Content Strategy Toolkit, The: Methods, Guidelines, and Templates for Getting Content Right

by Meghan Casey

In this essential guide, Meghan Casey outlines a step-by-step approach for doing content strategy, from planning and creating your content to delivering and managing it. Armed with this book, you can confidently tackle difficult activities like telling your boss or client what’s wrong with their content, getting the budget to do content work, and aligning stakeholders on a common vision. Reading The Content Strategy Toolkit is like having your own personal consulting firm on retainer with a complete array of tools and tips for every challenge you’ll face. In this practical and relevant guide, you’ll learn how to: Identify problems with your content and persuade your bosses it’s worth the time and resources to do it right Make sense of your business environment and understand your audience Get stakeholders aligned on business goals and user needs Set your content strategy and decide how to measure success Create, maintain, and govern on-strategy content You’ll learn to control your content–and not have it control you. 

Genres: Design, Business, Nonfiction, Technology, Buisness, Web

353 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 25, 2015

Reviews

[Steph Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is pretty much another required for the content strategy reference collection. It makes content strategy understandable and doable for small businesses and nonprofits that might not yet have the budget to pay a strategy firm. It also makes this a little less scary. I would love to sit down and talk with both Megan and Kristina Halvorson. They are pretty much strategy geniuses as far as I can tell.

[Russel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book articulately details an extremely thorough content process. It is written directly for a content producer at an agency or within a large company. If you are not one of those two audiences, you will find a large portion of this book irrelevant. If you are one of those audiences, you may find this book very beneficial on multiple levels. There are numerous tips and tools in addition to the step by step process for how to overhaul a business's content strategy and production. The book covers everything from managing stakeholders to all of the specific elements of creating a top notch content strategy and implementation.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got this book as a reading assignment on my job. It's loaded with valuable tools for the modern content strategist, in fact, the toolkit alone (a Zip file containing a bunch of docs and templates) is worth the price of the book.

I skipped a few sections, since they're pretty specific to the tools being discussed but I'm pretty sure I'll get back to them soon as I'll need to implement some of he tools in the toolkit.

Recommended reference for content managers/strategists.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book answers the second step of content strategy — how? Before you get to this point, it’s best to understand the first step — why? — which you can get from a book like Content Strategy for the Web. All in all, a decent reference guide, but I’d recommend just getting started with CS before you delve into this, and use this book as a way to improve your content strategy process instead of starting from scratch.

[Moniek Zuidema · Rating 5 out of 5]

Iedere content manager moet dit boek hebben. Fijn, helder en toegankelijke schrijfstijl. Bovendien staat het boek vol tips, formats & spreadsheets (die je allemaal kunt downloaden) en die het leven van een content manager écht makkelijker maken ;)

[Travis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-have for any content strategist

An indispensable handbook that conveys the full depth and breadth of content strategy, complete with realistic examples and ready-to-use tools. I return to reference this book often. One of my favorites about this topic.

[Thomas Van Til · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very hands-on content strategy to-do book.

It's useful, but a bit boring. Maybe it's because I don't like the steps they explain in their approach. Very project management oriented.

[J.R. Dodson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Myopically focused on web-based content and directing people to websites instead of providing resources in the book, this toolkit is strangely devoid of any useful tools.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Casey's book is incredibly helpful for those who have never done content work and for those who have been doing it for a while but may not have any formal training in it. It's laid out in an organized, start-to-finish approach that spends the majority of its time exactly where it should--planning. As with any kind of strategy or project management, it is important to spend the most time in the planning stages so you don't end up wasting time once you start implementing.

The advice in this book is invaluable. Some of it seems really straightforward and obvious, but we could all do with some reminding that it's important to get buy-in from all your stakeholders before you move forward. I'm currently working on organizing a lot of content for an educational-focused MS Teams group for work, and this book has offered really solid guidance about how to think through the entire strategy so we can get the most out of what we end up posting--for what we need folks to know and for what they want to know. Highly recommend if you're embarking on a project like this.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been sat on my shelf for a few months as I was intending to read it to increase my knowledge in content strategy, having worked in a content design role. Having accidentally found myself putting together a plan for a client with a view to developing a content strategy, I reached for this and it has saved my bacon. It is so well structured and helpful that I was able to skim through and easily skim through to form an initial proposal before going back to read more detail to flesh it out and propose a timescale/more detailed plan. There are lots of downloadable resources, suggested activities and as a bonus it is all so relatable and easy to read. I highly recommend it for anyone looking at developing their business' content, or that of a client. I will be reusing to form a plan for my own site soon!

[Georgina Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like Kristina Halvorson's book 'Content Strategy for the Web, 'The Content Strategy Toolkit' is both incredibly useful at the same time as being really irritatingly written.

As a cheap way of imparting a lot of knowledge and practical guides that can be repurposed, this book is great, and there's lots of templates and practical examples I'll use to make me better at what I do. It's incredibly good value - essentially Brain Traffic distilling their business and document templates into one - very reasonably priced - book.

On the other hand it is a very irritating read, it's full of cutesy nods to the reader and faux enthusiasm that sets my teeth on edge and just seems quite inelegant compared to Sarah Richards/Winters much more paired back 'Content Design' - which infuses all of her laconic cool into meeting the user need (and getting rid of everything else) in its own editorial.

[Kate Elliott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is excellent and specific. I wish I'd had this when project managing my first content strategy project. Has equipped me much more in terms of understanding how the practices flow together in stages. Definitely will help me be more prepared for schedule building in the future.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Organized way to think about websites and other online media for audience, message, organization.

The book refers to templates online, which I did not download, so I didn't get the full experience.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book. Well written and easy to read.
I would like to have seen more attention given to small businesses.

[Kristina Halvorson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am mad at Meghan for writing this book because now you never have to hire another content strategist. 😭

[Justyna Berzowska · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Content Strategy Toolkit breaks content strategy down into a clear sequence and addresses key points you'll want to pay attention to. It comes with a great set of templates and work samples you can use in your content strategy practice. These pieces will be really helpful to someone starting out or working as the sole content strategist in their organization. The keen analysis and insight will also be useful to those looking to refresh their practice or grow their consulting skills.

[Misty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worth a heavy skim, it's great to get beyond theory to the nuts and bolts of actual implementation. I imagine the real value will come when I'm actually in a position to use the tools. As someone who used to work in a small nonprofit I'm still struggling to see how these content strategy practices scale down.

[Alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding handbook to creating a content strategy and its components. This book helped me tremendously for my content strategy kickoff and continues to help me as we further define the strategy and build a pilot project around that strategy. The templates included online with the book have been invaluable & will continue to help in the coming months. Worth every penny many times over!

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have loved this book much more had I read it before I'd attended several conferences on the subject. For me, there wasn't too much new, but the resources that the book comes with care great. It would be very helpful for someone just starting down the content marketing path.

[Bart De Pelsmaeker · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book provides a solid framework and templates allowing you to start implementing and (internally) selling a content-focussed strategy. For part-time content marketers the last chapters will be quite interesting.

[Katie Pierson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazingly fun-to-read advice and examples of best practices for anyone who wants their online content to make an actual impact. Great stuff by my buddy, Meghan Casey.

[Bartek Krupa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very useful book
Contain many hints and templates that allow better understanding of the subject