Content Strategy vs Communications Strategy

[tom donoghue]

Are they different?  Are they the same?  If they are different, how are they different?

 

Thx

Tom

[Hilary Marsh]

Hi Tom,

IMO, content strategy is more overarching than communications strategy. Content encompasses much more than just communications — it can cover product descriptions, help information, corporate history, program information, etc. So the strategy for all of those is bigger than the strategy for the communications about each of those things.

What I’ve been saying, which resonates with audiences and clients, is that content is the way everything an organization does manifests itself in the world. So content strategy is pretty big and broad.

I hope that helps!

Best,

Hilary

Hilary Marsh

President and Chief Strategist, Content Company

312-806-7854  |  hil...@hilarymarsh.com

Content strategy for associations, nonprofits, intranets
http://www.hilarymarsh.com 
also hilarymarsh on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Slideshare, etc.

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[Meghan Casey]

I agree with Hilary. That said, I think we often end up doing communications content strategy or product content strategy or website content strategy or help content strategy or some other content-related strategy for smaller pieces under the content strategy umbrella. That's where I think some of the confusion comes in. 

[Rahel Bailie | IDI]

Content strategy also takes into account the technical side of content, not just the editorial side. 

Sent from my iPad - forgive my unruly autocorrect 

[Kevin Nichols]

I hope this helps:
Years ago, I came up with the definition that Content Strategy is getting the right content to the right user at the right time. The concept of right content to the right user/person at the right time, was not my idea. It hailed from the marketing world, and as Joe Pulizzi correctly has pointed out, it comes from Don Peppers and Martha Rogers seminal work: "The One to One Future: Building Relationships One Customer at a Time." But I re-purposed that concept for content strategy, as I thought it a perfect definition because it implies not only the right content (which means to the right devices, for the right purposes, etc) but also the 'getting' which implies the delivery and the enforcement of rules necessary to necessitate that. Years ago, I took the definition to Sapient and my team there helped evolve that concept by stating, it breaks into three buckets: content experience, content delivery and content governance. Again, others in the industry were using similar concepts, these were how conceptualized those things. Thus, anything that fit within the overarching mandate of getting the right content to the right user at the right time, which included the content experience, the delivery of it, and the governance of its quality and sustainability, were aspects of content strategy. Of course, we approached it at the enterprise level. I point out this history, because I think a lot of discussion around communications strategy and content marketing strategy should realize that these really do live within a larger framework of enterprise content strategy. Now that is not to say that everyone will position it that way, but in my opinion, it is the correct way to frame it. Thus, communications strategy is not the same as content strategy, and is more specific, as it pertains specifically to thinking about the messages delivered to the end user. (E.g., content experience). Rahel, is correct in my opinion, that content strategy is so much more than that (which is not to belittle communications strategy).

By the way, Anne Casson and I discuss in detail the differences between content marketing and content strategy on my youtube channel. I would say the same precepts apply to content strategy versus communications strategy.

Kevin

kevinpnichols.com

[Marcia Riefer Johnston]

I like the way you put this, Hilary: Content is "the way everything an organization does manifests itself in the world." It reminds me of Ann Handley's writing rule (#2 out of 13 in her wonderful list), "Our words are our emissaries; they tell the world who we are." Her rule applies beyond words, of course. As Robert Rose recently put it in a CMI newsletter, "Content is what we are." 

[WINK WINK I KNOW L.M.A.]

Content is placed.

Information is retained.

Communication relates content with information.

Content is a deliverable.
Communication is a modus operandi.

the larger picture.
Content is communications.

 

MohanArun dotcom
slash 11062

[Melissa Eggleston]

Hi Tom, all, just reading these answers now. 

I have the opposite perspective and don't think I'm alone (e.g. Beth Kantor, author of The Networked Non-profit, and strategic communication/PR professors). I've always considered communication strategy (aka communication planning) to be broader and encompass all forms of communication an organization puts out - ones that Hilary referenced as well as visual communication. Content strategy as a term arose specifically referencing the web and digital communication - as Rahel mentions it takes into account new technology. The definition of content strategy has been expanded in the last few years. 

But people have been doing communication strategy for decades. 

From my perspective, it seems like people are replacing the word "communication" with "content." 

Best, 

Melissa

Melissa Eggleston

mel...@melissaegg.com

Collaborating with other UX experts at the UX-Shop

Helping people create user-friendly websites with memorable content

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