What You

Should Know About

Content Strategy
Katie Campbell

INTRODUCTION
With the development of new technology and new ways to transfer
information, words alone are becoming an outdated source of
communication. Today, information is communicated through a network
of words, images, graphics, and videos, and those who manage and develop
content have an increasing amount that needs to be managed.1 With more to
handle, content creators and teams need to find a way to control the content
throughout the creation and production process. Content Strategy is the
answer to that problem.
Content Strategy provides a consistent plan that increases the productivity of
content creators and producers because it outlines just how content should be
managed from the beginning of a project to the end. This is achieved through
a process of creating goals, anaylzing and researching, determining how to
create and produce content, and testing the final products. Content Strategy
provides a road map for creators to follow which helps them create more
meaningful content.

Sarah OKeefe and Alan S. Pringle. A Historical Perspective On Content. Content Strategy 101.
(Scriptorium Publishing Services, 2013-2014). Accessed Oct. 13, 2014. contentstrategy101.com.
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WHAT IS CONTENT STRATEGY?

Content Strategy has a wide variety of definitions, but the most common
definition is planning for the creation, delivery, and governance or useful,
usable content.2 More simply put, content strategy is a plan that creates a
structure for the gathering, creating, producing, and editing of a message.
Content Strategy is not the actual process for creating content, but a focused
strategy that provides an outline for the creation of content. This system
streamlines the creation of messages by helping people establish a routine that
helps them focus more on creating the message rather than on how they are
going to create it.
The process all begins with the message. The message is conveyed through the
content that is produced, and it is very important to make sure those messages
are meaningful. The structure of a Content Strategy helps to bring the focused
message to the forefront so creators and producers can always have the end
goal in mind during the creation and production cycle.

Content Strategy
is planning for the
creation, delivery,
and governance
or useful, usable
content.

Content Strategy is not just for one-time messages. It is applied to a project

like a website or a business brand, which have continuing content cycles. A
basic content cycle consists of research, creation, optimization, publication,
promotion, and measurement. Content Strategy is the plan created to manage
this process. In essence, its a plan that manages a plan.

IS CONTENT STRATEGY REALLY IMPORTANT?

Content Strategy is not just the creation of a robotic plan that will spit out the
required content with less effort. A content strategy is created with the specific
goal of the content in mind. Joe Gollner clearly explains that a content
strategy should bring to the fore the idea that the content must be expressly
designed and developed so as to address specific business objectives.3 Content
Strategy provides the map to show how the various forms of content produced
will help achieve the end objective or goal.
Content Strategy does require more time and resources in the beginning, but
it actually makes the content more likely to succeed. The map that it provides
ensures that the message helps in getting to the end destination of the goal.
The more creators know about what they need to do and where their content
needs to go, the better theyre able to execute that plan and achieve the end goal.

Content must be
expressly designed
and developed
so as to address
specific business
objectives.

10 Definitions of Content Strategy. Bussolati. (Bussolati, 2014). Accessed Oct. 13, 2014.
http://bussolati.com/contentstrategy-defintion/.
2

Sarah OKeefe. The Framing Effect in Content Strategy. Scriptorium.com. (Scriptorium Publishing
Services, 2013). Accessed Oct 13, 2014. http://www.scriptorium.com/2013/09/the-framingeffect-in-content-strategy/
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THE CONTENT STRATEGY MODEL

Just like content creation has a cycle, so does Content Strategy. The following
is a modified Content Strategy Model4 that shows the basic steps that a
content strategy plans.
1.
2.
3.
4.

Goals
Analysis and Research
Media Tactics
Testing

This is a planning model that helps provide the structure for creating the
actual content. The content strategy model does not involve the actual process
of research for content, implementing media tactics, or testing. It simply
provides the background and guidelines for how these steps will be carried
out. It is the plan of action, the workflow, for your content.

GOALS

ANALYSIS
&
RESEARCH

MEDIA
TACTICS

TESTING

Goals: What do you want to say?

