What to do when you're hired to do a content strategy... and no one knows what you do? Go stealth!
When I went dark, I created one-page cheat sheets to help my client. These are available here - http://bit.ly/2dN2lLB. Feel free to use :)
Content & Design: How a Lean team rebuilt BNZ's websiteMichelle Anderson
My CSForum 2016 talk on how good things happen when design and content people work together - and even better things can happen when you throw Lean UX into the mix.
Taking strategy and making it understandable and visible can be really hard - especially in an agile product build environment. The content canvas is a tactic to make strategy more accessible. Learn what it looks like and how it can be applied.
Better Together: Content Strategy and Design #CSFORUM16Rebekah Baggs
Imagine a future where siloed departments and legacy workflows don’t stand in our way. Today’s content is complex, interconnected, and needs to be ready for devices we haven’t even dreamed of yet. Tomorrow isn’t going to get any simpler. Successful outcomes demand a new kind of collaboration.
For the past three years, Rebekah Cancino has studied how successful teams collaborate on content decisions, and helped transform the way content strategists, designers, and developers work and produce together. In this session, you’ll hear what she’s learned about making effective cross-discipline collaboration possible, and leave with actionable approaches you can use to unite your team and workflow, too.
CS Forum 2016: Content people and marketing people. It's complicated.Max Johns
How do ‘pure marketers’ think about content, and how do ‘pure content people’ think about marketing? The content strategists at CS Forum 2016 (Melbourne) heard about the prejudices, the sad truths, and the misunderstandings that can cause conflict. And they heard it from someone that’s been on both sides of the fence.
Content Strategy Workflow & Governance Workshop, UX Bristol 2014Sophie Dennis
Content strategy: beyond the wireframe - a workshop for UX designers and researchers..
Have you ever experienced that sinking feeling at the end of a project when you realise the content that’s been loaded onto the site is nothing like what you were thinking of when you created the wireframes? Or revisited a site you built a while ago and found that additions and changes made over the years have altered it beyond recognition?
Content strategy can help you plan for great content right from the start of a project. This workshop demystifies the content production workflow – how it’s commissioned, created, measured and maintained – talks a bit about governance, and provides some practical tips and tools to help plan and manage content, whether you’re from an agency or in-house.
Sophie Dennis
Sophie is a freelance consultant. She is a freelance consultant specialising in UX and content strategy. She started her career in publishing before being enticed away by the bright lights of web design, where she has spent 15 years trying to get clients to take their content as seriously as they do design. She recently collaborated with Juliet on the content strategy for a major UK charity, and is currently working as a User Experience Director at cxpartners.
Juliet Richardson
Juliet is currently Principal UX Consultant at Nomensa in Bristol. She has been working in the field of UX for longer than she cares to remember and has worked on some great projects with some fabulous clients along the way, including a recent collaboration with Sophie to create a content strategy for a large national charity.
Content & Design: How a Lean team rebuilt BNZ's websiteMichelle Anderson
My CSForum 2016 talk on how good things happen when design and content people work together - and even better things can happen when you throw Lean UX into the mix.
Taking strategy and making it understandable and visible can be really hard - especially in an agile product build environment. The content canvas is a tactic to make strategy more accessible. Learn what it looks like and how it can be applied.
Better Together: Content Strategy and Design #CSFORUM16Rebekah Baggs
Imagine a future where siloed departments and legacy workflows don’t stand in our way. Today’s content is complex, interconnected, and needs to be ready for devices we haven’t even dreamed of yet. Tomorrow isn’t going to get any simpler. Successful outcomes demand a new kind of collaboration.
For the past three years, Rebekah Cancino has studied how successful teams collaborate on content decisions, and helped transform the way content strategists, designers, and developers work and produce together. In this session, you’ll hear what she’s learned about making effective cross-discipline collaboration possible, and leave with actionable approaches you can use to unite your team and workflow, too.
CS Forum 2016: Content people and marketing people. It's complicated.Max Johns
How do ‘pure marketers’ think about content, and how do ‘pure content people’ think about marketing? The content strategists at CS Forum 2016 (Melbourne) heard about the prejudices, the sad truths, and the misunderstandings that can cause conflict. And they heard it from someone that’s been on both sides of the fence.
