Effective content doesn’t happen by chance. It results from a strong centralised content strategy.
When content is out of control, it might not appear on the surface that it is a problem or that it is affecting your business performance, but it is. It goes unnoticed as teams are most often focused on technology and the delivery mechanisms for the content. However, it is also a problem of measurement, with content mostly measured at an execution level, such as an individual campaign or channel, such as social media. Rarely do organisations look at a “body” of content or all the content that they produce in its entirety. This is because the measurement of marketing performance has developed with the delivery tools used. Largely, that is because of the software vendors’ need to prove that it is their tool that has delivered your business results.
Centralised content strategy
Yet, by introducing a strong centralised content strategy, businesses can make significant improvements in their performance.
Here are some signs that you could suffer from Content Chaos:
- There is no centralised (single) content strategy for the entire business.
- You create content in silos. Either multiple teams create their own content or there are multiple creative agencies, each working from their own content plan.
- There is little collaboration between teams. Everyone has their heads down, focused on their content, and they don’t get different perspectives from different areas, resulting in missed opportunities.
- Engagement–clicks measure marketing performance, likes, opens, shares–because robust forms of measurement around business impact have not previously existed.
- Content is not stored centrally, so can’t be shared across teams. It is hard to find and reuse content and, therefore, duplication occurs.
- It is hard to connect content across multiple channels for joined-up customer journeys. When you connect content in a journey, it is usually in a short multi-stage campaign (marketing funnel) where there is only one path and limited channels or for a specific process step that is currently focussed on within customer journey mapping.
Spot the signs?
If you are seeing many of these signs, then you are suffering from Content Chaos and it will cost your business between 20% and 40% of the total that you spend on content. If you are seeing one or two of these signs, then it is a sure-fire warning you are rapidly approaching Content Chaos.