Finding our content
sweet spot
How organisations can change the way they
think about and approach content to become
more valuable digital publishers.
September 2014 Joseph Phillips

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Every time you communicate,
you’re either adding value, or
taking up space.
- Sally Hogshead

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Content is communication.
Every time we publish content we’re either
adding value—or taking up space.

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Valuable communication sparks interactions.
Interactions form connections.
Connections build relationships.

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In the end, an organisation is nothing
more than the collective capacity of its
people to create value.
- Lou Grestner, IBM CEO

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In today’s digital age, an organisation’s
content is what carries and exchanges
value more consistently and powerfully
than anything else.

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But the landscape in which that
communication happens is far more complex
and noisier than it ever used to be…

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How brands used to
communicate (pre-web)
Paid media
(advertising)
Owned
media
(content)
Earned media
(PR)
•Print
•Radio
•TV
•Outdoor spaces
•Media mentions
(print/radio/TV)
•Word of mouth
•Print (brand
collateral,
newsletters,
direct mail)

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How brands communicate
today (post-web)
Paid media
(advertising)
Owned media
(content)
Earned media
(PR)
•Print
•Radio
•TV
•PPC ads
•Banner ads
•Mobile ads
•Social media ads
•Native advertising
•Media mentions
•External
blog/website
coverage
•Social media
mentions
•Word of mouth
•Print
•Websites
•Blogs
•Microsites
•Social media
•Forums
•Email
•Apps

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So if the landscape has shifted, we need to
adapt our mindset, skills, and resources to
meet its needs.
(Otherwise known as: digital transformation.)

The single biggest problem with
communication is the illusion that
is has taken place.
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- George Bernard Shaw

The shift in mindset from
influencing to owning media

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The moment you launch a website, you’re a
publisher. The moment you begin a blog, send
an email, participate in social media, build a
widget, even show up in search engine results…
you are a publisher.
- Kristina Halvorson

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We are all (giving our
best shot at being)
publishers now
Communications used to be about
influencing and paying for media
space—now it’s about owning a
media space.
Before the web came along, to be published was to
have been chosen by an esteemed elite.
If you wished to share your creations with the world at
large, you needed permission.
Your manuscript had to be selected by a publisher,
your reporting had to be validated by a newspaper,
your musical compositions had to be selected by a
record company.
And if a business had messages it wanted to “get out
there” it needed to rely, almost exclusively, on third
party publishing and media outlets to do so. It was
called Advertising, Marketing, and PR.
No longer. The web has empowered
individuals and organisations alike to
communicate directly with their audiences.
And it’s been causing chaos…

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If you want to write, here’s a
blog. Write...If you want to sing
or make videos, well, sure,
YouTube will happily show your
work to the masses...If you
want to share an invention or
fund a project or topple a
government, the connected
economy makes it easier to do
that than ever before. Can you
imagine it getting less open?
This is just the beginning.
Revolutions bring total chaos.
That’s what makes them
revolutionary.
- Seth Godin

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Slapping words on a page won’t ensure good
communication, just as mashing your hands across a piano
won’t make for a pleasant composition.
- Jason Santa Maria

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Publishing content is
easy. Becoming a
publisher is not.
The digital age demands that we shift our mindset from
seeing ourselves as influencers of media channels—to
owners of media channels.
It requires, in other words, that we become digital
publishers.
The inconvenient truth: we might be great at reactively
adopting these new tools and “giving them a go”—but
we haven’t yet necessarily mastered the art of extracting
the greatest possible value from them.
Publishing content online is as easy as having access to
an internet connection.
The barrier for entry has never been lower. It's easy
enough to simply add to the online noise—but to cut
through it, to resonate, is a whole different matter.
People say that “content is king”. But if no one cares
about the content you produce —if no one sees, hears
or values your content —it’s nobody’s king. It’s just white
noise.
If we’re not adding value through
our web content, we may as well
be conversing with an inanimate
object—a waste of time and effort
(and a little bit insane).

Driven by the need to keep up
with the sheer pace of change,
we’ve flung ourselves head-first
into the new digital environment…
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…but if we’ve only kitted ourselves
out with the gear—and not the
appropriate skills to thrive in that
environment…
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… then we end up creating
more of a mess than we do
value.

