• by Katie Kirkpatrick , April 26, 2010

Stop what you're doing and take a moment and answer this question: "What does my brand say to consumers every day?" If you hesitate even for a minute, your audience probably doesn't have a clue either.

Classify your target audience as one or all of the above: shopper, fan, follower, advocate and/or prospect. Consumers are savvier and more demanding. So, your brand message better be smart, relatable and significant.

According to Forrester Research's North American Technographics Groundswell Heros Online Survey, 59% of adults in the U.S. maintain a profile on a social networking site. Now it's more important than ever for brands to have a unified message that does more than just the talking, but also listens and responds.

To accomplish this, marketers need to devise a content strategy -- an ongoing, cohesive plan to employ meaningful content across multiple channels for evolutionary success.

Conveying your impactful brand message is a 24/7 job. And like any job, developing content is a lot work and high maintenance. From designs to videos to logos to photography, every asset your brand publishes is considered "content."

Brands need someone to monitor the big picture and small-moving pieces to ensure content is consistent and relevant from beginning to end. Every brand needs a voice and every voice needs a gatekeeper.

To get started building your content strategy, here are some steps to follow:

1. Make a Plan. Just like planning a party you need to nail down the five W's -- who, what, when, where and why.

Who is your audience and what do they want to hear? Selecting a voice that best represents your brand and speaks to your target is crucial.

What are your brand initiatives and what messages are most meaningful? Identify the goals of the project and prioritize information for delivery.

When will content be rolled out and how often will refreshes occur? Timing is everything, so selecting the right launch date and determining the frequency of content refreshes is essential to understanding the full commitment.

Where will the conversation happen? Knowing where your audience is allows you to surface content in smart places. Different content requires different destinations.

Why will this plan work? Research competitors, listen to customer feedback and work off of current best practices for the brand. Once you put a stake in the ground, be flexible and optimize based on new learnings.

2. Create a voice. Establishing a tone that's authentic to your brand and relatable to your audience is the next step. Consider whom the voice is coming from (the organization, an expert, a friend) and how you will carry the voice throughout the project. Then, prepare to commit to the approved voice and integrate it into every communication.

Caveat: An established voice still needs to be able to adapt and mature along with the brand and audience. #3. Surface the content. Where you are or aren't will affect your turnout. Choosing channels that best suit your content and destinations that make sense to your audience can ultimately be the factor that makes or breaks you.

Just because you build it, doesn't mean they will come. Map out what your in-going/out-going behaviors will be for user flow. From a retail point of view, an in-going user flow should be more transactional: display banner ad to social network to ecommerce site to product page to shopping cart to check out. An outgoing action may be more of a branding experience: email callout to social network to viral experience to sharing with friends.

Knowing exactly how you intend your audience to enter and exit will help you position your call to action in the appropriate places to drive your goals and ultimately measure your success.

4. Keep it going. The same old, same old is simply ... OLD. Cultivating the conversation will keep your audience coming back for more. Create an on-going cadence to address brand initiatives and customer needs with the big picture in mind. A layer of flexibility for the smaller pieces is necessary to quickly adapt content based on relevant news and reactions. Consumers have an insatiable appetite for fresh, exclusive and entertaining content - a well-rounded menu will keep them satisfied.

5. Listen, listen, listen. Hear what your audience has to say. Digest these golden nuggets of information to shape your content and join the conversation. How you respond can be challenging from allocating resources to what feedback warrants responses. Audience expectations are high and you'll need a plan to reply in a meaningful, timely manner so you don't disappoint.