Building a Global Content Strategy: The
next generation of thinking

2
Agenda
1. Introduction
2. Some definitions
3. Rules of engagement (why you are here)
4. Get to know Omnichannel: your new BFF
5. See performance-driven content as new
normal
6. Leverage syndicated, social, curated, &
content marketing
7. Understand your entire content
ecosystem
8. Govern globally and contextually

Part 1: Introduction

4
Kevin P Nichols
• Director, Global Practice Lead, Content
Strategy, SapientNitro
• Coauthor: UX For Dummies;
Author: Enterprise Content Strategy: A
Project Guide (Nov 2014)
• 19 Years experience in the Digital and
Interactive Industry; 15 years specific to
Content
• Experience with dozens of Fortune 100
brands

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Sapient - Working With The Most Recognized Brands

Part 2: Some definitions

7
Content is
Any information that
is recorded.

email social
8
podcasts
pamphlets brochures
.avi
DVDs
.swf
.jpg
.pdf
data
.png
.wav
.mov
CDs
books
user guides
HTML
press releases
.aspx
E-commerce
.gif
kiosks
Tweets
Packaging
syndicated
Content is
experience

9
Content is critical to business
It’s the ‘life-force’ of a brand AND to the consumer: all
content IS brand content.
Consumer
Trust
with
Brand
Product or Content
Service

10
Content strategy
“Content Strategy is the systematic, thoughtful approach to surfacing the
most relevant, effective, and appropriate content at the most opportune time,
to the appropriate user, for the purpose of achieving a company’s strategic
business objectives.” – Kevin Nichols and Anne Casson

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Content strategy framework
• Use closed-loop logic in content
lifecycles to deliver relevant,
meaningful and contextual content
• Create, manage and publish content
to consumers, effectively its
performance, and then optimize
accordingly
• Evaluate each step in lifecycle;
measure at least semi annually
• Leverage editorial calendars and
governance to keep content relevant
and on-time
• Develop a meaningful platform that is
extensible and scalable for the future.

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Content strategy phases and deliverables
Discover
Assessing & Auditing
• Content Brief
• Content Assessment
• Content Inventory
• Content Audit
• Competitive
Assessment
Define Design Implement
Business Planning &
Resources
• Staffing
Recommendations for
Content Production and
Management
Requirements
• Content Metrics & SEO
Recommendations
• Content Requirements
Strategic Recommendations
• Content Strategy
Framework
• Conceptual Content Model
Editorial
• Editorial Strategy (voice,
tone, strategic intent of
content)
Content Production /
Migration
• Content Matrix
• Content Migration Plan
• Content Production Plan
• Translation and
Localization Strategy
• CMS Authoring Guide
Business Planning & Resources
• Governance Model
• Business Org Structure /
Staffing Plan
Content Model and Workflow
• Content Types Definition
• Recommendation for Content
Design (including template-level
strategic recommendations)
• CMS Content Model
• Content Matrix
• Content Lifecycle Definition
Taxonomy & Metatagging
• Taxonomy
• Metadata and Tagging Strategy
• Taxonomy Governance
Recommendations
Editorial
• Editorial Calendar
• Editorial Style Guide
• Editorial Workflow
• Voice and Tone Guidelines
• Copy Deck

Part 3: Rules of engagement: the next
generation of content strategy

14
Rules of
Engagement
(OR What you will
learn today)
1. Get to know Omnichannel: it’s your new,
best friend
2. View performance-driven content and
experiences as the new normal
3. Know where syndicated, social, curated,
and content marketing fit in
4. Understand the entire content ecosystem
internally and externally; build operational
models to support it
5. Govern globally with rule-driven and
structured content (Global, Local,
Contextual)

Part 4: Get to know Omni: your new
best friend

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The rules
1. Understand Omnichannel; Omni does not
equal multiple channels; it starts with
consumer
2. Design content for Omni; rethink your
approach to content and your internal
publishing operations
3. Build a strategic roadmap with short, mid,
long term goals; don’t boil the ocean
4. Optimize content across channels to
create a seamless consumer journey and
experience

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Get to know Omnichannel
Omnichannel provides optimized content
at every point a consumer interacts with
brand:
• Views the user singularly (aka single view of
customer)
• Fashions content experience around user
• Follows non-linear, end-to-end user journey
(user may bounce from one channel to the
next, go backwards in journey).
• Sees journey as evolution with no definitive
end and sometimes no beginning.
• Captures the entire end-to-end customer
experience.
The graphic comes from my book, where it is explained in detail: Enterprise Content Strategy:
A Project Guide (November 2014).

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Design content for Omni
Requires a rethinking of content, internal
opps and systems
• Use an incremental roadmap to
rollout strategy
• Integrate information across all
channels:
• Inventory of products
• User profile / info on user
• Analytics capture
• Structure content so that it can
publish to multiple channels
The graphic comes from my book, where it is explained in detail: Enterprise Content Strategy:
A Project Guide (November 2014).