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Symptoms of content
mess
Masses of content spewed out “create and
fling” style, across multiple platforms, without
stepping back to evaluate the bigger picture.
Inaccurate, outdated or irrelevant content that
undermines the organisation’s integrity, authority and
subject expertise.
Content lacking clear ownership and
accountability over its ongoing maintenance and
governance—a constant risk to brand reputation.
Jargon-laden content that attempts to tell, sell
and ask, rather than to show, explain and add value
— scaring away prospects averse to “old-school”
advertising.
Content that is difficult for users to find, use
and understand, meaning that, by default, our
organisation is difficult to find, use, or understand.

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Too often, we treat our web
content as a technical
commodity.
Something that gets loaded up
and “plugged in” to the design
at the last moment…

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…rather than respecting
it as the valuable, fragile
communications asset
that it is.

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But changing how an entire
organisation thinks about
and treats content is
difficult.

People would often rather
stick to the environment
they’ve been used to, rather
than stepping out into the
unknown.
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So we’re on a
journey…
Courtesy of Intentional Design

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It’s time to face up to the
challenge and tackle the
journey, head-on…

Becoming content-ready
Step one:
evolving our mindset, skills,
and resources

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Build right mindset and culture.
Build right skills and expertise.
Build right tools and technologies.

Becoming content-ready is making your
organisation fit for purpose to meet the needs of
the digital media landscape.
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It’s future proofing your organisation from
becoming an irrelevance in the digital age.

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It’s about understanding
what great content is
Great content fascinates with a
compelling message and purpose tied
to a specific organisation objective.
It creates and adds value.
Great content is targeted at a specific
audience, directly informed by their
needs and interests.
It is user led.
Great content is consistent, accurate,
and engaging.
It is subject to editorial expertise and
quality control.
Great content is easy to find, use and
understand.
It is accessible and adapted for
experiencing on the web.

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It’s about understanding
what great content can
achieve
Organisation…
Goals
Brand
reputation
Expertise
Solutions
Audience…
Needs
Desires
Questions
Problems
Content

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It’s about understanding
how complex managing
content is
Plan
Govern
Publish Create

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And how much effort and
expertise lies behind
everything that goes online
Plan Create Revise
Publish Test Approve

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Hitting the sweet spot
When a world-class tennis player strikes the ball right in
the centre of their racquet’s sweet-spot, releasing the ball
at an unstoppable velocity, it’s not down to luck.
It’s the result of countless hours of tireless training,
mental preparation, and talent applied at their absolute
optimum and in total harmony.
Just as an elite sportsperson doesn’t achieve greatness
without constantly fine-tuning every possible aspect of
their game, an organisation doesn’t become a great
digital publishing channel on account of simply
possessing the tools to publish.
Great content doesn’t “just happen”. If you wish to truly
add value, rather than merely take up space, you need to
do more than show up and hope for the best.
It’s about striking the perfect balance of skills, expertise,
and resources.
It’s about having more than just
the right tools. It’s knowing how
to use them.

The three elements of
web content excellence

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The content
sweet spot
Strategically
aware
Editorially
expert
Web wise

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Each element contributes
specific value-adding
outcomes
Web wise
Ensures content is:
findable
accessible
usable
manageable
scalable
Editorially expert
Ensures content is:
accurate
concise
compelling
memorable
actionable
Strategically aware
Ensures content is:
targeted
relevant
expert
influential
value-adding

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Each element contributes
specific pieces of work that
support great content
Web wise
CMS build
Wireframes
Information
Architecture design
Metadata plan
SEO strategy
Accessibility policy
Editorially expert
Web style guide
Tone of voice guidance
Web editorial calendar
Page templates
Staff web editorial
meetings
Strategically aware
Messaging hierarchy
Audience hierarchy
Audits and analysis
User research/feedback
Staff web strategy group
Staff training/resources

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And those pieces of work
require specific roles and
expertise
Web wise
Web developers
Web designers
CMS developers
UX people
SEO people
Editorially expert
Writers
Editors
Subject matter experts
Chief Editor
Content managers
Strategically aware
Senior management
Brand strategists
Marketing and PR
Project managers
Users

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A greater than the sum
of its parts effort.
So... how do we get
here? Strategically
aware
Editorially
expert
Web
ready
Where great
content lives

Becoming content-ready
Step two:
pulling it all together with
content strategy

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Content strategy can
be thought of as…
A framework for how an organisation is going to plan,
create, publish, and govern its content—from a
technical, editorial and brand perspective.
It can also be thought of as a roadmap for how an
organisation is going to adapt its mindset, skills, and
resources to meet the demands of the digital age.

