What Is Content Strategy?
If you’ve ever spent a Sunday afternoon binge-watching house flipping shows, you know the importance of having a plan before diving into a big project. Without one, mistakes are made, arguments are had, and a whole lot of drama (and wasted money) ensues.
The same concept applies to content creation.
A well-thought-out content strategy is critical to delivering useful and useable content that your users can navigate easily and efficiently.
According to our in-house content strategy expert, Sammi Gassel, UX Content Strategist, content strategy is a lot like a house blueprint. And that blueprint is the basis of your website’s success.
“You wouldn’t build a house without a blueprint. From an aesthetics perspective, it could look jumbled if you realize halfway through building that you missed some things. From a functionality standpoint, putting in the wrong pipe could render your plumbing useless. And most importantly, the house wouldn’t be built on a solid foundation and could crumble around you. The same goes for web content (sans the physical safety risk),” explains Sammi.
Content Strategy Provides Design, Functionality, And Foundation
“Without those three elements in place, your content won’t attract audiences, won’t lead them to take action, and ultimately won’t be beneficial to the health and stability of your organization.”
Sammi Gassel, UX Content Strategist, CareContent
Content Strategy: What Is It And Why Does a Website Need It?
Content strategy is a plan that identifies your business goals — and uses content to get you there. It identifies what already exists on your site, what should exist, and, most importantly, why it should exist.
The goal of content strategy is simple — to create content that users actually want. A strong content strategy helps ensure your content is relevant, engaging, long-lasting, and cohesive.
What Does Content Strategy Look Like?
Content strategy is not a one-off concept. Instead, it exists in stages:
- Audit & Analyze: Identify business goals, determine targets to achievement, interview stakeholders, assess the landscape of competitors or comparable sites, and analyze current websites.
- Strategize: Determine content (including what needs to be completely redone, touched-up, and archived), taxonomy, sourcing, voice, brand definition, and workflow.
- Create: Write search-engine-optimized content, and produce other appropriate assets.
- Maintain: Audit content periodically, and stay up-to-date with current trends and user needs.
5 Quick Tips On Creating Your Content Strategy
- Center your content strategy on your organization’s goals and user needs — and make sure you know how you will measure your outcomes.
- Create and structure content based on how your audience thinks according to user testing and market research.
- Ensure accessibility of your website, including adhering to all ADA requirements.
- Observe current trends or standards, such as inclusive language or online reviews.
- Leverage social media, and choose channels that are the most popular and helpful to your audience.
Need help with your content strategy? Whether it’s setting analytics goals, making sure your site is accessible, or deciding the best marketing strategy, we can help. Contact us today.
Part 2: Interview With Jessica Levco: How Healthcare Systems Can Approach COVID-19 Content Marketing
Jessica Levco
Jessica Levco — healthcare journalist and content marketer — and I recently chatted about how important it is for healthcare marketing teams to communicate COVID-19 information as effectively as possible. This is part two of our discussion, but you can check out Part 1 here if you missed it.
Kadesha: What are you seeing resonate well with the users of health system websites? What are they clicking on, what are they commenting on, what are they sharing?
Jessica: People are really appreciating information that is easy to read, not overwhelming, and not scary. People want to know about visitor updates and guidelines. People want to know what the hospital is doing to prepare.
Here’s another example — Michigan Medicine. What I like about their website is that they have really straightforward news. It’s a bunch of press releases that say what’s happening, and they keep it pretty updated.
We all have those blogs that we’ve talked about from Cleveland Healthy to IU, which apply to patients. But at a time like this, it’s also nice to just have real, hard facts, such as this is how many people we’ve treated, and this is what we’re going to do.
Kadesha: I’ve seen some hospitals shy away from that. Some hospitals are comfortable publishing how many people have tested positive, how many people they’ve treated, how many of their providers have also tested positive. You also have some hospitals, where if they’re not putting it out there, their local news is.
Should hospitals be comfortable publishing those numbers?
