When I worked in-house as a content marketing leader, I never had enough time to deliver everything to the quality I strived to deliver.

Whether it was last-minute requests or late content drafts from contributors, it often felt like the best I could hope for was to just get through the day.

When that's your daily reality, it can feel like a luxury to take the time to document your content strategy—let alone the processes and tools needed to bring it to life.

But here's the thing—until you do that work, you are personally on the hook for remembering everything and reviewing every piece of content to ensure it meets your standards and objectives.

That's a HUGE cognitive load! And, inevitably, you'll slip up. You won't catch that you forgot the return address on that annual event save-the-date postcard. Or that the placement you renewed in that trade publication has an out-of-service 800# on it. And you definitely will eventually forget to notify your sales enablement team about something that they end up getting inbound inquiries about.

After all, you're only human!

Defining and documenting your content governance system is what takes you from that managed chaos to a content program that can scale throughout your organization—while preventing random acts of content.

So, where do you start?

It starts with a few foundational elements—your brand voice, templates, workflows, and taxonomy. With these four pillars in place, you can then work through the rest of your system over time.

But if your daily work life is anything like mine was, finding the time to actually do this work feels nearly impossible.

With all of this in mind, I’m doing something a little different over the next 3 months of #ContentChat that will provide you with an approachable way to start your own content governance journey.

But let me back up for just a moment.

In January, I launched my book, Content Foundations. I've had it on my to-do list to create the audiobook version. But, while walking my Frenchie, Kupo, I had one of those lightbulb moments you just can't ignore.
​
Instead of recording and selling an audiobook, it feels much more on-brand for me, given my lifelong focus on education, to take a different approach to share what I've learned with our content marketing community.

Starting today, I'll be sharing the key elements from my book, chapter by chapter, through my weekly #ContentChat LinkedIn livestreams and podcasts. I won't be reading through the templates and exercises (don't worry!), but you'll get the core elements of the book for free each week.

Mark your calendar and join me each week as we explore Content Foundations—and start building a content system that doesn’t rely on you to catch everything.

Coming Up on #ContentChat

Content Chat is my weekly LinkedIn Live video chat where we dig into real-world content marketing challenges and share practical, actionable ideas. Join me live on Mondays at noon Pacific / 3 p.m. Eastern to be part of the conversation—or RSVP below to get a reminder and jump in when we go live.

Can’t make it? You can always catch the replay wherever you listen to your podcasts.

• ​TODAY, on #ContentChat, I’m kicking off a new 3-month series on Content Foundations—designed to help you move from content chaos to a scalable, sustainable system. We’ll dig into why content governance matters more than ever, what it actually looks like in practice, and how you can start building the foundational elements—like brand voice, workflows, templates, and taxonomy—without overwhelming your already full plate.
• Next Monday, May 11, on #ContentChat, we’ll kick off Part I: Building Robust Documentation by diving into Chapter 1—Defining Your Brand Voice. I’ll walk you through how to move beyond vague descriptors like “authentic” or “professional” and turn your brand voice into clear, usable guidance your team and your AI tools can rely on to create consistent, on-brand content.

Until next time, stay safe and be well!

Cheers,

Erika

​
​
​Erika Heald, Founder & Chief Content Officer​
​Erika Heald Marketing Consulting​
​​
LinkedIn: @erikaheald​
Instagram: @MissErikaSF
​Threads: @MisserikaSF
​Bluesky: @erikaheald.bsky.social​​
​YouTube: @ErikaHeald​