The Content Strategy Experts - Scriptorium

The Content Strategy Experts - Scriptorium


Enterprise content strategy: Putting the pieces together (podcast)

August 12, 2019

In episode 57, Sarah O’Keefe and Bill Swallow look at content strategy across different disciplines and how an enterprise-level content strategy can grow from departmental efforts.

Related links:

* Defining a content strategy
* The Scriptorium approach to content strategy
* Content strategy patterns in the enterprise

Twitter handles:

* @sarahokeefe
* @billswallow

Transcript: 
Sarah O’Keefe: Welcome to the Content Strategy Experts Podcast brought to you by Scriptorium. Since 1997, Scriptorium has helped companies manage, structure, organize, and distribute content in an efficient way. In episode 57, we look at content strategy across different disciplines and how an enterprise level content strategy can grow out of departmental efforts. Hi everyone. I’m Sarah O’Keefe. I’m here with Bill Swallow.
Bill Swallow: Hello.
Sarah O’Keefe: Bill is actually for once in the room here in North Carolina and has spent the last few days visiting with the so-called home office and complaining about the chewy and wearable air.
Bill Swallow: It’s gross. I don’t know how you do it.
Sarah O’Keefe: Well, we could return the favor in January and-
Bill Swallow: That’s true.
Sarah O’Keefe: … discuss how do you do that in the frozen North? But we’ve named his office the Arctic Scriptorium, although I guess now that we have an employee in Minneapolis, you’re only what, the sub-arctic Scriptorium?
Bill Swallow: Yeah. We’ll take apple country again.
Sarah O’Keefe: Apple country Scriptorium. So, today what we wanted to do was talk about enterprise content strategy and what that really means when you try to put the pieces together across a whole group of departments, and what their interpretations of content strategy are. When we talk about content strategy, every discipline seems to have a slightly different definition of what that is.
Sarah O’Keefe: If you talk to tech comm people about technical or tech comm content strategy, or product content strategy, of marketing content strategy, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, and each one of those departments or functions seems to have a slightly different idea of what their priorities are and what they need out of content strategy. So, starting with, for example, marketing, what’s a typical focus for content strategy in a marketing-focused area?
Bill Swallow: A lot of the marketing content strategy is focused on customer engagement and corporate brand. So, being able to put the best face for the company forward in making sure that your customers and your target audience are getting the experience that your company expects them to get. So, all of the content strategy pieces that make that happen will be very different from say looking at your technical communications group producing your documentation.
Sarah O’Keefe: So, on the marketing side you get things like voice and tone standards.
Bill Swallow: Voice and tone standards, delivery formats to some degree, and positioning.
Sarah O’Keefe: And editorial calendars and web content strategy and all the rest of it.
Bill Swallow: All that fun stuff.
Sarah O’Keefe: And then, what does tech comm focus on?
Bill Swallow: Well, you have tech comm, you have a lot of the, a lot of similar things. You still have your voice, you still have your tone but it usually takes a slightly different approach,