How do you communicate your content strategy role?

Don’t explain your role based on what you do. Explain your role based on what they want. For example: - Sales wants more leads - Demand Gen wants qualified conversions - Social Media wants more brand visibility - CEO wants more speaking engagements Then draw the map: For example: - You get leads with good sales enablement copy - You get qualified conversions with better ad sets - You get brand visibility with stronger narrative campaigns - You get speaking engagements with compelling topics Hi, Point A. Nice to meet you, I’m Point B.

Speak in terms of the marketing funnel or buyer's journey when communicating with content muggles. Use the geek speak with your own kind.

I find that explaining and defending the *strategy* part of content is crucial. Because content teams are often perceived as an agency within a company, they often get requests for items that simply aren't strategic in any number of ways, e.g., they're off-brand or they don't align with what you're actually trying to sell, or they don't work well for cross-channel promotion and therefore aren't the best investment in terms of resources. So always circle back to and emphasize the strategy part of the equation.

Do you have an expectation gap between your brand and your audience? You might if ... what you think you offer. And what you really offer. Don’t match. Audience and the benefit or value you deliver them are intertwined. Think back on the meetings where you were trying to find middle ground or an understanding with a stakeholder, peer or client. What were the sticking points? What words did they use to try and frame what they wanted? What words did you use to frame what you offered? Somewhere in there, there is an expectation gap: where what they want and what you offer don't meet. Close that gap you and your audience will finally be speaking the same language.

Getting everyone on the same page and using the same terminology can save a lot of time in the long run. If someone is coming to the content team asking for an article when what they want is a core page, it slows things down while everyone level sets. But if stakeholders already know what to call the thing they hope to create and have the appropriate guidelines for that content type already in hand, the project will begin with greater momentum.

If you're defining a lot of terms while trying to communicate the strategy, you've got a problem. It can sound like you're searching for vanity metrics. Use plain English to avoid this.

Share and explain the importance of content strategy, and have a conversation where people are. For example, I’ve talked to people who have no background in SEO but they clearly understand the value of SEO. So build that relationship and meet people where they are, and share the value your role brings to them and the company.

You don't have to highlight your own value directly. If you're clear about what's being improved, and don't attribute to any external factors, the audience will probably assume that you're the factor driving it.

A powerful way to communicate your content strategy role is to lay out a simple "what we do" and "what we don't do" table. This is a great starting point for stakeholders - can I go to this person to do X? Speak in simple terms, not proprietary language.

One way to do this is to stick to what got better or worse. Don't mention stuff that stayed the same unless somebody asks about it.

Les case-studies sont pertinents pour faire comprendre à votre audience cible quel sera votre r?le dans l'organisation et quelles solutions vous apporterez en matière de stratégie de communication

Many stakeholders won't really understand you do as a content strategist. Collaboration will help educate them. Encouraging feedback will create buy-in.

Content strategists tend to be fixated on things like pillars and frameworks. If you can't connect that stuff with something more familiar to your audience, you risk losing them. Use language and models they know.