Every format should have a job
A format that serves no stage of the journey and no audience in particular is being produced because it always has been.
Market Core · Object
Content Type
What kinds of content the organisation makes, what job each format is doing, what it costs to produce, and how long it stays useful.
The term
What it is
Format is a strategic choice rather than a production detail. A format determines who will consume the content, in what state of attention, and how long it remains useful — and those three decide most of its value.
The common failure is producing formats because they are conventional. An organisation making the same four things every month rarely chose them, and rarely knows what any of them are for.
Lifespan is the most under-weighted property. Content that remains useful for years has a completely different economic profile from content that is irrelevant in a week, and they are usually budgeted identically.
Why it earns a place
What goes wrong without it
Production cost is dominated by the invisible parts
Research, review cycles and internal approval usually cost more than the making, and none of it appears in a production estimate.
Lifespan changes the economics entirely
A piece that works for three years at the same production cost as one that works for three days is a different investment, and the two should not compete for the same budget line.
One level in
The modules within content type
Four working areas. The first lists what is made, the second asks what each is for, the third costs it honestly, and the fourth gets more from what already exists.
The formats
What the organisation actually produces, in what quantity, and which of it was chosen rather than inherited.
LearnJob per format
What each format is for — which audience, which stage of the journey, and what it is meant to change. Formats without a job are candidates for removal.
LearnProduction
What each format costs to make, including research, review and approval — the parts that dominate the total and appear in no estimate.
LearnReuse and lifespan
How long each piece stays useful and how much of it can be reused in another format. The cheapest content is almost always something that already exists.
Learn
Across the framework
What it touches
- Content CalendarFormat decides how long a piece takes, which is what the calendar has to plan around.
- Brand CoreThe verbal and visual systems govern how each format is executed.
- Customer JourneyA format’s job is defined by the stage it serves and the transition it is meant to cause.
- Business CoreContent is produced by people with finite capacity, and the approval step is usually the constraint.
Beyond the framework
Models worth knowing here
The Omnigoal says where this belongs and what it touches. It does not tell you how to think about it — other people have done that, and done it well. These are theirs.
The content marketing matrix
Dan Bosomworth & Smart Insights · 2012Content placed by what it is for — to entertain, inspire, educate or convince — and how close the reader is to buying.
Two axes: emotional against rational, and awareness against purchase. Its use is as an audit rather than a plan. Almost every content library, plotted onto it, turns out to be crowded into one quadrant, and the empty quadrants are usually the ones the audience needed.
- Reach for it when
- When auditing what already exists, before deciding what to make next.
- Where it stops
- It classifies formats and intents; it says nothing about quality or distribution. A balanced matrix of unread material is still unread.
Dan Bosomworth, The Content Marketing Matrix, Smart Insights, 2012.
These are other people’s models, named here so you can go to the source and use them properly. The Omnigoal is not affiliated with their authors and is not endorsed by them; nothing of theirs is reproduced here — no canvas, no diagram, no wording. Each is described in our own words, with the originator credited, because the framework is a place to put thinking, not a replacement for the people who did it. Model names and trademarks belong to their respective owners and are used here only to refer to the work itself.
Every model in the framework, and where each one belongsA format with no job is being produced because it always has been. That is the whole finding of most content audits.
The other objects in the Market Core
Market Opportunities
Define the size and accessibility of your market to uncover realistic opportunities for growth and success in your business.
LearnCompetitors
Analyses the competitive landscape to inform strategic decisions and identify opportunities for differentiation.
LearnTarget Audience
Focus on the specific segments within these target markets that marketing campaigns or messages are designed to engage directly.
LearnCustomer Journey
Define and structure the key stages of your customer’s journey, detailing the actions that guide them from awareness to loyalty.
LearnMarketing Channels
The platforms and methods used to promote and communicate with potential customers.
LearnContent Calendar
Organise and schedule your content activities to align with key dates throughout the year.
LearnSales Channels
The various pathways through which a company sells its products or services to customers.
Learn