What’s the Problem With Your Content Processes?

mlns='> Check your processes before your wreck your strategy [View Message in Browser]( / [Add Us to Safe Sender List]( Weekly News 2.11.22 Connect With CMI [10 Content Experience Mistakes To Stop Making (and Ideas for Fixing Them)]( Quality content isn’t enough to guarantee a satisfying experience for your visitors. We asked the experts speaking at ContentTECH Summit next month for a list of pitfalls that could sabotage your content's chance to impress. Here's what to watch out for. [Read more]( By Ann Gynn More of the week's best stuff: - [Want a More Productive Content Team? Show (Don't Tell) Your Strategy]( by Nadya Khoja - [15 Digital Content Mistakes That Can Hurt Your Brand]( by Irwin Hau - [5 Steps To Find and Work With Quality Freelancers]( by Emanuel Petrescu - [How To Recognize (and Solve) Wicked Content Strategy Problems [Rose-Colored Glasses]]( by Robert Rose  ‘What Problem?’ Is a Wicked Problem Content strategy is a wicked problem. A [wicked problem]( is one that's hard to solve because of "incomplete, contradictory, or changing requirements that can be difficult to recognize." Here’s an example. My wife and I get around our kitchen just fine. We cook. The kitchen gets messy. We clean up and put things back where they go. We do the same thing at the next meal. It works fine for us. Recently, a friend who came over for dinner wanted to help us cook. It was pure chaos. "Nothing is in the right place," our guest said. She went to our junk drawer looking for silverware and opened our spice cabinet seeking plates. "Don't even get me started with how the refrigerator is organized," she said. My wife responded, "This is how we've been doing this for years. It works for us." Then I chimed in, “It’s the way we do it. It’s an optimized process.” Our friend played along and said, "No. It’s the way you do it. But it’s not optimized." She was right. As she pointed out how things could be more efficient, we realized we had a problem. A wicked problem. In content strategy, experts often say [documentation]( indicates a business's commitment to its content. At its surface, a document seems oddly bureaucratic. How can creating a robust Google Doc or PowerPoint presentation be the lynchpin of a content strategy? Spoiler alert: The document isn't important. However, having documentation means you've thought through the details of who’s responsible for what and how content works in and for your business. Imagine how different our friend's cooking experience would have been, for example, if we'd given her a detailed map of our kitchen and meal preparation [workflow]( to review before her visit. As the chef, she still could have pointed out the sub-optimal parts of our workflow and "asset management" strategy. But she also would have functioned better and, more importantly, could have seen where our kitchen organizational hacks made pragmatic sense. I see wicked problems a lot in content strategy. One of the toughest is recognizing why you need to change when you can't see how things are broken. About three months ago, I worked with a large, fast-growing technology company to roll out a new governance model, workflow, and content lifecycle management plan. The people who'd been with the company less than a year rejoiced. They loved it. On the other hand, senior leaders and many veteran marketing and content practitioners didn't. They agreed the solution sounded fine, but they didn't see the problem it would solve. Wicked. I hear this question from CEOs and CFOs all the time: "What's the benefit of fixing a problem we don't recognize?" The answer: We don't know – yet. But, if you hunt down processes that need incremental fixes, you'll eventually face a major disruption. I share a process for finding aging processes – and answering your execs’ questions about the value of doing it – in this week's [Rose-Colored Glasses]( Let me know (in the article's comments section or [by email](mailto:cmi_info@informa.com)) if you're struggling to reinvent parts of your strategic content processes and whether this advice helps. In the meantime, remember: 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? If so, please invite them to [subscribe]( here.   Sponsored Content Definitive Guide to Content Operations Get a deep dive into Content Operations: what it is, why it’s so important for organizations in every industry to embrace, what it’s capable of, and how you can build the best content operations solution for your teams. 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The right technology – and how you integrate it into your content operations – can be a difference-maker in getting your team to work in harmony and your content to sing to customers. At ContentTECH Summit, we’ll help you learn about the most meaningful tools for your content program and how to use them to their full potential. Watch this video for more reasons to attend, and then make plans to join us March 22-24, 2022 in San Diego! Use promo code COMMUNITY100 to save $100 on your pass. [Watch Video »]( [Explore the Program »](   [Content Operations]( Events [Content Marketing World]( [ContentTECH Summit]( [Content Marketing Awards]( Resources [Research]( [White Paper/eBook Library]( [Content VIPs]( [CMI Business Directory]( Education [Content Marketing University]( [Chief Content Officer]( [Webinars]( [Job Listings]( Interested in advertising with CMI? [Learn more.]( To stop receiving future Content Marketing Institute update emails, please respond [here](. 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