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Author: Sarah O'Keefe

White papers

Understanding content strategy as a specialized form of management consulting

First published in Technical Communication Volume 66, Number 2 (May 2019) by the Society for Technical Communication.
Coauthored by Sarah O’Keefe, Alan Pringle, and Bill Swallow.

Abstract

Purpose: The goal of this article is to position content strategy as a specialized subdiscipline of management consulting. Standard management consulting practices, such as gap analysis and needs analysis, are the foundation of content strategy practices.

Method: This article draws from the theory on management consulting and shows how management consulting principles work in the context of content strategy projects.

Results: Practitioners in the burgeoning field of content strategy will develop a better sense of how their work aligns with overall management consulting practices.

Conclusion: Management consulting already has best practices and methodologies. Content strategy builds upon that foundation to establish a professional discipline.

Sarah O'Keefe
May 13, 2019
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Opinion

2019 trend: Smarter content in unexpected places

It’s always dangerous to make predictions, but for 2019, we are defining “smarter content in unexpected places” as our trend in content strategy.

The catalyst is recognition of content value. Once you decide that delivering certain information is valuable, you then start to think about the best ways to create, manage, and deliver that information. How can you maximize its value?

Sarah O'Keefe
January 14, 2019
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Podcast transcript

Full transcript of Potluck strategy podcast

Sarah O’Keefe: Welcome to the Content Strategy Experts podcast, brought to you by Scriptorium. Since 1997, Scriptorium has helped companies manage, structure, organize, and distribute content in an efficient way.

Sarah O’Keefe: Hi, everyone. I’m Sarah O’Keefe. For episode 40, we’re thinking about food. Although, I should clarify that we think about food a lot here at Scriptorium. It’s an important part of our daily life and our holiday potluck is an opportunity to show off our culinary skills in cooking and, I think, most especially eating. So it occurred to me that a great potluck has a lot in common with content strategy, and in this episode, we’re going to talk about our favorite topic, food, and how we can apply a potluck planning, which is hard to say, to content strategy.

Sarah O'Keefe
December 5, 2018
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Podcast

Potluck strategy podcast

In episode 40 of the Content strategy experts podcast, Sarah O’Keefe, Bill Swallow, and Gretyl Kinsey create a food-themed facade for content strategy. Abundant potluck metaphors illustrate some of the most important content strategy decisions.

Sarah O'Keefe
November 30, 2018
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Podcast transcript

Full transcript of Battling content strategy inertia podcast

Sarah O’Keefe: Welcome to the Content Strategy Experts podcast, brought to you by Scriptorium. Since 1997, Scriptorium has helped companies manage, structure, organize, and distribute content in an efficient way. In episode 34 of this podcast, we talk about inertia. It’s August, so here we are in the dog days of summer in North Carolina. It’s hot and humid, and doing absolutely nothing seems like pretty much the best and only strategy right now. That got us thinking about inertia in content strategy. It takes a big push to get a content strategy project moving, and a lot of times, do nothing seems like a much safer strategy than actually taking action and doing something. But of course, the choice to do nothing is, itself, a decision, and may lead to sunburn if you just stay out there too long.

Sarah O'Keefe
August 15, 2018
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