Content Strategy Workflow & Governance Workshop, UX Bristol 2014Sophie Dennis
Content strategy: beyond the wireframe - a workshop for UX designers and researchers..
Have you ever experienced that sinking feeling at the end of a project when you realise the content that’s been loaded onto the site is nothing like what you were thinking of when you created the wireframes? Or revisited a site you built a while ago and found that additions and changes made over the years have altered it beyond recognition?
Content strategy can help you plan for great content right from the start of a project. This workshop demystifies the content production workflow – how it’s commissioned, created, measured and maintained – talks a bit about governance, and provides some practical tips and tools to help plan and manage content, whether you’re from an agency or in-house.
Sophie Dennis
Sophie is a freelance consultant. She is a freelance consultant specialising in UX and content strategy. She started her career in publishing before being enticed away by the bright lights of web design, where she has spent 15 years trying to get clients to take their content as seriously as they do design. She recently collaborated with Juliet on the content strategy for a major UK charity, and is currently working as a User Experience Director at cxpartners.
Juliet Richardson
Juliet is currently Principal UX Consultant at Nomensa in Bristol. She has been working in the field of UX for longer than she cares to remember and has worked on some great projects with some fabulous clients along the way, including a recent collaboration with Sophie to create a content strategy for a large national charity.
"The Self-Directed Strategist: Building a Practice and Managing Organizationa...Blend Interactive
There are two big parts to content strategy: the people, and the process. But there's a third one that presents some of the industry's biggest struggles: managing the space between people and process—especially in an organization that is new to content strategy. In this talk, we will discuss managing expectations, projects, and people—within small teams, among changing organizations, and with new clients.
#digpen V - Designing Content: or how web designers can stop worrying and lea...Sophie Dennis
At #digpen V: Plymouth, 29 Sep 2012. Discussing the vital role of good content to creating great user experiences, the perils of designing without real content, and tips from content strategy practice you can use to get better content from your clients sooner in the project process.
Gc let's put some strategy in our content strategy - van ue may 2019Content Strategy Inc.
Vancouver Experience Meetup Group (VanUE) presenation, May 2019. Learn how to make sure that your content strategy is strategic, by following a strategic canvas framework.
Let's Talk About Strategy (extended workshop): what it is, why it matters, an...Sophie Dennis
Peter Drucker once observed: “There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all”.
Strategy is how you avoid this. A sound strategy tells you where you are going, and sets out a high-level, achievable plan to get there. And strategy combined with service design ensures the destination delivers maximum value to both users and the organisation. A clear strategy, underpinned by service design, is how you make sure anyone can decide what the most valuable things are to work on.
Yet bad strategy documents abound: massive tomes, years in the making (during which the organisation has continued to do what it perhaps should not have been doing at all), full of platitudes, unattainable visions, or uninspiring lists of mundane tactical objectives. Service blueprints gathering dust in drawers, or slowly fading on a forgotten wall. It makes it easy to pooh-pooh strategy, dismissing it with another Drucker aphorism, “culture eats strategy for breakfast” - or the mantras of “strategy is easy, tactics are hard” and “the strategy is delivery”.
In this extended workshop, strategy consultant Sophie Dennis uses real-world examples of successful discovery and strategy projects, to explore a simple framework for understanding what makes a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ strategy, and discuss how we can reclaim strategy, do it well, and get the support we need to translate it into action. Culture may still eat strategy for breakfast, and implementation may still be the really hard part, but with a good strategy behind you you’ll have a lot more chance of succeeding.
User-centred digital strategy: what it is, why it matters, how to do it wellSophie Dennis
The word ’strategic’ is often met with scepticism. But service design is at its most valuable when shaping organisational strategy. Peter Drucker once observed: “There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all”.
Strategy is how you avoid this. A sound strategy tells you where you are going, and sets out a high-level, achievable plan to get there. And strategy combined with service design ensures the destination delivers maximum value to both users and the organisation. A clear strategy, underpinned by service design, is how you make sure anyone can decide what the most valuable things are to work on.
