How to Build a Content/Creative Strategy

On a very basic level, this is how you build a content/creative strategy.

Internal Research

Look at your top 10 best performing pages. What insights can you get from them? Are they similliar topics? Can they be refreshed with new content, data, or visual elements? Are there any spoke pieces that can be created from these topics?

COMPETITOR RESEARCH

Look at 3-5 competitors. What types of content pieces are they producing right now? What channels are they posting in? What are the topics/formats of their content? Is there anything they’re doing that we should try?

TREND RESEARCH

Research 3-5 trends happening within the industry today. Look through mediums like the news, YouTube, and social media channels to spot any current trends. You might also want to research any upcoming events that may impact the industry.

Now put it all together

List out new ideas to try. Consider organizing them as:

  • Easy - Things like refreshes and new pieces in areas we haven’t covered.

  • Medium - Things that might require another team’s help, like creating a survey with the data team.

  • Ambitious - Things that would require dev work, like a wage calculator.

HOW TO PITCH A CONTENT/CREATIVE STRATEGY

When it’s time to put your slides together, these are a couple of options.

Option 1: Storyteller’s Approach

  • The Problem - The problem that your audience is having. For instance, career changers might feel uncertain that their skills can translate into a tech career.

  • The Opportunity - What’s the opportunity for our business if we fix this problem? For instance, if no competitor is addressing this problem, that gives us an opportunity to be first.

  • The Idea - The idea to give the audience problem while helping our business/brand as well. For instance, we’ll create a skills translator tool that shows how non-tech skills can translate into tech career skills.

  • The Game Plan - How we’ll pull it off. For instance, how long it will take, prices, and teams involved.

Option 2: Trend /Solution Approach

  • Context - An overview

    • What’s a trend going on in the industry? For instance, list out some trends, or maybe even include some trends with our competitors. You could also approach it as: What’s a problem happening in our industry?

    • Here is why our site is uniquely situated to fix that problem or capitalize on the opportunity of the moment. For instance, you can point the our company’s history in this space or our expertise.

  • Solutions - Here’s how

    • Easy solutions

    • Medium solultions

    • Ambitious solutions

Option 3: Raskin Winners/Losers Approach

  • Change is happening - Describe what change is happening in the industry.

  • There will be winners and losers in that change - Acknowledge that not adapting will hurt your company.

  • Here’s the promise land - Here’s what the ideal state looks like with our company adapting to that change.

  • Here’s how we’ll overcome obstacles - Acknowledge the obstacles that could get in the way of the promise land and how you’ll solve them.

Option 4: Raskin Happiness Approach

  • Name the enemy / What is in the way of your customer’s happiness? - Describe the issues in the way of your users’ happiness.

  • Why now? - Why is now the time to act?

  • Here’s the promise land - Here’s what the ideal state looks like with our company fixing those issues.

  • Here’s how we’ll overcome obstacles - Acknowledge the obstacles that could get in the way of the promise land and how you’ll solve them.

  • Demo - If possible.

Jennifer Cuellar