What is your top tactical suggestion to make content creation scalable and efficient? Includes content for internal enablement, external launches/content, and more.

When I think about scaling content creation (this could be sales decks, collateral, long-form content, etc), my best tactical suggestion is to create a self-service template.

Here's an example: Several years ago, we had a process at SurveyMonkey for creating sales one-pagers that involved PMM writing copy, Content Strategy proof-reading, then Design creating a PDF. The PDFs were difficult to edit/personalize, so we kept having to go back to Design for versions. Then we created a project where Design instead created a self-service one-pager template. The result was a one-pager "component library" in Google Slides (what we use for presentations). We had several versions of headers, single/double/triple columns of text & imagery placements, logo bars, customer quotes, etc. All on-brand. This was a game changer for us, because we could mix & match those components to create a one-pager & then personalize it by industry, etc. - even down to the account level. PMM then had autonomy to create sales content without dependency on any other teams. It meant we could create more content in WAY less time!

Let's start with a fact: despite our wishes, a Product Marketing team cannot create tailored content for every sales opportunity or match every account executive’s style and preferred content format.

Time and resources are and will remain constrained. Assess your capacity (personal and team), whether you are already using AI to asset you or not. From there, you can strategize on maximizing your impact within your capacity limits.

A few tips which could apply to any organization and team size:

• Prioritization. Recognize that you cannot fulfill every request coming your way. Mastering prioritization and the ability to say "no," or to defer requests to a backlog, is crucial. Other tips listed below can help in this prioritization exercise.

• Historical Analysis. Evaluate the impact of previously created content. Identify which materials were successful and which did not achieve their intended impact. Investigate potential reasons behind their success or failure. If the content varied in format, note which formats were most used.

• Existing Content Audit. Before addressing a new content request, review if similar content has been produced before. Could existing materials be repurposed or updated to meet current needs with less effort?

• Alternatives to Content Creation. If immediate content creation isn't feasible, recommend existing materials that may satisfy 80% of the request's requirements in the meantime.

• Version 1. I love to create perfect content. However, even with proper analysis, you may miss the mark and the content won’t perform as expected (no downloads, no sales engagement, whichever metric matters). By creating a v1, you can quickly gather feedback, and iterate when the content potential is confirmed!

Allocate adequate resources to it — in other words, get someone on board whose job is to create content. Unless there is a person or a team directly in charge of content creation, you’ll find it difficult to scale and run a smooth process.

Reasoning for this is: creating content is frequently hard and tedious. It’s rarely a smooth process, especially in B2B context with lots of stakeholders, and particularly in a technical domain. If a person who’s supposed to create content is also supposed to do 10 other things, they will keep delaying content creation.

You can have a dedicated content creation staff member, such as a technical content writer, a video presenter/editor, a podcaster, etc. Or you can also hire an agency or a freelancer to do the implementation work, and have, say, a PMM direct their work via 30-minute check-ins weekly.