Content strategy
Why your organisation needs a content strategy
With so many communication channels available to us, never before have organisations had to plan and manage their content so carefully.
Websites, intranets, social media, blogs, mobile, tablets. Digital, print, face to face.
Whatever channel you're concerned with, meeting your business objectives depends on your use of content.
A well-thought out content strategy shows you how to:
- plan ahead to make your content do what you want it to
- drive revenue and increase efficiency
- track what different channels are showing
- measure returns and improve team work
What is a content strategy?
A content strategy is:
- a plan for creating, delivering and governing your content, with specific measurable outcomes
- a rationale for publishing content through the most appropriate channels to support your organisation’s goals and meet your audiences’ needs
- a repeatable system that manages your content throughout its lifecycle
It depends first on a full assessment of what you need to achieve and how well your content is working for you. A content audit can also show the associated costs and risks to your organisation.
Content strategy for websites and intranets
As websites and intranets evolve, many are let down by poor quality content and inadequate governance.
Without proper content planning and control, they can soon grow thousands of pages. These are often pointless, repetitive, badly written, inconsistent or out of date, with no obvious owners.
To perform well, your web content demands at the very least:
- a full understanding of the needs of your target audiences and their preferred channels
- detailed planning from the start, before information architecture, design and technology
- quality standard setting – to ensure it’s well written, conveying the right messages in an appropriate tone of voice
- firm and efficient editorial policies and governance
- systematic cataloguing, for the benefit of visitors, search engines and curators
- regular auditing and measuring, to check it’s meeting all your objectives
Do you have a content strategy? Is it doing what you want it to?
Contact us to talk over how we can help.
See our blog posts:
How does content strategy differ from corporate communications strategy?
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