{"id":9756,"date":"2022-02-04T13:20:05","date_gmt":"2022-02-04T13:20:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/02\/04\/want-to-scale-your-content-strategy-hiring-isnt-the-answer\/"},"modified":"2022-02-04T13:20:05","modified_gmt":"2022-02-04T13:20:05","slug":"want-to-scale-your-content-strategy-hiring-isnt-the-answer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/02\/04\/want-to-scale-your-content-strategy-hiring-isnt-the-answer\/","title":{"rendered":"Want to Scale Your Content Strategy? Hiring Isn’t the Answer"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"If you ask an actor or screenwriter about their career goals, they\u2019ll almost all say, \u201cBut what I really want to do is direct.\u201d Or so goes the Hollywood trope.<\/p>\n

Ironically, the director participates the least in the creative work. A director\u2019s role isn\u2019t to write, act, play music, edit, or even point a camera. The director\u2019s job is to direct<\/em> the individual artists\u2019 contributions to the film product.<\/p>\n

Yes, some directors do double duty by writing or acting in their films or shows. But the director\u2019s function remains clear: Guide, enable, and manage a team of storytellers to efficiently produce powerfully engaging work.<\/span><\/p>\n

Successful directors shape the work of hundreds of independent artists so effectively the resulting film sings with one clear voice<\/a>. The words, pictures, actors, costumes, music, and editing mesh so completely that removing any of them would pull the entire piece apart.<\/p>\n

Transcendent directors do this so successfully that their signature style shines through even when they use different individual contributors for each project.<\/p>\n

This idea of the director role came to me as I talked with the head of content at a B2B technology company recently. She told me that her content studio had earned enough respect within the business that they\u2019re considered the go-to team for getting something written or designed well.<\/p>\n

But she\u2019s frustrated that most people considered them just the team that produces \u201cgood words and pictures.\u201d She wants the team to play a more important role. So, she asked me, \u201cHow do we become more strategic to the business<\/a> without adding more head count? How can we take on more content?\u201d<\/p>\n

Without a doubt, scalability is the biggest challenge I see among businesses trying to succeed with content marketing. The ability to \u201ccreate enough content\u201d gets mentioned as one of the top challenges in our content marketing research year after year.<\/p>\n

Somehow, adding more writers, designers, podcasters, and other skilled staff never seems to solve that challenge.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the thing: The ability to grow doesn\u2019t lie in the capability to produce enough content.<\/p>\n

To scale, a content strategy team must be more than the collection of skilled creators of \u201cgood words\u201d or \u201cgood pictures<\/a>.\u201d The content team\u2019s purpose must be more than to create great assets.<\/p>\n

It must also enable every other part of the business to do the same. What you need is a team that really wants to direct.<\/p>\n

Your #content team must have a purpose beyond creating great content assets to be truly strategic, says @Robert_Rose via @CMIContent. <\/a><\/span>Click To Tweet<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Why you\u2019ll never create \u2018enough\u2019 content<\/h2>\n

One of the biggest strategy mistakes I see is to equate establishing a content strategy<\/a> with building a content studio filled with talented writers, designers, and multimedia specialists.<\/p>\n

Even when there\u2019s one person who manages the team, many in the business consider it a collection of individual contributors whose roles are to produce assets<\/a> as efficiently as possible.<\/p>\n

Spoiler alert:<\/strong> This approach rarely works. Why? Because businesses can\u2019t get ahead of the content need.<\/p>\n

Call this Robert\u2019s Law of Content: The need for content expands in direct proportion to the number of resources allotted to it.<\/p>\n

The need for #content expands in direct proportion to the number of resources allotted, says @Robert_Rose via @CMIContent. <\/a><\/span>Click To Tweet<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

An intelligent content strategy in modern business isn\u2019t about creating a siloed group of individual content contributors.<\/p>\n

Instead, it\u2019s about creating a team whose role is that of a director. Everyone on the team should be focused on helping create, guide, and enable the entire organization to tell a consistent story.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow wait just a doggone second,\u201d you say. \u201cHow can a team of people all act as a director? Isn\u2019t the director one person?\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, that\u2019s true. I mean that the function <\/em>of a content strategy team is like that of the modern movie director.<\/p>\n

The team isn\u2019t there to provide any single content creation skill on demand. It exists to enable the broader organization to develop and integrate its messages into a common voice.<\/p>\n

Like any seasoned director, the team also may do double duty as writers, editors, or designers. But that\u2019s not their primary purpose.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re not simply providers of words that a sales professional copies and pastes, attaches to an email, or uploads to a website to create and deliver value to a customer, for example.<\/p>\n

They should guide, shape, and develop the sales professional\u2019s ability to deliver the best story regardless of who creates it. Occasionally, that might be someone on the content strategy team.<\/p>\n

But an integrated, enterprise content strategy must work like a film project \u2013 it\u2019s a director\u2019s medium. The only way to truly scale is to shape, guide, and, yes, direct everyone in the business to do their part in telling the brand\u2019s stories<\/a> in one voice.<\/p>\n

The only way to scale an enterprise #ContentStrategy is to direct everyone in the business to do their part in telling the brand’s stories, says @Robert_Rose via @CMIContent. <\/a><\/span>Click To Tweet<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

