A content strategy is a plan for the creation, delivery and performance of content. It helps you see and support the big picture.

Content works best if you step back and take a look at the bigger picture.

What problems do you solve for your readers? If your business plan has holes in it, your content strategy won’t take you very far. Before you implement a user-centered content strategy,  you should already have a firm grasp on:

• Who you are and who your user is
• What products and services you offer 
• Why people need you 

While providing high-quality, useful content is a given, it’s just as important to take a look at how you benefit from your digital content. A sound content strategy is an equal blend of serving your user’s needs as well as meeting your own business goals.

Content Audits

There is nothing like having a fresh pair of eyes for an overall site evaluation. A good content strategy takes user experience and overall content design into consideration. An expert review gives you a snapshot on how well your current content stands up to industry standards and best practices.

Get your website evaluated and scored for things like:

Content Inventories

Especially for large sites with a lot of information, content inventories can be a strategist’s best friend. Creating a content inventory (CI) is usually the first step in the discovery phase of a web project. 

Whether you’re undergoing a content redesign or site migration, a content inventory helps you: 

• See the size and scope of a site 
• Sort and classify types of content 
• Understand if content is properly located 
• Determine if content is up-to-date 
• Discover broken links or redundant pages

Analytics / User Behavior

The success of your content can always be measured. Using analytics and user behavior tracking tools, you can see what people are really doing on your site. Tweak your approach to content strategy based on your findings. 

A data-driven content strategist never assumes people are using content the way you intend. Reporting analytics should be an integral part of your content strategy. 

Information Architecture

Information Architecture is how the information on your site is organized. In a nutshell, it’s how your content is displayed. Based on what your user wants (and what actions you want them to take), what content should you prioritize on your homepage or navigation menu? 

Content strategy is more than just effective writing. It’s knowing where to place things and what to call them. Get a content strategist to help you label and structure your content to ensure best results. 

Personas 

Personas are generalizations of your users based on demographics and basic personality traits. If you’ve already done persona research for your organization, a content strategist can use the personas to make sure that the right content gets to the right people. 

If you need help with personas, we help you with non-empirical research — based on information and facts from actual visitors to help you create persona charts. “Proto personas” can be created by collaborating with your team who have first-hand experience with your customers.

Personas help you understand what people want from your agency and what they hope to accomplish on your site.

Content Planning

The number one goal of any content strategy is consistency. Your content should be thought of as a living, breathing thing. If you want your site or application to work for you, content should be constantly planned, created and updated. 

• Idea generation
• Editorial calendars
• User flows

Content Governance

How is your content delivered and managed? Align your team with standards and procedures for content. Content governance helps keep people on track with things like:

• Copy guidelines
• CMS permissions
• Best practices for maintaining digital assets
• Localization
• Accessibility and data privacy standards