No Time for Strategic Content?

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We’ll credit you as the source (and include your commentary) if we include your submission in an upcoming Friday article.  A Note From Robert Rose No Time for Strategic Content? “We don’t have time for ‘strategic content.’” The marketing leader who said this to me on a Zoom call put air quotes around strategic and rolled his eyes in a way that reminded me of the Chris Farley character [Bennett Brauer]( from Saturday Night Live. His statement seems ridiculous at first. It reminds me of the classic conversation about training employees that goes like this: “What happens if we invest in training all these people and they end up leaving the company?” asks the CFO. “What, we don’t invest, and they stay?” answers the CEO. If we don’t have time for strategic content, what kind of content do we have time for? Still, this marketing leader’s impatience with strategic content came from a challenge I see at many businesses: the dreaded “review process.” The time it took content to make it through the review process was the real problem with content at the B2B company my client worked for. Everything from in-depth white papers to simple blog posts went through six levels of review and editing. For example, a white paper would start with the content team. Then the product team would review and add to it. Next, the sales team would add their input. Then the brand group would review it to ensure it met messaging guidelines. Then the legal and compliance team took a look. Finally, the content team would get it back for a final review. The average time to produce anything was about eight weeks. “That’s just not tenable,” the marketing leader said. He’s right. This kind of inefficient review process happens when businesses jump straight into content production. I often see content projects lead with content type (i.e. container). Someone suggests creating a white paper. Everyone agrees. “Let’s start writing that white paper, and we’ll need to get everyone’s input into the thinking.” Thus begins the process I described above. When the inevitable pressure to produce more assets occurs, teams try to shove more containers through the process. But they quickly hit a ceiling – and end up putting finger quotes around “strategic content” in frustration. The answer is to slow down the creation process and insert another step: planning. When someone comes up with a white paper idea, run the idea through its paces first: - Get input from all the requisite functions in the business before content production begins. - Take extra care to outline the concepts based on input from each group. - Ask the legal and compliance team to proactively help guide what will and won’t be allowed. Once you have the story completely architected, think about all of the various pieces you might produce from it. Then, when this idea goes to production, don’t include everyone in the review cycle. They’ve given their input into the ideas. Yes, it might need a review to make sure that you’ve captured it well, but it should be a true review – not a new input and review cycle. I’ve found that it’s possible to double the rate of your production using this idea. Slow down content creation to double the rate of production? How does that work? It works by adding planning the content to your container strategy. It’s your story. Tell it well. Robert Rose Chief Strategy Advisor Content Marketing Institute You're getting this exclusive article from Robert Rose as a perk of your newsletter subscription. Do you have colleagues or friends who would benefit from Robert's weekly updates? 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