If you’ve ever done research into any type of content marketing, you’ve probably been told to stick with a plan. At Charlotte Content Marketing, we agree that this is great advice, but we also know from experience that things don’t always work out the way you planned.

Here’s a scenario for you:

You need to market a new product, service, or brand. You create a content marketing strategy that involves producing blog posts using on-page SEO to build awareness and generate leads by attracting buyers to your brand’s website. This is where your informational content lives, and this content is used to generate interest in your products/services/brand.

You then include an email signup form on each blog post offering a free e-book to encourage newsletter signups. These email addresses eventually get segmented into groups based on each user’s actions after receiving the e-book. Some click on links contained in the e-book, and from there, you can determine the level and direction of interest of each user who clicks.

Using Content in a Marketing Funnel

From there, you continue your email marketing campaign, funneling warmer leads to landing pages with strong calls to action (CTAs) and offers. Leads that are less warm receive additional marketing emails with video content designed to build demand and eventually convert them into warm leads.

This is a straightforward content marketing strategy that leverages various forms of content and funnels. It’s simple, yet effective, because it guides leads through a process that filters out those who fall away naturally, leaving the more likely converters to be directed to your sales pages over time.

The Role of Content Briefs

You can add more steps to this strategy to make it more targeted and refined, but regardless of the specifics, you need to create content briefs for each blog post, email newsletter, e-book, video, landing page, CTA, and any other content created for this campaign.

What is a Content Brief?

A content brief is a document detailing the plan for a piece of content. It outlines the type of content required, what should be included in each piece of content, and other project specifics. You may have separate content briefs for each piece of content, one master content brief, or content briefs created for different categories of content types.

Essentially, the content brief is the set of instructions your content development team uses to produce content that is consistent with your funnels, branding, and strategy.

Why You Should Stick to Your Content Briefs

In general, content marketing professionals stick to content briefs because these documents serve as the foundational underpinnings for campaigns. Deviating from the brief is typically ill-advised because it can throw your entire campaign and strategy off.

Content strategies are usually meticulously crafted based on research. This means that making changes to a content brief or failing to follow the brief can lead to unintended consequences further down the funnel.

When is It Okay to Change a Content Brief?

Now, let’s imagine you’ve drafted your content briefs, including specific instructions for your e-book, emails, and video content. Each content brief is created based on your overall content marketing strategy.

What happens if you discover that the blog posts and SEO terms driving traffic to your site don’t align with your e-book’s topic or the messaging in your video content? Perhaps you thought that one set of terms or topics would be the driving factor in getting people to your offer, but upon reviewing your data, you see that things went in a different direction.

In this scenario, your e-book or videos cover different subjects than what your audience is interested in based on the search terms bringing people in. You’ve already laid out a comprehensive plan and have your funnel charted out.

Do you change the content brief?

Absolutely! You can and should change the content brief!

We’ve run into this type of scenario many times at Charlotte Content Marketing, so we know a thing or two about changing content briefs and marketing strategies in the middle of a busy campaign. It’s not always easy, but it’s often necessary if you want to win customers.

An Example of When We Had to Change a Brief

As a real-world example of this type of thing in action, we had a situation with a landscaping client where we started off focusing on landscaping SEO terms for blog posts. The brand’s website was new, so we wanted to begin connecting keywords semantically to the brand and site for search engines.

While we were publishing person-first content, this initial step was based around Google’s ability to read and understand websites using natural language processing. With AI on the scene, we also wanted to tell large language models (LLMs) all about the brand by creating content that spelled out exactly what, where, and who the brand is.

What We Did Based on Our Data

After two months of this process, we noticed trends in our analytics showing various search terms popping up that weren’t in our original plan. Due to these revelations, we had to change content briefs to match the new information.

Our goal was to provide search engines and LLMs with plenty of information, but we also wanted the blog posts to get found by local customers to convert them into leads. As with all content, there should be a user-first approach in all that you do. The search engine stuff was secondary

We also began to branch out to target new search terms to breeze past the local competition. This included targeting content to hardscaping and water features as these looked more likely to win customers.

This wasn’t in our original content briefs, meaning we had to change a few things to adjust. We remained flexible, communicated changes with the client, and course-corrected in the middle of the campaign.

The Result of Our Actions

The result was a four-fold increase in website visits and calls within a month. Had we been unwilling to change the content brief, we would have likely been stuck pushing a boulder uphill. If we had not changed the content briefs to match search intent or what actual potential customers were looking for, we would have been churning out content that no one cared about.

A Rigid Plan Makes More Work for Your Team

That’s what it comes down to: You’re making more work for yourself if you aren’t willing to be flexible. Content marketing, and really any type of digital marketing, is not an exact science. Yes, we have data to rely on, and yes, we spend the time to review statistics, but those only tell part of the story.

When we receive anecdotal reports from a client that their customers are really engaging with a specific type of content that we didn’t factor into our original strategy, we change the plan. The goal at Charlotte Content Marketing is to engage with audiences to build, foster, and further relationships. We do this by speaking the language of the customer, and we can’t do that if we refuse to learn and use that language.

The Importance of Flexibility and Adapting to Audience Needs

Our main point here is that sticking rigidly to your original content brief in a scenario where it isn’t going to benefit you or your customers long-term can mean losing potential leads because your content no longer aligns with customer needs and interests.

By adjusting your content brief to incorporate new insights, you demonstrate responsiveness and a commitment to providing valuable, relevant content to your audience. You must remain flexible and adapt to changes, and this can sometimes mean changing the brief.

