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Content Strategy, Design and Development are all equal partners when it comes to the world of digital. Design defines how the content looks when presented to a user. Development builds the system that delivers the content in the way a user is expecting. Content strategy is the rules, process and governance needed to create consistent and effective content throughout the lifecycle of your program.
As critical as a content strategy is to the success of a digital marketing effort, it is often misunderstood or completely unknown.
The purpose of a content strategy is to define the substance, workflows, structure and governance for a website's content, creating logical, easy-to-understand messaging even when authorship is distributed across many writers. Users expect that they will be able to navigate simply through a website and experience end to end consistency in voice, message and organization.
Additionally, a governance plan establishes who manages the content and how it will be supported. We always ensure our clients have at some basic processes around the governance of their website before we end an engagement.
Sometimes, this creates an unexpected issue for the client, who may not have realized they need to manage and grow their content over time.
If you are looking for an internal or external source to support your website content program, you should consider the following:
You need someone who is responsible for the management of the content. This will ensure someone is in charge of keeping the content on track and also ensures there is always a team member aware of all content efforts at a given time.
You need a method of judging whether or not your content team is meeting expectations. Are they following their workflows for supporting the content? Are they following the correct governance model to ensure the highest quality? A defined process provides the necessary framework for repeatable success and consistency.
Passion might be more critical than accountability or process. If your content team does not want to be creating the kind of content your users are looking for, the quality will simply not be there. The written word is a deeply personal channel of expression. If your writers are not fully interested or engaged, your content program will fail.
"At Integrity, we insist our project teams are passionate about their work at all levels," says Integrity Founder and CEO John Simanowitz. "This matters a lot. Passion is often the difference between average and great work, and life is far to short to waste your days building something thats just ok."
