The importance of a Content Brief for Sponsored Content campaigns
During the Sponsored Content Webinar earlier this year, the GMD Content team announced several new updates and releases that are now available with Sponsored Content packages. One of the most exciting new releases? The Content Brief!
The Content Brief is a pre-sale strategy form available for Account Representatives to utilize when developing a pitch for potential Sponsored Content clients or campaigns. The form requests information about a client’s objectives, target market, relevant SEO keywords, requested publications and any other unique details about the client’s business. These key insights allow a GMD Content Strategist to construct an individualized strategy for client-specific Premium Sponsored Content campaigns.
Once the Content Brief is submitted, a Content Strategist will use it as a blueprint to conduct competitive research, building out a comprehensive strategy with campaign proposals, potential areas to upsell and relevant, SEO-driven topics to explore with the client. The completed strategy is sent back to the Account Rep within 1-2 business days, who can use the information to beef up the proposal before approaching the client.
What makes this form worth the extra trouble, you may ask?
Most clients expect a sponsored content campaign to be multifaceted. First and foremost, they want to share their brand story. However, they also want to hit critical KPI markers by boosting engagement, achieving better SEO rankings, and positioning their business as an industry expert – all things we keep in mind when building out a strategy for each client.
A well-informed sponsored content strategy optimizes a client’s marketing goals by blending business goals with editorial guidelines. In other words, when clients want to talk about their business, we find ways to make it relatable and engaging for their target market and our publications’ readers. Often, this means moving away from telling a typical brand story (snooze!) and, instead, sharing a brand’s perspective on industry matters—something readers will find helpful or useful.
Sharing a brand’s perspective and advice on specific, hot-button topics will position the client’s business as an expert, building trust with readers and leading to potential conversions. As a result, the content is aligned to reach tangible results right from the beginning, providing the marketing team and the client with the information and building blocks needed for a successful campaign.
Not only does this brief help the Content team perform competitive research related to a client’s brand and industry. It also enables us to compare past results for similar campaigns in requested markets. These insights also help increase engagement on the proposed campaign—while lessening the burden on the Marketing team to reach KPIs (known in Sponsored Content as minimum reads!).
So far, every campaign containing a completed content brief has seen a higher success rate compared to sponsored content campaigns booked without one.
It’s a win-win. The Content Brief takes seconds to fill out, and it helps the team present a clear pitch to clients exploring sponsored content. The brief helps define and reach goals, identify new opportunities, cut marketing costs, and produce content that converts readers. Creating content without a clear vision and informed objectives can lead to underperformance, which deters them from investing in Sponsored Content in the future.
Let’s change that by collaborating before a sale is made, to create memorable (sometimes even viral!) content, setting up each campaign for victory—right from the beginning.
Fill out the Content Brief before you pitch to your next client or when a client wants to submit content for review, and our team will collaborate with you to build out an all-encompassing strategy that leads to a triumphant sale.