Is your marketing team back from summer vacation and ready to rip the band aid off Q4 content planning?
If you’re staring at a blank screen, here are 5 ways to fan the flames in Q4:
1. Plan your 2023 Outlook series.
An Outlook or Insights series is a great way to illustrate your
authority. After all, only visionaries and industry leaders can do that crystal ball thing. Write one for each vertical unit, industry or market you work in. If you’re new at it, write one longer piece with a subsection for each area of expertise. Elevate your leaders to expert status by publishing what they already know too well.
TIP: Start early. Set interviews for end of September/early October. Plan to publish mid-November. Pitch to trade media – they love these!
2. Tap that hard-to-get senior leader.
While they have the vision and gumption to run your business, senior leaders tend to shy away from the spotlight. Get their feet
wet with baby steps: Ask them to opine on three industry trends for your year-end, forward-looking 2024 Outlook. Then, publish it on your Intranet and as a LinkedIn article on their profile to gain exposure. Bonus points if you can somehow trick them into letting your PR team pitch their deep thoughts to an industry pub.
TIP: Know your leader and tread lightly. A strong POV from your leadership will be important to your business’ positioning in 2024. Today’s gains will mirror their involvement in your content gen next year.
3. Last chance to meet 2023 sales goals.
Revisit the list of topics you got from your sales team back in Q1. Dig up the industry market research from the end of last
year. Pluck out the topics that didn’t make the cut until now but are still viable. Look at them with your Q4 planning lens. Are any of them workable, important to include in your 2023 content?
TIP: Old ideas collected dust for a reason? No problem. Reach out to your favorite sales executive and get their #1 and #2 FAQs from current prospects. Make those the centerpiece of your Q4 content.
4. What Q4 events demand your $.02?
Are you an insurer in hurricane-prone areas? Does the country’s current heat wave, increase in travel or recent rise in crime affect
your customers? Is the fall or winter holiday season a cause for greater risk management? Plan these pieces out now.
TIP: Since these occur annually, the challenge lies in brainstorming a new angle. Consider: a case study from Hurricane Ian vs. a piece on hurricane preparedness, a pitfalls/challenges piece instead of best practices or build out a full piece on a narrow or unique aspect of the larger issue and then for full coverage, update last year’s general piece to accompany it.
5. Give your 2023 content one more shot.
Redistribute your best-performing pieces from Q1-Q3. Refresh them with: a new LinkedIn post; rewrite the intro, intro stat and
headline of the blog; repurpose the content for another industry — or just redistribute it as is.
TIP: Not all eyeballs saw your content the first time around. If it’s good, those who missed it will partake now. For those seeing it for a second time, your expertise will be reinforced in the mind once again.
Looking for more ideas like this, or execution help? Reach out ahead of Q4 for help.
All the best,
Mindi 😊 
