I was at a content meetup in Minneapolis a few weeks ago and a question came up concerning what does and doesn’t fall under the umbrella of “content strategy.” There was some conversation about how brand strategy and content strategy are related. And then marketing strategy and business strategy entered the conversation.
In the end, it was agreed that brand strategy and marketing strategy are something different from content strategy. In particular, it was noted that brand strategy might inform content strategy, but brand strategy wouldn’t be impacted by content strategy.
I was troubled by the conversation, but I couldn’t figure out why. Was it merely that, as a content person myself, I wanted content strategy to be front and center?
After thinking more about it, I decided 2 things:
- Yes, I’m vain and want content to be king (or queen, depending on the monarchy)
- The truth of #1 doesn’t make me wrong
No matter what business you’re in, whether you’re selling widgets or services or education, you’re ultimately in the people business. You need to connect with people who will buy whatever it is you’re selling or you’ll cease to exist. Simple as that.
And how do you connect with people you’ve never met?
A marketing strategy might define touchpoints and pathways for connecting with people, but it doesn’t define what you’ll say once you’ve reached them. A brand strategy defines your organization’s identity, personality, and value. But those things only come alive through content. A business strategy is a remarkable tool (one I wish more clients had), but it only defines what you do and how you do it, not how to communicate value.
Content strategy removed from other strategy is bad strategy.
Brand strategy covers voice and tone, message maps, brand platforms and positions. All of which set content parameters. If the content created for and within the brand strategy doesn’t work with the overarching content strategy, you’ll be left with divergent content strategies (the brand content strategy and the content strategy). Two strategies created independently of each other is no strategy at all. A strategy divided against itself cannot stand. Abe Lincoln said that.
I suggest that content strategy should be in the conversation when the brand strategy is being created. Same goes for marketing strategy and business strategy.
If you’re gonna use content, you need content strategy. And everything uses content (photography, graphics, and video count as content, too). Please invite your content strategist to the table.