Engage before change: your content strategy mantra

If you’re about to revamp your content strategy, repeat after me:

Engage before change.

The only way you’re going to plan—much less implement—a successful content strategy is to talk to all the groups who create and consume content. Without that input, you can’t get a full picture of how content is and is not supporting your company’s business goals.

Don’t engage just the obvious content creators. Yes, marcom and tech comm develop a ton of content, so they have to be part of the discussions. But what about the support group, which writes its own cheat sheets and notes on customer issues official content doesn’t address? Finding and reviewing this “secondary” information and then integrating it into your content strategy is essential to ensuring information fully supports business objectives.

Same advice applies for talking to content consumers. If at all possible, get feedback from end users. Getting direct user feedback is often easier said than done, but the support group is a good source of leads because that department has a lot of contact with customers. Also, talk to the sales group to find out how content supports the sales cycle (or doesn’t), and revise your content strategy accordingly.

Give a great deal of thought about where content comes from and who uses it. Otherwise, you’re just paying lip service to the “engage before change” content strategy mantra.

Hat tip to a column on engaging employees before changing the office layout for inspiring this post.