Here's how to clean up your content strategy in 12 brutal yet sensible steps - inspired by #atomicdesign Summary? The key to untie the content strategic knot and/or declutter your content strategy is to be found in its most fundamental component: your answers to the top of your (future) customer’s FAQ list. An ‘atomic’ content strategy will answer FAQ #1 first, proceed to answer one question at a time, tag each answer systematically with their why, who, how, when, whereto and where… and scrum from there...

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

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#ContentStrategy: a new, atomic, bottom-up
and future-proof paradigm in 12 decisive steps
Buckle up, strategists. Here’s…

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

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a.k.a. #DeathByPowerpoint
diagram diarrhea
Google content strategy
and – excusez le mot –
this is all you get:

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Content strategy
seems to be stuck
thinking in circles…
http://www.slideshare.net/frankdelmelle/the-
content-wheel-45628376

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… and burgers
That’s a “content
strategy burger”
(no kiddin’)
http://visual.ly/content-strategy-burger

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… and a chalupa…
https://medium.com/@markwschaefer/break-the-mold-why-
content-marketing-needs-to-be-like-a-chalupa-
e080b7b054f9#.nr9wupjil

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‘Content strategy’s
very probably
Wikipedia’s
Most Wicked Wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_strategy

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http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2016/01/checklists-templates-guides/
At the CMI, content strategists in spe get
tangled up in toolkits, templates and trellos

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… Entrepreneur.com?
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/270956

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Digiday Content
Marketing Summit?
Spewing challenges
instead of solutions…
http://sco.lt/81LneL

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Your customer doesn’t give
a flying bleep about your
content strategy
Image credit: Flickr,Tambako The Jaguar
And if that’s bad, this is worse:

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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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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…
Excuses?

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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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Tweet that!
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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http://www.morganstanley.com
Step 3. Answer one question a time
(FAQ #1, FAQ #2, FAQ #3 etc.)
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.

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Image: atomic content calendar, work in progress for http://www.partena-professional.be
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…

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Illustration: a ‘content atom’ from the top of Bank of America
customers’ FAQ list: “How Do I Pay Down Debt?”,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gV22EP4T8ZQ
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’.

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

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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?”,
http://thesedays.com/work/axa/pensioenavonturen--
aventure-pension

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Step 8. Tag your answer with the
CTA(s) to be featured underneath
The fourth level of tags will indicate what each piece of content is pointing
at / where you want peeps to go next ‘post content consumption’. ‘See more’,
‘subscribe’, ‘discover product abc’, ‘join us at event xyz’: here you tag your
‘content atom’ with the call to action (CTA) inviting content consumer to
proceed to their ‘next best action’: the natural next place in your funnel.
These tags will a.o. enable an information architecture
/ a UX that (feels like it) makes perfect sense.
#WHERETO

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Step 9. Tag your answer with the Moments of Truth
indicating #WHEN it’ll be (most) relevant
In tag level number five you indicate the
familiar incident, the moment of truth or the
‘life event’ during which your answer will be
especially relevant. This will enable you to grab
appropriate clusters of content when targeting
segments at a specific MOT (while getting rid of
old-school campaign thinking in favour of an
‘always on’ ‘content service’…)
Illustration: a ‘content atom’ based on Netflix subscribers’ FAQ list:
“Will Francis and Claire lose everything?”,
http://www.24-7gamer.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/
netflix_pr_darwin_ui_regular_us_web_442014_7b0b4f0d530e365df57003d58a130df9.jpg

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Step 10. Tag your answer with the touchpoints
/ platforms where it will thrive #WHERE
More good news: the relevance of answers to top FAQs will only very rarely be limited to your
‘owned web’. Hence this sixth level of tags listing all the touchpoints where your ‘content atom’
could/should thrive.
The interesting thing here is that the keys to a sensible ‘channel mix’ can - largely - be found in the
nature of your customers’ questions and the quality of your answers. For some answers (paid)
search will obviously be the natural habitat besides your ‘owned web’, while for others (paid)
discovery, (paid) social and/or email will be the logical place to be.
Tag level #6, in short, will empower integrated media planning and enable content economies of
scale (beyond the usual silos). This is where you’ll make content marketing catchphrases such as
‘create once publish many’, ‘maximize return on interview’ e.a. (finally and) actually happen.

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Step 11. Tag your answer with the genre/format
that’ll make sure it’ll get read/watched #HOW
In a seventh level of tags, finally, you indicate the
(editorial) genre – opinion, testimonial, expert
advice etc. – and/or the content format – video
tutorial, infographic, listicle, longread, … – that
will improve the likelihood of your content atom
to be read and/or watched.
This will enable you to, in a holistic way, pick
formats taking into account platform
requirements, media preferences/behavior,
editorial resources (budget) etc.

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Step 12. Answer
FAQs #2, #3 etc &
scrum from there

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http://www.justinmind.com/blog/atomic-design-user-experience/
If designers can build
UXs from the bottom up,
why shouldn’t content
strategists be capable
to follow suit? #AtomicDesign
BTW: an atomic approach might also help to get your content strategy
sold. Your consistent answers to customers’ FAQs will certainly prove
to remedy the ‘diagram itch’ that gets you stuck in the elevator pitch.

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Summary?
Break up and
FAQ around!

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The key to untie the content strategic knot and/or declutter your
content strategy is to be found in its most fundamental component:
your answers to the top of your (future)
customer’s FAQ list.
Illustration: a ‘content atom’ from the CMO’s FAQ list:
“How To Make The Banner Blind See Again?”,
https://medium.com/@thesedays/6-ways-to-reanimate-
the-battered-banner-ad-3cf781895025#.r3e392fmu

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An atomic content strategy
will answer FAQ #1 first,
proceed to answer one
question at a time,
tag each answer
systematically with its why,
who, how, when and where(to)
… and scrum from there.
Illustration: an earned media ‘content atom’ about/
for Tesla/Solar City (…)’s future customers’ FAQ list:
“How Will Elon Musk Change The World?”,
http://waitbutwhy.com/2015/06/how-tesla-will-
change-your-life.html

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Strategically sound
soundtrack?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Tko1G6XRiQ;
Image: screenshot from: http://helloitsadam.com/happy-birthday-debbie-harry/

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And one more for the road:
keep an eye on
Quora’s ‘No Answers Yet’
You might just hit a content jackpot;)
https://www.quora.com/search?q=how+to+find+questions+with+no+answers+yet?

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Still not sure where to start?
welcome@thesedays.com