NFL Training Camp 2013 comes to a close this week as teams prepare for the first preseason game and the final push to the beginning of the regular season. Following the Super Bowl the NFL’s rampant fan base desperately awaits the scouting combine, the opening of free agency and finally the three-day coverage of the NFL Draft in April. These teases satisfy our offseason football fix but nothing scratches the NFL itch like the beginning of training camp and the preseason countdown to kick off on Week 1.
Now, what does this have to do with content marketing?
Well, surprisingly, a lot. What teams introduce in training camp has much in common with how brands can build a foundation for their content marketing efforts.
Immediately when players arrive at training camp facilities league-wide they receive two important items – a playbook and a schedule. One of the most important and initial tasks when creating or restructuring your content marketing efforts is diving into the playbook, or in this sense, your website’s Google Analytics.
A comprehensive Google Analytics review will reveal the online tendencies of your current audience, keywords people search for to find your business, successful trends that lead people to your site and new areas where content marketing efforts can help grow your company and brand.
These answers help populate an editorial calendar.
Similar to a schedule players adhere to at training camp, an editorial calendar allows you to build a week’s, month’s or quarter’s worth of topics for content whether it’s a blog, website copy, product descriptions, infographics, webinars or videos. This helps you stay organized but it’s also important to remain flexible so that in the event you can create a timely story, it’s easy to make adjustments to your calendar.
During training camp coaches can try new things like introducing a pistol formation or testing a talented rookie’s punt return ability. As you reposition or start your content marketing efforts from scratch it’s OK to try new things – host a webinar, create a video and use your customers’ frequently asked questions to write a blog post.
Learn from both positive and negative feedback – content marketing isn’t about creating a one-hit wonder; it’s about producing consistent content that’s compelling, informative or entertaining and focused on attracting and satisfying a targeted customer audience.
One of the best aspects of NFL Training Camp is fan engagement. NFL teams invite their fans to watch practice up close, interact with players and get autographs throughout the two-week-long camp. Just as NFL teams invite their fans to engage, you have to share your content with your audience in order to receive traffic. Using social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ to promote your content, asking questions and reviewing feedback are necessities to driving traffic to your site and growing your audience.
Learn more about Brandpoint’s content marketing team and how we can help get your content marketing efforts started on the right foot.
