Content Strategy – Step VI: Maintenance

Posted on March 30, 2011 by Jim Schakenbach

This is when many people would say, “Whew! We finally got all that posted. Glad that’s over with!” But they’d be wrong. This is only the beginning.

Now comes maintenance. This involves the same three steps as creating the original content (see Step IV illustration). The purpose is to maintain relevancy, reinforce your brand identity, and provide a means to attract new viewers (and customers) while providing a reason for current customers to come back frequently. Continue reading “Content Strategy – Step VI: Maintenance” →

Content Strategy – Step V: Review, Revision, Approval

Posted on March 18, 2011 by Jim Schakenbach

This step is where many projects become critically bogged down. Web developers are particularly susceptible to crippling delays at this stage as clients get stuck on details such as product specifications, third party endorsements or approvals, legal concerns, and any number of copy points that can cause content approval to drag on for weeks and even months. This is often referred to in marketing circles as “death by committee.” Continue reading “Content Strategy – Step V: Review, Revision, Approval” →

Content Strategy – Step IV: Content Creation

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Jim Schakenbach

Now it’s finally time to put pen to paper, keystroke to keyboard. If you’ve hired an outside writer, be sure that he or she understands any industry terms and usage they may encounter in the process. Does your company or organization have a standards manual or written communication guidelines to ensure that your new content aligns properly with the rest of your marketing communications tools? Continue reading “Content Strategy – Step IV: Content Creation” →

Content Strategy – Step III: Content Resource Assessment

Posted on February 25, 2011 by Jim Schakenbach

Now that you’ve determined your Key Content Theme, you need to figure out how you’re going to create all that content:

Who’s going to be writing the content?
Where’s the information for it coming from?
- “Tribal knowledge” – the collective wisdom and experience of individual employees that may exist only in their heads
- Existing literature – in-house as well as public sources such as other websites & trade magazines
Who’s going to gather and manage the information – the writer, the project manager, someone else? Continue reading “Content Strategy – Step III: Content Resource Assessment” →

Content Strategy – Step II: Key Theme Development

Posted on February 18, 2011 by Jim Schakenbach

This is where the heavy lifting begins. Before you even begin to write, you need to analyze several key factors that collectively form the addends of a simple equation, the sum of which is – you guessed it – the key theme that will anchor your content strategy:

Continue reading “Content Strategy – Step II: Key Theme Development” →

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