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Content Strategy Success in 5 Steps

What’s included when you request a content strategy? Sure, it depends on your company and your goals. You’ll find a lot of great in-depth details from these content strategy books. As a shortcut for a new client, I drew this Web content strategy chart:

Content Strategy Process Illustration by Shelly Bowen, Content Strategist

If you can’t read my handwriting, here’s a transcription:

START with your business goals and objectives.

TALK about these goals with your content strategist.

Your content strategist will then oversee this process:

  1. Content Audit: This is to discover what content you already have. This is usually content that’s live online, but can cover other types of content, such as print brochures and whitepapers.
  2. Content Analysis: I like to call this a sniff test. Is all of this content relevant? Does it align with your current goals? Is it up to date? Also, what’s missing?
  3. The Plan: This is where your content strategist will collaborate with other key players — such as SEO experts, usability managers, and marketing managers — and create content recommendations for you. This may also include guidelines and a core messaging document.
  4. Execution: Of course, you can’t stop at #3. You need a process, schedule, and resources to make the plan happen. Your content strategist can help oversee the execution, point you to resources, and even get the content created for you.
  5. RESULTS! It’s important to check in regularly to ensure your content is still doing what it’s supposed to — across all platforms. If you have a content manager and a Web analyst on staff, you’re in great shape. Take these results and information learned and …

Check for alignment with your current objectives, make any adjustments needed, and repeat steps #2-4. Voila. You have an ongoing content strategy process in place.

Posted by Shelly Bowen on Apr 26, 2010. Filed under Web Content Strategy

 

6 Comments | RSS feed for comments on this post

  • I like this. It’s a variation on the elevator speech we hear so much about. It seems like a simple but effective way to communicate the steps–in about 30 seconds, which is about all I seem to get to talk about anything but execution! For that reason, I love that it’s in the same box as the audit, analysis, and plan. Thanks for sharing.

    Comment by Allison Casey on Apr 26, 2010

  • Oh I like it! Succinct. Helpful.

    Comment by Tiffani on May 05, 2010

  • Hi Shelly,
    Can you post about business as publishers soon? Thanks, Suzanne

    Comment by suzanne delzio on May 10, 2010

  • Thanks for the suggestion, Suzanne. I posted on publisher content strategy today — just for you. :) http://shellybowen.com/2010/05/publishing-best-web-content/

    Comment by Shelly Bowen on May 20, 2010

  • Great distillation! Have you read Blog Rules by Nancy Flynn? Many scary (lawsuit-type) scenarios. These businesses could use formal training . . . hmmm. Suzanne

    Comment by suzanne delzio on Jun 01, 2010

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