Jessica: That’s a good question, and I think you could really go either way. You don’t want to hide — you don’t want to say that this isn’t happening. And people will eventually find out the numbers. If you don’t share the news, somebody else will.
As a hospital marketer, it’s a great opportunity for you to say, “This is exactly what is happening, and here’s what’s going on”. At a time like this, people are really hungry for facts and clear information.
Hospitals had a great reputation as being a source of news going into COVID-19. Now more than ever, they should highlight that even more.
Kadesha: I think you’re right, and I sincerely hope hospitals and health systems look at this as more than just a crisis but also an opportunity to really be a resource for their service area and their audiences.
We don’t want to seem opportunistic and use this as a time to shine. That shouldn’t be the motivation. But I think there’s definitely a hunger now more than ever for people to hear from their hospital. This is not just an attempt to put out something that people will only share — they actually will read it and engage with it. They’re waiting on it. Give your service area the information and insight that they want to hear specifically from you.
Jessica: Yes, and if your hospital CEO is already on Twitter, now would be a great time to start ghostwriting some tweets. I know now a lot of hospitals are doing town halls and they’re taping those, especially for their remote employees. This might be a great opportunity to start taping some of your town halls. It wouldn’t have to be the whole thing but maybe just determine that for the first 10 minutes of this town hall, we’re going to make this for the public.
Kadesha: Any other tips for health systems and hospitals that are looking to use content marketing to educate their audiences about this?
Jessica: Since they aren’t doing elective surgeries, now would be a great time to do any kind of highlights you can on your telehealth services. Maybe if you write a blog about stress levels, you put at the end, “We know this is a difficult time. If you need somebody to talk to, click here.”
It’s also really important for marketers to start tracking how many visits they’re getting through telehealth and through their content marketing efforts. In terms of any kind of cuts marketing departments might have to face, they can prove, because of this content, we’ve booked 15 new appointments through telehealth.
There are also a lot of people who have scheduled their bariatric surgeries, joint replacements — you don’t want to forget about those people or make them feel like since COVID-19 happened, I’m not going to get the surgery I wanted. It would be very depressing if you were a patient who was preparing to have this kind of surgery and then you don’t hear anything from the hospital. Nobody calls you, you can’t call them because the lines are too busy, and you’re just left waiting where you don’t know what to do. It would be really nice if you could do any kind of outreach to those patients.
Eventually, things will come to a new normal, and patients will still need their surgeries. You want to let them know that you are still thinking of them and you haven’t forgotten.
Kadesha: I also wanted to touch on some of the cuts, the furloughs, and all of these other ways that hospitals are trying to contain costs — understandably so. Have any of the hospitals and health systems that you’re in contact with had marketing cuts happen?
Jessica: As far as I know, everyone I know is still okay.
Kadesha: Wow, that’s excellent. We’ve definitely had clients have spending freezes and be requested to take pay cuts. I’m really amazed at how they’re still staying motivated — you still see them pushing out new content despite all that.
Jessica: It’s heartbreaking when the marketing department gets cut. Even though digital marketing teams are not on the frontlines giving actual care, they are on the frontlines of giving information.
Kadesha: And I think this is another opportunity to prove that value. This is your time to say, as the marketing team, we can keep the call volume down if we’re able to communicate properly. They can really show how they can be supporters of those front line workers and not add more of a burden to the system.
Jessica: Now is the time more than ever to literally track everything you’re doing and send it into somebody every week. Say, “Here’s what the marketing team is doing, and here are our numbers.” When cuts happen, I always feel like it’s marketing and communications teams, but you kind of have to toot your own horn and say, “If you cut us, this is what you’re going to lose.”
When cuts or furloughs happen, you don’t want to burn out your employees who are left behind. You’ve got to figure out ways to keep the workload manageable. It really is not fair if somebody gets cut, and the person who is left behind has two times the work. I think there would have to be some real talks with somebody in C-suite saying, “If this is going to happen, we won’t have X, Y, and Z.”
