Why a new CMS won't solve your business problems

One common mistake in any organisation is to buy a new CMS to solve content challenges. 

Heavy investment is usually what you’ll need to put a new CMS in place. But you can easily waste a lot of time and money if you put the new CMS in and you still have underlying issues and no improvement.

Basically, a new CMS won’t solve the real problem. 

You need to identify what problems you’re really having. In other words, use evidence of people’s online behaviour to understand what you really need. You can then organise your operations around meeting those needs.

So don’t jump to buy a new CMS. Start with user needs. Find out how our user-centred approach can solve your content challenges.

Do your research before making any decisions

Before you decide to buy a new CMS, take a step back and do some research with your audience. Gathering insights is crucial to understanding the specific needs of your users. 

Understanding what your users (and your organisation) need will help you to: 

• prevent costly mistakes and inefficiencies down the line
• choose which path is right for your organisation’s goals
• ensure a seamless user experience 

Let’s explore the benefits of user research and understanding user needs to avoid pitfalls.

Understand the core issues

When you do user research, you can identify people’s needs and the challenges your organisation is facing. 

These challenges include:

• inefficient workflows (bottlenecks, silos and duplication of effort)
• lack of content governance (who decides what, when and how across your team)
• lack of quality control, for example, wrong usage of brand guidelines
• collaboration issues, such as misunderstandings between your content and design teams when. stitching content together
• insufficient training and resources, such as not being aware of the full capabilities of your existing CMS

At Llibertat, we usually set up workshops over a couple of days to help your team pinpoint the root causes and pain points. We use insights from data and analytics to identify areas for improvement.

By streamlining and improving processes and workflows, quality, efficiency and productivity can rapidly improve, no matter which CMS you choose.

Doing user research first will help you assess if a technological solution, like buying a new CMS, will solve problems in your content creation process.

Invest in content strategy

Without a solid content strategy, even the most advanced CMS will fall short. 

Start by defining your content strategy and objectives. 

Identify and include all of the following:

• your target audience
• messaging
• channels
• business goals

Define content strategy and objectives so you can understand: 

• what content you need to create
• the purpose it serves
• how it aligns with your brand narrative

Making content strategy decisions helps you get the most of whatever CMS you are using.

Build a content governance framework 

Organisations often purchase a CMS to allow multiple users to contribute content.

However, buying a CMS without proper content governance (who gets to say no to what and when) means you’ll lack control over content quality and accuracy. 

Even worse, multiple people publishing without clear governance creates inconsistencies, errors and confusion. This can frustrate your audience, damage your brand reputation and lower your SEO ranking.

Putting in place clear governance and enforcing it helps to maintain consistency and quality across all channels. This includes content standards, guidelines and ownership. 

You may find that what your organisation really needs is a content editor who monitors the development process. 

Invest your time and energy in hiring or training an expert on content strategy, design and governance. This will help you get the most out of your CMS.

Use online tools to improve your current CMS 

Your current CMS should allow you to customise, extend, and integrate it with other tools and platforms.

For example, you can integrate analytics tools to collect, visualise, and interpret data. This data includes:

• traffic
• engagement
• conversions
• retentions

Online tools such as Trello or Monday.com, and content management tools like GatherContent, are cost-effective solutions that enhance content efficiency and quality.

By adopting a content governance framework, you can seamlessly integrate these tools and processes alongside your existing ones.

Train your team

You can make much better use of your money training your content team rather than investing heavily in a new CMS. 

In the end, a CMS, like any technology, is just a tool. Nothing more and nothing less. You need a high performing content team, content design expertise and governance to make the most of your CMS. 

Get all of that, rather than just some new technology, and you’re much more likely to achieve your organisation’s goals. 

Get in touch so we can help you with your existing CMS, governance or content quality.