With more than 2 million blog posts published daily and 6.7 million people blogging regularly, the competition to have your content read is fiercer than ever. Not only does your blog have to outshine the competition, but you must convince the Panda part of Google’s search algorithm that your blog contains quality content and deserves one of the valuable top spots on the results page.
Successful content marketers have tools and strategies to help them get ahead. The first important tool is buyer or target personas, which you can read more about here; the second important tool is the editorial mission statement.
Editorial Mission Statement Key Components
Every good editorial mission statement contains three key components:
- Audience Target – Your editorial mission statement needs to clearly spell out who you want your content to reach. This part of your mission statement is built from your buyer personas.
- What is Delivered – Be clear in about what information you are going to be delivering or to put it another way, what can your audience expect to receive when they visit your blog.
- Outcome for the Audience – Articulate what the audience can expect to gain from your
It is okay to be general as what you are delivering, and what the outcome is expected to be, will vary based on the blog post – sometimes your content may entertain, sometimes it will inform, but your blog should always be helping your audience advance toward their goal. Remember the point of content marketing is to deliver helpful, relevant content to your readers.
Example Editorial Mission Statement
Let’s take a look at my editorial mission statement to see how you go about creating one of these:
ZacharyNelson.me cuts through the noise to help small business owners and entrepreneurs build a marketing strategy that works. Here, you will find useful information, advice, insights, and inspiration for creating and executing a successful marketing strategy.
Here’s how my editorial mission statement captures the three key components:
- Who is the audience target? Small business owners and entrepreneurs
- What is delivered? Useful information, advice, insights, and inspiration for creating and executing a successful marketing strategy.
- What is the outcome? Less frustration and the ability to design a successful marketing strategy.
Avid readers of my blog will notice I occasionally stray from this mission statement. This is a personal blog, and I take editorial liberties from time to time; depending on the nature of your blog, you can, too. If you are creating content beyond the scope of your editorial mission statement, make sure it doesn’t overpower the content that is the focus of your statement.
Bringing it All Together
As you plan your blog posts, always check to make sure those posts are fulfilling your editorial mission statement. You will earn the loyalty of your readers when you consistently deliver content that speaks to the needs of our audience and provides them with useful outcomes.
A blog is a great place to start your content marketing strategy. As you branch out into other channels, such as social media and email, your editorial mission statement can help guide your marketing efforts in those areas, too, but that is a topic for a future post.