I don't know if you can still remember the beginnings of content marketing.
It seemed too good to be true.
The idea was: just create any kind of content and you'll win customers. Many companies then focused more on quantity than quality, because there was little competition or the competition published articles of similar quality. Interns or family members were primarily involved in creating the content.
At that time, companies did not yet recognize the importance of a specialized department. Instead, they followed the motto: publish more and more content – faster and faster.
- But what was the price for this?
- And what benefits would content operations have had back then?
You can now get the answers to these questions and step-by-step instructions on content operations.
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Operate in terms of content or simply publish?
In itself, the approach was not wrong at the time. It was simply the fastest way to respond to the changing relationship between companies and their target groups. People were showing less and less interest in advertising slogans. Instead, they expected in-depth advice and an exceptional shopping experience. What could be more obvious than satisfying these new needs with content? Content marketing was born and ready to win the trust of interested parties.
Back then, forward-thinking companies recognized the opportunity and wanted to gain a competitive edge. To achieve this goal, they maximized the number of marketing tools and channels and produced content en masse. The idea behind this was to be one of the first companies in their respective niche to take advantage of this new concept. They hoped to generate engagement, increase their visibility, and thereby attract new customers. Developing an overarching content marketing strategy? No one was thinking about that at the time.
Created posts were published on the website as soon as they were finished. Hardly anyone paid attention to whether this content contributed meaningfully to the company's goals or would have had more impact at a different time. What mattered was sharing and publishing posts as often as possible on every conceivable channel. Instead of a clear content marketing strategy, pure chaos reigned.
Better no content than content chaos
This chaos led to a new challenge: companies realized that although they were publishing endless amounts of content, at the end of the day, this content was generating hardly any traffic or new customers. The question that now arose was: How can we coordinate content creation in such a way that all sub-areas come together to create a consistent message that is clearly understood by the target group and thus increases their willingness to buy in a smart yet measurable way?
The answer is: content operations. In other words, clearly defined internal operating procedures that ensure content goes through a step-by-step process that is understandable and transparent for every employee. This gives all departments the opportunity to pull together, promote collaboration, and increase trust within the company.
The core of content operations lies within the company. The aim is to integrate systematic approaches into uncoordinated processes so that all content pursues a single goal—and ultimately achieves measurable results. The easiest way for companies to achieve this is by developing an overarching content marketing strategy.
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What changes does the overarching content marketing strategy bring?
A content operation or strategy fixes the basic problems with the current situation. The details of the content operation are different for each department. But there are basic approaches that apply to everyone:
Reactive → Proactive
Instead of just answering questions as they arise, teams create content that proactively answers potential questions from the target audience. Naturally, this is done in line with the overall strategy.
Confusion → Transparency
Unnecessary inquiries about which project a team is currently working on take up valuable time. A content operation creates transparency. Every contributor receives information about which colleagues are working on which projects, what content is planned, and what has already been successfully distributed on the blog.
New → Recycling
Instead of constantly searching for new ideas, teams first check whether they can use existing content for their respective requirements—thereby saving resources.
Impulsive → Planning
Random and unplanned content often causes confusion. Thanks to the content marketing strategy, teams create structured plans that lead to the goal in a methodical and comprehensible way.
More → Less
More isn't always better. Instead of creating masses of content, teams focus on a small amount of strategic, useful, and targeted content.
When companies develop a content marketing strategy, they manage to focus their energy on the content that is crucial to their success. This saves them time and energy while reducing their workload. It also prevents unnecessary queries.
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Who is involved in content operations?
The marketing team is at the heart of content production. However, it takes all departments within a company to implement the content marketing strategy—and thus to standardize all external communications. Therefore, involve advocates from each department or team in the content operation process. These include, for example:
- customer support
- sales team
- product development
- human resources department
- shopping
- suppliers
- management
It is important for all departments to come together to define a content marketing strategy that incorporates every process within the company. This is the only way to create a communication goal that meets the needs of everyone involved in the company. It also ensures that each team is able to adapt the overall strategy to their respective requirements.
Of course, not every single employee needs to be involved in content operations. I recommend deciding early on which team members should be involved in this process. Experience shows that enthusiastic, loyal, and forward-thinking contributors make a good initial pilot group. In this pilot group, you carry out the first rough content operation before passing it on to all employees for fine-tuning.
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How do content operations work?
To clarify, we would like to show you the process in a diagram:
The basis of content operation
Customer-oriented strategy
The (potential) customer is the focus. They should be the decision-making aid for stakeholders to determine the following:
- Resources provided
- Project priorities
- Measuring success
- Strategic taxonomy
A strategic taxonomy tracks the characteristics that are most important for the content. For many companies, it includes information such as the persona or the customer journey. However, you can also adapt the taxonomy to your company-specific needs. A uniform taxonomy enables all departments to recognize and understand the work and procedures of other teams. Taxonomy is much more than a filing system. It is the intersection of all characteristics that are at the forefront of content planning and creation.
Connected platforms
The best way to carry out a content operation is via a suitable platform. Such a platform helps to document every step and to continue working with the content marketing strategy on an ongoing basis. Perhaps you are familiar with the situation of having developed strategies for other areas or teams in the past, only to have them gather dust in a drawer. If you really want to achieve measurable success with content operations, a suitable platform is the way to go. It allows you to control not only the strategy, but also the creation, distribution, and analysis of all topics and articles.
The strategic levels of content operations
The goals of each level are different—but they go hand in hand. Let's take a closer look at the levels:
administration
This level is the highest and most strategic in the context of content operations. The responsible team members must allocate resources and define responsibilities in order to optimize the impact of the content.
processing
This level is all about coordination. All of the company's activities, content, and products must convey a consistent message in order to maintain a consistent user experience across the various touchpoints. This will ensure that all prospects and customers get the same impression of your company, making it easier to build trust. This level does not mean that every employee in every team has to be involved. Rather, it is about a consistent focus on the core theme so that all departments work toward a common goal.
Execution
This is where the content strategy comes to life. It enables the marketing team to work effectively and efficiently with the overarching strategy. At the same time, it allows content to be quickly adapted to current topics or changing requirements. Everyone should know how their work contributes to achieving the goals. The content strategy enables content producers to decide independently which projects will be implemented and when. This means that the focus is entirely on creating content that achieves maximum impact.
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Further benefits of content-based surgery
Customers don't just buy a product—they buy the story or experience behind it. That's why it doesn't stop at likes. The entire company must focus on a single core message and the associated workflows. You can think of it like an orchestra: if the woodwinds, percussionists, and brass players all play their own melodies, the piece of music can't be any good. If everyone sticks to the sheet music and the conductor, everything sounds uniform and listening to it is a real pleasure.
You too can give your customers real pleasure. Simply by developing a content marketing strategy and getting all departments on board.
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And by the way...
With contentbird, you can present every aspect of content operations in a way that is understandable to all employees and define an overarching content marketing strategy in just a few clicks.
If you're curious now, you can try contentbird here for 14 days free of charge:
