What Is Content Strategy? No, Really... What Is It?

We can tell content strategy is a foreign concept by the plethora of sites and apps that feature unhelpful, confusing verbiage and interactions. Ever had a difficult time paying a bill online? Chances are poor content strategy is as much to blame as poor design.

Poor content strategy is often the crux of usability issues. It’s why many users struggle with digital products. But it’s hard to have excellent content strategy when digital product teams don’t even know what it is. Today, we present the real definitions of content strategy.?

True Definitions of Content Strategy

These are the definitions your team should live by.

• More Than Words: It’s not all about writing. Content includes any and all text, links, images, documents, and videos.
• Careful Planning: Content can’t be thrown on a page and called finished. Every piece needs to be carefully considered, authored, and curated to best fit users’ needs.
• Helping Users Do What They Want to Do: Content strategy’s goal is to help every user understand and easily act on the information you offer.
• Essential to Usability: Clear content tells people how to use your site or app. Without a thoughtful plan behind it, users won’t understand what you’re trying to communicate.

Content Strategy is More About Planning

Writing is a very miniscule part of content strategy. Really, it’s more about thinking about how to best serve users in a way that is easily understandable. And that’s achieved through careful planning—not slapping words on a screen. Without content strategy, users will continue to be confused, and digital products will continue to have poor usability.

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Ready to learn more about what content strategy is?

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