Your marketing and brand strategy doesn’t always need to centre on planning and writing something new. Sometimes the most effective step is to look carefully at what you already have, decide what still serves you, and give the good material a proper new lease of life. Here’s why it could be time to spring clean your content…
Most businesses have far more content than they think. Blog articles, brochures, case studies, sales decks, testimonials, thought leadership pieces. Years of effort. But, as time goes on, little attention given to most of it.
Often, marketing objectives tie in with creating new content to use on social platforms, at events, on the website, for newsletters, in the press.
And so the catalogue of content grows and grows. The problem is that if you always take this tact, you end up producing more and more content and moving on without ever pausing to assess the impact it’s having.
Blog written – tick. Case study produced – tick. Advice piece published – tick. Then straight on to the next.
And if you’re searching for that one blog, case study or thought leadership piece that will unlock leads and awareness, it’s tempting to believe the answer is volume. Keep publishing and something will land.
This doesn’t tend to be the most productive route.
Too much content out in the ether can dilute your message. It can blur your positioning. It can make it harder for people to understand what you actually stand for.
That’s why it pays to stop occasionally and take stock of what you’ve already got.
Not just skimming it. Actually critiquing it. Picking it apart.
What’s working? What isn’t? Why?
Could you improve it, upgrade it, repurpose it?
What should you actually review?
As a starting point, anything over two years old needs looking at.
If it’s still working and aligned with where you are now, don’t change it for the sake of it. Although that doesn’t mean you can’t refresh it. Update the introduction of a brochure. Swap out old imagery. Rework 20–30% of a web article that’s still relevant and republish it so it doesn’t disappear into the archive.
At the same time, be tough.
If your services have evolved or your team has grown, does your content reflect that?
Is the right contact named? Is the address correct? Is the logo current?
If you’ve refined your values or mission statement recently, revisit older content with that in mind. If it no longer aligns, it needs updating or removing.
And always review with your marketing objectives front of mind. If you’re giving teams autonomy to assess content, make sure they’re clear on what those objectives are before they decide what stays and what goes.
In my experience, it works best when a small group owns the process. They can sense-check with others, but too many reviewers often leads to endless tweaking rather than decisive action.
Once you’ve refreshed what’s worth keeping, look at how it can work harder. A revised article can become a series of social posts. A strong case study or testimonials can support PR outreach. You can often get far more mileage out of existing material than starting from scratch.
A content audit might sound laborious (well, it is a little, if we’re honest) but it’s worth it for the outcome. It’ll ground your brand and marketing strategies [link to blog] giving you a chance to reflect on what’s important to your business and how you want to communicate it.
If you need help streamlining your marketing, get in touch with our team who can help you plan a content spring clean.
Practical pointers for a content audit
- Review anything over two years old.
- If it’s still relevant, create an update list. Refresh imagery, strengthen introductions, update dates and consider adding insight or commentary from additional team members.
- If you have a large volume to review, build it into your content plan over three to six months so it’s manageable.
- Check all brand assets across downloadable and printed collateral.
- Archive anything that’s outdated, misaligned with your values or no longer supports your objectives.