It’s amazing, given how vital it is to success in brand marketing, that very often content has been an afterthought – a sub-section of the sub-section on developing the new site or social media campaign, which is part of the big, shiny
marketing plan.
Creating a content strategy gives us the space to ask: why are we creating content? Who are we trying to talk to and what do they want from us? And what will it take – really take – to do this brilliantly, now and into the future?
Search engine optimisation and paid, promotional activity may be employed to deliver traffic. Success may be judged on the number of hits, pages viewed and the like.
This tactical, technical-led approach has been common, accepted practice for a while. But the web is changing, and it’s no longer enough. It’s time to grow up about content. Content strategy helps us all do just that.
One client shared with us the following insight: “If I ask for a marketing challenge to be solved by my digital agencies I will get a different strategy from each. The SEO agency will give an SEO solution, the creative agency will give a creative solution, the media agency will talk about which media to buy – no one will give a digital strategy.”
Content strategy as driven by my teams arbitrates between the demands of different stakeholders and disciplines. It ensures that content, whatever its source, is executed in a coordinated way and contributes to the overall objectives for both the brand and the user.