The first step in creating a content strategy is having a specific goal in mind.
What message do you want to convey to your audience? The goals you define
should encompass the whole idea, brand, or company image you want to
convey. They need to be specific and measurable. When content is created
and produced with those specific goals in mind, the message of the content
contributes to achieving the overall goal.

This model is based on Kathy Hanburys model.

Kathy Hanbury. 5 Things You Need to Know about Content Strategy. Content Marketing Institute.
(Z Squared Media, 2011). Accessed Oct. 13, 2014. http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2011/04/5things-about-content-strategy/.
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Analysis and Research: Is your audience listening?

The second step in creating a content strategy is assessing the current
situation. What content already exists and what does your audience know
about it? What strategies have been used in the past? You need to be sure to
understand where this past information came from and how it was gathered.
For example, information could have come from interviews with experts or
research on how people responded to the information they were presented
with.
Now you need to determine what were the problems with these tactics and
messages. How can you fix that with the future content you create? The
analysis and research stage is all about asking the questions that will help you
create more focused products in the future.

Media Tactics: How will you deliver your message?

The third step is figuring out how your content will achieve the goals youve
set. You want to know what medium will be the most effective for delivering
your message to your audience. In essence youre trying to create a solution
for the questions brought up in the assessment stage. Generally these questions
consist of determining what your audience needs to know, how theyll access
that information, and what the best strategy to develop that content is.
You may determine that a certain message is conveyed best through social
media like Twitter. This will shape the creation of the message because it will
have to be short and powerful to capture your audiences attention.

Testing: Did your audience hear you?

The fourth step is determining how you will evaluate your content. Once you
have delivered your content to your audience, how will you know that your
audience is responding to your messages? Will you analyze the daily views of
a website after you deliver your content? Or will you have direct user feedback
that tells you exactly what is and isnt working in your content? How is your
audience responding? Is the response the result you were looking for? If not,
how can it be improved?

The main goal of

Content Strategy
is maintaining
a focus for the
messages created
by your business.

These are similar questions to the ones that should be asked in the research
portion of a content strategy. Testing is an essential part of the model because
it provides research that can be used to edit and refine the content youve
already produced and the content you will create in the future.
With a model in place as a guide, it is much easier to stay focused when the
creation of content is in full swing. That model can also help determine how
to manage the content after it has been created. The main goal of Content
Strategy is maintaining a focus for the messages created by your business.
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COCA-COLA: A CASE STUDY

Coca-Cola provides an excellent example of a goal-centered content
strategy. They have followed the Content Strategy Model to create a solid
plan for the development of their business.5

1. Goal
Coca-Cola decided they want to double the size of their business.

2. Research
Coca-Cola found that stories are contagious, and many customers have
their own stories associated with Coca-Colas brands. With the boom of
connective technology, these stories can be spread much faster than before,
and consumers were also more connected with businesses.

3. Media Tactics
Coca-Cola determined that they needed to create a larger emotional
connection with their customers by spreading these brand stories through
social media like YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook under an overall theme
of live positively.

4. Testing
Coca-Cola knew they didnt want to flood their audience with meaningless
feel good advertisements and determined to gather feedback on the stories
they spread so they could continue to refine and edit their process to create
new ideas instead of simply imitating old ones.

CONTENT STRATEGY CREATES BETTER MESSAGES

Content Strategy is used in business because businesses are all about creating
messages and communicating with other people. Consider the example of
Coca Colas strategy. With a very fixed goal in mind of wanting to increase
the size of their business and create a very particular image for their brands
they were able to determine the purpose of every message they created before
it was ever created.
More than anything else, planning a strategy for managing content takes
time and effort in research and outlining to ensure that very specific goals are
met. But with a road map that marks the end destination, it is much easier
to find the best road that will lead to that destination. Content Strategy is
all about creating that focused goal that helps generate content to convey an
overarching idea. This focus creates more meaningful and powerful messages.
Tilton, Stephanie. Coca-Colas Content Strategy: 3 Lessons for B2B Marketers. Content Marketing Institute. (Z Squared Media, 2011). Accessed Oct. 13, 2014. http://contentmarketinginstitute.
com/2012/02/coca-colas-content-strategy-lessons-for-marketers/.
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