playbook 3
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ULTIMATE CONTENT STRATEGIST PLAYBOOK
CONTENTLY1
The Ultimate Content Strategist
Playbook No. 3:
Staffing and Launching Your Content Marketing Program
Copyright © 2015 Contently. All rights reserved. contently.com By Joe Lazauskas
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I. Introduction 3
II. Crafting a Brand Voice & Mission Statement 8
III. Identifying Story Types & Topics 15
IV. Building an Editorial Calendar 20
V. Staffing Your Content Team 24
VI. Creating an Approval Workflow 30
VII. Conclusion 35
Table of Contents
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On he evening o March 2, our conen/markeing eam
ound isel celebraing a a Soho dive bar called Mila-
no’s or a ew reasons: hree birhdays; wo new
addiions o he eam; and, mos imporanly, a suc-
cessul monh o February in which we saw over
200,000 readers. We oased, bu in ruh, a lo o ha
success was atribued o work we did monhs ago.
Though i el like new pieces were atracing all our
readers, only 40 percen o our readers and 48 percen
o our oal atenion ime or he monh came rom
poss published in February.
Wha had he bigges impac was ha we spen he
previous 18 monhs publishing hree or our sories per
day. In February, sories published las year like “The
Pros, Cons, and Coss o he Top 10 Conen Disribuion
Plaorms,” “7 Keys o SEO or Conen Markeers,” and
“Wha’s he Difference Beween B2B and B2C Marke-
ing?” all generaed over 1,000 readers and 3,000 aten-
ion minues, jus like hey do every monh.
In December 2013, Jay Acunzo, hen senior conen
manager a HubSpo, had a similar revelaion. Tha
monh, he crunched he numbers and ound ha 70
percen o he roughly 2 million his on HubSpo’s
blog came rom poss ha were more han a monh
old. “Tha enire eam could sop blogging or a whole
monh and sill see 70% o he expeced resuls—zero
work needed,” he wroe in a blog pos. “Now ha’s ROI!
Show me a PPC campaign capable o doing ha .”
TOTAL TRAFFI C
IN FEB.
TOTAL ATTENTION TIME
IN FEB.
FEBRUARY POSTS PREV. POSTS
40%
60%
48%52%
http://nextviewventures.com/blog/should-startups-blog/http://nextviewventures.com/blog/should-startups-blog/
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Jay was shocked. So was I. And ha’s naural—when
you do conen markeing well, i can eel like highway
robbery. As venure capialis and conen marke-
ing exper Tomasz Tunguz recenly wroe on his blog,
“Conen is one o he ew orms o markeing ha has
a compounding reurn.”
The idea o compounding reurns in conen markeing
may sound complex, bu i’s acually quie simple. Mos
brand publishers aren’ in he business o publishing
imely news; raher, hey ocus on elling sories ha
enerain, solve a problem, or provide imporan advice
and inormaion. These evergreen sories remain
relevan or a long period o ime and coninue o bring
in new readers via search and social. Tunguz, or
insance, ound ha he average pos on his blog
generaes abou 150 views on he firs day, and abou
20 or each subsequen day. Afer one year, he average
pos sill generaes abou 18 views per day.
Tha may no sound like a lo o pageviews, bu when
you’re publishing new sories every day, here’s a
compounding effec. Each day, here are more oal
sories generaing raffic, which resuls in compounding
growh. In a hypoheical model, hose compounding
reurns would resul in readership growh ha looks
somehing like his:
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“Like a bank accoun ha sars ou small and earns
incremenal gains, bu over ime becomes quie large,”
Tunguz wries, “conen markeing effors require
consisen invesmen bu ulimaely can yield enor-
mous resuls.”
O course, his is an ideal model, and simply publishing
every day does no guaranee success. As we covered in
Playbook No. 2, you need o have a conen roadmap—
a clearly defined audience and a sense o all he gaps
in he conen marke so you can capialize on every
opporuniy o capure your audience’s atenion. You
also need o produce sories ha are good enough o
be shared. Oherwise, here won’ be a compounding
reurn on social. The same goes or search.