Mick Gordon’s Revelation

To drive this point home, you can check out an informative video by Mick Gordon. Mick is a musician and composer who worked with iD Software and Bethesda on the 2016 Doom video game reboot. Mick was tasked with coming up with a specific sound for the game’s soundtrack, and he talks in this video about the challenges he faced.

One of those challenges was sticking to the content brief. He and his team worked through these challenges by remaining flexible and making changes where it made sense. He goes into more detail in the video, but he closes by saying that a willingness to change the brief was vital to his success and the success of the game’s soundtrack.

How Do Changes Benefit Your Customers?

We also want to remind you that the whole reason for doing anything in business is for your customers. As such, we want to take a look at how it benefits your customers to remain flexible and have a willingness to change your content briefs when it makes sense.

Enhancing Relevance and Value

Content that aligns with what your audience is actually searching for is far more likely to be consumed and appreciated, right? Increased relevance can lead to higher engagement rates, more email signups, and ultimately, more conversions.

By updating your content brief to reflect the topics and keywords that resonate with your audience, you ensure that every piece of content you produce adds genuine value and meets the current demands of your market. More than that, however, is that you position your brand as a helpful ally and trusted source of solutions.

Staying Competitive

The digital landscape is dynamic, and trends and interests evolve rapidly. What worked last month may not work today, and some new shiny object may have captured everyone’s attention overnight (We’re looking at you, “AI”.)

By remaining flexible and willing to adjust your content brief, you stay competitive and keep your content strategy fresh. Flexibility gives you the chance to seize new opportunities as they come along. This adaptability can be a significant advantage over competitors who may be slower to react to changing trends and audience preferences.

Improving ROI

Every piece of content you create involves an investment of time, money, and resources. To maximize your return on investment (ROI), it’s crucial that your content performs well.

If the data shows that a shift in topic or focus could improve performance, it only makes sense to adjust your strategy. This not only ensures that your current campaign is effective but also provides valuable insights for future projects. Remember that content marketing is a building process, so take the insights you gain and apply them to future content development.

Practical Steps to Consider When Changing a Content Brief

If you decide to adjust a content brief, follow these practical steps to ensure a smooth transition:

Analyze Your Data

Gather all relevant data and insights that indicate the need for a change. Look at metrics such as traffic sources, search terms, and audience behavior. You should also factor in the aforementioned trends to see if there are any gaps you can cover.

Communicate with Your Team

We recommend you clearly explain the reasons for the change to your team. Ensure everyone understands the new direction and the data supporting it.

You don’t necessarily owe anyone an explanation, but you do owe it to your team to communicate changes clearly and with purpose.

Update the Brief

Modify the content brief to reflect the new focus. Include new keywords, topics, and any other relevant details. Consider marking changes in a different way, such as making changes in bold or using a different color.

This can draw attention to changes which is especially helpful if your content development team is used to looking at the same briefs day after day.

Adjust Content Plans

Review your existing content plans and make necessary adjustments. This might include rewriting sections of an e-book, creating new blog posts, re-shooting portions of a video, or tweaking your email marketing strategy.

Monitor Results

After making the changes, closely monitor the performance of your updated content. Use this data to further refine your approach.

When Not to Change the Content Brief

There are times when changing a content brief might not be the best course of action. It’s crucial to weigh the potential benefits against the possible drawbacks.

Scenario: A Temporary Spike in Trends

Imagine you notice a sudden spike in traffic driven by a trending topic. This trend aligns only loosely with your core product or service, and it's not expected to last long. For example, a fitness brand sees a temporary surge in interest around a specific diet fad that doesn’t align with their established focus on holistic wellness and sustainable fitness routines.

In this case, since you know this interest is temporary and is not closely aligned with your brand, it may make more sense to stay the course with your original content briefs.

Below are some considerations that our content marketing agency would factor into a decision about whether to make changes to a content brief or strategy in the above scenario:

We Would Evaluate the Longevity

We would assess whether the trend is likely to have long-term relevance or if it's a fleeting interest. Trends that are likely to fade quickly may not warrant a significant change in content strategy or the ways in which we produce content briefs.

We Would Consider a Client’s Brand Identity

We would ensure that any changes align with a client’s core brand, values, and long-term goals. Pivoting too drastically for a short-term gain can confuse the audience and dilute a brand message.

We Might Supplement Rather Than Overhaul

Instead of overhauling an entire content brief, we may consider creating a few supplementary pieces that address the trending topic. This approach allows us to capture some of the interest without deviating from the main strategy.

We Would Monitor and Adapt

We would also keep an eye on the performance of the supplementary content. If the trend does gain traction and shows signs of long-term relevance, we can then consider a more substantial adjustment to our content briefs. As an added bonus, we would already have a bit of a headstart with the existing supplementary content.

There’s No Easy Answer

While sticking to a content brief is important for maintaining a structured and coherent strategy, flexibility is equally crucial. We encourage you to being open to change based on new insights that can lead to more effective content marketing. Taking this approach can also lead to better engagement with your audience, and ultimately, higher conversion rates.

Contact Charlotte Content Marketing to Schedule Your No-Obligation Consultation

At Charlotte Content Marketing, we provide content marketing solutions for brands across the Charlotte Metro, the Carolinas, and the world. Contact our experts to schedule a no-obligation consultation today! Call (704) 323-6762, or use our contact form to get in touch with our content marketing agency on the web.