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July 21, 2014

Planning your content strategy pilot project

Your content strategy is approved. Your tools are in place. Now it’s time to crank up—your pilot project, that is.

Consider these tips when mapping out your content strategy pilot project.

Your pilot project is a proof of concept—not perfection

If you expect your first effort using new tools and processes to be perfect, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment and frustration before you’ve even started.

photo of gas stove pilot light

Don’t blow it: set reasonable expectations for your content strategy pilot project. (Pilot light photo: iamNigelMorris, flickr.)

Despite the best planning in the world, you will hit a snag or two as you roll out your new content strategy in the pilot project. Consider the project a proof of concept, which you adjust when the reality of implementation doesn’t end up quite matching your plans.

Your schedule should have slack to compensate for the inevitable hiccups. If the content developed in your pilot project has an aggressive deadline, you’ve probably picked the wrong content—which leads to my next suggestion.

Follow the lead of Goldilocks for choosing pilot content

Take the Goldilocks approach and pick content that’s “just right.” You don’t want something super-crucial that needs to be out the door ASAP, but you don’t want to pick content that receives little attention, either. Instead, pick something in the middle, if at all possible.

The same advice goes for the amount of content. Pick an amount of content that pilot team members can handle without being overburdened, but don’t restrict the content to a miniscule amount that will have little impact.

Also, if the project includes content from multiple departments, make sure that one type of content isn’t overemphasized. You can’t necessarily go by page count—user guides in the tech comm department are usually bigger than the brochures created by the marketing group, for example—so gauge content types in other ways. For example, use the current makeup of content as a rough guide: xx% is tech comm, yy% is training, and zz% is marketing, so the pilot content should reflect similar percentages. You could also consider the effort involved in developing the various content types.

In summary, moderation is the key when choosing your pilot project’s content.

You can’t include everybody in the pilot project

You can’t fit all of your content into a pilot project, and you can’t include every employee, either. Employees with skills in the new toolset are sensible candidates, as are those who are interested in learning new things and understand how the new processes support the company’s overall business goals. Make sure you include employees from all of the departments that are involved in the content strategy.

Consider including skeptics with somewhat open minds. They can be a great advocates for the new processes if the pilot project goes well and the content strategy is adopted for additional content. However, you’re better off not including someone who is completely resistant to change. You don’t need that kind of drag on your project—you have enough challenges as it is.

Even though not every employee will be actively involved in a pilot project, communicate constantly with everyone who will be affected by the new content strategy when it’s applied to more content later. Be truthful. Glossing over rough patches is not advisable; instead, explain a problem and detail your planned solution to overcome that challenge. Be open to input from people outside the pilot team because they may have ideas that could be very helpful in solving your issue.

A successful pilot project is key to a successful content strategy. My recommendations are:

  • Don’t be too ambitious with your goals.
  • Be ready to make changes when things don’t work out.
  • Keep the lines of communication open.

Have your own tips (or horror stories) for pilot projects? Leave them in the comments.