“There’s no a whole lo o value in wriing a decen
blog pos anymore,” explained Moz ounder and SEO
luminary Rand Fishkin. “[There’s no a lo o value]
unless you can be prety exraordinary.”
While he poenial compounding reurns o conen
markeing are enough o make any brand markeer’s
mouh waer, he challenge o doing i successully is
sill a massive underaking. You need o creae a seady
cadence o conen so your reurns grow quickly, bu
ha conen also has o be so good ha i will sand
ou in he sea o crappy poss ha pollue he web. And
since he compeiion is geting fiercer every day, you
need o coninuously improve and evolve i you wan o
sand ou.
We’ve reached a crucial sage in our Ulimae Conen
Playbook series—he poin where he difficul work
begins and brands sar o ail. Over he pas ew years,
many brands have successully evangelized a conen
program and drawn up a srong sraegy; ew, however,
have successully execued and seized ha opporuniy.
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Bu i you ake he appropriae seps, he likelihood o
success increases—and he poenial rewards are well
worh he invesmen o ime and money.
For he res o our hird conen markeing playbook,
we’ll ake you hrough he five necessary seps required
o execue a conen markeing program, developed
rom he bes pracices we learned rom our own
experiences as publishers and he work we’ve done
launching he conen markeing effors o hundreds o
companies around he globe:
1. Crafing a brand voice and conen markeing mission
saemen o guide your effors.
2. Ideniying your sory ypes and requiremens so you
know wha o creae.
3. Building an ediorial calendar o hold yoursel ac-
counable o a consisen publishing schedule.
4. Saffing your conen eam so you can begin creaing
conen.
5. Creaing an approval workflow so you can operae
like a real newsroom.
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2. Crafting a Brand Voice &
Mission Statement
Creating a mission statement is one of the most difficultyet enjoyable stages of the content marketing journey.
A great mission statement speaks not only to your con-
tent plan and goals, but also captures who you are as a
brand and as a publisher. It’s the rallying cry that makes
you excited to come to work every day, pushing you todo more—and do better—than your competitors.
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Like he word “irony,” brand voice is somehing people love o alk abou
bu don’ really undersand. I’s ar more han a se o adjecives (clev-
er, smar, millennial) and can’ be capured in a mock wee. I goes ar
deeper han ha, which makes sense: Your brand voice is a he hear o
every piece o conen you creae.
To craf a brand voice, I’m a big an o an exercise ha conen sraegis
Melissa Lasky Wall recenly advocaed in a piece on The Conen Srae-
gis. Her advice is so brillian ha insead o summarizing her ideas and
buchering i in he process, I’ll jus share her recommendaion in ull:
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Say you’re going o a dinner pary ull o people you
don’ know. Wheher you admi i or no, you’ll wan
each o he oher people a he pary o leave wih a
cerain viewpoin or opinion abou you a he end o he
nigh. So you ac a cerain way, choose cerain words
and conversaion opics over ohers, make cerain jokes,
and generally work o be he mos charming, or unny,
or book-smar, or emoionally sensiive, ec. version o
yoursel, depending on which o hese rais are he mos
imporan or you o convey.
Wih brands, i’s really no all ha differen. The unda-
menals o voice comes down o a personaliy—priori-
izing a se o rais ha comprise an ideniy, and hen
communicaing in a way ha expresses and prioriizes
hose rais. Which means ha, in order o creae a suc-cessul voice, a brand is required o ake on some o he
personaliy o, well, an acual person (he Supreme Cour
would be so pleased).
The logical quesion now is, “So wha personaliy rais
does my brand embody?” The answer can only come rom
one source: your brand isel. No one else can ideniy
your brand’s values and poin o view oher han he
individuals who comprise i. The mos successul brands
sand or an idea (Apple, GE, IBM), and ha idea is a
good place o sar when i comes o disilling your brand
values ino a key concep or ideniy.
