I’ve made some delicious food in my day. Specifically, I’m thinking of an apricot chicken that I made just last week. I took apricots that just weren’t softening up (probably because they had to take refuge in the fridge from autumn fruit flies), combined with white wine, onions, peach juice and chicken, they turned into the most delicious family meal. Too bad I’ll never be able to make it again.

This lost knowledge boils down to lack of documentation. As I read the latest trends in content marketing released by the Content Marketing Institute, I can’t help but be reminded of a mistake I make time and time again with my cooking- documentation is key. According to Content Marketing Institute: ‘If we had to pick one key theme that has emerged from this year’s B2B research, it would be this: If you want to be more effective at content marketing, document your strategy.

Now back to the self-professed delicious apricot chicken.

Had I documented my recipe- jotted down the measurements and ingredients down, I would be able to make this recipe any day of the week. I would have retained my knowledge and more importantly, I would have been doubly productive because I would have dinner for the day and developed a new recipe, an intellectual property with multiple uses. But I didn’t do that so as soon as the plates where wiped clean, I had nothing. Some of you may be saying that all is not lost, that I could retrospectively create the recipe. However let’s face it, the magic is gone and it would be much more time consuming to try to find my way back to the original creation.

Content marketing requires many choices; editorial style, content buckets, audience targeting and platform usages. Regardless of how these choices come to fruition, it is important to make them with intention. With my clients I opt for a micro/macro approach. We meet on a quarterly basis to discuss over-arching business imperatives and objectives. We create a work flow that requires weekly touch points for headlines, deployment dates and assignment. We separate our time into thinking and doing so that there is time for intention and documentation with every step. Just like any great cooks, stick to a regimented process of documentation because you never know when the magic is going to happen.