I had some trouble wrapping my brain around the differences between content marketing strategy and content strategy. Here is how I think about them now:
- Content marketing strategy is the process of planning content for marketing campaigns. Example: A director of marketing prepares for an email marketing campaign. She decides that the campaign needs three related emails, a video for the CTA and a landing page. The video already exists and she assigns the emails and landing page content to a writer.
- Content strategy is the process of discovering corporate content in order to leverage it across verticals, languages, and campaigns. Example: A content strategist and his team audits all outward-facing content throughout the company. They identify the content type, title, subject, abstract and links/locations. They record their findings in a database or spreadsheet, which tells marketers what content is available and what content gaps to fill.
Content strategy takes more resources and time upfront but saves ongoing money and effort.
How Much Time and How Many Resources?
Content strategy is a big job but not an overwhelming one. I like Kathy Hanbury’s take on this in her post “5 Things You Need to Know about Content Strategy.”
Content strategy activities are scalable and can be modified to fit any budget. You don’t necessarily need a large, formal content strategy. You just need to take the time to think things through and determine your goals, resourcing, workflow and success metrics, which can save you from the high cost of ineffective content.