Have you ever felt like the people at your job don’t quite understand the purpose behind your position? This seems to be a common thread amongst many creatives who work in corporate settings. Today, I want to spotlight content strategists and their job specifically. The author of this Contentini article explains that many people may struggle with defining what content strategy is because the title is comprised of two words with ambiguous concepts. The author later defines content strategy as “achieving business goals by maximizing the commercial impact of content.” This sounds like a pretty important task; one that you don’t want to be overlooked. In order to prevent that from happening content strategists must work towards getting buy-in from their companies. Prepare and prove to your stakeholders that you and your ideas are needed. Meghan Casey, the author of the Content Strategy Toolkit, explains why these fundamental steps are necessary in order to be a successful content strategist. Here is my take on her approach to attaining content strategy success.
Casey starts her book by explaining the bare bones of business. Instead of going straight into content strategy, she gives us some advice on the strategy that comes before the strategy. She is straight to the point when she writes, “The first step in a content strategy project is convincing others within your organization that a content strategy project is necessary.” Referencing our prior discussion, this gives you a chance to educate your potential stakeholders on the importance of content strategy through example. When you answer questions like, “How can this project lend itself to the company’s revenue goals,” or, “How will this project improve employee’s efficiency,” you are more likely to get buy-in from your stakeholders. You must think business. More importantly, you must empathize with your business. The article Stakeholders Are people Too speaks to just how important empathizing with, not only your users, but your stakeholders is. The author, Tom Greeves writes, “Developing empathy for stakeholders means looking at the project from their perspective, in order to let go of the defensive and protective feelings that often surround a project. Empathetic designers accept that stakeholder suggestions are based in reality, and are important.” The better you can accept constructive criticisms or alterations to your plan, the more resources you will gain from your support system. Greeves also writes an anecdote about a man with great empathy for his users and an amazing concept for a new platform, but who ultimately had his project dropped due to a lack of empathy with his stakeholders. Be conscious enough to step outside of yourself and see your work from a new perspective.
Another piece of The Content Strategy Toolkit that stood out to me was the section on alignment. Casey sets aside a whole chapter to talk about what alignment is and how it can help your content strategy.
Alignment is the process of setting standards for your project in terms of:
- the people involved.
- the plan.
- the partners.
- group decision making.
- setting ground rules.
- selecting a facilitative listener.
- understanding consensus.
Setting all of these objectives at the beginning of your project allows for all involved to remain on the same page throughout production. However, it is worth noting that Casey states alignment will continue throughout production as well. This is due to the fact that objectives may change and there is the possibility of a project morphing throughout its creation. The importance of strategic alignment can even be proven through hard data. The article 8 Benefits of Strategic Alignment of Projects states the following figures.
Projects that have been strategically aligned are:
- 57% more likely to deliver their business benefit.
- 50% more likely to finish on time.
- 45% more likely to stay on budget.
Pretty impressive.
Content strategy is an important role in today’s marketing. By being thorough in its business planning and foundational strategy you are allowing your content to flourish.
Samantha Mantiglia 