Editorial
The Gist
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Effective content management. A well-defined content management strategy minimizes content debt, aligns with your brand voice and drives engagement.
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Streamlining content operations. Implementing repeatable processes enhances operational efficiency and reduces time spent on recreating or searching for content.
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Navigating AI and automation. While AI can streamline content creation, a strategic approach that integrates technology with clear processes keeps content relevant and impactful.
You are your content. Content is more than just the words and images on your website or the text in the emails you send. Content is the totality of your brand's voice, image, values and storytelling. Every piece of content — whether it’s website copy, product descriptions, blog articles, videos, social media posts, paid media ads or push notifications — influences how your clients perceive you. Your content is your strategic differentiator.
This is as true today as it was 25 years ago. So why is it important to keep talking about content again? Isn't the "content problem" solved by generative AI? Don't we have more content today than ever in the generative AI era?
Well, precisely because of that, it is even more important to talk about content and content debt today. Because yes, we do have more content around, but that just makes your content gaps more visible and more painful. Creating content more easily does not mean that you are generating better content, nor does it mean that content is being well managed and distributed. Generative AI has brought a "sea of sameness" that brands need to be aware of.
Table of Contents
- Why Do You Accrue Content Debt?
- When Content Debt Derails Your Strategy
- The Pitfalls of Content Chaos and AI Missteps
- Clearing the Path to Strategic Content Success
- Core Questions Around Content Management Strategy
Why Do You Accrue Content Debt?
If your content management strategy falls short, no amount of budget or flashy technology will improve it. So, let's talk about content debt. It's a concept borrowed from the software space called technical debt. Technical debt happens when you rush software to market, usually neglecting to follow best practices and refactor outdated code, which will cause costly problems later.
Content debt works much in the same way. By taking shortcuts on your content management strategy, you end up with short-lived content that will cause pricey crises down the road.
There are many ways in which you can accrue content debt. Most of them come from understandable external pressures forcing marketing teams to cut corners, which will save time (and sometimes budget) in the short term but lead to significant issues in the mid and long term. Eventually, your internal teams, tech stack, wallet and clients will feel the adverse effects of deficient content. Here are some examples of common scenarios that accumulate content debt.
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Underestimating meta-information: Skipping fundamental aspects of content management such as tagging and taxonomies, or otherwise taking them lightly.
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Broken content pipeline: Failing to implement repeatable processes for content creation, review and publication (i.e., having a weak digital content supply chain).
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Overlooked essentials: Putting off non-functional aspects of your content (i.e., translation, accessibility and personalization) can severely limit its impact. Think of your content like a road. Simply laying asphalt isn’t enough to call it a day. You also need clearly painted lanes, well-placed signs and proper safety measures. Without these elements, even the best-built road (or piece of content) will fail to guide and engage its intended audience.
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Neglecting a cohesive, long-term tech strategy: Without a disciplined approach to your tech stack, you'll end up having duplicated systems, siloed content and fragmented team processes. Over time, these disjointed systems compound into significant content debt, which drains resources and undermines brand impact.
When Content Debt Derails Your Strategy
In software, the consequences of technical debt can span from minor bugs to catastrophic failures such as security breaches and collapsed sites. In marketing, the impact of content debt also spans from poorly translated assets on a page to costly compliance liabilities. Below are some of the mid-term consequences of content debt in your organization:
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Poor brand experience. Your current and potential customers interact with your content long before they interact with your product or service. If your content is irrelevant, outdated or inconsistent, you'll deliver a subpar brand experience, even if your actual offering is stellar. Think of a piece of high-quality furniture that ships with poorly written instructions. No matter how great the furniture is, the user experience will be frustrating. In the same way, your content is the face of your brand, and it shapes your customers' perceptions and interactions.
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Higher production costs. The more scattered your content is, the more time your team will squander searching for relevant files, recreating assets and patching gaps. Plus, many of your assets will go underutilized, forcing you to invest in creating even more content.
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Low conversion rates. Even if your original content is high-quality, treating it ineffectively (i.e., disjointed workflows, inconsistent messaging and poor channel coordination) will prevent it from reaching the right audience at the right time, even if you have the infrastructure to deliver it correctly. This leads to higher drop-off rates and lower conversion opportunities.