You may be hinking ha wha I’m describing resembles
a common branding exercise, in which eams boil heir
brand down o our or five words or colors or images, ec.
Bu ideniying he voice involves a bi more anhropo-
morphizaion han ha (and yes, ha’s a word—I looked
i up).
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Anoher way o hink o i is his: I your brand was he person a he dinner
pary, who would i be? The gadge reak who snagged an iPhone 6 a week
beore hey wen on sale? The hones and kind riend you’d consul while
geting dressed or a dae? The mad scienis deermined o find a way o
make uel ou o pencil shavings?
These examples may sound hyperbolic, bu hey ge a values ha lead
people o prioriize cerain skills and behaviors over ohers. Brands are no
differen.
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A clear sense o ideniy is wha caegorizes he bes
brand publishers. GE is he smar, inquisiive, clev-er science nerd who blows your mind. Red Bull is he
deah-deying rock sar you wan o hang ou wih.
HubSpo is he inbound markeing genius who wans
o help you ge ha promoion. Moz is he wizard o
SEO wih secres ha will undamenally change your
business. In differen ways, hey’re all a kind o person
who will accumulae a posse o ineresed admirers a
ha dinner pary.
O course, his exercise o anhropomorphizaion is jus
ha—an exercise. Brands can’ have a voice or a mis-
sion; he people who communicae on heir behal do.
When I spoke wih he men behind he conen power-
houses a HubSpo, Moz, and GE, ha much was clear.
You can hear he mission in he brand voice.
TOMAS KELLNER, MANAGING EDITOR, GE REPORTS:
“Here we are. We’re 130 years old. We were ounded byThomas Edison, and guess wha? We are sill working
on really hard problems ha he enire plane has o
be dealing wih, wheher i’s he uure o energy or
wheher i’s he uure o elecriciy or wheher i’s new
propulsion or planes ha will ge you rom New York
o Tokyo in our hours.”
JOE CHERNOV, VP OF MARKETING, HUBSPOT:
“HubSpo is no only a company, bu i’s also he caa-
lys o a movemen. And as a communiy has coalesced
around ha movemen, i’s our job o nurure and
oser i.”
RAND FISHKIN, FOUNDER, MOZ:
“[Conen is] par o our DNA. We believe in sharing and
being ransparen in puting ou here he hings ha
we’ve learned. ... We wan o ry and help markeers
firs. Tha’s our underlying goal. We really don’ hink
abou conen markeing as being par o our unnel. I’s
par o our mission.”
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While he business goals o your conen markeing effors are impor-
an—be i generaing leads, sales, brand awareness, indusry educaion,
or, more likely, some combinaion o iniiaives—we find i exremely
helpul o keep your goals ocused on he audience you wan o serve.
For example, his is our mission saemen or The
Conen Sraegis:
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I he markeing blogosphere were a college, here would
currenly be abou 10,000 proessors angling or en-
ure—and all o hem would be eaching some version o
inbound 101 or remedial conen. Picure a dusy hall ull
o creaky desks, a syllabus ull o old lisicles and ques-
ionable sas, and he eacher droning on and on while
he sudens pass noes in he orm o Pibull GIFs.
Then picure he Kool-Aid man bursing hrough he wall
screaming, “ OHHH YEAHHHHHHHHH !”
Tha’s us. We’re he Kool-Aid man o markeing pubs.
Wha’s ha mean? Well, firs and oremos we wan o
give you inormaion you can’ find anywhere else on he
Inerne, and we wan o do i every single day. Forge
elling you ha cerain hings work—we wan o ell you
why hey work, how hey work, and wha’s going o work
nex. We’re going o coninuously alk o he smares
people in our indusry, and we’re going o ell you wha
we find ou. Media is changing markeing (and vice
versa), and undersanding wha i all means and how o
ake advanage means hinking beyond he ropes o he
pas.
