Do you sometimes feel like your content is managing you instead of the other way around? Do you find that your content library is full of old, disorganized content that is in desperate need of a refresh? Good news, you’re not alone and we’ve put together a few tips on how to help you regain control of your content.
Keep it on a Cycle
No matter the size of your team, managing content isn’t the fastest or easiest process, but, to ensure you’re using the most current answer within each unique piece of content you’ll want to establish a routine for updating your content to ensure your entire library gets reviewed periodically. By setting up a review cycle for your content it will help you work proactively on content management instead of retroactively.
Catapult has tools to help automate review cycles to make sure content managers are reminded to not only refresh answers but, remove duplicates and get approvals on their entire library on a routine basis.
Assign Ownership
You’re in charge, no you are in charge… wow, this is really how some conversations happen internally when it comes to why the bottleneck occurred. Have you found yourself chasing email after email in an attempt to find out who has the right answers for RFP questions? Or even the fact that you sent a question to someone to answer yet no response has occurred and it can’t get a response but need to express a level of accountability?
This level of disorganization is extremely common and the only solution is to have proper communication channels in place to streamline the workflow experience, track engagement and ensure a successful outcome. Avoid the madness of wondering who is responsible for what by assigning your Writers or Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to the proper content whether within your Library or a Project itself. Depending on the size and structure of your team the way you assign owners to content can vary. One approach might be assigning content to those who will manage gathering updates and approvals from experts. Another option would be to assign SMEs directly to the content they’ll write and approve themselves.
However you decide to implement content ownership will improve the quality and integrity of your responses.
Keep a History
Have you found yourself looking at a piece of content wondering why it looks different from the last time you used it? It could be a matter of another SME making a revision or an update to the content that you made months ago but forgot about. If you make a revision, take note of why the change was made. This provides continuity among teams and ensures consistency if the ownership changes. Archive old versions of your content for future audits and to provide context to other potential users. Keeping track of the logic behind revisions, and documenting content approval saves time and headaches.
Within Catapult we offer functionality that permits commenting, version control and analytics on answers used, no matter the version.
Make it Cohesive
Taking the time to look at content holistically can ensure consistency in voice and style. This doesn’t need to happen every time you go to make an update, start by doing it annually. Group content into large categories and seamlessly review it to make sure everything is cohesive in terms of overall tone, perspective, and format. By doing this, it will make writing RFPs more efficient while increasing readability and quality.
Ask how Catapult can help you manage your content instead of letting it manage you. Request a demo today.
