Content modeling, and why you need it

Knowing what you need ahead of time is useful in almost every situation.

If you’re planning on opening a restaurant, for example, going in blind isn’t an option — you need to know what dishes you’re cooking and what ingredients you need before you open.

But there’s more to it than “knowing what you need.” How are your ingredients going to be prepared? Where will you store them to minimize waste and ensure they’re available later? What equipment will you need to cook your dishes?

The focus shouldn’t just be on the food, either. How will you set up your kitchen so chefs can work efficiently on the line? How will serving staff pick up finished dishes and bring them to customers quickly and safely?

The point is, you’ll need to think about how all the things, people, and processes fit together to make the space a functional (and, hopefully, popular) restaurant — rather than just a room full of ingredients and utensils.

That’s similar to the way that successful brands plan their digital ecosystems. Rather than scrambling for the means to create a new experience the moment the opportunity or need arises, they set out the creative requirements for their content platforms by developing content models.

In this post, we’re going to examine that process: we’ll define the term content model, set out the benefits of building one, and explain why the right content platform will help you get the most out of yours.

What is content modeling?

Like busy commercial kitchens, content operations need to be efficient, accessible, and, ultimately, help brands generate engagement and value from their content.

But that’s easier said than done; so how does a brand manage its digital content operations? How does it even know if they’re going to perform in the way it needs them to?

That’s where content modeling comes in.

In the broadest sense, a content model is a shared plan for the inventory and infrastructure a brand needs in place to facilitate the creation, review, publication, and maintenance of its digital content.

Your content model is the framework on which you’ll build digital experiences for your audience. It will help you establish what content you need to meet customer needs and expectations across your website, app, email, social, and other platforms, and how you’ll store, build, and work with content within that environment. That might require diagrams, spreadsheets, or mocked-up web pages; what’s important is that the people responsible for the project understand how the different pieces work together.

In fact, while we’re talking fundamentals, let’s take a closer look at the components of your content model.

Content types

Your content model needs to include an inventory of the types of content that will populate your digital ecosystem. Going back to our kitchen metaphor, think of content types as the dishes you serve — which, in a restaurant, might be appetizer, entrée, dessert, and so on.

In digital marketing, content types are what you’ll be publishing. These vary by brand and by the purpose of your site, but might include blog posts, news articles, product pages, events pages, and so on. 

Content attributes

These are the structural attributes — or fields — that make up content types and define the relationships between them. In our metaphorical restaurant, the “entrée” dish-type, for example, could be structured as “protein,” “side,” “sauce,” and “garnish.” A particular entrée might have “chicken” as its protein while another has “fish,” but the attributes that define each entree on the menu remain consistent.

In your content model, depending on editorial preferences, a “blog” content type might be structured as “header,” “hero image,” “author bio,” and “body text.” Similarly, a “product page” might be structured as “header,” “image,” “description,” and “review.”

Content attributes provide a framework for spinning up new pieces of content quickly. Just like our chefs know every entrée needs a protein, our content editors know every blog needs a header, an author bio, and body text — and they can follow that structural guide for every content type.

Content relationships

Content types within a model relate to each other on a one-to-one or one-to-many basis. For example, in one system, a “blog post” content type might have only one author, while in another it might have multiple. And the content types within a “blog post” might have their own relationships: “author bio,” for example, might have a relationship that points to “business unit.” 

Content relationships have a lot of utility. For example, we can use the “author bio” content type to identify all blog posts in our ecosystem that share specific attributes. And, we could use that information to present those blog posts in a “Suggested content” field at the bottom of the page to help users find more from the same author.

Attributes are changeable too. So when an author’s “job title” attribute changes, there’s no need to rebuild the entire author bio or trawl through the back catalog of blog posts — we can just update that field on the author’s bio, and the change is reflected everywhere that the bio was used, across every channel.

Putting the pieces together

By defining content types, structures, attributes, and relationships, we’re shaping the look, feel, and function of our digital ecosystem. But content models don’t come pre-assembled, and every brand’s content model is unique; we need to think about how to arrange those components together to deliver on the goals of our content strategy.

