Creating a Collaborative Content Strategy with Jess Cook

In this episode, Jess Cook (Head of Content and Communications at Island and co-host of "That's Marketing, Baby") shares her innovative approach, and how her experience writing jokes for McDonald's happy meals helped her craft impactful B2B marketing campaigns at companies like Island, Fastly, and Marpipe.

Jess is a Creative and has struck the balance between creativity and data-driven decision-making. In the pod she covers everything from starting with minimum viable content (or MVC) to testing ideas before scaling them up, the significance of cross-functional teamwork in executing content strategies, and how to use humor to make our little B2B world a bit less boring.

The Process

1. Intro and Happy Meal Days (0:00)

2. What is one thing you're world class at? (3:18)

3. Understand Brand Stories and Credibility (5:50)

"First is really understanding the stories that your brand has the unique ability and credibility to talk about."

Identify stories your brand has a unique ability to tell
Root those stories in the product's purpose and vision for the future
Validate your ideas against different pillars and functions within the organization
Talk to people internally and customers to gather insights
Validate the idea with a small piece of content (MVC)
Use channels that will get you good feedback quickly (e.g., social media, email lists)

5. Provide Ownership To The Team (14:23)

"One of my favorite things to do... is bringing all of the teams together. I'm going to present them with the work that's been done thus far... And then I'm going to say, I need your help."

Bring all the teams working on your content together to present your findings
Share a brief with audience information, timing, and other constraints along with guardrails to guide creativity
Give teams a week to brainstorm and develop their own ideas before getting everyone back together to nail down the plan
Ensure plans align with overall goals and available resources

6. Planning and Execution (26:51)

"When in doubt, try to keep the strategy stuff, the high level thinking, the big picture stuff with your team."

Assess the resources needed to execute on your strategy and decide on what gets done in-house (strategy) vs. gets outsourced (production)
Identify key stakeholders and establish a clear process for feedback and approvals
Work with relevant teams to define success metrics based on program goals (e.g., awareness, demand generation)
Monitor performance and gather data to demonstrate value
Use insights to inform future strategies and iterations
Continuously refine and adapt the strategy based on results

7. What's next? (34:30)

Whether you're a content creation expert or you're new to the field, this conversation will help you create an engaging and effective content strategy that gets your whole team involved and that your audience will love.