Navigate the essentials of client onboarding with a clear, four-step roadmap to project success.
Step 1: The Working Session
The working session serves as the foundation, bringing together key stakeholders: the client, the content production manager, and the quality review specialist. It’s designed to establish alignment on the project’s core aspects, from the overarching purpose of the content to the specifics of production cadence and SEO requirements.
Working sessions are a collaborative space where expectations are set, best practices are shared, and a comprehensive vision for the content is formed. This ensures the production and quality control teams are fully equipped to bring the client’s vision to life.
- Establish content goals
- Define audience, brand voice
- Outline structure, style
- Plan production logistics
- Advise on best practices
Step 2: Preparation
After the foundational working session, the preparation phase translates insights and agreements into actionable documents and workflows. This step is crucial for ensuring that the entire team, from strategists to writers, editors, and designers, has a clear blueprint and timeline for content production.
By developing a comprehensive project brief, content brief templates, and a structured content calendar, teams maintain consistency, meet deadlines, and adapt to project requirements efficiently.
- Develop project brief
- Create content brief templates
- Set up a content calendar
- Build tailored workflows
- Define roles and timelines
Step 3: Team Building
This step focuses on assembling the project team, guided by the detailed plan established earlier. It’s about choosing people who are well-matched to the content’s subject, style, and structure.
Begin with a small, focused team, ensuring they’re fully trained on the developed resources. This approach makes it easier to address initial challenges before scaling the team to your needs.
Setting clear expectations from the start is crucial for a smooth progression to calibration.
- Choose specialized team members
- Train on briefs and templates
- Start small, scale later
- Set clear expectations
- Prepare for calibration
Step 4: Calibration
Calibration is the process of fine-tuning the project’s execution by conducting a limited trial run of the content production workflow. This phase is crucial for identifying and correcting any issues not previously addressed.
Creators follow the briefs and processes closely, with an expectation that some adjustments will be necessary. After content delivery, direct feedback from the client is essential for making precise adjustments to ensure the final output aligns with their vision.
Calibration is iterative; if the initial output isn’t quite right, refine and repeat as necessary. Scaling up happens only after achieving alignment on quality and expectations.
- Conduct trial content runs
- Expect and address issues
- Seek direct client feedback
- Adjust resources as needed
- Scale up cautiously