Yet bad strategy documents abound: massive tomes, years in the making (during which the organisation has continued to do what it perhaps should not have been doing at all), full of platitudes, unattainable visions or uninspiring lists of mundane tactical objectives. Service blueprints gathering dust in drawers, or slowly fading on a forgotten wall. It makes it easy to pooh-pooh strategy, dismissing it with another Drucker aphorism, “culture eats strategy for breakfast”, or the mantras of “strategy is easy, tactics are hard” and “the strategy is delivery”.
Using real-world examples of successful discovery and strategy projects, we’ll explore a simple framework for understanding what makes a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ strategy, and discuss how we can reclaim strategy, do it well, and get the support we need to translate it into action.
This will be an interactive session, so come prepared to share your strategy challenges. Topics we’ll aim to explore together are:
• the difference between vision, strategy and tactics
• how to hit the ‘goldilocks point’ with strategy: not so visionary you fail the “yeah right” test, not so mundane you fail the “so what?” test
• the benefits of ‘good strategy’ and why its essential to becoming “agile”
• how and when to engage with stakeholders, avoiding big surprises to get the support and buy-in you need to turn good ideas into action
• how to present findings and recommendations for maximum stakeholder impact
You should be able to apply what you learn whether you’re developing the overarching strategy for a whole company, for a particular product or service, or delivering a brand, content or user experience strategy. Culture may still eat strategy for breakfast, and implementation may still be the really hard part, but with a good strategy behind you you’ll have a lot more chance of succeeding.
The most effective interventions focus not only on individual target behaviors, but also on the needs, perspectives and motivational quality of the people who will use them. When we design behavior change interventions, we focus on providing information at the right time, in the right place, for the right person… and that requires a content strategy. In this webinar, Marli Mesibov will provide examples and guidelines for crafting a content strategy specific to behavior change.
Next Level Collaboration: The Future of Content and Design by Rebekah Cancino...Blend Interactive
Imagine a future where siloed departments and legacy workflows don’t stand in our way. Today’s content is complex, interconnected, and needs to be ready for devices we haven’t even dreamed of yet. Tomorrow isn’t going to get any simpler. Successful outcomes demand a new kind of collaboration. For the past two years, Rebekah has studied how successful teams collaborate and has helped transform the way her team works and produces together. In this session, you’ll hear what she’s learned about making effective cross-discipline collaboration possible, and leave with actionable inspiration you can use to unite your team and workflow, too.
This talk will show you:
* What it takes to make effective collaboration possible
* How you can play a key role in creating the cross-discipline teams of tomorrow
* Practical tips you can use to bridge silos, increase productivity, and deliver better project outcomes for everyone
From the 2016 Now What? Conference: www.nowwhatconference.com
“The Five Meetings You Meet in Web Design” by Kevin Hoffman (Now What? Confer...Blend Interactive
Web site building techniques are always changing, but the meetings supporting that work sadly haven’t changed much at all. At the core of every meeting is a group of human brains, and against the breakneck pace of iPhone model releases those brains have not evolved in the slightest. Better meeting design for web professionals addresses this constraint. Every web design organization has a core curriculum of five types of meeting goals: getting started, checking in, presenting, exploring, and the big finish. Each of the five meetings have classic mistakes, unique opportunities, best executions, and remote work implications. Kevin will explore how each of the five meetings is an opportunity to do your best work, with plenty of examples you can start using right away.
From the 2016 Now What? Conference: www.nowwhatconference.com
User-centred digital strategy - UX in the City Manchester 2017Sophie Dennis
Peter Drucker once observed: “There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all”. Strategy is how you avoid this. A sound strategy tells you where you are going, and sets out a high-level, achievable plan to get there. It’s how you make sure anyone can decide what the right things are to work on.
Yet bad strategy documents abound: massive tomes, years in the making (during which the organisation has continued to do what it perhaps should not have been doing at all), full of platitudes, unattainable visions, or uninspiring lists of mundane tactical objectives. Documents that sit in draws, routinely ignored. It makes it easy to pooh-pooh strategy, dismissing it with another Drucker aphorism “culture eats strategy for breakfast” or the mantras of “strategy is easy, tactics are hard” and “the strategy is delivery”.