We also aim o have un because his is un! The lae,
grea David Carr pu i bes when he said, “Creaing
media conen is a divering aciviy ha rarely resembles
acual work.” And i you’re reading The Conen Sraegis,
i likely means your job involves elling sories in some
way or anoher.
There’s no reason ha markeing conen has o be dry or
boring—afer all, a good sory is a good sory, no mater
wha i’s abou. Jus because we’re wriing abou conen
markeing doesn’ mean we can’ use NBA meaphors
or make un o our own buzzwords. There’s no reason a
sory abou ROI or legal approvals can’ have a ew jokes
in i. Markeers are humans oo.
http://mtv.mtvnimages.com/uri/mgid:file:http:shared:mtv.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/tumblr_mcmcbaIReE1qa9pg6o1_500-1421345667.gifhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar6xC8KM-jkhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar6xC8KM-jkhttp://mtv.mtvnimages.com/uri/mgid:file:http:shared:mtv.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/tumblr_mcmcbaIReE1qa9pg6o1_500-1421345667.gif
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A Conenly, we alk a lo abou “building a beter media world,” which
sounds like somehing ou o Silicon Valley , bu i’s rue. We believe in
helping people ell amazing sories insead o polluing he web wih me-
diocriy, and in he power o diching inrusive adverising in avor o grea
media experiences. The Inerne is wha we make i, and we wan o make
i awesome.
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Noice how ocused we are on our readers; ha’s no a
ron. We do have clear business goals or The Conen
Sraegis—building brand awareness, oriying our
repuaion as a conen markeing hough leader, ed-
ucaing cliens and poenial cliens, and driving email
subscribers, leads, sales and opporuniies—bu our pri-
mary ocus and ediorial mission remains helping our
readers become beter, smarer conen markeers. And
we’ve ound puting our readers firs is he bes way o
drive all o hose resuls.
Our mission saemen reflecs our commimen o
ediorial puriy, and i you alk o successul brand
publishers, hey’ll ell you ha commimen is key. In
he words o Joe Chernov: “[O]wning your audience
comes wih huge responsibiliies—namely he need
o ‘proec’ ha audience rom markeing’s shadow. ...
I we ell vicim o he empaion o srip-mine ha
audience wih over promoions, we’d desroy he asse
many people have worked so hard o build.”
As you ideniy your brand voice and craf your mis-
sion saemen, keep all o ha in mind. You have o
pu your readers firs and give hem wha hey’re no
geting elsewhere. Your mission saemen will be your
guiding ligh, he documen ha keeps you in check,
inspires you, and proecs your conen rom marke-
ing’s shadow. I’s crucial. I don’ know where we’d be
wihou i.
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3. Identifying Story Types & Topics
Once you have a mission statement that makes you
beam with pride, it’s time to figure out what types of con-tent you should create—blog posts, reported features,
photography, illustrations, infographics, comics, videos,
white papers and e-books, etc. This is a critical step. You
can’t start to map out your editorial calendar, staff your
content team, or design your approval workflow until youknow what kind of content you’re going to make.
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This is anoher sep ha should be inormed by he
conen sraegy analysis you already conduced (as
oulined in our las playbook). I your paricular niche
is sauraed wih basic blog poss bu lacking longorm
eaures and videos, you may wan o inves in he la-
er. I no one’s poking un a your indusry wih com-
ics, ha could represen a grea opporuniy or you o
sand ou. Bu keep a ew rules o humb in mind:
1. Try a litle bi o everyhing ou. Conen markeing
involves a cycle o consan learning and opimiza-
ion. A Conenly, we boil his process down o he
execuive-riendly abbreviaion o CEO—creae, en-
gage, opimize—and visualize i wih he flywheel be-
low. Your iniial conen sraegy should be a refined
educaed guess abou wha will work, bu you need
o be consanly esing new hings and opimizing
based off he resuls.
2. Prioriize qualiy over quaniy. I’s hard o sand ou,
so you shouldn’ hink o your inographics as some-
hing you can ge done cheaply on Fiverr, or your
original phoography as somehing Seve he Lead
Gen Guy can ake care o wih his Samsung Galaxy.
