Framework library · Marketing strategy

Content strategy matrix

The content strategy matrix places each piece of content on two axes: emotional or rational, and early in the buying process or close to purchase. That gives four purposes: entertain, inspire, educate and convince. Most plans crowd into one quadrant, usually educate, and leave buyers with nothing at the moments the other three serve.

LevelFoundational
TimeTwo hours to map existing content, then half a day to plan the gaps
Who to involveMarketing and content leads, with a salesperson who knows which questions buyers ask late in a deal.
Also calledcontent marketing matrix, Smart Insights content matrix, entertain, inspire, educate, convince

Use it when

  • You publish a lot of content and have no clear view of which buying stage or kind of appeal it serves.
  • Leads come in but stall before purchase, and you suspect there is little content that helps a buyer decide.
  • You are planning a year of content and want the effort spread across the four purposes by choice rather than by habit.

Avoid it when

  • The audience is not defined. Settle who the content is for with STP first. The matrix sorts content, not customers.
  • You need to know which pieces work. The matrix shows coverage. Performance needs analytics against a goal, for example with AARRR pirate metrics.
  • There is one product, one channel and a short sale. A simple editorial calendar is enough.

How to run it

  1. Name the audience and the goal

    One buyer type and one commercial goal, such as signed trials for a product line. A matrix for everyone is just a list.

  2. List what you already publish

    Every format: articles, videos, case studies, calculators, webinars, sales presentations. Include what sales sends by email.

  3. Place each piece in a quadrant

    Entertain is emotional and early; inspire is emotional and close to purchase; educate is rational and early; convince is rational and close to purchase.

  4. Mark the gaps against how buyers decide

    Ask sales which questions stall deals and check whether any piece answers them. An empty quadrant is only a gap if buyers need it.

  5. Plan new pieces for the thin quadrants

    For each, write the format, the question it answers and who owns it. Retire or rework pieces that serve no quadrant.

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Mistakes to avoid

  • Filling the educate quadrant with articles because they are easiest to produce, while buyers close to a decision find nothing.
  • Placing a piece by its format rather than its purpose. A video can educate and a report can inspire.
  • Treating entertainment as out of place in business markets. Buyers are people, and early attention is often won on emotion.
  • Counting pieces instead of checking whether buyers find and use them.

Where it comes from

Developed by Dave Chaffey and Dan Bosomworth at Smart Insights and published there as the content marketing matrix in March 2012. The axes and the four quadrant names used here follow that version. Source.

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