Why Content & Strategy Go Hand in Hand

It was just a few years ago that I stepped foot into learning about marketing from a diverse perspective. While these strategies toward new age marketing continue to evolve, I find myself devouring information from a wide variety of companies to be able to support the businesses I work with. Let’s be honest it is truly fascinating seeing XYZ company act as a reliable source for information when sources cited for content curation purposes are coming from unreliable web sources or even competitors as not enough research has been done on the piece to properly curate the material.
​
Coming from a high school and college where it seems we were beaten with sticks on properly citing sources as to not create plagiarism. I initially found content curation for the benefit of marketing and educating your buyer as a laughable selling tactic. At first sight of the content curation process I continued to reflect back to the days of writing papers in high school and college. There it was red marks of despair with a less than desirable letter at the top of the paper. How could it be as simple as to hyperlink a word with a .com behind it and call that my source? How could I ever learn to live with myself with this simplicity? I still sometimes feel Mrs. Swanson staring over my shoulder shaking her head at this “content curation”.

Submerging myself into content curation I realized the simplicity given to the citing of a source is truly a blessing in disguise. Compelling material published online keeps your brand in the mind of your client and done effectively can significantly increase your ROI by building trust and establishing your brand as an expert in your industry. The time you take to make these content pieces count for your business giving you an authentic value prior to any sale contact. The value save here is your buyer has already picked you to buy their services from prior to the initial contact. You just saved yourself the price of another sales person beating the streets to sell whatever it is you sell. With that cost saved are you or is someone spending the time it takes to really do content curation accurately and bring marketing strategies around this full circle?

Creating a person behind your brand, a likeable or even lovable familiar voice is the first step in creating a bond with a client you have yet to even speak with. Let’s just say that was it; find credible sources, be lovable, and add commentary – easy peasy right? No. There is a reason citing your sources in a content marketing piece got so easy. Now add the rest of this to your plate; planning, creation, delivery, and management. WHAT?

This ends up being no simple task. These pieces all come together with a thought out process and a familiarity with the business you run. Key assets to this program include, but are not limited to; developing a calendar, determining a client persona, determining key messages that target your persona(s), developing a good mix of channels and mediums to spread your lovable voice; managing and tracking engagement metrics, creating styles that speak to your customer, metadata, managing your budget, integrations and so much more.
​
My headline mentioned you’re to do list going hand in hand with content strategy. So, you have the strategy, but can you execute the do to list?