Just about every business creates content of some form—product descriptions, sales decks, website copy, and that's just for starters. Whatever your industry, your business needs a documented content plan to govern your content development.
How you build your plan is dependent on numerous factors—the size and structure of your company, your comfort level with content creation, and the degree to which you are invested in content as a practice.
COVERING THE CORE ELEMENTS
In any scenario, here are seven core elements to incorporate into your documented plan:
A clear statement as to why you are creating content
What is the business purpose for content and how does it align to your commercial goals? Think of it as your business mission expressed from an editorial perspective.
A content inventory
A process for itemizing the content your company has already created and plans to create. Your content inventory should be centrally managed and capture a wide range of details for each asset, from content type and initial publication date to topics covered and length.
outline of defined responsibilities
When it comes to company content, what does the chain of command look like? Who has ultimate responsibility for establishing and maintaining the content framework? Who owns the brand vision, and how does content help sustain it?
A welter of content-driven TOPICS
Do your research to figure out what topics you should be writing about and to better understand the target audience you’re seeking to engage. Your content plan should give clear direction on each of these points.
A strong METHODology
Every writer knows that the best way to write dependably is to turn writing into a method. The same is true for any creative endeavor—the production of content should operate within a clear methodology that encourages output while meeting quality standards. This framework should govern expectations around sourcing, provide common references for matters of style, and give direction around the various stages of editorial development.
clarity around editorial Processes
Nature abhors a vacuum. If you don’t create editorial processes to support the delivery of your content plan, your people will create them for you—but, in the absence of central standards, practices will quickly diverge. Although your processes should extend intuitively out of your methodology, they still need documenting. Don’t subscribe to the mentality that writing things up is a chore and can stifle creativity. The best documented processes are light touch, intelligent, and inherently creative.
Comprehensive Specs for content
Make sure that each piece of content produced fits within the larger content plan, and that there is clear direction on how assets should be promoted and maintained after the point of publication.
It takes time, hard work and high levels of collaboration to document thoroughly all aspects of your content plan. But having a documented plan in place will give you something concrete to work against. Embrace the opportunity and dive in.
“What is the business purpose for content and how does it align to your commercial goals? Think of it as your business mission expressed from an editorial perspective.”
