At its core, content marketing is exactly what it sounds like — creating content that supports marketing efforts, to create and distribute relevant assets that will engage a specific target audience.
The type of desired engagement will vary by the content — a social media post will be measured in likes, while an e-book will be measured in form fills — but the ultimate end goal of all the content is to drive profitable consumer actions.
We know a CMS can drive efficiency for publishers — so let’s look at how it can specifically help a content marketing team.
Content strategy development within CMS
An effective approach to content marketing always begins with a holistic, documented strategy. The function is an integral part of a business’ marketing efforts, which may include digital marketing, email marketing, social media marketing, SEO and paid search efforts, public relations, inbound and outbound marketing and digital marketing. Identifying where content management sits at the table — as well as which slices of the pie they’re responsible for — will help streamline content marketing efforts.
Here are a set of best practices we like to follow when it comes to developing a solid content strategy:
CMS as a tool for content marketers
Content management systems offer a wealth of benefits to content teams, and this extends to content marketing teams. Let’s look at some of the top features — and benefits — a CMS can provide:
- User friendliness: CMSs are typically designed to be easy to use by any user, not just technical folks. This means a content marketing team should easily adapt to using one. And this ease isn’t just about creating content; many systems include tools like asset search that can make discovering previous or related assets a breeze. The benefits of a simple, easy to use UI will support teams throughout the content lifecycle.
- Workflow tools: Whether it’s a single asset or a large campaign, a CMS workflow solution can help teams organize their efforts from a first draft to a finished asset. Workflow tools can be simple or complex, and add a level of oversight and control to ensure content is clear, consistent and in line with the overall campaign narrative. Scheduling capabilities also allow teams to create, set and forget.
- Collaboration tools: Pooling efforts into a CMS will allow multiple team members to contribute. In addition to workflow features, many CMSs offer features like full-page preview, asset locking and real-time conversations.
- Content reuse: One great benefit of taking a CMS-based approach to content marketing efforts is the ability to reuse all or part of the content — what we at Brightspot refer to as a modular content strategy. Modular content offers several benefits for content marketing, including increased efficiency, scalability and consistency. By creating content modules that can be repurposed and reused across different channels, organizations can save time and resources while ensuring that their messaging stays consistent and on-brand.
- Content personalization and localization: Leveraging a CMS for content efforts — as well as a modular approach — sets up content marketers to be able to easily personalize content for different target audiences, languages and regions, making it more relevant and engaging.
- Customization options: A CMS will typically provide teams with an array of customization options — meaning teams can tailor the content and layout to their specific needs. This customization should happen within a set boundary to ensure brand consistency. For example, the CMS may give teams a set brand color palette versus the full spectrum of color when creating a new landing page.
- Increased efficiency: A CMS makes the process of creating, editing and publishing content more efficient. It allows marketers to have more control over their content
- Faster launch times: With a CMS, new content, new content types, new landing pages and new content campaigns can be ideated, drafted and launched more quickly.
- SEO and content optimization: Many CMSs include powerful SEO optimization tools, which can increase your ranking in search engines — and help you reach audiences more organically.
So, indeed, a CMS can be a very powerful tool for content marketers. It can streamline processes, improve collaboration and ultimately lead to more effective content marketing strategies.
Leveraging CMS for content distribution and analysis
Modern CMS platforms are much more than just content management tools. They now offer multi-channel content distribution, which means you can publish your content on various platforms and reach a wider audience. Brightspot, for example, provides more than dozens of pre-built integrations, or “connectors”, to easily deliver content from the CMS to its final destination, whether that be RSS, Facebook, Mailchimp, Marketo, Apple News, or some other system.
Many CMSs also offer advanced SEO tools, personalized content delivery and AI integration for content analysis. Many — including Brightspot — also offer analytics plugins, which allow you to track performance of content assets directly in the CMS, in real time. These features can help you understand how your content is performing, who it’s reaching and how it can be improved. This data-driven approach allows teams to quickly assess content performance, adjust messaging and can lead to more effective content strategies.
In many ways, leveraging a CMS for content marketing efforts becomes the rising tide that lifts all boats. By providing a framework for creating, managing and publishing the content, the CMS helps improve the quality of the content. This, in turn, can enhance the user experience and increase engagement... which helps reduce the costs incurred by creating and distributing the content in the first place.
The best tools and plugins for content marketers in CMS
Conclusion: Elevating content marketing with CMS
As you can see, creating a symbiotic relationship between content marketing teams and a CMS has undeniable benefits for businesses. A CMS can help content marketers streamline processes, enhance collaboration and ultimately craft more effective strategies — all by leveraging popular CMS capabilities like workflow management, content reuse, SEO optimization and content distribution.
Moreover, the integration of analytics data and insights within modern CMS platforms further amplifies the value proposition for content marketers. Real-time insights into content performance enables marketers to iterate quickly, optimize their strategies and drive meaningful results.
As organizations continue to prioritize content as a cornerstone of their marketing efforts, harnessing the potential of a CMS quickly emerges as a strategic imperative.
