycles tank your team’s morale and eat up precious time and money that you could use to grow your business.

Having unclear brand messaging means having unclear vision, purpose, and target markets

When brand messages are unclear or not documented, or unused and gathering dust in junk drawer, review cycles start to feel endless.

On the other hand, if your brand messaging is clear, every piece of content produced aligns perfectly. Approvals flow effortlessly. When you read content from your team you think “wow, they nailed it.”

When your brand messaging is a bit of a junk drawer, it’s likely that your vision and purpose or target markets are also unclear. If you don’t know who you’re talking to and why you exist, it’s nearly impossible to put together a messaging framework.

How to determine if your brand messaging is unclear

Endless review cycles are not the only signs that your brand messaging is unclear.

Drafts that just sit on your desktop and never get published are another indicator. Or maybe if drafts do get published, no one shares them out and repurposes the content because they don’t like them.

Try this!

If you’re starting to wonder just how clear your brand messaging is, give this a shot.

Go through your files and see how many drafted blog posts, eBooks, and white papers or video scripts you have lying around that never made it to production.

Check to see if you even attempted to repurpose your last blog post. Did you share it once on LinkedIn and that was it? Or did you slice and dice it so you could squeeze all the marketing juices out of it?

In other words, did you publish a piece simply to publish it? Or were you damn proud of it and excited to share it with your audiences?

If you’re hesitant to share your latest content, something is very wrong

Logistics aside, endless review cycles feel, well, endless. And hopeless. There are all sorts of momentum-killing emotions with this topic. Perhaps you’re scared to share things or embarrassed to share your latest blog post. Maybe you want to fly under the radar but feel relieved when you finally hit “post.”

If marketing and sales feel “icky,” you’re doing it wrong. It should feel awesome to share relevant, helpful content with your target market! If you’re not feeling good about your content, it’s time to revisit your brand messaging.

Create brand messaging with purpose and design

All that haphazard and never-fully-pushed-out content adds up. That’s costly. You should be excited to share out your content and tell the world it exists. If you aren’t telling people about your latest piece of content, save your money.

Why create the content in the first place if you don’t want people to find it, read it, and contact you? We are always happy to talk through what tactics you should focus on and how. We can do that during your free strategy session.

Originally published at https://www.foundationsfirstmarketing.com on September 19, 2021.