Content strategy
Whether you’re:
- updating your intranet
- giving your website a refresh
- starting from scratch
I can provide you with a content strategy that covers:
Audience analysis
I'll delve into the needs of your target audience to ensure the information is relevant and valuable.
Content goals
Together, we'll establish clear objectives aligned with the purpose of your site. This could be providing information, enabling transactions, or promoting services.
Information architecture and content modelling
Creating a logical and intuitive site structure, and page patterns that align with audience needs and expectations.
Content planning
A content calendar or editorial calendar that schedules content at the right time on the right channel. This can include archival and retention rules to keep information current and manageable.
Content production
A workflow to ensure content is mindfully developed and aligns with your goals and quality standards.
Performance measurement
Quantitiative and qualitative metrics to measure traffic and user engagement to track effectiveness.
Content optimisation
Continuously updating and improving content based on user feedback and analytics data.
Governance materials
Depending on your project, I’ll provide materials that support your content strategy. This might include:
A website playbook
This explains the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of a website. It tells the story of the decisions made to develop it and why any established standards and guidance need to be followed. This keeps you on the ‘straight and narrow’ so you don’t slip into old habits, and it also provides some boilerplate text for communicating to stakeholders and your executive. Playbooks are also great for onboarding new staff to your development team.
Responsibility matrix
The ‘who’s who’ in getting something online. Different to a traditional ‘RACI’ style matrix, this identifies key staff who have actionable responsibilities in your content management model. This typically includes subject matter experts, content authors, content publishers, content approvers, and risk owners. I’ll work with you to understand how your organisation is structured and make recommendations for streamlined workflows that don’t increase the staffing costs associated with updating your content.
Decision tree
This is a diagram (accompanied by detailed descriptions) that helps content management teams identify:
a) whether content should be published at all
b) what part of the site it should be published in
c) what format it should be developed in (e.g., a blog post or a static content page)
d) whether supporting information needs to be added/updated in other parts of the site.
This tool is particularly helpful when you have a fully decentralised or ‘hub and spoke’ content management model.
Archival and retention rules
If you don’t have rules for when you review, archive or delete your content, you’re likely to end up back where you started - with a large clunky site that’s no longer meeting anyone’s needs. I’ll make recommendations about your existing content, and work with you to set a schedule of review and archive triggers for your future content.
Guidance and training
To maintain your content into the future you may need to upskill some of your staff, or ensure it remains a priority for your executive and stakeholders. I won't leave you in the lurch:
Masterclasses
In addition to materials that will be yours to use and iterate over the life of your site, I can also help upskill your staff on writing for the web and content design. I’ll use the materials we developed during the project so that your team is well-versed in the new way of working and feels confident to uphold the quality standards and rules when working with other teams.
Showcases, slide decks and placemats
Need to get everyone’s buy-in but don’t have the words? I can provide presentations and slide decks to help you keep everyone in the loop and on the same page.
Style guides and templates
Whether it’s informational content pages, case studies or service catalogue items, I can define rules, guidance and definitions to help you develop accesible content that translates directly to your content management system.