Roadmap example – (Crawl, Walk, Run)
Launch 12 – 24 months post-launch 24 – 36 months post-launch
Launch Evolve Enrich
1. Full integration of content in all channels.
2. Continue to create immersive content
around personalization, social and
intelligent content features
3. Leverage new or emerging technologies
and techniques
1. Identify channels, user targets, analytics
and social focus areas
2. Establish which areas of content are
necessary to support each of the above
and create lifecycles to support each
3. Ensure taxonomy and controlled
vocabularies are accounted for and
supported to enable experience
4. Define governance structure necessary
to support each area above
5. Ensure proper metrics to track user
interaction and behavior to it can be
examined for future optimization
1. Test existing content running ongoing
metrics and audits to see how users are
interacting with the experience; leverage
social listening
2. Test assumed customer journeys across
channels to ensure accuracy and
optimize content performance
3. Roll-out enhanced optimization per
channel
4. Implement necessary technology and
platforms necessary to support the focus
areas

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Look at content across channels
Retailers
• Integrate content across supply chain—
product inventory in all channels
• Incentivize and reward sales across the
business, in addition to lines of business or
singular channels (all channels lead to sales)
• Optimize in-store personalization but also
incorporate into ‘offline’ content – direct mail,
product packaging.
• Use packaging, product end-caps, etc. to
drive social engagement (E.g., share a
recipe, tweet about the product, etc.)
Image source:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:I_Luv_Video's_massive_inventory.jpg

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Look at content across channels
Image source: Author, calflier001
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BBC_TV_AND_RADIO_OUTSIDE_BROADCAS
T_VECHICLE_AT_LIVERPOOL_PIER_HEAD_MAY_2013_%288817632368%29.jpg
Any business
• Allow consumers to access profile information
in all channels
• Build a singular view of the consumer
• Capture cross-channel engagement, trace
consumer journey and behaviors across and
within all channels
• Use cross-channel analytics, confirm with
user testing and research
• Don’t forget to evolve the consumer
relationship with ongoing recognition via
email, optimized customer support and even
via phone or in-store personalization!

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Imitate Martha: AKA ‘Mother
of Omni’
Named her company Omnimedia for a
reason!
• Starts with a good story and tells it through
variety of mediums
• Balances content between channels for
integrated consumer journey E.g.:
References a cookbook on TV while
magazine features a story referencing both,
mobile provides exclusive content via apps
• Optimizes content specific to each channel
• Synergizes content experiences by
connecting one channel to the next
Courtesy Life with Cats. Karen Harrison Binette, 2011.
http://www.lifewithcats.tv/

Part 5: See performance-driven content
as the new normal

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The rules
1. Start with a strategy, goals and objectives
to set up a performance-driven content
model
2. Use a closed-loop strategic framework
3. Leverage an operational model with
quarterly/monthly assessments of content
performance to improve the future

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Define intent, goals,
objectives and metrics for
every type of content
Image source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Sounds_of_Earth_Record_Cover_-
_GPN-2000-001978.jpg
• Ladder all content up to a strategy:
• Create strategic intent – answer
the question: Why? (Why our
company, this career, this
product…)
• Define goals and objectives, identify
users/personas/segments, define
metrics to measure performance
• Frame this thinking from business
AND user goals/objectives/needs
• Use this approach at experience level
(desktop website) and page-type level

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Use a closed-loop strategic framework
• Use closed-loop logic in content
lifecycles to deliver relevant,
meaningful and contextual content
• Create, manage and publish content
to consumers, measure its
performance, and then optimize
accordingly
• Evaluate each step in lifecycle;
measure at least semiannually
• Leverage editorial calendars and
governance to keep content relevant
and on-time
• Develop a meaningful platform that is
extensible and scalable for the future.

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Performance-driven operational model
• Created a unified content calendar
fueled by a performance-driven
approach
• Look at inputs frequently
• Use these inputs to plan for the
future
• NOTE: A performance-driven
model uses inputs to frame future
content opportunities
The graphic comes from my book, where it is explained in detail:
Enterprise Content Strategy: A Project Guide (November 2014).

