Why content ideas die in meetings (and how strategy fixes that)
Whenever I work with content and social teams, something becomes fairly clear after one or two strategy sessions. They're often people who are full of good ideas, and know quite well how to cut through in platforms. The problem often isn't lack of novel thinking whatsoever.
It's that internal stakeholders aren't always sure if that level of thinking is right for the brand. Not because they don't get content or social (though sometimes that happens), but rather they didn't have the mental model to make a decision about whether it's right or not.
In short, the problem often isn't lack of disruptive ideas, but lack of defensibility around those ideas. And sometimes that is the role of strategy, to help create the right conditions and language that help teams defend ideas and do the right thing for the brand's comms.
A few ways in which you can make content ideas more defensible:
Articulate how a social idea delivers on a specific comms objective, e.g. "helps build value perceptions for customers"
Link a content idea to a brand pillar that is in itself tied to something that feels differentiating for the brand, e.g. "we give customers 24/7 access whereas our competitors do not"
Interpret brand platform language in a way that feels native to a social or content-led environment, e.g. "a content series featuring food loving celebrities" (Waitrose just did this)
Make sure most of your content initiatives have a credible link to at least one or two identified category entry points, e.g. "this meme connects to the problem our product solves"
This sort of stuff isn't rocket science, but it's useful to know upfront what type of value you're adding to a project. I find myself now asking over and over again, "what's the role of strategy here?", and I believe it's one of the healthiest things to do as a project progresses.
Because sometimes yes, our job is to show up and blow things wide open and challenge the client and cause some mischief. But some other times, all that creative energy is already there, we just need to create the conditions to help teams defend work among their peers and bosses, so they can have permission to do what they do best.
