Content Strategy for Print, Part II: Changing course in digital communications

Why do clients reject the need for a content strategy? Have you ever asked them how they would manage their Web content if all those Web pages were actual documents that needed to be printed, stored and managed?

In Part 1 of Content Strategy for Print, we talked to Charlene Haykel, a print content strategist about simplified communications, the importance of governance on any system of content, and Macrosimplification™. Today, we learn her thoughts on:

• What makes a great content strategist
• The future of content strategy for both print and Web
• Why the entire field of communications needs to change course

What makes a great content strategist?
According to Charlene, great content strategists are:
• Smart analytical thinkers, from a variety of intellectual disciplines, including history, journalism, languages, philosophy, etc.
• They can come up to speed quickly on massive amounts of unfamiliar content
• They can overlay conceptual frameworks on unorganized and disparate information
• And they can ask the right questions on behalf of any audience

How does this compare to Five Traits to Look for when Hiring a Content Strategist?

The future of content strategy for both print and Web
While Charlene is delighted by the fact that the Web has forced content awareness on Web practitioners, she’s concerned that other communication consultants in traditional marketing and advertising practices still lead with design rather than content. This imbalance, she thinks, continues to create less than optimum communications on Websites, in Web applications and in printed materials.

Why the entire field of communications needs to change course
According to Charlene, companies are going to have to change some basic business practices in order to create clear communications for the consumer. All of an organization’s communications functions need to become more centrally organized than is currently the case —no more IT departments managing the Website far far away from marketing. No more bills and correspondence solely controlled by operations and IT. “If companies don’t speak with one voice, they can’t control their message,” she comments.

Charlene also thinks distinctions between ad writers and Web writers, health writers and finance writers are useless. “The only attribute I look for in a writer’s portfolio,” she says, “Is clarity. If they can communicate the right information in the right amount on any topic to any audience — clearly and efficiently — then they’re hired.”

To conclude
Someone at the National Institutes of Cancer once said that all humans think they are at the end of history. While content strategists may think they are practicing a brand new discipline, it is important to know that writers, editors, graphic designers and marketers have practiced content strategy in the realm of print for a long time. What print content strategists know should inform the future digital content strategists of tomorrow, so we can learn the most efficient, practical approaches to creating clear, solid communications that align business objectives and help customers find what they need.