In episode 92 of The Content Strategy Experts podcast, Elizabeth Patterson and Alan Pringle share how you get started with a content strategy project and what you can do if you really don’t have a solid grasp on your needs.

“It’s about opening yourself up to getting feedback from someone who’s done this stuff before, and may come up with some solutions that you didn’t necessarily consider in your own thinking.”

–Alan Pringle

Related links: 

* Before you begin a content project

Twitter handles: 

* @alanpringle

* @PattersonScript

Transcript:

Elizabeth Patterson:                   Welcome to The Content Strategy Experts podcast, brought to you by Scriptorium. Since 1997, Scriptorium has helped companies manage, structure, organize, and distribute content in an efficient way. In this episode we’re going to talk about what options you have when you know you need a content strategy but can’t get a handle on your needs.

EP:                   Hi, I’m Elizabeth Patterson.

Alan Pringle:                   I’m Alan Pringle.

EP:                   Today we’re going to discuss how you get started with a content strategy project and what you can do if you really don’t have a solid grasp on your needs. I’ll kind of start things off and just share that when we have introductory meetings with potential clients, there’s often a problem or a pain point that they express to us, but there can be a disconnect between understanding what you need to do and what you want to do in order to fix that. Alan, I want to ask you this question. Why do you think it’s common that we see that disconnect?

AP:                   To me, it’s very similar to when you go to the doctor, for example. You have got some pain or ache and you can’t quite figure out what’s going on, because guess what? You’re not medically trained so you go to the doctor and he or she looks at you and says, “Based on these symptoms, here are the systems in your body that could be contributing to that problem.” Again, because you don’t have medical training, the doctor may come back with some suggestions that you would have never have thought of, because guess what? You’re not a doctor. That’s kind of how I see it. You have an issue, a pain and ache, and in this case it’s content related, if you’re talking about content strategy projects, and you go to an expert and say, “We’ve got this going on, how can we fix this and make it better?”

EP:                   And that’s a very good point. I think also there’s a bias there, and it can relate to this doctor analogy too. If you take really good care of your health but you’re having some sort of issue, you might not really think clearly about some other causes and going to the doctor would help you. It’s the same thing with a company. You might be biased because you’re inside that organization and you’re not thinking about it as thoroughly as you should.

AP:                   Right. That gets into the whole third party thing.

EP:                   Absolutely.

AP:                   It’s like you go to a friend for advice. If you have got relationship problems or whatever, or you’re buying a house for the first time, what do a lot of people usually do? They go and talk to a friend who’s been through something similar to get their input on it because they’ve been there. Again, it’s about kind of opening yourself up and your mind to getting feedback from someone who’s done this stuff before,