How To Scale Content Production By Focusing on Operations

Scaling content marketing operations is a complex challenge. Simply doing more of the same and hoping for better results won’t work. You need a strategic framework to increase output and impact holistically across your organization.

PRIORITIZING CORE GOALS AND AUDIENCE NEEDS

Follow this in-depth advice from top content experts to scale content operations sustainably over time. Stay ruthlessly focused on your core strategic goals and which ones have the highest priority for driving business impact. Keep your target audience front and center in all content efforts. Know exactly who you are speaking to and what actions you want them to take.

OPTIMIZING PROCESSES AND GOVERNANCE

Ensure all content creators, editors, and strategists share a deep understanding of your audience. Align content closely to prompt desired actions from them. Audit content performance regularly to identify strengths to double down on and weaknesses to improve. Have patience; content marketing success takes time to build trust and relationships before driving significant impact.

Optimize processes and governance for consistency across campaigns and channels. Document your current content workflows in detail. This will uncover opportunities for optimization and increased efficiency. It also enables smoother onboarding of new team members into established roles and responsibilities.

BUILDING A SOLID CONTENT FOUNDATION

Implement content governance systems, guidelines, and standards to manage content across platforms. This ensures consistency, accuracy, compliance, and continuous quality control. Conduct regular content audits. Implement performance tracking. Define clear success metrics. You can only improve what you measure, so get the data you need to guide decisions.

PLANNING FOR REACH AND DISTRIBUTION

Think about distribution early when planning content projects. Build detailed distribution plans and budgets as soon as content gets the green light. Otherwise, you risk creating content without the resources to actually reach your target audience at scale. If you will only distribute organically, decide upfront if you’re comfortable making content just for art’s sake, without broader reach.

Before scaling up content output, start with the foundational elements. Set clear content marketing goals aligned with business objectives. Define detailed audience personas and preferences. Establish content guidelines to uphold consistency across channels and campaigns.

MAPPING CONTENT WORKFLOWS AND TECHNOLOGIES

Create an editorial calendar and document all processes for ideating, creating, optimizing, and distributing content. Implement governance practices to establish distinct roles, responsibilities, approval processes, and workflows across teams.

You invest in technology and tools only after these essentials are in place. They will integrate more seamlessly into optimized processes.

EVALUATING CONTENT LIFECYCLES HOLISTICALLY

Take a big-picture view of your entire content lifecycle, from initial ideation to content archiving. Map out each step in detail as it is done today. Identify strengths to leverage and gaps to address. Evaluate your tech stack. Determine how existing tools can streamline and automate processes. Adapt your documented processes to maximize technology capabilities. Don't try to customize complex tech; alter your workflows instead.

LEVERAGING AI TO EXPAND CONTENT PRODUCTION

AI presents many opportunities to scale content operations. Use it to open up new distribution channels. Turn existing podcasts and videos into social posts and snippets. Convert whitepapers and ebooks into blog posts and landing pages using AI tools. Generate on-page content at scale by plugging keywords into AI-powered services. Content writing services use AI to increase output while maintaining quality.

IMPLEMENTING AI THOUGHTFULLY

Create automated talking-head videos from support documents using synthetic media solutions. Build multimedia content by converting webinar recordings into blog-ready transcripts with AI.

When assessing AI, carefully analyze its potential value for each discrete step in your content processes. Even optimizing a few repetitive tasks can compound to make team members more efficient over time. AI should enhance human creativity, not replace it. Unique value comes from connecting with human experiences.

OPTIMIZING EXISTING CONTENT ASSETS AND OPERATIONS

Optimize what you already have before expanding content operations or launching new initiatives. Master traditional editorial processes. Learn best practices deeply and uphold quality standards. Audit the performance of existing content. Identify top and bottom performers to guide efforts.

FOCUSING ON CORE CHANNELS AND CONTENT

Try repurposing and optimizing older evergreen content before creating new assets from scratch. Stop trying to jump on every new trend and platform. Prioritize optimizing the content on your established high-performing channels first. When everything feels urgent, take a step back. Audit content critically. Focus only on what aligns with proven goals and audience needs.

