As the ever-diligent tech marketer, you’ve probably spent weeks of your life crafting the perfect content calendar. Your team has written several blog posts, all ready to publish at the push of a button. They’ve pre-scheduled social posts on all the major platforms. They’ve assembled thoughtful workflows to nurture incoming leads. And then the coronavirus crisis hit and your plan was blown to bits. (We know, it sucks.)
Your first option is to stick with the status quo. Spoiler alert: that’s not a good idea.
At best, all your great content will be skipped over because people have other things on their minds. At worst, your content could come off as irrelevant or insensitive.
The better option is to adjust your content calendar to match the needs of the current climate…ASAP. Here’s how:
- Step #1: Pause all pre-scheduled or automatic content, like blog posts, social media posts, workflows, sequences, text messages, etc.
- Step #2: Update your buyer persona and/or channel mix to be more relevant to the ongoing crisis (ex; remote workforce = paid social media, no direct mail, more videos, etc.)
- Step #3: Audit the now-paused content and sort into one of three categories:
- Still relevant today as-is
- Needs to be tweaked, but can be salvaged
- Not relevant at all…save for a much later date, but don’t delete
- Step #4: Identify any previously published content that can be updated or repurposed to address the current situation
- Step #5: Plug existing content into a customer journey map or calendar view to identify gaps where you’ll need new content
- Step #6: Create new content and/or tweak existing content
- Step #7: Publish your crisis-approved content and pat yourself on the back for a job well done under pressure!