Our View
With very significant resources being invested in customer management and content delivery in the form of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Content Management Systems (CMS), the ability to identify and deliver tailored content to every member is now a reality. Going forward, the big questions are what content do we have? what content do we need to produce? and what should our content strategy look like?
Not always explicitly acknowledged, one of the main roles for membership organisations is that of publisher. Membership organisations produce content in numerous ways, whether through journals, community programs or CPD. In fact, nearly all departments producer relevant content of some kind. All that content can and should be utilised to the maximum and delivered to those who really need/want it. However, perhaps lacking the necessary experience or expertise, many membership organisations will find the need to develop a content strategy a daunting thought. In fact, according to the last research we carried out in this area, only 50% of organisations have a formalised content strategy or content plan in place.
As we continue through these uncertain times, providing members with the right package of membership benefits will be key to retention and to growth. A big part of that is high quality content, and the benefits are already being felt by those who have been through the process of developing a robust content strategy and plan.
Using our extensive knowledge of running projects in the membership sector, we have developed a highly effective methodology to address these needs. It ensures that the project causes as little management distraction as possible and delivers an outcome in the form of a practical robust implementation/management plan which in turn can easily be incorporated into your business plan.
The Content Strategy Survey
Our survey objectives were to let organisations gauge how well developed their content strategy and practices were in comparison with others and to identify key areas for development.
Highlights: key points emerging from the survey including some surprising attitudes to content strategy, which gave us pause for thought and included:
53% of respondents revealed they had no formal plan for content strategy
Around half participants saw the projection and development of brand values as the key objective of their content strategies. For 27% it was the commercial returns
65% of respondents rated their performance as average or below average in this area
The biggest challenges identified include lack of a strategic ‘vision’, no ‘buy-in’ at corporate level and the difficulty of measuring effectiveness.
Other important areas covered by this survey include outsourcing, the current and planned use of different delivery channels, how content is sourced/generated and how results are measured.