MAKING GRADUAL IMPROVEMENTS TO WORKFLOWS

Maintain a bench of freelancers and agencies to tap for extra bandwidth during busy periods. Avoid over-hiring permanent team members you may have to lay off later. Introduce process changes gradually and positively. Make a case for how they will benefit team members in their daily roles. Avoid top-down directives. Bring teams along collaboratively when optimizing workflows. People don’t like their work being questioned.

BLENDING TRADITIONAL APPROACHES WITH INNOVATION

Blend audience insights, strategy, and empathy from experienced content creators with the scalable capabilities of new tech like AI. Combine human creativity with smart automation for a powerful mix. Align content to analytics but stay human-centered.

REPURPOSING CONTENT ACROSS TEAMS

Find repurposing opportunities in content already created by other departments and business units. Build an editorial board with cross-department reps to spot content overlap and possibilities for multi-channel reuse. This avoids redundant work and makes the most of existing assets.

MAINTAINING ALIGNMENT ACROSS EXPANDING TEAMS

Mind the details when synchronizing disparate teams and workstreams. Setting bold goals won’t align teams; you must get into specifics. Agree on strategies, processes, metrics and responsibilities. Take time upfront to define the path forward. Document workflows. Assign clear roles. Listen to team feedback and continuously refine processes together. This brings cohesion and consistency.

ANALYZING WORKFLOWS TO IDENTIFY EFFICIENCIES

Uncover efficiencies in current content workflows by analyzing how your team completes tasks today. Look at each step's length, where bottlenecks occur, and what causes delays. Determine if bringing more skills in-house could increase output and productivity. If case studies take too long, can you write initial drafts internally and outsource customization?

CENTRALIZING CONTENT OPERATIONS

Identify team members and roles causing bandwidth limitations. How could responsibilities be restructured? What skills gaps need filling to scale efficiently? When teams work in isolation, content takes longer. Centralizing brings efficiency, and consistency and enables reuse. 

Implement an editorial calendar across divisions to coordinate initiatives, promote collaboration, and eliminate redundant efforts. Using a central content management platform aligns workflows across departments and contributors.

BUILDING A STRATEGIC CONTENT TEAM

Even with technology assistance, people drive content operations. Optimize your team structure. Audit current skills. Identify gaps holding you back from scaling efficiently. Look for opportunities to restructure roles and responsibilities based on individual strengths.

HIRING CRITICAL THINKING ROLES

Hire strategically to fill critical thinking and analytical roles. Avoid simply throwing more creators at the problem. Bring on dedicated content strategists to tie efforts directly to business goals and audience needs. Hire data analysts to track performance across channels and offer optimization insights. Staff cross-departmental collaboration roles to break down content silos.

DEVELOPING TEAM CAPABILITIES

Have an in-house content leader who owns strategy, innovation, process improvement, and quality control. Don't spread ownership too thin. Consolidate responsibilities with dedicated leadership. Hire program managers to smooth content production and enable reuse across teams. They also help align sales teams with relevant content assets to close more deals.

CREATING AN INCLUSIVE CULTURE OF LEARNING

Make professional growth accessible to boost team capabilities. Define what success looks like for individuals and teams. Recognize achievements. Offer training resources and mentoring to help team members gain skills. Encourage them to reach their potential. Create a safe space for experimentation and failure without blame. Iterate based on lessons learned.

ADAPTING TEAMWORK AS YOU EXPAND

Revisit how your team coordinates as you expand headcount. More structure becomes necessary. Implement new communication processes and tools to stay aligned on priorities and projects. Define documentation practices so knowledge doesn’t get lost in larger teams. Leverage wikis and libraries.

TAKING A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO CONTENT SCALING

Scaling content operations requires aligning many elements, including strategy, process, team, and technology. It demands a focus on sustainable, long-term growth over quick wins and reactive decisions. Resist jumping at every hot new trend or hiring reactively. Be strategic and patient. Audit current operations and make incremental improvements.

At its core, valuable content comes from people and frameworks laser-focused on serving the audience. Technology should assist skilled creators and connectors, not attempt to replace them. With the right holistic approach, your content operations can scale successfully.