Keep ha in mind when evaluaing differen ormas.
3. Describe your sory ypes or conen novices. I
you’re reading his, here’s a good chance you’re more
sophisicaed han your colleagues when i comes
o conen. Over-explain wha each conen orma
enails.
C R E A T E
E N G A G
EO P T
I M I Z
E
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QUICK HITTER
250–500 words o inroduce breaking news, research, or
a cool visual componen like an inographic or video.
WEBSOURCED INDEPTH
500–1,200 words based on web sources; includes a
complex level o analysis.
BASIC REPORTED STORY
400–800 words wih beween one and hree sources.
LONGFORM FEATURE STORY
1,000+ words wih a compelling narraive ocus and
muliple primary sources.
INFOGRAPHIC
Graphic visual represenaion o inormaion, daa, or
knowledge ha communicaes key indusry opics.
VID EO
A sory up o five minues long abou soryelling,
including inerviews wih hough leaders and/or brie
news updaes.
COMIC
Single or muliple panel illusraions lampooning heconen markeing indusry.
EBOOK
3,000–10,000-word guides and indusry repors, usually
downloadable in exchange or an email address.
To see wha his looks like, here are our differen sory ypes:
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BRANDS
News, rends, and analysis o he branded conen
movemen.
MEDIA
Journalism, naive adverising, and he uure o he
media business.
ROI
Bes pracices or ying conen o business resuls.
SOCIAL
Sraegies, ools, and ips or spreading conen hrough
he social web.
VOI CES
Though leadership, opinions, and perspecives on he
uure o conen.
Nex, i’s imporan o deail he differen opics you’d like o cover. Our opics align wih he five main
secions o The Conen Sraegis: Brands, Media, Social, ROI, and Voices.
Once you have hese ables compiled, keep reerring back o hem as you creae your ediorial calendar
o make sure you’re rying ou each opic wih all possible sory ypes.
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4. Building an Editorial Calendar
Now it’s time for the fun part—building your editorial cal-
endar. Since you still have a lot to figure out before youcan get up and running, you’ll likely want to give yourself
a cushion of six to eight weeks before you start publish-
ing. Building an editorial calendar will give you a clear
picture of what types of stories you’ll publish on a daily
basis and who you need to hire to get up and running.
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While he ulimae goal is o become a daily publisher,
you don’ wan o overwhelm yoursel when you’re jus
saring ou. Don’ sacrifice qualiy or quaniy. Gener-
ally, we recommend saring ou wih wo sories per
week and increasing rom here—hough you migh be
able o handle less or more depending on your iner-
nal capabiliies. I’s imporan o be ambiious, bu no
unrealisic.
To be hones, we’re spoiled when i comes o ediorial
calendars. The Conenly plaorm has a gorgeous drag-
and-drop calendar wih easy filers, a ex edior, and
buil-in approval workflows. However, no everyone
can afford his ype o sofware.
I you have absoluely no budge or a calendar bu
are running your sie on WordPress, your bes be is o
use he WordPress calendar. I’s basic bu ges he job
done. I you don’ have WordPress, see i your conen
managemen sysem (CMS) offers somehing similar. I
no, HubSpo’s ediorial calendar emplae is a decen
sopgap measure you can edi easily o fi your needs.
DivvyHQ can also ge he job done i you have a small
budge and eam since is ediorial calendar sofware is
priced on a per-sea basis.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/editorial-calendar/http://offers.hubspot.com/blog-editorial-calendarhttps://app.divvyhq.com/marketingsite/pricing/?_ga=1.203862034.36584171.1425843988https://app.divvyhq.com/marketingsite/pricing/?_ga=1.203862034.36584171.1425843988http://offers.hubspot.com/blog-editorial-calendarhttps://wordpress.org/plugins/editorial-calendar/
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AUT HOR :
The soryeller or soryellers responsible or producing
he sory (he wrier, designer, illusraor, videographer,
ec.).
