A content strategy...
is not a single solution or a single deliverable
It is a detailed process and an aggressive mindset
It is a continual process of improvement, focused on the use of content and content messaging and focus to achieve strategic organizational goals
If you're in tune with the realization that the content that you market for your business is constantly evolving - you're practicing Content Strategy
2. ● Award-winning user experience, creative, marketing
and information technology company
● Founded in 1992, Based in Washington, DC with a
National client base
● Staff of 50 engineers, creatives, and business
analysts
● Custom UI/UX, branding, and content strategy
● Extensive Content Management experience. Ektron
Elite Partner with mature practices around content
strategy, user experience / design, mobile and
custom application development
About Fig Leaf Software
5. What is Content Strategy?
• It is not a single solution or a single deliverable
• It is a detailed process and an aggressive mindset
• It is a continual process of improvement, focused on
the use of content and content messaging and focus to
achieve strategic organizational goals
• If you're in tune with the realization that the content
that you market for your business is constantly
evolving - you're practicing Content Strategy
• Just like it says, it is a Strategy
6. Why Content Strategy?
• Because content isn’t king; It’s the whole royal family
• Substance (identity, words, media)
• Structure (IA, navigation, taxonomy, platforms)
• Workflow (process, tools, calendars)
• Governance (policy, roles)
• Because content makes or loses money
• Conversions, calls-to-action
• Because the Internet’s increasingly personal
• Unsatisfied users don’t buy, don’t join, don’t donate,
don’t enroll, and don’t return
7. Why Content Strategy?
• Because ambition isn’t a strategy
• Wanting members to donate isn’t encouraging and
empowering them to do so
• Because responsive design requires it
• It’s not about the device; it’s about the viewpoint
of the user
• Big, bold desktop plans better have started as
mobile-first ideas
8.
9. Developing a Content Strategy
• Content Strategy can become a "rabbit hole"
• Start small and grow from there
• Simple Model for Developing a Content Strategy
10. Content Mapping Process
• Identify Personas, Roles
• Personal background - Job role, Education, Personal
Demographics
• Information Preferences
• Audit your content - Does it answer questions for the
personas?
• Map available content to answer the questions
• Identify holes, questions unanswered
• Create content to fill in the holes
• Migration - if needed
12. User Experience
• Forward Thinking - Many groups refer to this as the
"Creative Design". It isn't _just_ about the creative. It
is about the User.
• Inclusion - Should flow from the Content Mapping
Process
• Experience - Allows for the creation of a much more
targeted site visit. Hence, we call it User Experience.
• Engagement - Including this as part of the Content
Strategy effort allows for increased "camping". Users
will stick around longer, and will be more in tuned to
your calls to action and your message.
13. Web Page Structuring
• Look before you write - When building content for
each individual page ask yourself the following
questions:
• What is the primary goal of the page?
• Who is the target page persona?
• What's in it for the targeted persona?
• If you're selling, where are they in the sales cycle?
• How can they find this content?
• Focus - Put yourself into the shoes of the user persona
you're targeting. If you can do that, you can write.
14. Web Page Structuring
• Headlines: Great headlines and page titling are key.
Specific to web content, it is always important to
remember SEO.
• Sub-headlines: Usability studies show that most users
will scan before they read. Try it yourself. Do a “sub-
head” scan of a page on your site. Does it tell your
story?
• Bullets and Numbered Lists: Lists make content much
easier to digest. Even the slightest indentation and
bullet will draw the reader’s eye.
15. Web Page Structuring
• Images and Video: Studies have shown that we
subconsciously process everything we see on a
website. However, stories and media (pictures and
video) are the most powerful calls to action.
• Calls to action: Obvious command-oriented calls to
action are key in moving visitors through your website.
Don’t be scared to make the call to action a big button.
• Structured content types: Press releases, Events,
News, Products, Marketing Landing pages.
16. • Look AFTER you write - When you're done writing
ask yourself the following questions:
– Is this piece of content relevant to your target
persona?
– How is the content structured? Large or small
paragraphs? Know the persona and what they
expect.
– Have you stated your main point early on in the
content?
– Is the content interesting?
– Is the content free of grammatical errors? (Have
someone else review the content, if possible)
Web Page Structuring
17. Editorial Content Calendar
• Who
• When
• What
• Video
• Blog posts
• Press releases
• Website updates
• Meta data driven
19. Measuring Results
• Inbound Marketing
• Landing Page Creation
• Analyze the Results
• What worked?
• What didn't work?
• Go back to the beginning
and start over again.
22. Export-Import Bank of the U.S.
High-level Goals
1. Showcase the role of EXIM in promoting Small Businesses all over the U.S.
2. Improve User Experience
3. Feature unique values
What Your Content Should Be/Do (does it help you chase your goals; does it help make amazing, personal
success stories real and achievable?)
1. Tone: energetic and ambitious
2. Pillars: Attention, Access + Affordability, On the Move
3. Relevance: audience appeal
4. Freshness: publish and last update dates, if available
5. Page Views (annually; not just a popularity contest, but because you want to know if people are
getting to the content at all)
How You'll Measure It All in the End (a combination of at least the following)
1. Increased fundraising
2. Increased enrollment
3. Audience satisfaction (e.g., feedback from groups like students, counselors, and alumni)
4. Traffic/Analytics
23. Additional Resources
Books:
• Content Strategy for the Web
• Web Content Strategist's Bible
• The Digital Crown: Winning at Content on the Web
Blogs / Sites:
• Brain Traffic
• Scatter / Gather
• Web Content Strategy
• Content Marketing Institute