Marketing professionals have opinions on what defines effective content strategy. But what if these definitions barely scratch the surface? The world of content strategy is much larger than marketing, and organizations can see amazing results when they incorporate an enterprise content strategy.

Rethinking content strategyAs a marketing professional myself, here’s what came to mind when I talked about content strategy in the past:

• Buyer personas, customer value journeys, and other marketing strategy documents
• SEO strategy, including keyword research, optimized content, backlink strategies, and more
• Editorial calendars
• Social media strategy
• Content types (blog, video, social media), short-form vs. long-form content
• Content quality and tone

Marketing teams refer to all of this (and more!) as content strategy. However, it’s only part of a content strategy, specifically a content marketing strategy. A content strategy covers an organization’s entire information inventory, including:

• Product and technical content
• Support and knowledge base content
• Training content
• Marketing content

At Scriptorium, we use the term enterprise content strategy to clarify this distinction.

Why does it matter? You might think, “Not our content, not our problem.” But behind this definition discrepancy is a concept that’s vital for optimizing your consumer’s experience. Consider this—all content is marketing content.

All content is marketing content.

— Christine Cuellar

Marketers have long been aware that most of a buyer’s decision is made before they contact you. They also know that decision is predominantly influenced by the content buyers consume.

What’s often missed is the critical detail that buyers aren’t just consuming your marketing content. They’re absorbing all your content to find their answers. Some buyers will purposely bypass marketing-specific content to find the “truth” about your products and services, what it’s like to work with you, and whether you’re the right fit.

Therefore, it’s crucial to maintain consistent branding and messaging across all content types:

• Consistency builds trust. Consistent messaging assures your ideal buyer that they’ve found a brand they can trust. If consumers encounter inconsistency while researching your products or processes, it undermines your credibility. This damages your reputation, loses sales, and reduces customer loyalty.
• Consistency reduces waste. Authors spend lots of time writing variations of content that have already been written. This hidden cost can consume a large portion of a writing team’s capacity. Additionally, when information changes after authors have spent years duplicating and rewriting content, it’s impossible to update all published references. Enterprise content strategy methods like single sourcing make it easier to reference and maintain content by consolidating information in one location.

AI and enterprise content strategyFrom the beginning, the marketing world has leaped headfirst into leveraging AI technology. Marketers are innovators!

However, to effectively futureproof your content and get the most out of AI tools, an enterprise content strategy is the key. As Megan Gilhooly, Senior Director at OneTrust, said in the webinar AI needs content operations, too, “Just using AI because you want to is using a solution without a problem. Find a relevant problem to solve, then apply a relevant AI tool.”

Just using AI because you want to is using a solution without a problem. Find a relevant problem to solve, then apply a relevant AI tool.

— Megan Gilhooly

An enterprise content strategy shows your organization what problems must be solved across content types.

Embracing the big world of content strategyCurious? Confused? It can be overwhelming to begin your enterprise content strategy journey. But by embracing this bigger definition of content strategy, you position your brand to create cohesive, futureproof content that enhances your buyer’s experience and drives sales.

If you’re ready to dive deeper, these free resources share insights on enterprise content strategy and its transformative power for your marketing initiatives:

• What does it all mean?! Foundations of an enterprise content strategy
• Our book, Content Transformation (free PDF download)
• Content operations from start to scale, a free edited collection of insights from industry experts

Questions? Let’s chat!

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