the atomic guide to content strategy

The Atomic Guide
to Content Strategy
Frank Delmelle, Senior Content Strategist at These Days Y&R

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Buckle up, strategists. Here’s…

#ContentStrategy: a new, atomic, bottom-up
and future-proof paradigm in 12 decisive steps
 
 
 

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“A new content
strategy paradigm”? 
Why? Who needs it? 

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Google content strategy
and – excusez le mot –
this is all you get:

diagram diarrhea
 a.k.a. #DeathByPowerpoint

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Content strategy
seems to be stuck

thinking in circles…
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… and burgers 
That’s a “content
strategy burger”
(no kiddin’)
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… and a chalupa…
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‘Content strategy’s
very probably

Wikipedia’s
Most Wicked Wiki

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 At the CMI, content strategists in spe get
tangled up in toolkits, templates and trellos
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… Entrepreneur.com?
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Digiday Content
Marketing Summit?
Spewing challenges
instead of solutions…
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And if that’s bad, this is worse:

Your customer doesn’t give
a flying bleep about your
content strategy

Image credit: Flickr, Tambako The Jaguar
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… Neither do your strategy’s
indispensable middle men… 
(Paid) Discovery? (Paid) Social? (Paid) Search?
Earned? Owned? One-to-one?

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Excuses?

Splintered segments?
Content shocks?
Algorithm anxiety?
Broken journeys? …
It wouldn’t be entirely fair, of course,
to have content strategist take all the blame.
Their task has turned rather sysyphean…

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Still, claiming that
content strategy

could do with
some decluttering

would be a flagrant
understatement

 
 

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Solution?

A Copernican
Revolution!
 

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“Unleash the 12 steps!” 

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Kaboom!
 Step 1. Nuke the
diagram diarrhea
Tabula rasa! Clean those desks!
Let’s get back to the basics
and rebuild from the bottom up.

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Step 2. Focus on the very top of
your (future) customer’s FAQ list*
*The ranking of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
being the one thing your customers – and your
strategy’s indispensable middle men – are
guaranteed to care about: answers to their questions.

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Content relevance, by the way,
is the one thing that will never
entirely be delivered by the bots
Focusing on your audience’s FAQ will make sure you steer clear of
both commoditized content and ‘last year’s’ shallow (meaningless)
content snacks (to offer relevant ‘content atoms’ instead.)

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Tweet that!


Answering FAQs / focusing on your
‘smallest relevant element’, is not only
what’ll make sure you get discovered,
found, considered, trusted, revisited and
recommended. It’s also what’ll offer you

the ‘natural’ window of opportunity you
need to pitch your product or service…
and reap subsequent conversions.

Step 3. Answer one question a time
(FAQ #1, FAQ #2, FAQ #3 etc.)
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Step 4. Fill out your answers’ strategic profiles
The interesting thing about these ‘content atoms’ or answers to FAQs,
is that they will enable you to get agile on all seven strategic levels:
give each ‘content atom’ a strategic passport, i.e. a content profile
with these 7 tags: #WHO #WHAT, #WHY, #WHERETO,
#WHEN, #HOW and #WHERE… and you’ll find the
fragmentation that used to be your worst headache,
will at once become your best friend.
The future-proof paradigm shift? Once they’re
tagged, your content atoms will make up the core
of a content strategy that’s scalable, targetable,
fine-tunable and even IoT-ready. Your
headlines will be so relevant they’ll
seamlessly increase notification CTRs…
Image: atomic content calendar, work in progress for

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Step 5. Tag your answer(s)
with target audience
segment(s) #WHO
This first tag level will enable
you to pull content clusters
relevant for specific segments
from your content archives,
making segmentation ‘a piece
of cake’.
Illustration: a ‘content atom’ from the top of Bank of America
customers’ FAQ list: “How Do I Pay Down Debt?”,
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Step 6. Tag your answer
with the customer need
/desire you’re satisfying
#WHAT
Tag level number two consists of the keywords,
categories or themes that reflect the specific
customer questions (wonderings/needs/desires)
you’re answering. Expect a return in terms of SEO,
obviously, but equally so in terms of, for example,
‘sharp as a knife’ subject lines etc.

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Illustration: a ‘content atom’ from the top of Thomson Reuters’
clients’ FAQ list: “How Will We Fill 9 Billion Bowls by 2050?”,

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Step 7. Tag your answer with the ROMI* it’ll realize
*ROMI being the return on marketing objectives your individual piece of content is supposed to
generate. In this third level of tags – ranging from awareness to advocacy – your specific KPI’s
are listed. How will this particular piece of content pull peeps through your funnel? Top-funnel
impact? Mid-funnel? Bottom-funnel? Will it increase traffic, sign-ups, qualified leads, … ? #WHY

Illustration: a ‘content atom’ from AXA’s leads’ FAQ list:
“Will the taxman leave me alone once I’m retired?”,
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