How you build your strategy will depend a lot upon what your client has asked for, the information you learn about the challenges they are facing, the industry you're working within, and the amount of time you are able to devote to the strategy. This template has all the elements you'll need to start researching and writing a content strategy. It's also structured to help you tell a story with that strategy. .
As a strategist, you'll find sections you want to omit and sections you want to expand. That's excellent. Because each strategy is unique to the situation, take what you can use and then make the template your own. Also, you won't see a lot of charts and tables in the examples; that's because we're working with a hypothetical client. Remember that data can help you sell your points, so don't forget to illustrate your strategy and include actual statistics when appropriate. This template is broken down into the following sections:.
Introduction. This section gives you an idea of what kind of research you'll be doing to figure out where the content strategy starts.
- Prologue: Getting started with a core strategy.
- Chapter 1: Onsite Content. Applying your core strategy to this channel.
- Chapter 2: Blog. What you need to know to include a blog in your strategy.
- Chapter 3: Offsite Content. How your core strategy affects offsite channels.
- Chapter 4: Governance. Creating the rules and docs that will help your strategy succeed.
- Chapter 5: Workflow. Make sure you have all the right players in all the right positions .
to efficiently implement your strategy.
Epilogue: Where to start putting that strategy into action and how to measure success.
You'll notice that this template uses a storytelling framework where the brand is the hero and the strategy is the path the hero takes to achieve whatever goals you identify. I like to use this approach because it speaks to our innate love of story (so it helps people engage) and it also speaks to the journey a company is embarking on (which helps people envision the road ahead).
