Seven Insights from Teaching Content Design and Content Strategy

Since 2000, I’ve been running web content design and strategy courses for The Publishing Training Centre.

Over the years, I’ve trained around 2,500 people from all over the world and in all kinds of sectors: publishing and other businesses, government, non-governmental and international organisations.

Here are seven insights I’ve gained:

1. Everyone brings unique skills

Learners come from diverse backgrounds, including marketing, editing, design and technical roles, bringing unique skills to the courses.

They may lean towards organising content or workflow, or paying attention to detail.

They could be confident about writing in plain English, but not structuring multi-channel content. Or they could understand their organisation’s brand tone and voice, but not the terminology that their customers use.

Whether you are a career changer or want to develop your existing strengths, taking a course will build your confidence, and help you transition successfully into content roles.

2. Broken systems lead to poor content

Ineffective systems often lead to poor content. Publishing staff face a variety of challenges – including workarounds, lost time, inefficient workflows, manual processes that delay content updates, fragmented systems hindering team collaboration, and workflows that don’t align with content goals.

Recognising these issues is often the first step toward change.

3. Beware the ‘curse of knowledge’

The curse of knowledge is a cognitive bias where someone who knows something assumes others also understand it at the same level.

I continue to underestimate how mind-blowing these content-design and content-strategy concepts can be:

• how to start with user needs, not what you want to publish, to pull in your audience and make them the main focus
• the inverted-pyramid style of writing
• the F-pattern of reading
• how to advocate for plain language.

When you’ve been working in a field or for a particular organisation for a while, you too may have the ‘curse of knowledge’. Learning the right techniques will help you to break this curse and consider your audience’s perspective, get closer to what your readers need, and not publish what you think they need!

4. Digital publishing has changed, not always for the better

When I began training, the technology was difficult to use. You had to be a bit of a geek to work in web content!

Although publishing tools are now more accessible, this has brought new challenges.

The proliferation of platforms and the constant demand for fresh content often lead to rushed outputs, poorly aligned strategies and diminished quality.

Knowing where your customers are and what they need is more critical than ever to avoid wasting resources on the wrong content in the wrong place, in the wrong format.

Standards must adapt to technology, but some fundamentals have remained timeless – like understanding your audience and crafting messages that meet their needs. By mastering the right techniques, you will better understand what your users require and write content that resonates with them.

5. Not all new ‘shiny things’ are useful

The fundamental principles of content design and content strategy have remained constant, but the tools, techniques and best practices have evolved significantly.

I’ve seen many trends come and go: animating slideshows on home pages, flashing text, inaccessible content, spinning logos, apps and now artificial intelligence (AI).

We must keep in mind our guiding principles when new tech comes along. Which new development or technology improves productivity and is useful to your users and your organisation?

We need to continually improve our ways of working. This includes being aware of how we can make new tech work for us. For example, right now we need to get AI in perspective. It offers both opportunities and challenges to content designers and strategists.

With training, you can adapt to technological advancements without losing sight of foundational principles. It’s important to explore opportunities to integrate innovation while being committed to user needs and organisational goals.

6. Never stop learning and iterating

Feedback is vital. Every training session is a two-way exchange. My courses have changed dramatically since they started over 25 years ago. Many changes have come from participant feedback.

Learning about the current challenges that people working in content face is crucial to continually adapting the courses to keep pace with a rapidly changing content landscape.

7. I’m glad to be part of this smart and generous community!

People make our content design and strategy community. The field thrives on the diversity of ideas, where different perspectives lead to innovative approaches to problem-solving.

Content designers and strategists are constantly curious about what users need and how to meet those needs. They love problem-solving, language, data and evidence. And they are eager to share their experiences and expertise, which makes for an open-minded, supportive, collaborative environment.

Come join us!

Sue Davis is a content designer and content design trainer. She tutors two PTC courses – Building a Successful Online Content Strategy and Writing for Online Audiences. Follow her on LinkedIn.