The document serves as a comprehensive guide on building an effective content strategy, emphasizing that good content must meet customer needs, help rather than sell, be distinct from competitors, actionable, and engaging. It outlines a structured approach to developing a content strategy, which includes defining business objectives, understanding the target audience, creating a content plan, and considering maintenance and measurement. Various exercises and examples illustrate key concepts and encourage the application of the strategies discussed.

1. BUILDING CONTENT
STRATEGY
The tips, tools and advice you need
to make content work for you

2. Mark
Michaud
Senior Vice President
Baron
Manett
Senior Vice President
Welcome.
Your hosts
for today…
Make content:
@ariadcomm
@bstat
@michaudmark
2

3. EXERCISE GUIDE
Your chance to create
a content plan for
your own situation.
3

4. What is content?
4

5. 5
CONTENT ≠ COPY

6. 6
CONTENT ≠ MESSAGING

7. 7
CONTENT ≠ MEDIA

8. 8
SORRY, BUT...
YOU CAN’T BORE,
MANIPULATE, OR
BUY YOUR WAY TO INTO
CONSUMERS’ LIVES

9. 9
CONTENT IS...
THE ESSENCE AND
THE SUBSTANCE OF
YOUR BRAND’S
CONVERSATION
WITH CONSUMERS

10. What is good
content?
10

11. Good content
• Meets a customer need
• Nothing is more engaging than content the customer is
ALREADY looking for
• Helps rather than sells
• Customers pay more attention when you are HELPING them
not SELLING to them.
• Is different from your competitors
• Your brand wins when your content isn‘t just like your competitors
or any media outlet
• Is actionable
• Good content should always show the customer WHAT TO DO NEXT
• Is engaging
• A GREAT STORY, empathy for the customer, humour and humanity
all draw your audience closer to your message
11

12. MICHELIN created guides to encourage
a love of motoring
 Helps rather than sells
 Is different
 Is actionable
 Is engaging
12

13. RIMMEL brings its unique London brand
positioning to life with multichannel content
 Helps rather than sells
 Is different
 Is actionable
 Is engaging
13

14. VOLKSWAGEN offers highly functional
content and customers‘ love of its iconic brand
 Meets a customer need
 Is different
 Is actionable
 Is engaging
14

15. EXERCISE 1
Tell your own story.
15

16. How do we build a
content strategy?
16

17. Define business
objectives
Define and
document your
customer
Define their
content needs
Create a
strategy
statement
Do your creative
discovery
Create a
content plan
Consider
maintenance +
measurement
17

18. Define business
objectives
“What does content have to do with my business?”
18

19. Why?
What are the objectives underpinning your strategy?
19

20. Is this a good objective?
Getting more visitors to our website.
20

21. A better objective:
Getting more visitors to our website.
Increase the number
of qualified leads
21

22. The makings of a good objective:
1. Measureable. Within a reasonable degree of
accuracy.
2. Focused. Emphasizes on a single goal.
3. Business impact. Moves the business forward
in a meaningful way.
22

23. EXERCISE 2
Establish your own
business objectives.
23

24. Define and document
your customer
“Who are we really trying to talk to?”
24

25. Who?
Who are you targeting with your content?
25

26. Define your audience(s)
CUSTOMERS
STAKEHOLDERS
EMPLOYEES
INFLUENCERSTHE PUBLIC
SUPPLIERSANALYSTS
26

27. EXERCISES 3
List your potential
audiences.
27

28. Profiles or personas?
“an archetypal representation of
an actual user group whose members
share similar needs and goals”
28

29. Why profiles or personas?
• Understand your content from the customers’
perspective.
• Prioritize the most important needs of the most
important customers.
• Make content decisions based on research
insights.
• Filter out personal biases of the marketing and
creative staff.
29

30. EXERCISE 4
Create a profile of one
audience member.
30

31. Define their content
needs
“Why doesn’t anyone seem to want our content?”
31

32. 2000 – 2012
This is Brad…
…he wants a new car.
32

33. From here…
2000 – 2012
…to here.
?
33

34. Brad’s journey
RESEARCH
VALIDATES
TESTS
CONFIRMS
BUYS
34

35. Why customer journeys?
• Customer experience matters like never
before.
• More complex: multichannel, multi-device,
mobile.
• Consumers are demanding more bespoke,
personalized and social interactions.
• Forces us to create content that truly serves
customers’ needs.
35

