Site content is the bridge connecting your brand to the world, and your audience to their goals. When content is built right, your site is a smooth ride. If your bridge is wobbly (or it’s starting to look more like a maze), we’re here to help.
Content Strategy
UX content strategy that connects the way wi-fi ought to.
What is content strategy? Well, do you know someone that always says the right thing at the right time? They’re magnetic, charming, and only get more captivating the more you talk to them. Content strategy makes you that person.
We make content more meaningful and less work.
Why
Why content strategy?
Our copy fits your brand like a glove. We strategize your written content for function and emotion. Your verbal identity is key, and we can help you set up a system that finds the sweet spot where brand and UX meet in writing.
It’s tricky business translating your business goals into benefit-focused writing that your users will get. Your website will work best if it speaks their language and describes their problems and goals the way they would. We can dig in, unpack your audience, and create a strategy that ensures you connect.
Real talk. Clients who have built sites before don’t tackle their own content strategy (or worse, try to write copy themselves). When we craft your content from the start, we make sure your message drives the experience, and you have more time to focus on the things on your plate that we won’t be able to help with.
Everyone has an opinion about content and (for some reason), they’re always strong opinions. Our content strategy process ensures every stakeholder is heard, subject matter experts don’t get dumbed down, and all your internal authors have tools to write seamlessly. Come time to review writing, there are no surprises.
If you’re driving traffic to your site, but it’s not talking about what anyone is interested in, what’s conversion going to look like? Whether you’re selling products, looking for leads, or something else, we’ll learn about what matters most to your readers and ensure your writing helps them get to their goal on your site.
What
WHAT IS content STRATEGY?
Content strategy and design are a problem-solving combo. They drive writing that says what your audience wants to read, and prevent writing from being a huge pain in the ass.
Content design
Think of this as problem-solving with words. We make sure each page on your site says just what your user needs to hear at the right time and in a way they’ll actually read! Plus, this is a lot of hard work we’re taking off your plate.
inventories + audits
The first step to fixing your writing is seeing where it all lives, understanding what works, and deciding what should retire. For all of you content hoarders, this also reveals the hidden stuff you forgot you had laying around.
Governance planning
This is especially helpful if you have multiple internal authors writing your ongoing content. When content is out of date or not published on schedule, it hurts your brand. We can help you get on track and eliminate extra upkeep.
Messaging strategy
A sales pitch and a recommendation from a friend have different vibes, right? We’ll help you identify the value you offer your user, what proof supports it, and express all of that in a genuine way that lets users know you get them.
Voice and tone
Brands with personality serve their audiences better, but you can’t sound fake and need to cater your tone to what they’re doing. Through research, we strategize how to write for your brand consistently and meaningfully.
Copywriting and UX Writing
Copywriting persuades and UX Writing facilitates a specific UX goal. Either way, even if you’re a great wordsmith, having specialists write your site will save time and boost efficacy.
Plus way more services like...
Content Mapping
Content Models
Content Style Guides
Communications strategy
Information Architecture
Modular Content
Persona Development
Testing and Analysis
Script-writing
How
How 36 does content strategy
Whether we’re starting fresh or decluttering content chaos, our mission is to truly get you, your site’s purpose, the voice of your brand, the readers you serve, and ways to empower your authors.
Every client has unique struggles with content and requirements. They also all have audiences with different goals, obstacles, reading levels, and preferred content types. Before we dig in, stakeholder interviews, user research, and workshops help us understand what your readers feel.
We’re not done digging yet. We still need to know all the places your content lives, who maintains it, how content connects, how it performs, and how well it’s presented according to best practices for writing on the web. If you have a secret cache of PDFs somewhere, we want to find that treasure trove now.
Once we totally get you and your market, we can begin to formulate a solution to whatever obstacle you face.
Once we’re familiar with your readers, your goals, and your content, we need to internally define the core problem we’re solving. That might seem extra, but having that alignment lets us formulate an approach for your strategy. We want all the tools in place for a smooth, effective outcome, and this is where we plan that.
