Read any how-to article on creating a content strategy and the first (or near the beginning) step is almost always conducting a content audit. The short explanation is that this means going through all of your content and cataloging all of the pieces of content you already have at your company so you can leverage what you have and know what you need to create.

Sure, that is important. And yes, you should do that. But I think you should also do another type of content audit:

The main reason for this exercise is to really understand what is making your content boring so you can fix it. But chances are good that you will find a few (or hopefully more) gems in the pile of content that made your reader feel something and really had an impact. This will help you figure out what led to making this great piece of content so you can figure out how to do it more often. And hopefully, it will also give you some metrics to show your bosses that doing something different brings business success.

So carve out an hour (or three, if you’ve been busy) and take an honest look at your content. Leave your ego at the door and try to have the perspective of a reader. If you are really personally invested in the content, it might be a good idea to get a really honest and blunt person to help you. (We all know someone in our work and personal life who always tells it straight.)

And yes, since this is B2B, I’m going to suggest a spreadsheet to keep track of this audit. Be brutally honest. This spreadsheet is not for anyone else, just yourself and anyone on your team that it makes sense to do the exercise with. Your boss will never see it unless you decide to share it.

3 Steps to Completing Your Very Own Boring Content Audit:

Here are the 3 steps to creating a boring content audit.

1. Review all of your brand’s content. Look at everything your brand has created – blogs, videos, infographics, whitepapers, case studies– include anything and everything.
2. For each piece of content, rate it either Boring, Brilliant or Somewhere in the Middle.
3. Then note the following information for each piece (these can be columns in your spreadsheet):

• Type of content (blog, whitepaper, video, infographic)?
• Subject of content
• Target Takeaway
• What makes the piece boring or brilliant?
• How can the piece be improved?

Celebrate the Good Stuff

Now that you have this information, what should you do with it?

1. First of all look through the list of the good stuff and congratulate yourself. Take in the metrics of success and really give yourself credit for your accomplishments. Firworks optional, but recommended. Bottle rockets will do in a pinch.
2. Look for the common themes in the good stuff. Was there a certain type of content that made it easier to achieve meaningful content? Or is there a subject that resonates?
3. Find any commonalities between the situations in which the good stuff was created. Going forward, try to recreate these circumstances as much as possible. Maybe it’s a certain product manager who is more willing to take a risk. Or perhaps the combination of certain people in a brainstorming session is magic.
4. Copy the metrics of success into a separate document. This is your ammunition to get the green light to do more of the content that works.

Figure Out Why the Boring Stuff Happened

Now onto the boring stuff….

1. Look for the common themes of what makes your content boring. Is it the tone, headlines, or the subject?
2. Consider the suggestions for making each piece more interesting. What are the common threads? Do you need to work on headlines, topics, tone, or a little of everything?
3. Make a list of at least three small changes that you can make when writing content going forward.
4. Spend 10 minutes brainstorming while looking at both lists and come up with a few big ideas for content.

This is your road map for getting rid of boring content. It tells you both where you have been and where you want to go. Instead of putting this aside and going on with your life, keep this in a place where you will see it regularly. Better yet, set up a time each week to spend a few minutes reviewing and adding to it. And your goal is that you will never have to add any more pieces of content to the Boring tab again in the future.

What are the common reasons your content is boring? Are you brave enough to do a boring content audit?