On paper, putting the pieces of a content model together is straightforward. Certain things are (reasonably) intuitive: a blog typically needs a header, author info, and text, and a product page needs a product name, description, and specifications.

You can build the foundations of your model by bringing together stakeholders with technical and nontechnical perspectives (editors, marketers, developers, etc.), and then discussing what your digital ecosystem needs, and what your technology can deliver. You’ll eventually converge around a model that meets everyone’s needs (inevitable compromises notwithstanding) and that gives you a blueprint for building your system.

Adapt and change

Remember: Your content model shouldn’t be a one-and-done, box-ticking exercise. You’re relying on it to shape your ongoing content operations so you’re going to want it to be able to roll with the turbulence of your digital landscape — just like we’d need to change up our restaurant’s menu every now and again. Yes, we’d need the expected customer “favorites” to keep things ticking over, but we’d also need to add seasonal dishes or to respond to customer feedback. 

In the same sense, your model has to help you adapt and change your content experiences to keep pace with customer preferences, tech innovations, and evolving search engine optimization (SEO) trends over the long term. If you’re keeping an eye on LLMs, for example, you’ll know how valuable generative engine optimization (GEO) is becoming, with brands working hard to ensure their content is featured in outputs from GenAI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.

In other words, your model shouldn’t be an endpoint for thinking about content; it should be a launchpad for new projects, new ideas, even new ways of working.

Capture and explore

Another way of approaching your model-building process is to first capture what your digital ecosystem is (online store, blog, news outlet, recipe archive, portfolio, etc.) and then, following that, explore different ways to use it to deliver experiences to your audience.

In our restaurant, for example, if we did plan to spice things up with seasonal dishes, rather than buy new ingredients, the smarter play would be to use existing stock to whip up the new offerings and then promote them on the specials menu. 

And in the context of a digital ecosystem, if we wanted to create an entirely new content type, say “speakers,” for an upcoming event, we could actually leverage our existing “author bio” content type, with a simple adjustment, to serve that purpose, and then add any additional fields as needed. The flexibility that we’ve built into our model’s foundation means that we don’t need to start any intensive development work when we need it to do new things — we can stay nimble, adapt to the surprises of the marketplace, and spin up new content quickly. 

Experiment, create, repeat

If our model holds up under that kind of pressure, we can start leveraging it to experiment and personalize, push our content experiences further, and even start taking some risks. 

How exactly do content models help brands do that?

Well, maybe we want to determine which version of a blog headline chimes with readers. We could quickly set up an experiment (perhaps with the help of a testing tool) in which multiple versions of the headline are shown to different subsets of our audience and then track click-through rates to find the winner. And for personalization, maybe we start using IP addresses to identify users by location, and then use that information to highlight events closest to them or most convenient for them as they browse. 

The possibilities are only limited by our creativity because our model is flexible enough to help us build a huge variety of content experiences, and scale them for our audience, without pouring hours of development work and marketing effort into each new project.

This is what we mean about content models being launchpads: If you have an idea for a new content experience, a good content model should help you realize it — without you having to to spend huge amounts of money or redirect inordinate amounts of time and resources.

Make better models with Contentful

Hopefully we’ve made the value of content models a little clearer — and the decision to start modeling a little easier.

Long story short: If you’re operating at scale, and your business is growing, a content model is going to be an advantage, now and in the future. And, whether you're a startup exploring a digital frontier, or an established enterprise organization going through digital transformation, Contentful can help you create your model. 

Our platform unlocks the possibilities of structured content without placing heavy technical demands on marketing and editorial teams. You’ll be able to model content experiences from end to end, and then refine those experiences down to the smallest detail using native personalization and localization tools, and a suite of AI automations.

In other words, if you’re ready to start piecing your content model together, we’re here to guide you. 

You can get started by reading more about working with structured content, learning how some of the world’s biggest brands use the Contentful Platform, or by getting in touch with our sales team to discuss your next step.

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