How to staff a content strategy project

The way forward: what’s next for content strategy

If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that businesses have problems with creating, managing, maintaining, and evaluating the effectiveness of their digital content.

Good news! That problem is only going to get worse.

Businesses that struggle to maintain their core website are now facing a dizzying array of new challenges. The hungry mouth of social media demands constant feeding. New mobile devices proliferate, and users expect apps tailored for each platform. Creaky and cumbersome content management technology struggles to keep up with the pace of publishing. And internal organisational structures, hiring practices, budgeting processes, and incentive systems don’t fit the realities of modern web teams.

We’ve got our work cut out for us as content strategists. Our efforts to build a community and gain attention for our practice have paid off. Now, the real fun—and the hard work—begins.

In this talk, Karen will outline some of the biggest challenges organisations face in dealing with their content—today, and over the next five years. She’ll explain what matters most for our field, and what we can do as practitioners to fix the content problem.

Topic: How to staff a content strategy project →

Small budget, big difference.

It’s not only large organisations that need help with content strategy. Everyone has a content problem. Every designer, developer, and project manager has a project that looks nice but sounds awful—with the added bonus of no budget to fix it.

What skills and techniques can we use with small projects and modest budgets to ensure a better outcome? What can we teach designers and developers so that they feel confident advocating the value of content, and teaching their clients and bosses that content strategy is important?

Relly will share her experiences of finding, creating, and using techniques like these with web teams full of designers and developers.

What you’ll learn

1. Why the web-maker-happeners are important to content strategy and why we need their help.
2. Why content is still a block and how we can use “show and tell” to make it easier.
3. Skills, tools, and techniques to build a web team member’s content confidence.

Topic: How to staff a content strategy project →

How content strategy supports communications strategy

When content strategy takes centre stage in an organisation alongside communications strategy, it increases efficiency and breaks down organisational silos.

Diana will explore typical activities and disciplines needed to meet the goals of a communications strategy, which depend on a variety of communication channels. By designing a channels matrix, we can see which channels merit their own content strategy, and what features of content strategy are common to all.

Instead of assigning content strategists to major channels like websites and intranets, a central team of content strategists can coordinate and monitor content delivery throughout the organisation. The ultimate objective is to help the organisation meet its communication and business goals, while measuring return on investment.

What you’ll learn

1. Why content strategy needs to support a communications strategy.
2. How a channels matrix can inform a content strategy.
3. How a coordinated content strategy can break down organisational silos.

Topic: How to staff a content strategy project →