Newsroom concept: a content strategy, uniform planning, shared success

Anyone thinking about content production and an associated content strategy cannot ignore their own resources and structures in the communications departments. Establishing strategic content marketing in a company also means making careful adjustments to the company's internal communication culture.

Ideally, corporate structures should precisely reflect the requirements of the respective field of activity; this can be the area of human resources, the structure of the IT service providers and employees or even the structure of the communications departments. It is in the interests of the company to constantly adapt its structure to changes in the market: The main reason for (often negatively perceived) restructuring is the focus on efficient work processes.

With the rise of content marketing and the new demands on communication, it is therefore logical for larger companies in particular to consider new forms of collaboration. In our experience, departments that only discuss their knowledge and production projects within their own unit and have little or no exchange with other areas of the company are widespread.

Such departments are also known as silos - the process of encapsulation is a cost factor for companies that should not be underestimated. Studies such as the one conducted by McKinsey show that such structures in companies make digital transformation more difficult, for example.

This is no different in the context of content strategies and content marketing approaches. Here, different KPIs lead to the departments pursuing partially divergent goals and locking themselves into their silos.

Fortunately, the requirements of content marketing reveal this systemic misguided development and point to opportunities for development: Better, cross-departmental collaboration can develop, particularly on communication issues and the associated content processing procedures.

Content is increasingly becoming a connecting element of work processes. For reasons of efficiency, collaboration between departments must be virtually demanded if the connecting character of content in the company is to be recognized.

The vertical classification answers the question of how well all departments and channels are aligned with a central strategy, story and guideline.

Companies go through various stages of evolution before content production is optimally integrated into the organization.

Sporadic: campaign-driven communications

'Traditionally' oriented communication units are still very much in the early stages of development: "Content marketing" is only practiced in individual campaigns, there is no long-term approach.

Isolated: Continuous activities in individual departments (silos)

Silo structures operating in isolation do not know what other departments are producing and what communication strategy they are pursuing. In random exchanges, these units learn in passing that another department has produced almost identical content. If at all, there are only silo-related content strategies that contribute to department-specific performance targets.

Coordinated: Regular editorial meetings

Some companies are already more advanced in their content operations and have crossed the threshold from silo production to coordinated information exchange. They try to keep up to date with activities in regular editorial meetings and occasionally strive for synergies in production and planning.

Integrated: a content strategy, uniform planning, shared success

The highest level of internal collaboration is centralized cooperation with a jointly executed communication strategy. The silos are dissolved, all departments sit at one table and use a jointly developed content strategy: coordinated KPIs simultaneously ensure that an overarching objective consistently guides the department-specific activities.
The newsroom concept is another example of the implementation of such a strategically integrated form of cooperation within the company. There is a content (marketing) strategy that encompasses and involves all departments and is thus supported by everyone.

The newsroom concept ensures better collaboration. However, the first step is often about overcoming silos: You can do this by starting to share information about production projects across departments and coordinating communication approaches.

And sometimes a tool like Scompler can help with this, because it provides a virtual newsroom as a software solution. This is perhaps the most cost-effective approach before you finally get everyone sitting around the table in your company.