Content Strategy: What It Is and Why you Need It

Why Your Marketing Campaigns Need a Documented Content Strategy 

In her article Content Strategy: The Philosophy of Data, author and content strategist Rachel Lovinger uses an analogy to answer the question What exactly is content strategy? According to Miss Lovinger: "Content strategy is to copywriting as information architecture is to design. I find this analogy to be especially encouraging because (in 2001), as the crest of the first wave of the web was about to break, people had no idea what 'information architecture' meant either."

She continues: "The irony of this communication challenge is that the main goal of content strategy is to use words and data to create unambiguous content that supports meaningful, interactive experiences."

 
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In another article that delves deeply into the topic, Brandon Andersen of Ceralytics reports that "Content marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. If you don't have a contentstrategy as your map, you're just running in random directions, and more than likely you're never going to reach your goal. Amazingly, most content marketers are running their marathons without a map.”

 

According to a 2017 report by the Content Marketing Institute, only 37% of B2B and 40%of B2C companies have a documented content strategy. So if a minority of companies are documenting a contentstrategy, why should you bother putting the time and effort into creating your own?

In his article, Content Strategy: 7 Essential Steps, Mr. Andersen highlights several key outcomes that a well-planned content strategy will produce.  

A documented content strategy leads to:

  • Measurable success against business objectives

  • Cost-savings from not wasting time on content that doesn't work

  • Higher conversion rates on content that is created

  • An emphasis on content quality over quantity

  • Increased budgets for content marketing that are justified by business metrics 

To learn more, click here to view the article Content Strategy: 7 Essential Steps. 

Terrence Attridge