DUE DATE:
When he sory or sory asses are due rom he auhor.
PUBLISH DATE:
The dae you inend o publish he piece. Be sure o
schedule exra ime or revisions, adding in more ime
(a leas our days) or more complex opics or less ime
(one or wo days) or simpler poss.
INTENDED AUDIENCE:
The primary or secondary audience he sory is inend-
ed o reach, as we oulined in our las playbook.
FORMAT / TYPE:
As oulined above.
TOPIC:
As oulined above.
URL:
The URL o he sory once i is published.
TARGET KEYWORDS OPTIONAL:
I can also be useul o include arge keywords or he
wrier o keep in mind—alhough you never wan o
encourage keyword suffing, which will damage he
qualiy o your sory. I’s a fine line, so make sure you
walk i.
Bu whaever sysem you use, you wan o be sure you can rack and filer a ew imporan deails:
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As you sar o fill ou your calendar, esablish a seady publishing
cadence. Posing a a regular pace will make i much easier o ge ino
a rhyhm when i comes ime o engage your audience, measure your
success, and opimize or he nex round o publishing.
For example, here’s a curren snapsho o our calendar or The Conen
Sraegis. Noice how here’s a seady flow o wo o our poss each
weekday. This ensures ha we deliver consisen value o our readers
on each o our primary disribuion channels (email, Facebook, Twiter,
LinkedIn, and Google+).
Now ha you can see wha ype o conen you need o creae, i's ime
o saff up.
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5. Staffing Your Content Team
The idea of staffing a content team and building a
“brand newsroom” is enough to give some marketers a
panic attack. But it’s less complex than you think.
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Firs, evaluae wha inernal resources you already have.
Tha’s going o be he bigges acor ha deermines he
mix o in-house people and reelancers you need o
deliver based on he sraegy you’ve oulined.
Mos successul brand publishers ake a hybrid ap-
proach o heir newsroom. A core in-house eam serves
as he proecor o he brand voice, disribues and
measures conen, and opimizes ediorial sraegy;
reelancers add subjec mater experise and soryelling
firepower o he mix.
“I hink ha brands are using reelancers a lo more
simply because i’s a lo easier or hem o scale based
on wha heir conen needs and requiremens are,”
Michele Linn, he Conen Markeing Insiue’s direcor
o conen, recenly old The Conen Sraegis.
Coca-Cola, or insance, has a small core eam o edi-
ors and designers, complemening ha wih a saff o
reelance soryellers hrough Conenly o scale heir
conen operaion. They now publish 12–15 pieces per
week on Coca-Cola Journey. “We’ve really ried o carve
ou a bea sysem wih our Conenly wriers,” said Jay
Moye, Coca-Cola Journey’s managing edior. “I’s nice o
know who we can go o or cerain sories.”
Those wriers can also supply resh sory ideas, voices,
and perspecives ha spice up your soryelling. One o
Coca-Cola Journey’s mos popular poss, or example,
was a sory abou Coke-hemed weddings—a phenom-
enon unearhed by a reelancer named Laura Randall.
The eaure sory old he ale o a ew happy couples
and heir Coke-red nupials.
http://contently.com/strategist/2015/01/21/build-vs-buy-why-top-brands-are-leaning-on-freelancers-to-build-hybrid-newsrooms/http://contently.com/strategist/2015/01/21/build-vs-buy-why-top-brands-are-leaning-on-freelancers-to-build-hybrid-newsrooms/
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“Tha was no an idea ha we can ake credi or. Tha
was Laura’s idea,” Moye said. “And here are many more
where ha came rom.”
Bu while reelance resources can be a grea help, i’s
imporan o have a leas one in-house employee
devoed o guiding your conen markeing operaion—
ideally someone wih a wealh o ediorial experience.