Kadesha: Exactly. It sounds like that’s a conversation, then, about priorities. If we’re going to cut the team, then we also need to cut the work volume. That means prioritizing what is the most important and what is the most effective.
And you’re absolutely right — if you’re tracking, you can answer that question easily. If you’re not, then you really need to look at what the most effective way is that you can serve the community and serve the healthcare system right now. Test it, see if it works, and if not, stop doing it. Like seriously, if your healthcare marketing team launched a podcast or e-newsletter in the last month, but it’s not getting any traffic, either tweak it or retire it. I think there’s definitely a habit in marketing teams of keeping things going that aren’t effective, but we don’t have the bandwidth or the time for that anymore.
Jessica: No, those days are over. So many days we used to know are over.
Kadesha: So many, but I’m looking forward to seeing how this changes things. I do think it’s going to be more positive changes than anything.
Jessica: Yeah, I agree. I think healthcare marketing will be different — in a good way.
If you’re looking to improve your COVID-19-related content marketing, we can help.
What We’re Thankful For In Healthcare Digital Marketing This Year
Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on what we’re grateful for in all areas of our lives—and healthcare digital marketing is no exception.
At CareContent, we’ve got lots of reasons to be grateful. Here’s what our team is thankful for in the worlds of healthcare, healthcare digital marketing, and technology.
Kadesha Thomas Smith (Founder/CEO)
The main thing I’m thankful for is this grand awakening in the healthcare digital marketing world that content should be the first priority. A long time ago, Andy Crestodina, co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Orbit Media Studios told me, “They’re not there yet, but in about 2 or 3 years they will be, and then you’ll be well-positioned to be a leader in this area.”
Now, I finally see that happening. Healthcare organizations are finally realizing that the key to having a strong web presence is making sure that the content is well organized, well produced, well promoted, and well analyzed.
This is great for us at CareContent because this shift is directly related to what we do and the approach that we think people should take.
Changing The Way We Approach Web Content Creation
Because of this shift in the world of healthcare digital marketing, I’m really grateful that CareContent has been able to start tackling enterprise-level content strategy and content creation projects for hospitals and other types of healthcare organizations.
It’s been a really exciting experience for us to tackle these projects. We’ve been able to create and plan content that meets our clients’ goals, meets their audience needs, and helps them feel like they can indeed get a handle on their website.
In the process, we’re showing them that web content creation and management doesn’t have to be this ad-hoc beast.
I think the biggest thing of all that I’m grateful for is having a team that is willing to take on this new approach and these new projects—and do an excellent job. They’re a very adaptable bunch, always willing to meet the client’s needs quickly and flexibly.
Jennifer Martin (Content Director)
I’m thankful that augmented reality (AR) is evolving far beyond the cute critters in Pokemon Go. For example, the ARKit, unveiled for Apple’s iPhone 8 and iPhone X, will really make your everyday world “pop.”
Look through your iPhone or iPad’s camera, and you might see anything from a SpaceX rocket landing in your yard to career statistics overlaid on the heads of the pro basketball players you’re watching on TV, notes The Verge.
What does it mean for marketing? The chance to help viewers visualize everything from new home decor to the interior of a brand-new sports car. Watch for endless applications (and some app wars) in the future.
Ros Lederman (Content Development Manager)
I am thankful for the shift we’ve made at CareContent from mostly blog creation to more of a focus on websites as a whole. To be honest, when Kadesha first put out the idea of making this change, I wasn’t sure what to think or expect.
I knew the learning curve would be steep and the climb could take a while, but I’m truly enjoying the journey because I’m learning so much each and every day. Yes, this is somewhat sappy to say. But it’s true.
Samantha Gassel (Web Content Specialist)
I’ve been grateful that CareContent is spreading its wings beyond creating content, and moving toward creating the best places for our clients to showcase that content.
[Note: Sammi would also like to mention that because this is a Thanksgiving-themed post, the wings she mentions above are turkey wings.]
