The Crave
Weekly tips and stories that will help you do your job and make you smile (or groan).
By Adrie Smith December 30, 2021
The balancing act
Undoubtedly, the end of the year is the perfect time to reflect. It's a breather. That time, no matter how brief, between tying up old projects and planning for new ones can be magical. There’s something about the in-between that lends us clarity (and sometimes even clairvoyance) that is otherwise missing from the rest of the year. Instead of bombarding you with a list of trends or learnings (your LinkedIn feed will happily deliver those for you if that’s what you’re after), I’ll ruminate on one important concept that’s popped up throughout 2021.
Goldilocks scenario
This year I transitioned from a Head of Content to a Content Strategist role. And while on the surface that switcheroo within content might not seem pivotal, it became more apparent than ever that balancing both execution and strategy is challenging, totally essential, and rarely done well. This realization led me to consider a Goldilocks scenario where you either have too much, too little, or “just riiiiiight” amount of either execution or strategy. And that in and of itself shouldn’t be hard.* But hitting the mark with execution and achieving a “just right” status with strategy is. Could this be why there's so much (putting it kindly) bland B2B content out there? Are our fellow content marketers still struggling to find their proverbial bowl of porridge and their bed too? *Of course, it's hard but manageable in the grand scheme of things.
By learning from execution, your strategy will become stronger.
Striking the balance
So what can you do to find your balance of execution and strategy? Here are a few things that I’ve found
- Transform your content strategy into a living document. Stop to pause every quarter and update parts of it rather than waiting over a year (potentially longer 😰) to update it only to find you need a complete revamp.
- Delve into content performance. And yes, that means that you’ll need to get more comfortable with Google Analytics. Taking ownership over your data will help you understand what’s performing well, what you can optimize and tweak, and what’s holding you back. By learning from execution, your strategy will become stronger.
- Tie content to your company goals. Too often, we create content to satisfy surface-level targets (hello, traffic, views, new visitors!), which can quickly turn into a Sisyphean task. Instead, look to your overall company goals— the stuff that matters— and outline how content contributes to those.
- Make both execution and strategy talking points with your team, manager, or peers. Instead of just talking about what’s been done, make sure to also check in on where you’re going.
And remember, you don’t have to save reflection exclusively for the end of the year. Checking periodically throughout the year (and yes, that means making the time!) will save you the heartache of addressing more significant challenges when you chip off pieces of it month by month.
Let’s talk about it together!
Share your thoughts on LinkedIn using #thecravediscussion This week’s topic: How do you maintain a balance between execution and strategy throughout the year?
Currently craving
Alright, so let’s get down to it. There are a few things that got me noodlin’ on the topic.
- The Some Good Content Facebook group (and the paid Patreon): Great community with a good balance of discussion around both content execution and strategy. The paid version is worth every penny, but you can also get a solid content selection via the free Facebook group.
- This webinar from our friends at the Marketing Meetup about always-on content campaigns.
- Are you left wondering whether your content is tactical or strategic? Wonder no more. This article from the Animalz blog will help you out. And yes, I know I’m on my way to becoming their number one fangirl 😍
The latest from Foleon
- Content Engagement Hacks with Foleon
- Perfectly Content podcast, episode 2: From vision to brand: Bianca Belman-Adam on branding and rebranding
- PDF vs Foleon Doc: A Marketer’s Guide