Keeping up the content flow: Orchestration in challenging times

These days are a special challenge for all disciplines of communications. The expectations of many target groups towards content and messages have changed considerably. For communicators it is not always easy to strike this new tone in the right manner. So there was plenty of opportunity for our orchestra of corporate content marketing to show that content strategies are not only viable during periods of sunshine. Here are a few of my learnings and personal highlights from the daily work of the last weeks:

Stay safe and dance #LikeABosch

Many people have spent or still are spending much more time at home than before. Completely new channels were used for private and professional purposes, above all video chat platforms. Consequently, corporate communications had to take account of this change in media usage as well and create new suitable formats. With the new "Bosch Global Sofa Sessions" we found a way to mobilize our internal and external community accordingly under the motto "Talking Tech with Smart Minds”.

First episode in April 2020:

Bosch brand protagonist Shawn provided content from his living room. For example, he conducted via video call a world-famous chamber orchestra whose musicians all played from home. A personal highlight for me was Shawn’s second video: in a dance session he shared his best moves in front of his sofa with families from all over the world and inspired them to keep the global spirit despite tough times.

A good content flow is more than good content

A content flow strategy in challenging times requires not only the appropriate content formats, but also three other important levers:

1. Content orchestration: The foundation of content flow management consists of routines mirrored in a common tool platform and regular synchronization via meetings where the various content disciplines and experts come together on a daily and a weekly basis. Here, the situation of a global pandemic was certainly a catalyst that further strengthened the use of digital tools for joint content production and planning. 
2. Content amplification: A second lever for orchestrating the content flow is content amplification. In recent weeks, the experts for paid media had to show not only their data capabilities but also a great deal of tact and sensitivity. In times when press conferences or industry trade fairs are only held digitally, a good content amplification approach helps to secure good content the reach and impact it deserves.
3. Content analytics: Finally, in dynamic times, monitoring and analytics in particular are of decisive importance. This means in the short term by assessing the daily situation and in the medium term by forecasting which content on which platform at which point of time will strike the expected tone. The path to a "new normal" in communications is bumpy and analytics are the best compass to avoid stumbling along this path.

With all these efforts, it became clear to me once more that the decisive success factor was the willingness to go beyond the boundaries of one's own discipline in special situations like these. One challenge that has become especially visible in recent weeks is that some content processes are still optimized for specific media and channel silos. This can be hindering for an overarching content flow that must react quickly and flexibly to situational changes. Thus, the current challenges have shown on the one hand what is possible in an exceptional situation with combined forces, but on the other hand it has also become clear that there we together still need some way to go to optimize content flow across all communication disciplines and channels.