How to build a flexible content strategy

Emily Clayfield - emily@builtvisible.com
Flexible content
strategy
How to rebuild your content plan at
the drop of a hat
Emily Clayfield – emily@builtvisible.com

Emily Clayfield
emily@builtvisible.com
• Head of Content Strategy at Builtvisible
• +8 years experience in SEO, content strategy
and digital marketing
• Worked with clients across travel, financial
services, ecommerce, health, B2B and more
• Builtvisible is an independent agency,
specialising in SEO, Content, Digital PR and
Data

1. An understanding of our approach to content strategy
2. A list of resources and people to ask for support
3. A couple of research tools and techniques to try
4. Access to my flexible content strategy template
5. Inspiration and motivation to get started!
Today’s takeaways
Anything could happen in the next
half hour

What do we mean by
content strategy?
A document that helps your team
understand and overcome a challenge by
creating content with purpose.
Good Strategy / Bad Strategy by Professor Richard P. Rumelt, UCLA
Diagnosis
Guiding policy
Coherent actions
Define the challenge you face
Set out the overall approach to deal
with the challenge
Specify the steps to take in order to
implement your guiding policy

Content strategy should
connect the dots all the way to
the boardroom and back again
All business functions can and should support
content strategy and content strategy can and
should support their goals.
• Senior Management, Finance, HR
• Product, R&D
• Brand, PR, Sales and Marketing
• Customer Service
Content connects your brand to your customers,
and it connects your customers to the
information, products and services they need.

You probably already knew all of that,
but what happens when the goal posts move?

We stick to this framework,
but speed up our processes
It’s still vital to get your strategy
down on paper.
• Adopt an ‘all hands on deck’ approach to
unlock expertise, resources
• Use your common sense along with available
data
• Use tools at your disposal and call in favours
across your network
Diagnosis Guiding
policy
Coherent
actions
• Decide and define
your approach to
meet short-term
goals
• Keep mid- to long-
term goals in mind
• Clarify what you
know for sure
• Accept you may
not have all the
information
• Adapt your
processes
• Clearly
communicate your
requirements

Try my flexible content
strategy template
builtvisible.com/resources/build-
a-flexible-content-strategy/

Part 1: Diagnosis
Define the challenge

State the cold hard facts
Don’t bury your head in the sand,
you need to make your team aware
of the challenge
For example, the COVID-19 challenge:
• Fear and uncertainty is everywhere
• Budgets are being pulled
• Customers asking for refunds
• The public are panic buying
• Media backlash against opportunistic brands

Highlight the opportunities
Take a step back and look for
positive trends, topics and new
audience groups
For example, the COVID-19 opportunity:
• People are looking for help and information
• New audiences are emerging
• New routines are developing
• People looking for certainty and stability

Spell out the key nature of
the challenge
Try to distil it into one idea,
metaphor or analogy
In this COVID-19 example, the key challenges
many brands faced essentially boiled down to
messaging:
• “We want to help our existing and potential
customers”
• “We do not want to be opportunistic or
mercenary”
• “We must not confuse or dilute the safety
advice”

Part 2: Guiding policy
Set out your overall approach to
deal with the challenge

Remind your team of your
core mission and values
New situations and challenges test
your values as a business.
Dig them out and put them front and centre in
your strategy document to remind your team why
your company exists and what you stand for.
All content strategy, production and distribution
should then be guided by these values.

List your three most important goals
right now
Your strategy document needs to clearly communicate
what your organisation is trying to achieve.
That way your team knows exactly what they are
working towards and how content can help.
• Use our resources and
expertise to provide
genuine assistance
• Collaborate with others
in our industry
• Nurture relationships
• Exceed expectations on
quality and service
• Provide clarity
Retain existing customers Contribute value Seek new opportunities
• Pivot our messaging to
suit those who need our
product most
• Focus on audiences
which are now thriving
For example:

Specify how content can help achieve
these goals
Your strategy document needs to clearly communicate
what your organisation is trying to achieve.
That way your team knows exactly what they are
working towards and how content can help.
• Use our resources and
expertise to provide
genuine assistance
• Collaborate with others
in our industry
• Nurture relationships
• Exceed expectations on
quality and service
• Provide clarity
Retain existing customers
• Bespoke guides
• Customer service assets
• Q&A sessions
Contribute value
• Training sessions
• Webinars
• Free templates
Seek new opportunities
• Industry-specific product
guides
• Case studies
• Pivot our messaging to
suit those who need our
product most
• Focus on audiences
which are now thriving
For example:

Collate any available
audience insights
Your team needs new context to inform and
shape the upcoming content, but what if you
don’t have time or budget for in-depth
research?
Try spotting trends using these valuable sources
of information:
• Sales and Customer Services team
• Recent customer feedback, reviews and
comments
• Search behaviour in Google trends
• Online communities like forums, social,
YouTube – try boardreader.com

Part 3: Coherent actions
Specify the steps to take in order
to implement your guiding policy

Make a list of suitable topics
Look for ideas at the sweet spot between the
audience’s needs and your specific expertise
Things the home worker audience
need and care about most right now
Delivering high quality work
Maintaining team culture
Maintaining reliability and
professionalism
Work life balance
Saving time and money
Being able to enjoy their work
Flexible hours
Broadband provider’s
area of expertise and values
Reliable connection
Customer service
Contract flexibility
Value
Internet speed
How to send large files
Teams review remote
meeting tools
Home office set up tips
How to improve video call quality
Calculate cost of working
from home

Clearly outline your (possibly new)
production process
Your content strategy is nothing without production, so your
document should define roles, responsibilities, procedures and sign
off processes.
Remember, these may have changed due to the new circumstances!

Clearly outline your (possibly new)
distribution plan
New topics and types of content may require new distribution
methods.
For example, paid distribution budget cuts may lead to the need for
creative alternatives!
Here’s Builtvisible’s content distribution plan by type and funnel stage

Finally, summarise how
content performance will be
measured
Your content strategy document should
specify what you’d like to get out of your
content and how it ties back in with those
key business goals.
Your measurement plan section should answer
these three questions:
• What do we want someone to do when they
read, watch, or listen to our content?
• How can the content itself encourage that
behaviour?
• What tracking can we put in place to measure
our performance?
Retain existing customers
Contribute value
Seek new opportunities
Hmm… what were my goals again?

That’s a wrap

1. An understanding of our approach to content strategy
2. A list of resources and people to ask for support
3. A couple of research tools and techniques to try
4. Access to my flexible content strategy template
5. Inspiration and motivation to get started!
Today’s takeaways
Thank you for your time!

Thank you.
builtvisible.com
Emily Clayfield
Head of Content Strategy
emily@builtvisible.com

How to build a flexible content strategy

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (19)

Similar to How to build a flexible content strategy

Similar to How to build a flexible content strategy (20)

More from Builtvisible

More from Builtvisible (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

How to build a flexible content strategy