How to build a content strategy - Introduction

Can a blog be used as a proving ground for writers - a sort of dry run for articles, whitepapers, reports, and other documents?  Why not?  So here goes - the first in a series, soon to become a whitepaper, on a topic near and dear to my heart - the practical steps for building a content strategy. Here we go....

Introduction:

Studies from Marketing Sherpa and others tell us that the biggest challenges in a content marketing strategy are creating high quality content, and creating enough content.  Quality and quantity are the challenges.  The good news is that quality content can be re-purposed.  Therefore, a smart content strategy starts with high quality content, and then replicates it in a number of venues, providing a consistent message, and maximizing content ROI.

Before starting on the steps, here are two rules for high quality content, whether in text, audio, or video format:

-It must be a reflection of existing conversations in customer communities.
-It must be of sufficient quality to repay the audience's time investment in reading, listening to, or viewing the content, whether or not the person buys from you or not.
 
 A unified content strategy is holistic - it encompasses PR, marketing, and sales support.  That's why it is so powerful.  In the next post, we'll look at the first step - Finding the Conversation.  Stay tuned!