My advice to any content leader looking to scale a team and become more strategic is to buy every team member a shirt that says, \u201cBut what I really want to do is direct<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, start coaching the team to stop acting as an internal content production studio and start directing all enterprise content regardless of who creates it.<\/p>\n

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Marketing 2030: 7 Laws for Content Marketing Success<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n

5 strategic enterprise content strategy roles<\/h2>\n

To facilitate this evolution of a content strategy, you need a new team charter that defines the content strategy team\u2019s roles, responsibilities, and functions.<\/p>\n

I see five primary responsibilities for the team. Each balances individual contribution with skills to foster in the broader organization.<\/p>\n

\"5<\/p>\n

1. Strategy: Planning and prioritization<\/h3>\n

This piece is missing in most content strategies where the team is seen as individual contributors. \u201cRandom acts of content\u201d happen when no team accepts the role of leading the planning<\/a> and prioritizing for which content will be produced and when.<\/p>\n

A great director provides a consistent storyboard, shot calendar, timeline, and plan so everybody knows what gets created and when. Likewise, a content team must help the business with setting content objectives, distributing resources, and balancing priorities and business needs.<\/p>\n

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT:\u00a0How To Create a Flexible Content Plan That Gets Results<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n

2. Content creation and management<\/h3>\n

This step is the most misunderstood because it\u2019s the one most people think they understand. (\u201cIt\u2019s just creating the assets as they\u2019re needed, right?\u201d No, it isn\u2019t.)<\/p>\n

Once you have prioritization, scheduling, and resource planning under control, the process becomes less linear yet more efficient.<\/p>\n

Does that seem confusing? Think of it this way: A movie director might send one team off to shoot what\u2019s called b-roll. (Think establishing shots, crowd shots, or filler shots that establish context).<\/p>\n

This kind of filming can happen any time (not just as needed) because everything is planned out. The director describes what\u2019s required but doesn\u2019t have to provide it or even be present when these scenes are filmed.<\/p>\n

Likewise, a great content manager might lead (but not create) content captured by someone in account services. The assets the account services staff captures can be remixed into case studies, marketing pieces, advertising, thought leadership, and so on. The person in account services knows what to produce because the content team member provided a complete \u201cshot list,\u201d set of interview questions, etc.<\/p>\n

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Discover the Secrets to Successful Content Creation<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n

3. Merchandising: Internal scheduling and distribution<\/h3>\n

Merchandising is another area missing from many content strategies. Most companies conflate the idea of content assets and digital assets. They think, \u201cWe\u2019ve created X e-books, web pages, and emails, so we\u2019ve created X content assets.\u201d<\/p>\n

So much time ends up wasted by having to \u201cundo\u201d digital assets to retrieve content for repurposing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One of the most critical roles on a film set is the production asset manager. That person ensures every asset (film, audio, video, photos, and so on) gets tagged and routed to the artists who need to create content with it.<\/p>\n

Likewise, a great content strategy team ensures that both raw content and the resulting digital assets are easily findable, routed correctly, and available ready for reuse, repurposing, and activation.<\/p>\n

\n

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

4. Activation: Publishing and promotion<\/h3>\n

The responsibility here is not just completing the asset and saying, \u201cHere it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Equally important is the broad communication that it\u2019s available and the plan for distributing it. While film producers (studios) typically promote a film, directors often have creative input into the marketing, trailer, and sometimes distribution.<\/p>\n

A strategic content team also should ensure assets get launched appropriately<\/a>.<\/p>\n

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Content Distribution: Everything You Need to Know Right Now<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n

5. Measurement: Insight and improvement<\/h3>\n

This final responsibility may seem, at first, to be the furthest from the director metaphor. Certainly, business content should be evaluated<\/a> based on how well it was activated, promoted, and used. That usually means the responsibility should lie within whichever function of the business was responsible for distributing and using the content created.<\/p>\n

You may be surprised to learn how much technology, data, and measurement processes are used on film productions to create more efficient scheduling, creation, and post-production efforts.<\/p>\n

Likewise, the content team should, at the very least, be squarely focused on an efficient and effective lifecycle of content creation, management, production, and distribution.<\/p>\n

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How to Measure Content Marketing: The (Updated) Essential Guide<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n

Content strategy as artful, efficient production<\/h2>\n

These five responsibilities form the core of a content strategy. In addition to being a creative engine for artful experiences, a functional content strategy guides the entire process of content.<\/p>\n

The team sets standards, develops playbooks<\/a>, molds the scripts, chooses the lenses, fosters the talent, guides the process, and helps structure the output.<\/p>\n

Like a movie, television, or stage director, your content team may sometimes<\/em>, but not always, serve as the storyteller. But it should always<\/em>, not just sometimes, enable everyone in the company to tell the business\u2019s stories.<\/p>\n

Once your team accepts its role as the \u201cdirector\u201d of enterprise content, it can start influencing vision, words, story, and experience to deliver on a business strategy poised for box office success.<\/p>\n

\n

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Get Robert\u2019s take on content marketing industry news (in just three minutes)<\/h2>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=videoseries<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n
Want to learn how to balance, manage, and scale great content experiences across all your essential platforms and channels? Join us at ContentTECH Summit this March in San Diego.\u00a0<\/em>Browse the schedule<\/em><\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<\/em>register today<\/a>. Use code BLOG100 to save $100.<\/em>
\n<\/em><\/div>\n

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski\/Content Marketing Institute<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n