This stage is highly collaborative and usually involves our content team working very closely with UX, in particular. After all, the organization of your site is all about ensuring user interaction aligns with content. We get wild, try a bunch of things, and ensure we aren't limiting our ideas.
“Design” really means “a plan for solving a problem.” In this phase, we start solving the problems on your site with content. We identify the flow of the content per page, how to organize important pieces of information, and how content will get users to their goal. With that plan in place we also generate initial writing for you to review.
Through reviews and testing, we polish everything to make sure your site launches with the most impactful content possible. We don't just check voice and tone; we also put the taxonomy, content order, and the text in those microinteractions under the microscope to achieve stellar results.
We've also been creating a plan to make managing your content a breeze. You'll be able to handle it yourself with minimal effort, but remember, we're always just a shout away if you need us. With clear review schedules, helpful content style guides, and future-proof systems in place, you'll be a content master in no time.
Where
Content Design + Strategy Work
Our portfolio speaks volumes, even if you skim through.
You can’t fix a badly-written site with design, and web writing isn’t good if users don’t want to read it. Content is a big deal.
Brian Grossman @ 36 Director of Brand/Strategy and Partner
Who
Our content team
Our strategists and writers focus on crafting a genuine voice without forgetting it needs to resonate with your user.
Quick Bio
Only four words? Seriously?
Brian Grossman
Partner, Brand / Strategy Director, Birds
Only four words? Seriously?
Quick Bio
Write writing worth reading
Zac Simon
Copywriter / Content Strategist, Button-Masher
Write writing worth reading
Need some content help?
Got questions about content strategy with 36? Give Steve, one of our managing partners, a buzz.
Huh?
Frequently asked questions
Think of it like this: visitors on your site form an impression of you and your business in a flash, based on the design. But what brings them there in the first place? They're coming to read your content.
Design and writing work together to create the overall experience. If you wait until the very end to write your content, you might not have a clear plan to cover everything you want to say. Imagine your content needs a specific layout so it can be read easily, but it couldn’t have been handled in the design phase because no one knew what the content was. This can lead to costly rework later on.
Content isn't just a big part of UX, it's crucial. By letting content and design develop together, you're setting your product up for an amazing launch and stellar results.
You're not alone! Most client teams have at least one amazing writer on board. But hear us out:
You or your writer probably wears other hats. When clients handle the writing, it often gets pushed back due to other priorities. This means content isn't ready when needed, and the design has to adapt on the fly. If we craft the content, the design can be built around what you need to say, not limited by what hasn't been written yet. Plus, our writers are only focused on your site—meaning they aren’t juggling tons of things like you probably would be.
Web writing is also a whole different beast. People scan websites, they don’t read them. Our content strategists and writers are masters of saying the right thing at the right time, making your content clear, engaging, and easy to digest. Even if you’re a fantastic wordsmith, it’s better to have a specialist lend a hand.
This is a tough one because there's an ongoing conversation about this distinction. Here's how we see it:
Content strategy is all about making sure your content is consistent, effective, and follows core principles that tie everything together. This keeps your content cohesive with your brand, clear, and easy to maintain.
Content design, on the other hand, focuses on the logical read order of each individual page. We make sure the content has a clear path for readers to follow and is presented in a way that gets results and keeps users engaged.
This is a good question and it’s one that comes up a lot because the word “content” is so messy.
Content strategy for UX is the process of making sure that the writing you have on a website is easy to read, easy to understand, meaningful to your audience, and easy to maintain. Your goal is to create a system for written content that says the right thing at the right time to help users move toward their goal.
Content marketing is a digital marketing approach that relies on social media, video content, blogs, newsletters and a number of other things. In content marketing, “content strategy” is often used to refer to the strategy behind content creation on social media.
We collaborate with outstanding PR firms that excel in crafting compelling messages. However, website content demands optimization for user experience too. Our priority is ensuring your site content is charismatic, clear, easy to navigate, and conversion-driven. We also focus on optimizing content for search engines and streamlining content governance. From our perspective, the best approach is for us to work together, combining our strengths to deliver the best service possible to you.