Content Marketing is not new. Creating good content for the Internet, TV, or print has always been vital for attracting the right audience. Traditionally, content effectiveness was based on rating systems for each medium, for example: Share of Households for TV, Cumulative Audience for radio, and Reach for print.

Digital media has its own metrics, such as clicks, time on page, and website traffic. New methods for judging content have been introduced since AI is integrated into search engines, such as Answer Share and Citation Frequency.

AI has increased the complexity of both creating and measuring digital content. Today, excellent digital content depends on both the credibility of the information and its presentation format. Content needs to be supported by authoritative sources and presented in an easy-to-follow hierarchical format to achieve good results.

AI contains aspects of the proverbial good-news/bad-news dichotomy. The good news is that it should be easier to reach very specific market segments. The bad news is that creating the content requires more research, wordsmithing, and testing.

AI also allows for both much longer search terms and longer results. Longer search terms allow for more precise queries, which require equally precise content. And the longer results may challenge the attention span of audiences used to short answers. (Data shows that results are improved when print is combined with digital media.)

Can I create excellent digital content for you? I think so, but it is not as simple as writing monthly blog posts. We will need to work together to define our audience and our message, and then test variations to find the most effective one.

Thank you for reading this post. Let me know what you think.

There are many clever expressions that support extending the planning horizon beyond weeks or months:

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Benjamin Franklin
“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” Peter Drucker

Strategic Plans Are Never Implemented

But unfortunately, a large percentage of SPs are never completed, and many are totally forgotten after two to three years.

My service does not include leading you through a process of creating a strategic plan. There are many others who provide that service, along with a large body of literature to help you lead the process if you are so inclined.

Revising Strategic Plans

The following are some things that I do to help you.

Determine why the plan was never implemented	a: Poorly conceived, not practical b: Lack of staff c: Lack of commitment d: Force majeure
Salvage portions worth implementing	a: Interview stakeholders b: Create revised plan
Reboot	a: Assess resources and capabilities b: Link plan with daily operations c: Establish realistic timeline d: Assign roles and responsibilities e: Provide oversight

Bibliography

George, B., Walker, R., Monster, J., 2019, “Does Strategic Planning Improve Organizational Performance? A Meta-Analysis”, Public Administration Review, Wiley Periodicals

EIGHT PROJECT FILTERS

1. Don’t create a project casually.
   1. A list of projects that are never completed devalues the importance of Project Work.
   2. Require a preliminary evaluation before concluding that a project needs to be created.  Request a preliminary report from the idea proponent before moving forward.  This should include a brief survey of all those affected by the project’s outcome (stakeholders).
2. Don’t start a project until its objectives and scope are clearly stated in a written plan that has been reviewed by stakeholders. 
3. Don’t start a project without solid, ongoing support from an executive.
4. Don’t start a project before a qualified project manager has accepted the role.
5. Don’t appoint the person who suggested the project as the Project Manager; they probably aren’t qualified for the role, plus the PM needs to maintain an objective point of view.
6. Don’t start a project before the scope is clearly defined. Projects often fail or are finished late because the scope grows.
7. Don’t set unrealistic timelines. Get input from the team when setting the timeline. Unrealistic timelines kill morale before a project is even started.
8. Don’t avoid asking the hard questions. Projects add work beyond daily responsibilities, and people need to commit to the extra time required, which could mean paying overtime.

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