Content Strategy Is All About CLARITY

Content strategists do many things, wear many hats. We may have different job titles, different duties each day. But really, what we do is simple. Content strategists provide clarity. It’s my chief deliverable, really. Not an audit. Not a set of content templates. Not even an editorial calendar entry. It's clarity.

Clarity for content creators

Content creators do their best work when they approach their work with clarity. When they have a clear picture of their audience, business goals, and the content's eventual home, good things happen.

Editorial calendars provide a clear plan for the coming weeks and months. Without them, content creators may scramble to find the right ideas. Channels start to languish. Stress builds, deadlines mount. The production cadence may soon assume haphazard status. NO ONE WANTS HAPHAZARD STATUS. Editorial calendars might take the form of a deliverable, but what they really deliver is clarity.

Content audits are the same. They provide insight (which is a form of clarity) into what needs work and what works well. Is the content accurate? Is it still on message? Is it complete and up to current standards? The audit will tell you. The audit is often a spreadsheet. It delivers details. It delivers CLARITY.

You’ll never guess what style guides can do. Provide clarity, you say? WELL DONE, FRIEND. Style guides help content creators articulate a brand’s personality or an organization’s value proposition in a consistent, easily-referenced fashion. Clarity.

Clarity for content managers

If your job involves the evaluation, maintenance, governance, or all-around wrangling of content at any place along the way, I'm willing to bet that you enjoy clarity, too. Each of these duties require guidelines and standards--the clearer, the better.

Publishing content online (on your site, a third-party partner's database, a social media platform, etc.) goes smoothly when content managers know the ins-and-outs of each channel. Some of them have quirks, unique needs. Different inputs, outputs, viewports, devices accessing. Make these requirements known and declare their importance. Provide this, and you've provided clarity.

Clarity for leadership

Do you know who else enjoys clarity? Leadership. Leadership of all sorts and strata. They’re often tasked with articulating the efforts of content strategists when the time comes to fund projects to improve a content experience. When they have a solid content strategy in their hands and on their screens, they’ll have clarity.

Those same folks in leadership positions need to understand the importance of content. They’re often ultimately responsible for the outcomes of content marketing- and content strategy-related efforts. They want to know returns on investment. Performance and efficiency. They must know how content helps their bottom line. Keen ears and minds await. The clarity of content strategy is on the scene, know what I mean?

Clarity for consumers

Call them users, visitors, consumers, or whatever. The people that come to your online presence. They do not want a muddled, difficult experience. They want simplicity, ease-of-use, and delightful experiences. THEY WANT CLARITY.

Can they accomplish what tasks they set out to accomplish? Can they find a product or service? Can they do it without wading through tons of fluffy marketing jive, or press releases, or mission statements, or outdated information? Yes? Then you’ve provided CLARITY.

Clarity for ALL

There you have it. *cue Oprah Winfrey free car meme* You get clarity, and you get clarity. EVERYONE GETS CLARITY. (Clarity, not bees. Sorry for any nightmares from the above gif.)

I’m Clinton Forry. I’m a content strategist. I PROVIDE CLARITY.



via Content-ment http://www.content-ment.com/2013/08/content-strategy-is-about-clarity.html