A GE Repors, ha person is Tomas Kellner, a veeran
reporer rom Forbes who wries mos o he magazine’s
eaure sories, direcs ediorial sraegy, and eaches
soryelling workshops o GE employees around he
world. Kellner also relies on a small squad o inernal
wriers and reelancers rom conen markeing agency
Group SJR.
To visualize his hybrid model, le’s look a how we
srucured our own ediorial eam a Conenly—and
how i’s evolved as we’ve proven he business value o
our conen effors and grown our eam.
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VP OF CON TEN T
EDITORINCHIEF
EDITORIAL INTERN
DESIGNER
Here’s wha our ediorial org char looked like in December 2013, when we hired our firs ull-ime edi-
or (me!) and sared invesing serious resources in our own conen markeing:
POOL OF FREELANCERS
(journaliss, designers,
illusraors, videographers)
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VP OF CON TEN T
sam slaugher
EDITORINCHIEF DESIGN TEAM
And here’s how we srucure hings oday:
SOCIAL MEDIAEDITOR
ASS OCI ATEEDITOR
PHOTO EDITOR
par ime
AST. EDI TOR
par ime
POOL OF FREELANCERS
(journaliss, designers,
illusraors, videographers)
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As our conen effors have grown more ambiious (elling beter sories,
launching a second magazine, ec.) our eam has goten bigger. Simul-
aneously, he pool o reelancers we use hrough our own nework has
allowed us o easily scale our effors.
Ulimaely, growing your eam gradually is he saes and smares way
o go. As much as I would have loved o have oday’s eam 15 monhs
ago, we had o figure ou wha worked wih a small operaion beore
aking ha leap.
Anoher noe: I you don’ have he power o hire people o ull-ime
ediorial posiions, you can sill build a core saff wih reelancers. When
you’re saring small, hiring a reelance managing edior or 10 hours a
week, a phoo edior/designer or anoher five, and a hal-dozen ree-
lance wriers can be sufficien o ge he job done—as long as every-
one is good enough. A Conenly, we supply our cliens wih reelance
managing ediors, and i’s proven o be a highly successul model. All
hose ediors are rigorously veted and usually have a leas 10 years o
experience.
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6. Creating an Approval Workflow
In sports, there’s a common cliché about everyone know-
ing their role and sticking to it. The same can be said for
publishing.
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Whose job is i o generae sory ideas? Who urns hose sory ideas ino
assignmens so you don’ blow your enire budge on 50 ca lisicles?Who edis hose sories? Who presses Publish?
Below is he approval workflow or ediorial eam uses a Conenly or
The Conen Sraegis or a day-o-day ex aricle. As you’ll see, anyone
can come up wih a sory idea, bu as he capain o our conen sra-
egy, I’m he one who assigns every sory on he calendar. And hough
members o our eam are responsible or edis, phoo reamens, and
copy edis, each sory comes back o me or approval beore i goes live.
Tha way, i here are any misakes—or anyhing ha doesn’ fi our syle
or sandard o qualiy—I cach i beore i goes live (or, i no, I ake he
blame).
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CONTENT IDEATION / PITCHES
wriers / conenly saff
EDIT 1
associae edior
EDIT 2
edior-in-chie
COPY EDIT
copy edior
PUBLISH
edior-in-chie
PHOTO TREATMENT
phoo edior
LEGAL QUESTIONS?
CREATE ASSIGNMENT
edior-in-chie
FIRST DRAFT
wrier
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This process changes slighly or mulimedia poss, or i
I’m he auhor o he aricle, bu he sysem works hesame: I assign, approve, and deal wih he consequenc-
es, boh good and bad.
Our sysem happens o be relaively simple because we
work a a small company wihou a lo o bureaucracy
and don’ cover a highly regulaed indusry like finance
or pharmaceuicals. And i you do work a a airly large
company or in one o hose indusries, you migh be
shaking your head because you know here’s one big
challenge you’ll have o overcome: brand and legal ap-
provals. You’ve heard he horror sories abou organiza-
ions ha ake monhs o approve simple social media
updaes. I’s somehing ha can compleely derail a
conen operaion and needs o be avoided a all coss.
