How Do You Do Content Strategy?

     The three best known "content strategy" authors (Kristina Halvorson, Erin Kissane and Richard Sheffield) all say that no content strategy project begins the same way and each is like a fingerprint, uniquely different. Kissane says, "IN CONTENT STRATEGY, there is no playbook of generic strategies you can pick from to assemble a plan for your client or project. Instead, our discipline rests on a series of core principles about what makes content effective—what makes it work, what makes it good.1”

     I agree, nothing that I have ever done, as far as I have so far, has ever started the same way.  While the components are the same and the principles should be as well — the targets, goals and outcomes for the client can be different; therefore different tools must be employed.  So, if that's the case — how do you begin?  Well, that's a good question. The way I start is to understand that there is an order to things, such as:

Preparation — Logistics: 

Research — Analysis

Organization

Development

Approval

Revision

Testing

This is "PRODART," if you will — an acronym to remember it.

   PREPARATION (logistics)

In this part of the process, you may ask: Who will I be working for? (name, address, contact information, etc.) How much will I be paid? And how will I be paid? Who is the Primary Contact? How will we communicate with each other...etc

Establish the purpose of the content that you are working on

Assess your target audience and the content that is most useful to them

Determine the scope of the project — how much? how long? ...etc

Select the various channels (animation, audio, blogs, social media, text, video, wikis) that best suits the content and determine the needed resources to pull the project off.

   RESEARCH

Interviews — note-taking

Documenting, cataloging sources

Surveys/questionnaires

Client tacit information process

Internet research

Website research (archives)

Directories

Discussion and support groups

Library research

Database

Workplace review

   ORGANIZATION

Exact vs. Ambiguous?

Sequential method (including Alphabetic)

Chronological method

Geographical method

Topical grouping

Task analysis

Audience specific

Cause and effect

Outlining

   CONTENT DEVELOPMENT

Organization style ---> leads to a form of "outlining"

Outlining ---> Paragraph development

Rough draft

Approval

Introduction --> Approval

Conclusion ---> Approval

Final Draft

   APPROVAL (sign-off)

   REVISION

Style guide cohesion

Unity, voice, coherence

Spelling, proofreading

Source check

Standards approval

Style guide recheck

   TESTING

This is something you should be doing all the time, but being able to check how your content acts or reacts in in various formats is something that should be checked and rechecked: Mac, Windows, Linux, iOs and Android. Testing the same content on multiple devices: desktops, laptops, tablets, and smart phones. Testing of style guides against multiple sections of the site. Testing of translation with native speakers, etc. etc.

   

Ok. That's a big list and not ever web project has the luxury of going through every item listed here, but honestly, it should be that way.  If we were writing a book, we would do this type of due diligence. But for some reason, other than time limitations, people don't believe that it is necessary to scrub content this thoroughly.

I often wonder if there will be a future time that "content" will be given its rightful place in the web development process, or it will be given the right amount of attention to thoroughly complete the job as it should be done.   

1  Excerpt From: Kissane, Erin. “The Elements of Content Strategy.” A Book Apart, 2011-03. iBooks. 

Check out this book on the iBookstore: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/elements-content-strategy/id426814649?mt=11