At the risk of being too controversial, I’ll share my viewpoint on a hot-button issue: I don’t like conversation hearts.

I don’t care if they’re the ones made by Necco, Brach’s, or anyone else (though I find the lasering of text onto the Brach’s version deplorable compared to Necco’s stamping). Either way, they’re too chalky for my liking. (Give me the eye-poppingly tart Sweetarts Hearts every day and twice on Sunday.)

So I’m not all that upset about the conversation heart shortage that ensued in the wake of the Necco factory closing last year. (For those devotees among you, worry not: the Sweethearts brand has been bought and will likely resurface next year.)

In debating which candy (let’s be honest, candies) to buy this year, it struck me that there is a clear Valentine’s Day candy hierarchy and that those levels aren’t all that dissimilar from Scribe’s version of the content maturity model.

Tier 0: Ferrero Rocher

What’s not to like about Ferrero Rocher? It’s hazelnut and chocolate, so I suppose it has that going for it, but you can buy it at 7-11. It’s an afterthought. It’s the I-forgot-today’s-a-holiday-so-let-me-grab-my-sweetie-something-before-she-kicks-me-out gift. The marketing equivalent is a helter-skelter approach to content that lacks documentation. It’s ad hoc. It’s the I-forgot-to-draft-a-blog-this-week-so-let-me-slap-together-something-for-the-website-before-my-boss-yells-at-me approach.

Tier 1: Fruit-filled chocolate candies

Mixing fruit and chocolate: it’s just so wrong on many levels. It’s the equivalent of having content with some quality yet no coherency or purpose. It meanders. It’s not clear how it connects to other content on your website. It’s not clear how it connects to customer needs. It’s just not clear.

Tier 2: Nerds

The content here might be more organized, but it’s pretty generic. It’s like Valentine’s Nerds. Do any Nerds flavors taste different from any other flavor? Likewise, could any other company post your content without having to change anything but the branding? If so, you’re not using content as a vehicle to share your unique value proposition or your key differentiators.

Tier 3: M&Ms

M&Ms are dependable. You always know what you’re getting: delicious chocolate simplicity that won’t make a mess in your hands. At the M&M stage, content is being produced regularly. It’s organized and repeatable. It may not be the most creative approach to the subject matter, but people like it well enough, even if they don’t go out of their way to share it. Quality-assurance processes are in place to ensure that the content meets your goals and that it’s edited for grammar and coherence.

Tier 4: Jelly Belly Sour Smoochi Lips

Pucker up: this candy is large and in charge. It’s sour and has lots of power. By the time content reaches the Smoochi Lips level of maturity, it’s adhering to an internal content strategy. It’s churned out regularly, following a clear workflow and content calendar. It’s scalable, creative, and entertaining. It gets tons of likes and shares. It’s not yet the Cadillac of content, but it gets the job done, and it does the job well.

Tier 5: Reese’s Hearts

Peanut butter and chocolate—there’s no better combination (unless you have a peanut allergy). It’s the meld of savory and sweet, of yin and yang. It’s much like the highest-quality content: it leaves you wanting more. This content is aligned with your organization’s business strategy, and different content vehicles are designed to reach customers on different trajectories along their journey. A team of subject-matter experts, marketers, writers, and others are collaborating, measuring the results of their efforts, and applying their learning to succeeding projects.

Curious about what stage your content is in (or just want to debate my candy hierarchy)? Contact us to talk about a content assessment for your organization.

Looking for some (more) tips to improve your content marketing?

What’s new this week in the legal industry?

Do you want to read something random on your Friday afternoon?

So, what has Scribe been up to this week?

Writing about analytics maturity for law firms and in-house counsel
Reading about the evolution of law department technology
Studying new owned media options for clients
Preparing a content calendar and strategy for a legal tech firm
Discovering the new ways that law firms can benefit from intranets

Looking for your perfect match for content marketing? Let’s talk.

Friday scribbles: how much do you heart content marketing?