36. EXERCISE 5
Map your customer’s
journey.
36

37. RESEARCH
VALIDATES
TESTS
CONFIRMS
BUYS
2000 – 2012
Brad has questions…
?
?
?
?
? ? ?
?
…we have answers.
37

38. CONTENT
This is where…
…comes in.
38

39. 39
THE HOLY GRAIL
is the RIGHT CONTENT
in the RIGHT PLACE
at the RIGHT TIME

40. EXERCISE 6
Identify content
opportunities along
the journey.
40

41. Create a strategy
statement
“What content should we prioritize and resource?”
41

42. Where the strategy lies
Audience
Goals
Business
Objectives
Finding overlap
42

43. Our brand will engage with first time homebuyers
by providing them with a comprehensive source of information
and advice on all aspects of home buying – integrating real estate
information with financing education.
To ensure they can access this resource when they need it,
we will provide it on the web and through a mobile/tablet app.
They will be able to customize it and store info on their specific
situation so it acts as an essential tool to facilitate the purchase process.
Spell it out in a statement
43

44. Our brand will engage with first time homebuyers
by providing them with a comprehensive source of information
and advice on all aspects of home buying – integrating real estate
information with financing education.
To ensure they can access this resource when they need it,
we will provide it on the web and through a mobile/tablet app.
They will be able to customize it and store info on their specific
situation so it acts as an essential tool to facilitate the purchase process.
audienc
ebudget
mandate mobile
functiona
lity goal
The detail matters
44

45. Why a formal statement?
• Defines the scope of your content strategy.
• Identifies the implications for budgeting,
planning, resourcing and governance.
• Provides a yardstick to judge all content
initiatives.
45

46. EXERCISE 7
Create a content
strategy statement.
46

47. Do your creative
discovery
“Why is our content just like everyone else’s?”
47

48. Content is…
THE ESSENCE AND
THE SUBSTANCE OF
OUR BRAND’S CONVERSATION
WITH CONSUMERS
48

49. 49
ESSENCE
Provide real value to
your customers’ lives.
49

50. 50
SUBSTANCE
Demonstrate how to engage
with the brand.
50

51. EXAMPLE: IKEA
51

52. “Better everyday life”
“Design for everyone”
ESSENCE:
Provide real value to
your customers’ lives.
52

53. SUBSTANCE:
Demonstrate how to engage
with the brand.
53

54. EXAMPLE:
KNORR
54

55. “For the love of flavour…
Because cooking delicious and
nutritious food should be within
everyone’s reach”
ESSENCE:
Provide real value to
your customers’ lives.
55

56. SUBSTANCE:
Demonstrate how to engage
with the brand.
56

57. EXERCISE 8
Define the essence
and substance of your
brand’s conversation
with customers.
57

58. What is a content territory?
An aspect of the brand’s conversation that
can come to life in multiple ways, in many formats,
across many channels.
58

59. What is a content territory?
RECOGNITION
AWARDS
SUCCESS
STORIES TESTIMONIALS
SAMPLING
COACHING/
NEW
PRODUCTS
EVENTS/
CONFERENCE
ROLE OF
SALES FORCE ACADEMY
BORROWED
TRUST
(EXPERTS)
“SWITCH
ROLES”
59

60. EXERCISE 9
Explore content
themes or territories.
60

61. Create a content plan
“How do we get more out of the content we have?”
61

62. What is a content plan?
A formalized way to translate all the content
opportunities and possibilities into doable,
fundable, compliant, sustainable plan of action
…that is aligned with business priorities.
62

63. Why a content plan?
• Creating one allows you to be realistic about
resourcing and sustainability.
• Ensures that content is spread across the
year for business impact.
• Allows you to align with other in-market
activities: product launches, promotions,
events, etc.
63

64. Story ideas and channels
• Each story idea can be examined to identify
the best channels and formats.
• Look for ways to alter and extend the idea so
that it is applicable for a number of channels.
• These ideas should then be evaluated against
the profile to ensure they are likely to be
valued by the target audience.
64

65. EXERCISE 10
Map story ideas to
different channels.
65

66. Content plan/calendar
Planning the frequency of your content projects
on a calendar helps in several ways:
• Coordinate with aspects of your full plan:
promos, marketing, communications, events
• Spread out the activity for reach and efficiency
• Ensure that the plan is doable with the
resources available
66

67. EXERCISE 11
Plan out your content
calendar (two lines).
67

68. Consider
maintenance and
measurement
“What we do we after we launch all of this?”
68

69. The “day two” problem
• Measurement: how will you ensure that your
content is performing against business
objectives?
• Maintenance: what is the sustainable work
process for ongoing creation, review, launch?
• Did you budget for day two? Take 20% of
launch budget off the top for ongoing efforts.
• If you have “real time” content like social, how
do you create and react quickly?
69

70. Let’s summarize
“How does this all fit together?”
70

71. Define business
objectives
Define and
document your
customer
Define their
content needs
Create a
strategy
statement
Do your creative
discovery
Create a
content plan
Consider
maintenance +
measurement
71

72. Good content
• Meets a customer need
• Helps rather than sells
• Is different from your competitors
• Is actionable
• Is engaging
72

73. QUESTIONS?
73

74. EXPLORE MORE…at ariad.ca
74

75. THANK YOU