Nicole Pegues Riepl (Multimedia Content Designer)
I am grateful that healthcare digital marketing is steering toward creating more personalized narratives.
With so many touchpoints out there to the consumer these days, healthcare institutions have a great opportunity—and, I think, a great responsibility—to speak directly to prospective patients and caregivers, and to show how they’re actually improving outcomes, not just winning awards (although that’s great, too).
Linyi Zhang (Content Conversion Specialist)
I am grateful for the advancement of data technology. Analytics now supports almost every stage of the digital marketing process, from content creation to design. I am amazed at how fast it is spreading in the content world.
Analytics really deepens our understanding of audience’s preferences and helps deliver more relevant and valuable content to them. And it also changes how organizations think about the value of content and decide what content to produce.
Sometimes, this creative process becomes overly formulaic because of these quantitative measurements. But I am grateful that CareContent gives writers the liberty to be creative, even as our ideas are grounded in consumer insights. That’s what makes our approach unique and our content engaging.
Crystal Suh (Project Manager)
As a mom of two young children, I love anything that makes life easier. I’m thankful for technology that makes it easy to communicate with physicians from home—from emailing to sending pictures of rashes to video chatting. It’s nice to have options before deciding to trek to the doctor’s office.
At CareContent, we’ve got lots to be thankful for. What are you thankful for this year in the world of healthcare digital marketing?
Healthcare Content Marketing: How Much Should It Cost?
It all starts the same way: Your healthcare organization needs to reach a certain audience online. Maybe you’ve been producing healthcare content for years, and now you have so much that you don’t know what to do with it. Or maybe you’ve just realized that content is your ticket to engagement, and you’re just getting started.
The end goal is the same, too: When your audience encounters your content, you want them to to raise their hand and become a patient, client, member, etc.
So, how much should that action cost?
Content should be considered a long-term investment, not an expense. That said, expect to make a bigger investment if …
You Need Strategy.
It’s one thing to have already ironed out your healthcare organization’s content solution. Now, you just need help executing. But if you’re looking for insight, ideas, and solutions to challenges, then the content team that helps you is more than just an extra set of hands.
Ideally, they come in on the front end when you’ve discovered the content challenge. They can get to know your organization, your challenges, your business goals, and your audience. Then, they apply years of expertise, experience, and lessons learned to pitch ideas and solutions.
Read this twice: Solid ideas are the pulse of a strong content solution. Ideas are what distinguish you from your competitor—ideas about compelling topics, distribution channels, etc.
You want your content team to be a pack of rabid problem solvers and idea generators—and don’t expect that to be cheap.
You’re Looking For Experts.
Think of it like this: The average family medicine physician makes $225,000 annually. But a neurosurgeon—around $700,000. Why the difference? One is a specialist, offering something that you can’t find on a shelf—and you need it.
Many of our clients come to us because we are healthcare content specialists. We only work with healthcare organizations, so we know the space inside out.
Good luck trying to ask a lower-cost general interest content team to work on a project about a very technical healthcare topic, like the mechanism of action for a new drug or anything dealing with the Affordable Care Act. The acronyms alone will give them a headache.
Plus, you’ll spend precious time getting them up to speed on healthcare when they should be learning about your healthcare organization and your goals. And in the end, you may have to redo it all.
If you choose to go with a specialized healthcare content team, expect to pay for brain power, not just taskmasters.
You Need The Groundwork Done.
Content audits. Social media promotion. Analytics. Tracking down subject matter experts. These are common and important aspects of many content challenges, but they take a lot of time. And you can’t have an intern doing this unless you just like headaches.
Ideally, the same content team who tackled your strategic challenge can roll up their sleeves and execute the solution. That way, they can circle back to the strategy to build on what works and improve on what doesn’t. Plus, you’ve already developed a relationship with them.
So now, you’re paying them to lend their expertise toward taking these tasks off of your plate.
How much is that worth to you?
The Best Approach?
Let your prospective content partner know your ballpark budget. Save everyone some time, and put it out there. If you don’t know your budget, ask the prospective content partner to throw out a number. Then ask yourself: Is it worth it?
