Do you have a Content Strategy Spring Cleaning Checklist?

If you’re anything like me, you’ve been busy focusing on projects, campaigns and customers ... and not your own brand. It’s time to do a reality check and some content strategy spring cleaning (for my brands, as well!).

Review Your Core Messaging

Go back and review your core messaging document. Have your goals and objectives shifted? Are your priorities still top priorities? Update as needed and share with the team.

HINT: Your core messaging document should specifically indicate what’s most important to your business and target audience, including: product/service features, benefits of using said features, and reasons to believe in your brand.

Google Your Brand Name

Check out all the messages that pop up. Are they aligned with your core messaging? Are you showcasing the story you want to tell? If not, make a list of the properties or areas you need to update or inundate to get the right story on top.

HINT: Your company and faces of the company have profiles on many sites, such as Google+, LinkedIn, Facebook, Alexa, YouTube, Vimeo, Yelp, and industry-specific directories. Be sure they are up-to-date, and all your content writers are registered with Google Authorship, so your content marketing is more visible.

Refresh Your Content Marketing Efforts

Has it been awhile since you created articles for industry sites? Do you have something new to talk about? Choose an interesting, new topic and share valuable information, while supporting your own brand story. For many brands, content marketing is a key component of content strategy.

HINT: Offer to write articles for these industry magazines for free. It works.

Dive In to Your Own Site (aka Content Strategy Audit "Lite")

• Review the top 10-15 most visited or visible pages on your site. Do they still support your core messaging priorities?
• Go to Google and type “site:www.yoursitename.com” (no spaces) and look at the results. See anything weird? Something that should be redirected, rearranged, archived, or updated?
• Review your site on three different browsers (Firefox, Chrome, and Safari are popular) and on three different devices (laptop, iPad or tablet, smartphone). How does your content appear? You may need to look into development updates, including a responsive design, which enables any device to showcase your content appropriately.
• Review your site analytics and talk to your customer service team. Is there content missing from your site that might persuade more people to buy from you, contact you, or choose you over the competition?

Dig Deeper

Take a look at templates for email, advertising, offline materials, PDFs, press release footers, and any other materials that represent your brand. Make sure the content is all up to date. I've just started tackling this content strategy checklist for Pybop, so don't use me as an example. You know. Do as I say ... What's missing from this Content Strategy Spring Cleaning Checklist? Add your to-dos to the comments below.