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Does the task of brainstorming content ideas often leave you feeling overwhelmed? Do you find it challenging to sift through endless ideas and pinpoint the ones that truly resonate with your audience? Effective content ideation is not just about having ideas, but about having the right ones. That’s where the Content Matrix comes into play – a powerful tool designed to streamline your brainstorming process, help you identify the most compelling content ideas, and ensure your team’s ideation efforts are aligned with your business goals.
This blog post is your go-to guide for everything you need to know about the Content Matrix.
Here, we’re not just laying out dry, theoretical knowledge. We’re rolling up our sleeves and diving in deep, providing you with a hands-on, practical guide on how to construct a Content Matrix from scratch – with real examples.
We’ve been in the trenches just like you, and over the years, we’ve fine-tuned these techniques and experienced first-hand the transformative impact they can have on content strategies.
By the end of this article, you’ll walk away with not just a comprehensive understanding of what a Content Matrix is and why it’s crucial for your content planning process, but also how to build one effectively.
Let’s get started.
What is a Content Matrix?
A Content Matrix is a visual planning blueprint of content ideas that are tightly aligned with your business’s products and services and which focus on answering your buyer’s most pressing questions.
Rather than a random selection of topics, the Content Matrix encourages your team to think strategically and focus on subjects that hold the utmost relevance for your business.
Here’s an example of what a Content Matrix looks like:
On the top row you have:
- “Your Services”, which includes each service or product your business sells. In this example, we’ve listed ‘HubSpot’ as our core service and ‘HubSpot Onboarding Fundamentals’, HubSpot Onboarding Advanced’ etc as our sub services within the category of HubSpot.
- “Cost & Pricing”, which includes blog topics related to cost and pricing of your service/product
- “Problems”, which includes blog topics related to problems surrounding your product/service or industry
- “Comparisons & Versus”, which includes blog topics comparing different solutions related to your service/product
- “Best of lists”, which includes blog topics that provide information around the best and worst options for your buyers in relation to your products, services or industry
- “Reviews”, which includes blog topics that provide reviews of your product, service, industry or materials/software related to your product/service
- “What”, which includes blog topics related to your service/product that answer “what” questions
- “Why”, which includes blog topics related to your service/product that answer “why” questions
As you can see in the example above, we have the service listed as “HubSpot” with the sub services next to that. However, if you have multiple services or products, you will simply create another row with that service and brainstorm content ideas based on each column.
The difference between any normal brainstorming plan and a Content Matrix is that the Content Matrix takes into account the changing buyer behaviour and the key evergreen topics that generate sales.
Let’s take a look at exactly what these topics are all about.
What exactly are the five key topics that the Content Matrix is based off of?
Your number one priority for writing blog articles isn’t to entertain the masses. It’s to generate sales.
However, not all topics are built equal when it comes to generating sales. There are five time-tested and proven topics that generate more traffic, leads and sales than your average blog post.
Over the last 15 years, the buyer behaviour has changed significantly. Consumers spend more time researching answers to their buyer questions before talking to a salesperson than ever before.
As first codified by Marcus Sheridan in his book They Ask, You Answer, demonstrated by hundreds of businesses and proven by Google there are five specific topics that consumers ask questions around online when they are making a buying decision.
The five best topics to generate more traffic and leads are:
- Cost & Pricing: blog articles that answer questions about the cost of your services or products (or of software
- Problems: honesty is key in building trust with your buyer, and one of the best ways to do that is to talk about possible shortcomings or “problems” that may come with your offering, service, product or industry. One of the keys to problem articles is being candid about the problems but also presenting solutions.
- Comparisons
- Best of lists: One of the most common ways people search online when making a buying decision is by using words like “best” or “top” in their searches. In order to make the best possible decision, it’s only natural that we would want to put all of our options on a spectrum from best to worst. We can write content about best competitors or best in class.
- Reviews: 95% of buyers report reading reviews before making a purchase. Writing articles with honest reviews of your products helps you connect with more prospects looking for help making a purchase and puts you in front of potential customers who are looking to buy right now.