If you’re with a healthcare organization and curious about pricing for healthcare content solutions, shoot me an email (kadesha@carecontent.com), and I’ll let you know how CareContent charges.
Read/Watch/Listen/Follow: Content We’re Into (February 2017)
As content creators, we’re constantly on the hunt for interesting and inspiring stories from wherever we can find them—the internet, a podcast, television. This enables us not only to keep up with but to lead relevant conversations on the people, events, and discoveries that are impacting our world.
Here’s what we’ve been devouring lately.
Jennifer, Content Director
Reading: A Star Trek “Section 31” novel called Cloak. Very mysterious stuff. Trekkies will know.
Watching: Who Are You, Really? The Puzzle of Personality, by Brian Little. A TEDTalk from a psychologist on what personality is—and how to transcend it when you need to.
Listening to: Billy Joel’s Greatest Hits. Vintage delight.
Following: Myths and Legends, a podcast about folklore from around the world. Dragons, wizards, knights, and more—fascinating stuff.
Ros, Web Content Specialist
Reading: “The Last Unknown Man,” a longform piece from the New Republic about a man who appears one day outside a Burger King in Georgia with no idea who he is…and it turns out that no one else knows his identity, either.
Watching: Superstore, a sitcom that follows a group of truly quirky employees as they navigate their careers at a Wal-Mart-esque store called Cloud 9.
Listening to: Justin Timberlake <3
Following: Politics. Sigh.
Sammi, Web Content Specialist
Reading: The Little Prince—a classic children’s book that I’ve never read. One of my best friends stayed with me over the holidays, and it’s his favorite book, so he gave it to me as a thank you for hospitality. I’m only halfway through it, but I like it so far. It reminds you of the importance of imagination and creativity.
Watching: Homeland. I re-watched the whole series in a little more than a month (yes, I need a life). It’s such a great show.
Listening to: Anything happy and upbeat. It’s a grim time of the year, so I need a little energy boost. And music’s the best way to do that.
Following: The hearings for who will be on the President’s cabinet. The people he picks will directly impact health and education, so I want a heads-up of what’s to come.
LaToya, Content Design Specialist
Reading: 100 Little Things About Pregnancy, Birth, And Being A First-Time Mom by Adriel Booker. She talks about her journey in becoming a first-time mom, from breastfeeding to post-partum recovery.
Watching: Moonlight—a moving story that follows a bullied young boy as he struggles with his identity. The story follows him from childhood to adulthood as he faces adversity and overcomes through the relationships that he develops along the way. It’s a very moving and emotional film.
Listening to: I have been listening to a lot of gospel music lately, artists such as Tasha Cobbs and Travis Greene.
Following: @frobabies on instagram. Frobabies is a clothing line, but they also post daily pictures of cute little babies and toddlers. Cutie overload.
Katie, Engagement and Analytics
Reading: I just started Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance. The memoirist is only 31 years old, but he grew up in Appalachia, and wrote this book to offer insight into what’s happening in the U.S. Politicians on both sides reference this book for explaining “what it all means”—how Trump won and why a sizable section of white America feels left behind.
Watching: The Parent Trap—the original, 1961 version. I watched this movie all the time as a kid, and now it’s on Netflix. Eight-year-old me is so psyched right now.
Listening to: A Spotify playlist I made of songs that calm me down. It’s been in heavy rotation lately.
Following: All of the rogue government Twitter accounts that have popped up when the President tried to silence the main accounts—from @RogueNASA and @AltNPS to @RoguePOTUSstaff and @Alt_CDC. This is a shining example of why social media fascinates me.
Read/Watch/Listen/Follow: Content We’re Into (October 2016)
As content creators, we’re constantly on the hunt for interesting and inspiring stories from wherever we can find them—the internet, a podcast, television. This enables us not only to keep up with but to lead relevant conversations on the people, events, and discoveries that are impacting our world.
