How to Manage Marketing Content Strategy and Execution with AI
Once you’ve completed a thorough audit of your marketing content, the next step is to actively manage, expand, and optimize your strategy. AI can assist at every stage — from organizing content into themes to ensuring consistent brand governance.
This guide walks you through the remaining steps in building and maintaining a content strategy, following on from the audit process described in How to Audit Your Marketing Content with AI Assistance.
Step 1 – Define Pillar Topics and Supporting Content
After your audit, group your content into 4 to 6 pillar topics — broad, high-value themes that address your audience’s long-term needs. Each pillar should be supported by multiple related assets (articles, videos, tools, case studies) that address specific questions or subtopics. HubSpot’s Topic Clusters blog remains the gold standard reference to follow.
Example::
• Pillar: B2B Email Marketing Best Practices
• Supporting: How-to guides, webinars, templates, ROI calculators
AI Prompt Example:
“Based on this list of topics, recommend pillar themes and supporting subtopics that align with our target audience and business objectives. Include the funnel stage for each supporting subtopic.”
Step 2 – Choose Formats and Channels with Data-Driven Insights
Not every piece of content works equally well in all formats and channels. AI tools or analytics can determine which formats (blog posts, videos, podcasts) and channels (website, social, email) resonate most with your audience. Historical performance data, fed into AI, can forecast engagement.
Consider:
• Format suitability: Blog post, video, podcast, infographic
• Channel fit: Website, LinkedIn, YouTube, email, Instagram
• Engagement potential: Which past formats/channels have produced the best results
AI Prompt Example:
“For each pillar topic, recommend the content format and primary distribution channel most likely to drive engagement and conversions based on similar past content performance.”
Step 3 – Plan Distribution and Placement
A strong distribution plan ensures your content reaches the right audience at the right time. Create a content calendar that details when and where each piece will be published. AI scheduling tools can recommend optimal timing across platforms.
Your plan should include:
• Where each asset will appear
• When it will be released
•How it will be promoted and repurposed
AI Prompt Example:
“Using this content calendar and target audience profiles, suggest the best publishing dates and times for each piece across LinkedIn, YouTube, email, and our blog.”
Step 4 – Atomize and Reuse Content
Treat each flagship piece as raw material for multiple derivative assets. This extends the life of your content and increases ROI. AI can assist with transcription, summarization, and format adaptation.
Examples:
• A webinar becomes blog articles, short video clips, social posts, and email campaigns.
• A research report is repurposed into infographics, presentations, and podcast episodes.
AI Prompt Example:
“From this webinar transcript, create three short LinkedIn posts, one 500-word blog summary, and five social media image captions.”
Step 5 – Maintain Brand Consistency
Generative AI can produce large volumes of content quickly — but without clear controls, it may drift off-brand. To maintain consistency:
• Include brand guidelines in AI prompts.
• Store approved templates and style guides in a shared repository.
• Use a Digital Asset Manager (DAM) or AI brand model trained on approved assets.
AI Prompt Example:
“Rewrite this blog post to match our brand voice and style guide, ensuring all terminology aligns with our approved glossary.”
Step 6 – Governance: Prompts, People, and Policies
Strong governance ensures quality and compliance while still leveraging AI speed.
Typical governance checkpoints:
• Accuracy & originality: AI plagiarism/fact checks + human review.
• Accessibility & inclusivity: WCAG compliance and brand DEI standards.
•Legal rights: Ensure asset licensing and copyright compliance.
Store prompts, review procedures, and decision logs in a version-controlled system so the process can improve over time.
AI Prompt Example:
“Review this draft for factual accuracy, accessibility compliance (WCAG 2.1 AA), and tone appropriateness. Flag any required changes.”
Step 7 – Measure and Optimize
Track both traditional KPIs (traffic, conversions) and AI-specific metrics:
• AI citation share: How often generative AI models reference your brand for key topics.
• Derivative yield: Number of derivative assets created per flagship piece.
Tie these back to your business goals and use AI to analyze performance data and recommend adjustments.
AI Prompt Example:
“Analyze this dataset of content performance and recommend changes to our pillar topics, formats, or distribution channels to improve conversions.”
Final Thoughts
Managing a content strategy with AI doesn’t mean replacing human creativity — it means letting AI handle the heavy lifting of analysis, organization, and repurposing so your team can focus on strategy, voice, and relationships. When paired with a thorough content audit, these steps can help a mid-market company compete effectively without dramatically increasing headcount or budget.
Getting Started
Managing your marketing content strategy is easier than ever before with the help of AI. Check in with Market Vantage if you would like to chat about other tips and tricks for efficiency. Email us at [email protected] or click here for a free consultation.
