#016 – Content Strategy
If you don't plan; then you're planning to fail
Published on July 2, 2018
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There is content strategy and then, there is content strategy. As with any strategy, we can talk about it until the cows come home. This is hopefully not one of those episodes. The key thing to remember is that while some strategies fall into categories, the best strategy for your particular situation is not always the same as someone else’s.
That was a diplomatic way of saying – don’t steal. Just because you’ve seen someone do it once, doesn’t always mean it’s going to work for you. Take the time to allow your team to investigate, formulate and test any new strategy. There is no such thing as a silver bullet – especially if you’ve never had a content strategy before. All too often, we hear of clients wanting immediate ROI – like stepping on the accelerator and just…go.
All too often, they forget to factor in the actual building of the car.
Content Strategy for Dummies
Having said that, there are a few guidelines to help ensure your strategy has as close to a 100% chance of success as possible. The key word here is chance. In every strategy, you will have factors that bolster your chances and factors that could literally or figuratively, kill your chances.
The first and most important thing is knowing your audience. Take the time to learn about your audience and perhaps even test any new material with a sample group. Standup comedians live and die on stage – in the most public way possible. Take a page on how they write, prepare and deliver new material.
Next is to determine your content channels – this will also help shape the kind of content that you make. We covered this in a previous episode of the podcast. If you remember CORE, full marks to you.
The third and the most critical thing to long-term success is to structure your efforts to maintain consistency and regularity. You want to cut your coat according to your cloth. This has multiple ramifications across your organisation.
Biting off more than one can chew might be ok for short stints but online content is a long game. Make yourself a strategy that is sustainable.
However, if there is the will and budget to make a big splash – then make the biggest splash possible. Risky, but possibly glorious beyond words. But we did say risky.
Other Factors
Finally, other critical factors that are not actual content per se are the state of your brand, the ability of your marketing team and the resources you have to execute the strategy. Finally, having good writers and creative people onboard is the difference between so-so and wow-awesome. Aspire to be wow-awesome, please.
Remember this mantra:
No strategy; no content.
No content; no marketing.
No marketing; no sales.
Image notes: The image we used for this episode comes from Jason Mey. It’s a Go Chessboard. Also known as wéiqí, it is predominantly played in China, Korean and Japan. It is also known to be easy to learn, impossible to master. A bit like Content Strategy, really. More on Wikipedia.