How does this fit into the Content Matrix?
Rather than brainstorming content ideas based on the product or services you sell, the Content Matrix encourages you to brainstorm content ideas based on the topics that are proven to generate more traffic and leads.
By focusing on these topics within the Content Matrix, you’re not just brainstorming content ideas; you’re answering your customers’ most pressing questions. This customer-centric approach builds trust, which is the cornerstone of successful sales.
The Content Matrix, therefore, serves as your compass, guiding you towards a content ideation process that truly resonates with your audience.
Why Do You Need a Content Matrix?
I want you to picture a particular scenario.
Imagine a struggling content creator, in a never-ending attempt to find fresh ideas – and not just any ideas, but those that will result in leads and conversions.
There are many systems out there to brainstorm content, and the content creator tries them all. They learn to produce a constant stream of content so that they never run out of ideas.
But there’s one problem. The content they create isn’t closing any deals and sales reps can’t use it to educate their prospects in the buyer’s cycle.
So, the question becomes, how can they consistently create content that serves the sales side of the business?
The content creator discovers the Content Matrix, a tool that serves not just as another brainstorming tool, but a strategic compass guiding the ideation process.
The creator uses the tool to brainstorm content topics that are proven to be effective in closing more deals. By being guided to brainstorm the right type of content, the creator now has a method to not just brainstorm content, but to produce ideas that move the needle in the business.
As illustrated by this imaginary scenario, with this tool, you’re not just creating content for the sake of it. You’re crafting content that aligns with your business goals, answers your buyers’ questions, and ultimately drives your growth trajectory.
How to Create a Content Matrix?
Here’s a step-by-step guide to create your Content Matrix:
Step 1. Read this article
It’s important to familiarise yourself with the best five topics for content writing BEFORE you start filling out the Content Matrix sheet.
You can learn about these five content topics here.
Step 2: Set up your matrix
- Start by opening Excel, Google Sheets, or your preferred spreadsheet tool.
- Create a new spreadsheet.
- Add columns for each of the key content categories: Cost & Pricing, Problems, Comparisons/Versus, Best of Lists, Reviews, What, and How. Leave an extra column for your services or products on the left.
Your setup should look something like this:
| Products/Services | Cost & Pricing | Problems | Comparisons/Versus | Best of Lists | Reviews | What | How |
| | | | | | | | |
Step 3: Fill in your 1st product or service
In the first column on the left, list out one of your main products or services.
Step 4: Brainstorm content ideas
Now, for each product or service, think about the five content categories and generate as many content ideas as you can for each column.
Here are a few tips to guide your brainstorming process:
- For Cost & Pricing, consider topics that reveal the cost or pricing of your product or service
- For Problems, think about possible challenges, limitations, or issues that customers might face with your product or service
- When it comes to Comparisons/Versus, think about how your product or service stacks up against alternatives in the market. You could also compare different approaches, materials, or software, depending on your industry. For example, a building business might compare building your house with double brick vs timber frame, but an email marketing company might compare two different email marketing software
- For Best of Lists, think about blog articles that rank different aspects of your industry, product features, or even competitors. Consumers often search for “best” or “top” products or services, so these articles can attract traffic
- Lastly, for Reviews, think about writing honest reviews about your products, services, or software/materials related to your product. For example, if you sell CRM implementation, you might review the particular CRM you use. Or if you’re a building company, you might review the different materials you use to build a house.
Step 5. Repeat
Repeat this process for each of your products or services. Simply list the next product/service on the left column and repeat the process. At the end, your Content Matrix should look something like this:
Creating a Content Matrix might seem like a daunting task initially, but once you start filling it in, you’ll find it’s a surprisingly effective way to generate quality content ideas that are directly tied to your products/services and your buyer’s needs.
Remember, the goal is to answer your potential customers’ questions, build trust, and ultimately drive more traffic, leads, and sales.
Once you start brainstorming the right type of content, it’s time to actually start producing it. Learn in this article how to write content that ranks and generates leads.