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Sluggish time to market. In a fast-paced world, speed is a big advantage, and being able to deliver content to the market quickly can be a strong differentiator.
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Inability to fully leverage technologies. When you mix good content with good data, you open a door of possibilities. Emerging technologies such as AI-driven personalization, advanced analytics or sophisticated multivariate testing rely on good data and content. If your content is disorganized, these tools won't be able to use it effectively, reinforcing the old adage, “garbage in, garbage out.”
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Missed opportunities. The most significant impact that organizations with high content debt suffer is opportunity cost. As opportunity cost is difficult to measure, companies can be blind to their lost opportunities simply because they were not aware of them. Even with great content pieces, like relevant case studies or product guides, if they’re not found and presented at the right time, it becomes expensive content that does not convert.
Related Article: 4 Surprising Benefits of Content Planning
The Pitfalls of Content Chaos and AI Missteps
Every marketer will agree that good content is a fundamental aspect of their success. But good content doesn't come by default. It is a strategic endeavor, and as such, it must follow a holistic organizational alignment.
Here are some common traps that I've seen large companies fall into when they are not intentional about their content management strategy. These will lead to content debt if not appropriately treated.
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Assuming AI content generation will save the day. As with any other technology solution, AI is a tool. This tool will render good results if it is used correctly. Otherwise, it will just amplify the problems. Yes, creating content can be cheaper today, but making sound and relevant content is not.
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Ignoring organizational strategy. Content has a technical side, which is where your digital content supply chain or content operations come in. But there’s also the strategic side. Your content, its tone and its style reflects your brand. Tools can help manage and distribute it, but they can’t define it. Your content must still align with your brand’s voice.
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Over-reliance on software solutions. A solid tech stack will go a long way, but it won't replace a solid content management strategy. It's just a piece of it. Software implementations should go hand-in-hand with transparent processes and a well-defined workflow.
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Not thinking about your content supply chain. Understanding your content supply chain encourages your organization to approach content consistently. While content creation involves significant artistry and domain expertise, that content still requires a specialized set of tools and processes to make the most of it.
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Lack of repeatable processes. Not thinking in a structured way about your content will result in each iteration needing a bespoke approach, and customization is always time-consuming and expensive. When you put processes in place, you allow the opportunity for "tactical" optimizations that facilitate and expedite processes.
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Underestimating the importance of training. It's easy to believe that training is a one-time effort during onboarding for a content tool, whether it is a new CMS, an AI-writing tool or a translation service. The tricky assumption of "it's user-friendly" or "everyone will just pick it up" is a dangerous one. Solid, constant training and skill development will help your team adhere to best practices, consistency and structure. Good tools and good processes, when used poorly, will deliver poor results.
Related Article: From SEO to AI Visibility: Luis Fernandez’s Blueprint for Content Discovery
Clearing the Path to Strategic Content Success
Content is truly the king of your communication efforts. It will act as the primary conduit for how your audiences discover, understand and engage with your brand.
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Creating great content is one piece of the puzzle, but it’s also important to structure, govern and distribute in an optimized way. Content debt accumulates when these tasks are constantly neglected, which leads to increased costs, disjointed customer experiences and missed growth opportunities.
Core Questions Around Content Management Strategy
Editor's note: Here are two important questions to ask about content strategies.
What is content debt, and how does it impact businesses?
Content debt refers to the accumulated challenges that arise from shortcuts in content management strategy, like inconsistent messaging, poor metadata management or outdated workflows. It impacts businesses by increasing production costs, delaying time to market and reducing content effectiveness. Addressing content debt requires robust processes and alignment with a long-term strategy to make sure content remains impactful and efficient.
Why can’t AI alone solve content issues?
AI is a powerful tool for generating and managing content, but it amplifies existing problems without a strong content management strategy. Overreliance on AI without structured workflows and clear organizational goals can lead to a "sea of sameness" and ineffective content distribution. Success comes from blending AI capabilities with disciplined processes, skilled teams and a clear vision for content operations.
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