Here’s what we’ve been devouring lately.
Kadesha, Founder/CEO
Reading: The collection of Clifford the Big Red Dog stories in Spanish with my son because we’re working on his colors, counting, and his Spanish—three birds, one stone.
Watching: I lost the remote to my TV, so I’m not currently watching anything, and it’s been great.
Listening to: Tim Ferriss’ Four-Hour Work Week podcast about project and time management. As a new mom and a business owner, I have to not do as much and learn to delegate better.
Following: The hashtag #HCIC16 for the Healthcare Internet Conference that I’ll be attending next week in Las Vegas.
Jennifer, Content Director
Reading: Celebrities Who Cheer For The Chicago Cubs. Sorry, Indians fans. Cubs Fever has made Chicago delirious.
Watching: Bull—an interesting new TV drama on jury psychology. Who knew we humans are so predictable?
Listening to: Useful Science. The science of getting drunk, getting full, and attracting mosquitos, all in one podcast. Cool.
Following: The Presidential debates. And I’m glad they’re over.
Ros, Web Content Specialist
Reading: Fall On Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald, which was an Oprah’s Book Club pick and not at all like anything I would normally read. But I found it in the laundry room of my old apartment building and figured I’d give it a shot. It’s a historical novel that follows four sisters as they grow up on an island off the coast of Nova Scotia in the early 20th century. There’s more to it than that, obviously, or else I’d have given up on this 500-pager by now. But you’ll have to read it yourself to find out.
Watching: All of the crime and “I escaped from a crazy cult” documentaries on Netflix, from The Imposter to Holy Hell. I have no idea why I can’t stop watching these, considering how easily frightened and sensitive to gory visuals I am. And yet several times a week I find myself wondering which of these documentaries I should watch next.
Listening to: Justin Timberlake.
Following: BuzzFeed’s coverage of the second presidential debate, which they (and probably everyone else) are calling “the craziest and most surreal debate in modern history.”
Sammi, Web Content Specialist
Reading: Several articles about whether or not doctors should turn away unvaccinated kids to protect other patients and families. It’s an interesting debate. Is it choosing one child’s care over another?
Watching: Designated Survivor. It’s completely unrealistic and pretty cheesy, but it is very entertaining—also pretty relevant in terms of combatting Islamophobia and balancing power.
Listening to: More Hamilton! I finally saw the show, and now I am listening to it even more. I’m also listening to a lot of Beatles music lately. My sister just got married, and she and her husband love the Beatles, so there have been Beatles songs on replay.
Following: The election and the Cubs—not sure which I am more interested in at the moment!
Nicole, Multimedia Content Designer
Reading: “Parents Should Sleep in Same Room as Newborns to Prevent SIDS, Doctors Say.” Time Magazine reports new guidelines that suggest parents be in close quarters with their babies until about 6 months to 1 year old.
Watching: Opioids: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. This is a late-night take on the nation’s growing opioid epidemic, shedding light on where the addiction problem tends to start: prescription drug use.
Listening to: Out Of This World: How Artists Imagine Planets Yet Unseen. We already have actual photo documentation of what our own solar system looks like. NPR explains how artists envision and create visuals of newly discovered, unknown worlds in faraway galaxies.
Following: Matt Wiley on Twitter. He’s a Brooklyn-based designer from the UK who is currently Art Director for The New York Times Magazine. He prefers a bold, art deco design style, and he has a thing for typography (like me).
LaToya, Content Design Specialist
Reading: Who We Were Before, a story about a couple who loses their son in a tragic accident. Instead of grieving together, the wife disconnects from the husband, and the life that they knew before is slowly fading away.
Watching: Shameless, Season 7. A television series starring William H. Macy, the story takes place in Chicago and is about a very dysfunctional family. The mother suffers from bipolar disorder, and the father is an alcoholic and drug addict. The story follows the family of seven as they each face their own life obstacles as well as those of their parents.