Part 6: Syndicated, social, curated
…and content marketing

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Rules of
Engagement
1. Understand that social, curated,
syndicated, and content marketing require
unique content strategies
2. Use social listening and engagement
metrics to determine future priorities
3. Utilize effective storytelling (think Carl
Sagan – Voyager record)
4. Ensure content calendar and content
planning account for content marketing as
a central component to driving content
consumption

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“Content Marketing & Syndication is the process
of creating, curating and distributing relevant
and valuable content that is related to a
brand’s purpose or benefit to attract, acquire,
and engage a clearly defined and understood
target audience – with the objective of driving
profitable customer action.”
- Content Marketing Institute, 2013

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Build strategies for curated,
syndicated and curated content
Image source: Author, Marcwathieu
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anne_pontegnie_02.jpg
• Take the strategic intent of the
content, overlay consumer journey
and determine which content to
syndicate and curate
• Tie to larger themes of page or
experience (E.g.: videos for lifestyle,
stories that relate to page, etc.)
• Use social content for engagement,
conversation about the story and for
sharing and engaging campaigns

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Determine future priorities with
listening and engagement
Image source: Author, Ardfern
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Warhol_Exhibition,_The_MAC,_Belf
ast,_April_2013_(14).JPG
• Listen for social response and
engage dialogue in social channels
(social listening)
• Determine investment based on
content performance, changes in
consumer journey and new
business/user needs
• Do not forget SEO (keywords used)
consumer research/insights, and
user feedback as inputs for future
content decisions

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Follow Carl Sagan’s approach
to effective storytelling
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Sounds_of_Earth_Record_Cover_-
_GPN-2000-001978.jpg
For Voyager record, Carl Sagan first
started with the audience to whom he
wanted to communicate along with his
goal and objectives (think business
goals):
• He created the stories he wanted to
tell
• He structured content to tell
universal story of humanity
• He looked at which technology
(channel) would preserve and
communicate it

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Leverage effective content
planning
• Leverage a cross-channel, unified
content calendar that sorts by stories
and channel
• Evaluate frequently, but plan annually
with optimization quarterly and fine-tuning
monthly/weekly

Part 7: Content ecosystem

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The rules
1. Look at content as an ecosystem, care for
all elements within it
2. Understand that all content starts with a
content type with definitive lifecycle
3. Use customer journey and work
backwards from it to define content
lifecycles
4. Measure, measure measure; optimize,
optimize, optimize

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Instagram
commercial
images
kiosks podcasts
.pdfs
data
apps
blogs
video
ATMs
tweets
user guides
small business
brochures
pamphlets
press releases
email
facebook
posts
Private Wealth
Retail
Tweets
syndicated
social
Know your ecosystem

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Know your content types, pre and post publish lifecycles
1. Look at content types, create pre-publish
lifecycles. Make them CLOSED-LOOP!
2. Start with customer needs and journey,
work backwards, structure operations and
content creation around consumer, not
internal silos
3. Determine metrics to support it (inter/intra-channel)
4. Create post-publish workflow and
processes, to measure and optimize
The graphic comes from my book, where it is explained in detail: Enterprise Content Strategy:
A Project Guide (November 2014).

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Measure, measure, measure
• Align the content ecosystem to support
a consumer-centric, performance-driven
model
• Even if silos dictate content creation,
make sure all channels/silos are
collaborating to create seamless
content experience
• Inputs to model include analytics,
SEO, social listening, business needs
and objectives, user needs and
content best practices. These need to
fold seamlessly into the process

Part 7: Govern globally & contexually

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The rules
1. Define governance structure
2. Govern by content type; user journey
3. Know your rules for global and contextual
content
4. Listen to Ann Rockley: “Control your
content!”

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Govern with committee, tools and charter
1. Decide on a governance model—
federated, centralized, or
centralized with some federated
aspects
2. Agree on what is necessary for a
governance charter
3. Define when the participants will
meet, agendas for those meetings,
and how strategy will be
implemented

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Know your rules for content usage
1. Start with content type
2. Factor in consumer journey
3. Define governance around
controlling, maintaining, seeding
and feeding the above two
4. Govern by content type and user
journey

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Govern globally and contextually (continued)
1. Set universal standards
2. Know which content:
• Remain the same globally
(universal)
• Act globally but contain local
differentiation (localized)
• Can differ locally or remain
locally unique
• Be shared globally to local,
locally to global and locally to
local
. Image source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_illumination#mediaviewer/File:Local_illum
ination.JPG

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Govern globally and contextually
3. Define contextual content
standards and rules for:
• Personalization
• Shared content across
channels
• Shared but edited content
(Product Specs long for
Desktop website, short for
mobile)
• Unique content per channel
Image source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_illumination#mediaviewer/File:Local_illum
ination.JPG

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Listen to Ann Rockley; “Control your content!”
1. Rely on content performance
and internal metrics
(effeceincy, ROI, etc) to
dictate future standards
2. Plan content from informed
decisions
3. Govern content by constantly
remaining in touch with
ecosystem (seed/feed/care
approach)
4. “Control your content”—Ann
Rockley!

Questions

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Keep the conversation going….
Kevin P Nichols
• knichols@sapient.com
• kevinpnichols.com
• Twitter: @kpnichols
• LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinpnichols
• UX For Dummies (John Wiley & Sons)
• Enterprise Content Strategy: A Project Guide
(XML Press, November, 2014)

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Chloe hopes you found this presentation useful!