There’s something rewarding about a good advent calendar as you open each little window or parcel – so why not have an Advent Calendar for Content? It’s only got 15 days – because there are weekends and actual pre-Christmas days and office festivities…
If you follow each day’s tips you’ll have a plan to follow in the week between Christmas and New Year if you’re enjoying a quiet, empty office or something energising to start 2025 with. If you already have a library this is a good way to make sure it’s still doing what it should; if you haven’t got one yet you’ll have a good starting point to work from.
Time allocated – no more than 45 minutes a day and team effort.
- Brainstorm what you want your content library to deliver and where you want it located.
- Make a list of folders needed and/or review the ones already there (no more than three clicks to get to any information). Use this to create an index you can allocate owners to.
- Review your style guide or set out a plan to create one if you don’t have one yet.
- Check each folder/section has an owner (someone to approve the content) and that they’re the right person – add their details to the index.
- Split the folders up across the bid team – if you are the bid team or it’s a small team, get business development and pre-sales involved.
- Go through each folder and see when things were last updated/created – anything older than three years needs a quick check/update – or possibly to be archived or deleted.
- Carry on reviewing, archiving or deleting anything older than three years.
- Spot the duplicates. Aim for no more than two versions of anything unless there is compelling reason to have more. Exercise the delete button.
- Send anything that needs updating to the relevant owner with a brief note of what they need to do to it and a due date.
- Apply the correct styles and templates to anything you’re updating or reviewing.
- Make a list of content to be developed or created and who to contact.
- Contact relevant subject matter experts to make a date to catch up in the quiet week or early new year to discuss what’s needed.
- Draw up a list of infographics to discuss next year.
- Outline a project plan to get on top of the content starting in January.
- Go out with your team for hot chocolate and mince pies before breaking for Christmas and New Year.
And don’t forget to keep track of any feedback from submissions and incorporate this into updates as you work through things.
Kathryn Potter
Kathryn’s experience in bid writing covers sectors as varied as IT outsourcing to financial services, security services to reprographics and construction and rail. She sees content as the cornerstone of proposal development and understands that no matter what, it needs to be relevant and up-to-date.