The key—as Conenly Sudios Direcor John Hazard
wroe las all in an excellen guide o conen approv-
als—is o ge lawyers and superfluous brand managers
ou o he approval process as much as possible by
seting and documening clear guidelines ha ensureyour conen is complian wih legal and brand syle
sandards. To sreamline your publishing inrasrucure,
you need o make sure everyone is aware o hose san-
dards. How do you do ha? Convenienly enough, i’s
he same way you ensure ediorial qualiy—by placing
one key sakeholder in charge o final decisions.
GE Repors publishes a a quick, seady cadence, even
hough a lo o heir sories repor on he company’s
emerging echnologies in highly regulaed areas like
healhcare, where non-complian conen can have se-
rious legal consequences. Bu because o he sandards
he company has in place, he ediorial eam has he
power and flexibiliy o publish a he speed o news
wihou ear o penaly.
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Managing Edior Tomas Kellner ensures ha every soryis ac-checked wih inernal sources, a pracice he per-
eced during his journalism career. And when a sory
acually does need o go hrough legal approval, he
knows when o send i up he chain o command based
on his ediorial insincs. “Wih healh care, or exam-
ple, you could no publish a sory wihou legal approv-
al,” he said. “Ofen, when you alk abou a device, i
acually has o go hrough wo ses o lawyers. I has o
go hrough he regular legal deparmen, bu hen i also
has o go hrough he regulaory lawyers ha make sure
ha wha you’re saying acually describes airly wha
he machine is doing.”
However, he process doesn’ bog down GE Repors’
publishing schedule because o he clear undersanding
and close relaionship ha Kellner has buil wih his
legal deparmen over ime. “In he beginning, i was a
difficul pracice or me o learn,” he explained. “I didn’
know who hese people were and how o ge he copy
hrough efficienly. I ofen go suck. I’s like build-ing a house. You have o pu in he plumbing. Once
you know who hese people are, you don’ have o go
hrough he various gaekeepers—you can go direcly o
hem and check on your sory and see how i’s mov-
ing.”
And since Kellner serves as he keeper o GE Repors’
ediorial voice and conen sandards, he company has
a sysem o checks and balances ha allows i o sand
ou as a sellar publisher wihou geting sued.
“When i comes o a company publicaion and your
sories ge noiced by he op-level publicaions, you are
under a special degree o scruiny,” Kellner said.
I a 130-year-old behemoh like GE can ge is conen
approvals in order, so can you.
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Nearly every week, I inerview successul brand pub-
lishers, and one o he firs quesions is almos always
abou how hey srucure heir “newsrooms.” Who’s on
your eam, I ask. How does he sausage ge made?
Universally, here’s an upswing in heir voice; pride
shines hrough. And ha’s because hey know a univer-
sal hing; saffing, launching, and coordinaing a con-
en markeing machine is hard work, and i’s a process
ha akes ime o perec. Bu once your eam is in a
groove, i’s a beauiul hing o behold; you make each
oher beter, and i’s a oregone conclusion ha your
success will keep building over ime.
Conclusion
This isn’ a unique senimen; i’s somehing you’ll hear
rom coaches, enrepreneurs, sales heads, or, heck, even
he manager a your avorie dive bar. For ens o hou-
sands o years, people have been coming ogeher o
make somehing grea—i’s jus ha only recenly has
ha hing been grea branded conen.
Now, you have he ools o saff and launch he conen
markeing machine o your dreams and sar consis-
enly creaing high-qualiy conen ha you’re proud
o. In our nex (and ourh) conen markeing playbook,
we’ll alk abou how o disribue ha conen and build
a loyal audience. Say uned.
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Want more insights into the
state of content marketing?
For daily insights, subscribe to our online magazine,
The Content Strategist.
And if you’d like to talk to someone about Contently’s services,
please reach out to us at [email protected]
or visit contently.com.
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