One way to define the work of a content strategist is one who recognizes the core business goals as well as revenue and growth of a company (Zambonini). Identifying the goals and completing them will naturally lead to success, but in order for it to work everyone has to be on board and believe in the impact content has on the greater good of the company. No matter how big or small something may seem, everything has to be taken into account as a reflection of the content being put out in the world. That’s why Meghan Casey breaks it down into three principles of budget, buy-in, and preparing for success as being vitally important in developing not only good content strategy but a successful one.
Not addressing the content can lead to decreased productivity and profit according to Casey in her book The Content Strategy Toolkit. To avoid this or try to recover from it, Casey first recommends figuring out what the problem is with the content whether it’s in need of an update, redesign, or just complete overhaul. By creating a hypothesis from this, content strategists can then begin to look at the goals that need to be met but also obstacles that lay ahead. It’s important to know all of this when going in to talk budget with the people in charge of it. It is important to look at the big picture and see how it can help benefit the performance of the company content wise (Oster).
To understand why they are losing money people want to know what the problem is, but it is also important to know what steps need to be taken to see how to maximize efforts to reach profit again. In a perfect world one can lay out the plan they find most effective and follow it word for word. But unfortunately change is difficult because of the risks involved and not everyone will always be on board (Casey). That’s why it’s important to have people buy in and believe in the idea. And not just the people in charge of budget. When creating content people have to remember the goals established in the beginning and not settle for the easy way out or anything less (Halvorson). Because what was established in the beginning is the most genuine form of content without worry what obstacles lie ahead. Content strategy helps to show consistency for the brand in the effectiveness of its experience (Rose). And it’s important to surround yourself with a team of people who believe in that idea.
Content strategist must work to not only define what content is being published but also why they’re publishing it in the first place (Halvorson). It has to not only help the consumer but also the business itself. And stressing the idea of success to stakeholders is what helps to get them on board (Casey). Keeping everyone up to date and alerting them of their responsibilities can help lead to success. Everyone has a role and by understanding the different divisions sometimes associated with content strategy can help to know the strengths and weaknesses. Having done the research and knowing what works and doesn’t can help a content strategist set themselves and their team up for success so long as they believe in their content and their relationship with the consumers.
Works Cited
Casey, Meghan. The Content Strategy Toolkit: Methods, Guidelines, and Templates for Getting Content Right. New Riders, 2015.
Halvorson, Kristina. “The Discipline of Content Strategy.” A List Apart, 17 Dec. 2008, alistapart.com/article/thedisciplineofcontentstrategy/.
Oster, Taylor. “4 Questions That Will Help You Budget for Content Marketing.” Influence & Co. Blog, 2018, blog.influenceandco.com/4-questions-that-will-help-you-budget-for-content-marketing.
Rose, Robert. “Looking for Content Strategy Buy-In? Don’t Rely on the Same Arguments.” Content Marketing Institute, 30 Nov. 2017, contentmarketinginstitute.com/2017/11/looking-content-strategy-buy-dont-rely-old-arguments/.
Zamboni, Dan. “Content Strategists: What Do They Do?” Contentini, 18 June 2010, contentini.com/content-strategists-what-do-they-do/.
