As a content strategist, I’m always searching for innovative ways to think about and market usable, intelligent content. This is particularly vital when communicating highly technical information. It can be difficult for hosting providers and businesses in general to stand out from the pack so I thought I’d share my new favorite content marketing hack.
Chaos theory
The cPanel Marketing Team interacts with a variety of stakeholders at cPanel, from development to operations, who shape the direction of our efforts. Sometimes these stakeholders request a solution for several concerns at once or set a tight deadline. This scenario could easily mean a string of late nights, a miscommunication bonanza, and/or a slew of irrelevant, unhelpful content.
Enter MoSCoW method
I recently learned about this technique, which has nothing to do with the capital of the same name, at Confab Intensive 2015, an incredible set of deep-dive content strategy workshops.
The MoSCoW method can be a powerful aid in prioritizing deliverables. It consists of four categories: Must Have, Should Have, Could Have, and Won’t Have. In tandem with stakeholder(s), you sort each requirement into the proper bucket to determine the minimal viable output for project completion.
The method forces everyone involved to answer hard questions about the actual issue(s) at hand and get at what’s really necessary to solve them, allowing you to work more efficiently and ensuring stakeholder satisfaction. It’s especially perfect for time-boxed projects with rigid start and finish dates.
From Russia with love
Our team uses a variation of this technique as part of Agile Marketing, but I look forward to incorporating it even further into our workflow. To find out more about the MoSCoW method, visit the Driving Strategy Delivering More (DSDM) Consortium.
Have you used the MoSCoW method to propel your content marketing game? Tell me about your experience in the comments below!
