Better Strategy, Better Content, Better Brand

Framing, Simplifying, and Getting Clarity

When the word “strategy” is said out loud to someone in person, you’ll often see a slow fade backwards as they suddenly think of something they absolutely must do immediately.
Many conjure up the terrifying image of a dusty binder on a shelf (usually one of many) filled with multi-colored tabs and diagrams that have not seen the light of day in many moons.
Too many bad things have been done in the name of strategy and Nick Westergaard is here to loudly proclaim that it doesn’t need to be that way anymore!
Nick has helped build better brands at organizations of all sizes—from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies. Sadly, strategizing is experiencing a negative trend among marketers in spite of its proven effectiveness at building content that breaks through the noise.
His straightforward approach to simplifying the daunting task of building a strategy is breathing new life into this important foundation for building a successful brand.

In This Episode

• How a well-documented content strategy plan leads to effective content, brand buy-in, and advocate recruitment
• Why a strategic plan does not mean a big, awful, multiple tabbed binder that collects dust
• How combing through non-digital archives can lead to easy content that fascinates
• Why a successful strategy can result in having a literal paper map in your pocket

Quotes From This Episode

“A documented content strategy helps make sure that we’re producing content that actually does something.” —@NickWestergaard
“If all of us marketers simply turn our content marketing up to 11, we’re going to exceed the eyeballs there are to consume all of this content.” —@NickWestergaard
“You have to be grounded with a strategy that is both business centric and customer aware.” —@NickWestergaard
“If we answer the simple prompts of what, why, when, how, where, and who… we’ll be on our way to having more of a documented strategy than we think.” —@NickWestergaard
“Too many of us pivot to ‘more content is better.'” —@NickWestergaard

“There’s a pretty significant gap between the marketers who can take a business objective—a true business goal—and map their strategy to that and those who cannot.” —@cnmoody

“Think of strategy as a map that gets you from point A to point B, where point B is accomplishing your business objective.” —@NickWestergaard
“If you know where you’re going and can share that with others, it’s easier for them to get on the same page and help you get there.” —@NickWestergaard
“Better content may not always be more content.” —@NickWestergaard

Resources

• Nick Westergaard on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and SlideShare
• Brand Driven Digital
• Get Scrappy: Smarter Digital Marketing for Businesses Big and Small
• The Business of Story Podcast
• The Growth Show Podcast
• Start With Why

What did you want to be when you grew up?

Nick spent a good portion of his childhood drawing, cartooning, and being visually creative, so it’s no surprise he wanted to be an artist when he grew up. While he doesn’t have much time for drawing these days—with a bustling career and kids at home—he finds ways to integrate his passion into his work, most recently by drawing the illustrations for his “Get Scrappy” book and even designing the cover.