No, this isn’t a bizarre riddle with some witty answer – it’s a serious question. But unfortunately, there is no finite answer. Instead, there is just one answer that is completely wrong.
And that answer is: one. It will never take just one person to build an effective, executable content strategy.
Here’s why.
A content strategy for any business, whether it’s a small company or a large corporation, goes beyond just a list of plans to achieve a single goal. An effective content strategy includes well-defined and thoughtfully arranged parts that need thorough research, planning, and strategic thinking.
A full content strategy will most likely include the following foundational components:
- Real state analysis
- Ideal state analysis
- Audience analysis
- Ultimate goal
- Objectives, strategies, tactics
- Metrics and KPIs
- Action plan and timeline
- Budget and resource allocation
Each section needs input from the people responsible for that task. For example, the real estate analysis should have specific figures, like unique views for certain pages on a website and the percentage change over time. Without this concrete data, the metrics and KPIs for site visits and views feel random instead of clear targets to strive for, which also impacts accountability at the end of the quarter or year. This information will assist the content marketer in understanding the customer journey and mapping out the content journey.
Also, when it comes to the action plan, there must be a complete understanding of when and where other content across the business is needed and scheduled to be posted. The more cohesive the plan, the more likely it will be a success.
The underlying goal of a great, effective content marketing strategy is to merge all functions and create a consistent string of messages targeted at the most relevant audiences and executed through any function that produces any form of content.
Plain and simple, when building a content strategy, it takes more than one perspective to provide relevant input. Anyone building a content strategy cannot get varied perspectives without having more than one person focused on the intent and providing feedback.