Developing a Strong Content Strategy
by Jayson Miller
A good content strategy isn’t about writing more. It’s about making information clearer, more useful, and easier to act on for the right audience at the right time. Whether it's supporting a global product launch or onboarding new users, good content strategy is what turns content from noise into a meaningful experience.
I’ve seen this play out again and again in my work across industries, from developing content for technology tools to nonprofit training programs or consumer products. Strong content strategy helps teams scale across platforms, reduces confusion, and improves adoption and engagement. Below are some examples of how to approach developing a strong content strategy in a way that works, with real examples from my own experience.
Start with the User
Content strategy begins with understanding who you're trying to reach. It's sometimes tempting to rely on guesswork, but content is only effective if it reflects the needs, challenges, and concerns of the audience it's intended for.
At JPMorgan Chase, I worked within the UX team supporting the rollout of infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) tools used by engineers and product teams. Before creating any content, I mapped user journeys and analyzed internal metrics and support tickets to identify common frustrations while also conducting interviews with product users to understand what they most cared about.
This research informed everything from onboarding flows to documentation structure. It helped align priorities across design, product, and engineering, and ensured the content actually addressed what users needed.
Create Useful, Targeted Content
Once you understand your audience, the next step is to create content that solves real problems. It’s about offering something useful, something that answers a question or reduces effort.
While promoting product adoption and engagement at JPMorgan Chase, I worked with product leads to script demo videos, write benefit-driven articles, and develop walkthroughs that simplified complex technical workflows. I also developed relevant content that packaged tool updates alongside tips and real-world use cases tailored to specific user needs. These assets were integrated into onboarding flows and shared across internal platforms, giving users practical guidance they could apply immediately.
These efforts contributed to a 3x increase in product adoption across target regions and a sustained increase in engagement with help center content following campaign rollout.
Design for Clarity
Even the best content needs the right delivery. Structuring and presenting information clearly across interfaces, websites, help centers, and other touch points is critical to ensuring it can be used effectively.
One example of this from my time at JPMorgan was when we noticed that new users were dropping off midway through project onboarding. To help ameliorate this, we partnered with product design teams to streamline the interface and rewrite key steps in the onboarding flow. We clarified configuration tasks with more intuitive labels, introduced progress indicators, and embedded help content directly within the user journey.
Improving layout and copy made the product easier to use and more likely for new users to successfully complete project initialization. These updates not only improved the onboarding experience, they also reduced the time it took for users to start seeing value from products.
Build Systems That Scale
To maintain quality and consistency across teams and platforms, you need more than good content. You need systems.
I created content systems at JPMorgan that included reusable templates, tone and voice guides, messaging kits, and launch playbooks. These systems supported multiple product teams across different regions, helping them stay aligned without duplicating effort. I also partnered with stakeholders to conduct copy audits and to establish terminology libraries that reduced confusion across platforms.
These systems helped enable other teams to reuse the content. Email and website engagement increased during campaign periods, and other departments began using the same playbooks and templates to maintain consistency in their own communications.
Good Content Strategy Sets the Foundation
Content strategy is about more than words. It’s a foundation for better product experiences, clearer communication, and stronger engagement. When you begin with user insight, create targeted and helpful content, design for clarity, and build scalable systems, the result is a content engine that supports adoption, collaboration, and long-term success.