Content strategy makes us more content-ready and able to
meet the challenges of being a digital publisher …
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Strategically
aware
Editorially
expert
Web
ready
Where great
content lives

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Content strategy leads to
the creation of great
content (well, obviously)
Great content fascinates with a
compelling message and purpose tied
to a specific organisation objective.
It creates and adds value.
Great content is targeted at a specific
audience, directly informed by their
needs and interests.
It is user led and audience
appropriate.
Great content is consistent, accurate,
and engaging.
It is subject to editorial expertise and
quality control.
Great content is easy to find, use and
understand.
It is accessible and adapted for
experiencing on the web.

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Content strategy bridges
the gap between our
interests and our users’…
Organisation…
Goals
Brand
reputation
Expertise
Solutions
Audience…
Needs
Desires
Questions
Problems
Content

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Content strategy allows
us to totally own that
pesky, messy content
lifecycle
Plan
Govern
Publish Create

A content strategy
road map

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Discovery
Strategy
forming
Execution and
management
 Core strategy statement
 Messaging hierarchy
 Audiences hierarchy
 Topics map
 User personas and user
journey maps
 Governance model
 Content sourcing plan
 Editorial calendar
 Content worksheets and
templates
 Publishing workflows
Web style guidance
 Design wireframes
 Information Architecture
 Content evaluation work
When you’re paving the
way for content strategy,
you’re delivering…
When you’re forming
content strategy, you’re
delivering…
When you’re doing
content strategy, you’re
delivering…
Content strategy road
map
 Audit and analysis
 Staff feedback
 User research
 Competitor/gap analysis
Leading to…
 Content analysis report

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Step one: discovery
Measuring the scope of our content.
Evaluating the quality of our content.
Investigating the internal culture—how
content is thought about and treated.
Analysing how content gets created and
moves through the organisation.
Presenting summary of findings to key
internal stakeholders and decision-makers.
The discovery stage is all about
figuring out where we currently
stand with our content.
The aim here is to uncover
what’s working, what’s not, and
establishing key trends, pain
points and needs.

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Step two: strategy
forming
Establishing:
what we want our content to achieve
what our content needs to say
who our content is for
what types of content are required
where it gets published
where it’s going to come from
who’s in charge of what
The juicy bit! Using all the
insights gathered from the
discovery process, we can start
throwing down some markers for
where we want to be.
This is really where we start
formalising how content is going
to help us achieve our goals,
meet user needs and make us,
generally, more brilliant.

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Step three: execution
and management
 Assigning when and how content will be
produced and published.
 Designing how content types will be
structured and formatted.
 Producing workflows for how content will
move from planning, through to final
approval and publishing.
 Embedding consistency and quality-control,
through guidelines and training.
 Making sure content is supported
technically and strategically, at all stages of
its life cycle.
Making it all happen. The tools,
tactics, and people that will
deliver and manage the content.
It’s all about making the goals
and aspirations of the strategy a
reality—making your
organisation more influential and
helpful, through its content.

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How content strategy
builds momentum for
change
Beginning with a thorough discovery process can be
thought of as holding up a mirror to an organisation’s
digital publishing activity. The good, the bad, and (of
course) the ugly.
Analysing, auditing, reviewing, and evaluating things from
a range of perspectives “paints a picture”—and a
consensus on what that picture is telling us.
Content strategy, applied in this way, makes it
impossible for anyone to bury their head in the
sand.
It unveils the full reality of the direction an organisation’s
digital presence is heading in.
And if it’s not on a course that’s contributing to everyone’s
goals—and users’ needs—it provides a plan of action to
steer things back on track.

In summary

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Unless we wish to continue
with this…

We need to realise… • Content is communication. And communication
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either adds value—or takes up space.
• The digital era demands that we all become our
own media publishing channels. But many of us are
not geared up with the right mindset, skills, and
resources to do so. That’s an issue (because our
future kind of depends on it).
• We need to become “content-ready“, which
means we need to adapt and develop our existing
mindset, skills, and resources in order to hit our
content sweet spot.
• Applying content strategy provides a framework
for unveiling urgent needs , building the case for
changes required to meet those needs, and
ultimately, improving the value of our brand on the
web.

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That’s it (for now).
Thoughts and feedback always welcome:
joseph@examinedweb.com
@examinedweb