Content strategy amateur hour

“My team is looking into how we can use <incumbent tool> to handle our new content requirements.”

That’s what I heard from a manager during a recent phone call about a company’s expanding content needs. The tools-focused response made me cringe.

This is not the first time I’ve encountered content developers using a current tool’s capabilities as the benchmark for content requirements. An incumbent-tools-first approach is an easy way out that maintains the status quo.

Periodically assessing how efficiently you’re using tools is sensible, but don’t fool yourself into thinking that checkup is a complete process analysis. A true content strategy assessment looks at how content supports business requirements and then investigates which tools best support those needs. The list of prospective tools should include the incumbent if—and only if—that tool meets the criteria for supporting business goals.

When developing a content strategy, content professionals are anything but professional if they do not step outside the comfort zone of the tools they use every day.

Please don’t be one of those amateurs.