Listening to: Various artists, from Hezekiah Walker to Toni Braxton
Following: @tonibraxton who is currently touring and also spreading awareness about Autism Speaks and her constant battle with Lupus.
Katie, Engagement and Analytics
Reading: Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. This is Coates’ letter to his son, about the history of race in the U.S., what it means to be black today, and how we all move forward. Toni Morrison called this book required reading, so I couldn’t pass it by.
Watching: Dallas Goldtooth’s and Didi Banerji’s Facebook live streams from the front lines at Standing Rock. These two have been reporting extensively about what’s happening on the ground as the self-proclaimed water protectors battle construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. If completed, the pipeline would cross the Missouri River and put drinking water at risk for millions of people, as well as desecrate sacred Native burial land.
Listening to: This American Life episode 599, “Seriously?” A fascinating analysis of the way we currently view “facts” as a society and how journalists and the Presidential candidates portray them. As someone who spent her college education studying journalism, I’m so entirely frustrated, flabbergasted, and frightened by where people get their information and what they consider to be true.
Following: @SickOfWolves on Twitter makes me laugh daily. So glad this wolf masquerading as a man decided to use social media to keep the world updated on his trials and successes. Those updates include gems such as, “WELL IF I DO NOT HAVE ANY HUMAN FRIENDS WHY ARE THERE SO MANY FRAMED PHOTOS OF MARK RUFFALO IN MY HOME.”
Vetting CMS Vendors At SHSMD? Start With Content First
Your healthcare marketing team has finally decided that the bandages holding together your organization’s clunky flagship website are getting weak. It’s time for a new site.
This situation isn’t anything new. I’m at SHSMD this week, and I’ve already talked with several healthcare marketing leaders who are looking for a new content management system. “We’ll work on the content after we get the new site up,” several have said.
Um … no.
Here’s a different order of operations: Start with the content. As you’re vetting potential CMS partners, get your content going in the right direction. Here are 3 reasons why:
1. Your New CMS Partner Will Ask You About Content—Or At Least They Should.
CMS vendors are primarily website developers and designers. They usually don’t create content. In fact, they’re going to ask you about your content—or at least they should. If you don’t have it ready for them, they’ll have to work with the old, stale content that you probably won’t keep, anyway.
That could mean disasters like broken links and typos creeping onto the new site. Or uploading bios for experts who no longer work at your organization. Healthcare is all about prevention, right? Let’s prevent these issues by getting the content in good shape first.
2. Revamping Your Content Could Take A While.
Here’s how healthcare organizations typically do it:
- Spend months vetting a CMS and making the case to senior leaders about the investment
- Spend another few months nailing down the design of the website
- Spend another few months having the website built and migrating old, stale content to the new site
- Then, setting out on the journey to revamp the content
Waste. Of. Time.
If your healthcare organization has thousands of pages of content that no one is managing, it could be months, maybe even a year, before you’ve completed a content audit and whittled your pages down to what’s actually relevant.
Then, there’s creating a content strategy, and either revising old content or creating fresh content for the new site.
Setting the direction for your content while looking for a CMS can save you time. Content development and website development can happen in tandem, especially if your content strategy clearly outlines the type of content to come.
3. You’ll Avoid The Worst Case Scenario.
Here’s what that looks like: Your team’s shiny, new, expensive website is live. It’s beautiful. It’s responsive.
Then, you start to look at content only to find out that most of your ideas cannot be executed. Your CMS can’t handle embedded video, responsive infographics, or quizzes. If it can, it requires one of your CMS vendor’s brainiacs to do it for you. That takes more time, costs extra money, and limits your ability to be relevant.
The last thing you want to do is spend money on a CMS only to find out that you’re stuck with text and still images for most of your content.
As you’re shopping for your CMS vendor, getting your content in order allows you to make a specific list of ingredients that your new CMS should have.
Here’s The Bottom Line …
Does all of your content has to be final, first? No. But at least hammer out the structure and flow of of the content on your new site before you start seriously vetting a CMS vendor. The CMS should serve the content. Not the other way around.
