Content Strategy Toolkit, The

1. Identify content problems and turn them into opportunities

Problems are depressing. Opportunities, you can work with.

Uncover content issues: Start by documenting your hypotheses about what's wrong with your content. Common problems include:

• Misalignment between content and target audience
• Outdated or inaccurate information
• Poor readability and organization
• Weak calls to action
• Difficulty finding relevant information

Gather evidence: Use a combination of methods to prove or disprove your hypotheses:

• Content audits: Evaluate content objectively for factors like audience, purpose, and accuracy
• Analytics review: Examine metrics such as pageviews, user paths, and search terms
• User testing: Gain insights on findability, comprehension, and user sentiment

Transform problems into opportunities: Reframe identified issues as potential improvements. For example, "Outdated content" becomes "Opportunity to provide fresh, relevant information that builds trust with users."

2. Make a compelling business case for content strategy

Budget holders will find it pretty tough to say no to a project with a maximum risk of $5,000 and a potential gain of almost $3 million.

Think like a business person: Focus on return on investment (ROI) and risk vs. reward. Demonstrate how your project will:

• Increase efficiency
• Eliminate costs
• Boost sales or other key performance indicators (KPIs)

Quantify opportunities: Use data to create compelling projections. For example:

• Calculate time and money wasted on inefficient content processes
• Estimate potential increase in conversions or customer satisfaction
• Project cost savings from reduced support calls or improved self-service

Calculate risks: Present a balanced view by acknowledging potential downsides:

• Estimate maximum potential loss (project cost)
• Assess probability of success
• Compare risk of action vs. inaction

Consider non-monetary costs and benefits: Address factors like organizational change, improved brand perception, and employee satisfaction.

3. Engage stakeholders and align on project objectives

Stakeholder involvement and alignment will make or break your project.

Identify key stakeholders: Map out individuals who can affect or are affected by your project:

• Roles: Project owner, decision makers, champions, influencers, derailers
• Types: Strategic, expert, implementer, user proxy

Craft your approach: Tailor your communication and engagement strategy for each stakeholder:

• Prepare discussion guides for interviews
• Plan workshops or working sessions for collaborative input
• Develop a communications plan to keep stakeholders informed throughout the project

Set and align on objectives: Facilitate a session to get everyone on the same page:

1. Present project context and discovery findings
2. Define business goals and content objectives
3. Identify challenges and opportunities
4. Agree on next steps and stakeholder involvement

Use techniques like facilitative listening, group decision-making frameworks, and consensus-building exercises to ensure all voices are heard and alignment is achieved.

4. Understand your business environment and user needs

To make strategic recommendations about content, you need to understand the business.

Investigate internal factors:

• Offerings: Products, services, history, lifecycle
• Customers: Target segments, problems solved, interactions
• Revenue: Sales channels, pricing, goals
• Expenditures: Technology investments, operational costs

Explore external factors:

• Competitors: Direct and indirect, differentiators
• Legal and regulatory environment
• Industry trends and current events
• Customer behaviors and expectations

Conduct user research:

• Market research vs. user research: Understand the difference and value of each
• Methods: Interviews, observations, surveys, analytics review
• Key areas to explore: Attitudes, concerns, experiences, behaviors, motivations

Document and synthesize findings: Use tools like discovery insights workbooks to organize information and identify patterns that will inform your strategy.

5. Create a content compass with core strategy and messaging framework

The core strategy statement is the central component of your content compass.

Craft a core strategy statement: Answer four key questions:

1. What content will you produce?
2. For whom?
3. For what user need?
4. To achieve what business goal?

Example: "To reduce customer service center costs, we will provide user-facing, task-based support content that makes our professional customers feel confident when configuring products for their clients."

Develop a messaging framework: Clarify what you want audiences to know and believe about you:

• First impression: Initial feeling or understanding
• Value statement: Key benefits or unique selling proposition
• Proof points: How you demonstrate your claims

Use collaborative exercises like Mad Libs or card sorting to gather input from stakeholders and create alignment around your content compass.

6. Design content prioritization, organization, and presentation

Prioritization helps you cull that content down to the truly useful and relevant bits and pieces.

Prioritize content:

• Plot content on two axes: Business impact and user need
• Use techniques like Top Tasks Analysis to identify user priorities
• Create content prioritization matrices to guide decision-making

Organize content:

• Develop sitemaps to visualize content hierarchy and relationships
• Create taxonomies to classify and connect related content

Present content:

• Use the core model to identify key pages and their components
• Create content models to define reusable content types and their attributes
• Develop specifications like content overlays and page tables to guide content creation

Collaborate with designers, developers, and content creators to ensure your content design supports both user needs and technical requirements.

7. Implement roles, processes, and tools for on-strategy content creation

Everyone working on content in your organization (including outside resources you bring in) should know what your content strategy is and understand how it affects content.

Define roles and responsibilities:

• Editor: Strategic and brand integrity
• Owner: Content accuracy and updates
• Writer: Content creation based on strategy and requirements
• Subject Matter Expert (SME): Expertise and accuracy review
• Reviewer: Compliance and guideline adherence
• Proofer: Grammar, typos, and formatting
• Publisher: CMS entry and content publishing

Establish content creation process:

1. Assign content
2. Create content (including research and SME interviews)
3. Review content (SME, editor, legal/compliance)
4. Revise content
5. Proofread
6. Publish

Provide content creation tools:

• Content production inventory
• Style guide (voice and tone, writing best practices)
• Feedback forms and checklists for reviewers

Ensure all team members understand their roles, the process, and have access to necessary tools and guidelines.

8. Establish governance, maintenance, and planning for long-term content success

You can't just set it and forget it.

Assign content authority:

• Strategic: Overall responsibility for content strategy and success metrics
• Implementation: Day-to-day content management and quality control

Implement maintenance processes:

• Planned: Regular content audits and updates (at least annually)
• Unplanned: System for handling urgent content change requests

Develop content planning practices:

• Content product planning: Strategic decisions on new content initiatives
• Editorial planning: Tactical decisions on content topics, promotion, and distribution

Continuous improvement:

• Regularly review content strategy and performance metrics
• Adapt to changes in business goals, user needs, and industry trends

By establishing clear governance, maintenance, and planning practices, you ensure that your content remains relevant, effective, and aligned with your strategy over time.

Last updated: October 5, 2024