Publishers of all sizes are struggling with greater content demand, fewer resources, and tighter deadlines (not to mention the myriad of publishing formats and channels to target). It’s creating a complexity for developing published content that’s exponentially greater then ever before. Creating and publishing content with the status quo isn’t working anymore for many organizations; it’s time to evaluate and rework content workflows to suit the relevant challenges of publishing today. Below are five things to consider when reinventing your content workflow.
- What Are You Publishing Content For?
When is the last time you asked that question? The answer has certainly changed over time for some publishers, but most are still working in the same process models they’ve worked in for years, without reviewing how they can work better. Clarify your publishing objectives and be sure that everything you do points at those objectives, not older objective from years ago – aim to meet your mark. - Have You Taken a Hard Look at Roles?
Is your staff still working in the same way, performing the same tasks, as they have in years past? If they are, you need to take a hard look at why. Dynamic publishing organizations have had to take a fresh look at who does what. They also need to factor in new content creation demands. Who can best contribute to the creation of content and what point in a process? How can you minimize the number of interactions any individual needs to have with content being created? Are certain roles performing “supporting” tasks that other roles could do directly on their own to reduce duplication of effort? Every role needs to be accountable for creating more complete content, and rely less on a support team to assist with completion of content. Ask your teams what they think they could be doing differently – you may be surprised by the feedback. - Prepare For Create Once, Publish Many.
Break out of the mindset that you’re creating a one-time masterpiece that will live in a page. Retrain your teams to understand that this is just the first stop on the content conveyor belt (yes, how many times have you all heard me say that?). Content reuse opportunities are extensive if you are thinking about your content in the right way – online, digital, syndication, recompiling as custom or special interest publication, etc.Think about the content being created in a broader perspective, and plan for a longer life-cycle when “cultivating” it. - Condense Your Process and Reduce Unnecessary Involvement.
Few publishers still have the luxury to continuously adjust or refine content to their liking until they decide they are done. This approach is disruptive to all involved, and counterproductive to today’s content demands. Focus on content completeness, a full content package hand-off, early on, so that editing and “refinement” can occur with all the necessary pieces and parts intact. This opens the opportunity to reduce the interaction required in later proofing processes by the whole team, and allows the content “development” team to move on to the next set of new content. The goal is more complete, relevant content with less effort. - Keep The Content Business Demands and Shifts Visible and In The Forefront.
Your teams will be much more invested and willing to change if you are clear about where the business needs to go. So many publishers keep these details behind the curtain, and keep their teams in the dark. Publishers that keep their teams informed see greater buy-in and support. If performing tasks differently, or contributing in a different way helps to drive the bottom line, keep layoffs at bay, and strengthen the potential for direct financial benefit – people get it.
Let us know how you’ve reinvented your content workflow, and where you’ve made progress. Many are doing it right, and we’d like to hear your success stories. Do tell!
Posted by: Margot Knorr Mancini
