A content strategy requires a degree of change management

A sustainable content marketing strategy requires a certain degree of transformation. Without this, many/most content strategies will fail, at least in the long run. Why? I will explain this in this article.

In order to sustainably establish content marketing as a new communication approach, measures are needed that lead step by step to efficient implementation (content operations). I am very fortunate to be able to experience these highly operational difficulties and challenges faced by companies at scompler as a consultant (and to guide them toward solutions). This article deals with a still underestimated part of this process: the necessary degree of change management.

I have already written several articles on strategy development, so I won't explain the process in detail (again) here. A few days ago, I had the opportunity to follow in Mirko Lange's (big) footsteps and address the topic operations in my presentation at Online Marketing Day 2016. You can view the slides (including the strategy development process) below as an introduction.

If you have clicked through the slides, you will have noticed that it was important for me to at least mention this topic, because I experience (almost) every day that this change management is underestimated...

Silos are not just "another buzzword" or an invention of clever consultants who want to sell more services. Historically, companies have organized themselves in such a way that they have assigned tasks to different people. The more tasks (and the greater the volume), the more people were assigned to the task. With the new digital channels came new tasks (and requirements), and a new function (silo) was created for them.

Gradually, companies have built up functions side by side. Part of the problem is also the evaluation and motivation of employees within these functions. For example:

• Sales are measured by how much they sell.
• Customer service employees are measured by how satisfied the customer is with the answer to the problem.
• Marketing is measured by how much reach it generates
• and social media according to engagement figures.

Everyone wants to do their job well (or at least keep their job) and therefore fulfills the requirements. And that also applies to "content"! There are all kinds of situations here, depending on who initiates the topic marketing or content strategy, but in most cases it happens in a department in order to achieve its own (department-specific) goals. And everyone does their own thing.

What are we doing with "content marketing"? How do we categorize it?

This is an important question, and there is no blanket answer. What is important, however, is that companies should restructure themselves step by step to waste fewer resources if these departments do not work together... And focus on the topics the "story"/theme.

This brings us to the topic change. topic

This is nothing new: we are creatures of habit. Anything new is initially frightening, and when in doubt... "Nah, can't be bothered." This isn't because employees are lazy or fundamentally unmotivated, but because it requires us to change our habits.

I find the Engage-Enable-Embed model developed by Carsten Rossi (Kammann Rossi), which serves as a thinking aid, extremely helpful for orientation. I can confirm the effectiveness of this approach based on my experience managing various content operations projects.

For the most part, employees don't really care whether a content strategy is implemented or not.1 They may not even care whether the company can implement more efficient processes and better pursue strategic goals... This thought experiment illustrates that we should approach this step by step...

1. Engage: What does each employee desire on a personal level? What would make their work more interesting, easier, or more motivating? What have they been wanting for a long time? The goal here is to identify the different interests that exist so that we can later show each employee how and why they will benefit when we implement a content strategy.
2. Enable: Those involved must also notice (relatively) quickly that something is changing (for the better). Step by step, slightly modified work processes, new tools, or new roles (if the skills are available) can be made tangible. Communication and feedback to employees are very important here!
3. Embed: By "embed," I mean that, in terms of change in a content strategy, the meaning conveyed by the content strategy becomes part of the corporate culture. A (lived) mission/story is important here. Every employee must feel that they are part of something with which they identify...

Worth reading in this context: Content strategy - when employees are no longer on board (Kerstin Hoffmann)

The wrong reason to do content marketing is because you want to. Content marketing is the answer to fundamental changes in the attention economy. So it's completely irrelevant whether it's later called content strategy, content marketing, attention marketing (yes, I made that up) or something else. As I already wrote on Medium:

The point is: in future, brands will have to define themselves less through forced attention and more through perceived usefulness and experience factors. If companies can no longer afford to be uninteresting, they must find a way to become more interesting and have integrity.

Fundamental restructuring is necessary. And this will not happen overnight, but must be introduced into the corporate culture step by step.

What specific difficulties and challenges do you see in the implementation of content strategies? How can they be overcome? What do you think of the "Engage, Enable, Embed" thinking aid?