Using real-world examples of successful discovery and strategy projects, this talk will show you how to reclaim strategy, do it well, and get the support you need to translate it into action. You’ll be able to apply what you learn whether you’re developing the overarching strategy for a whole company, for a particular product or service, or delivering a brand, content or customer experience strategy. Culture may still eat strategy for breakfast, and implementation may still be the really hard part, but with a good strategy behind you you’ll have a lot more chance of succeeding.
You will learn:
* how to distinguish between vision, strategy and tactics, decide which your organisation needs right now, and the UX methods to apply to each
* how to hit the ‘goldilocks point’ with your strategy: not so visionary you fail the "yeah right" test, not so mundane you fail the "so what?" test
* how and when to engage with stakeholders, avoiding big surprises in order to get the support and buy-in that’s necessary to turn recommendations into action
how to tackle the discovery process and structure your findings and recommendations
Design Sprints for Awesome Teams: Running Design Sprints for Rapid Digital Pr...Dana Mitroff Silvers
Pre-conference workshop at the 2016 Museums and the Web Conference in Los Angeles, CA, on April 6, 2016.
Design Thinking is a set of methods and a mindset that combines empathy, creativity, and rationality to solve human-centered problems, and is the foundation upon which Design Sprints are built. We have run numerous Design Sprints with museums and cultural heritage organizations, and have refined its application to the unique constraints and opportunities of the museum sector.
Come join us for this fun and high-energy workshop in which we’ll walk you through a hands-on Design Sprint and give you tools and resources to bring sprints back to your own organization—and make your team more awesome!
Tell better stories-stories that connect with your audience and your mission.
Discover methods and tools for engaging stakeholders, creating a story framework and executing measurable content. Great for content strategists, creators, marketers and editors.
Content strategy for information professionals: slides from LIKELauren Pope
My slides from a talk/workshop I did for London Information and Knowledge Exchange (LIKE). LIKE is a community for information and knowledge professionals, and I went along to talk about content strategy and go through some exercises to help the attendees see how they could use it in their roles.
It’s kind of ironic that there’s often very little strategy in what many people refer to as “content strategy”. The work being done is either tactical or applied best practice. Now, there’s nothing wrong with either of those things — they’re both quite necessary at times.
But a strategy needs provide a solution to a significant problem by identifying specific obstacles and opportunities, outlining a guiding vision, and planning for how an organisation will achieve that vision. A content strategy, simply does the same thing but uses content and content practices to achieve the goal.
In this webinar, Kathy breaks out the essential parts of good strategy and provides hands-on, practical advice for making sure your content strategy is strategic.
Slides from #BrightonSEO Sept 2015 and #Mozinar October 2015
Practical thinking skills and brainstorming techniques that will drastically improve your idea generation for content.
Get the free ebook here: http://www.content101.com/ebooks/how-to-have-ideas/
Catalyzing Change: Tools and Strategies for Digital Transformation (Museums a...Dana Mitroff Silvers
Slides from Museums and the Web 2015 pre-conference workshop, "Catalyzing Change: Tools and Strategies for Digital Transformation."
workshop presenters:
Dana Mitroff Silvers @dmitroff
Emily Lytle-Painter @museumofemily
Carolyn Royston: #caro_ft
Why content marketing needs content strategyLauren Pope
My slides from the Content Marketing Show, 8th November 2013.
In my talk, I explain the difference between content strategy and content marketing, and look at the elements of content strategy and how they can help improve your content.
20,000 pages and counting: Content strategy for large collectionJonathan Roper
Websites with massive page counts are a jungle. The rules and practices you use on a 120 page website don’t really work when you are facing 20,000 pages.
This practical session looks at how to approach big websites in order to improve user experience, content quality and content marketing.
Based on his experience across different content projects at large government and educational websites, Jonathan shares how he guided clients through their own particular sea of content in order to transform their online user experience.
"The Self-Directed Strategist: Building a Practice and Managing Organizationa...Blend Interactive
There are two big parts to content strategy: the people, and the process. But there's a third one that presents some of the industry's biggest struggles: managing the space between people and process—especially in an organization that is new to content strategy. In this talk, we will discuss managing expectations, projects, and people—within small teams, among changing organizations, and with new clients.
#digpen V - Designing Content: or how web designers can stop worrying and lea...Sophie Dennis
At #digpen V: Plymouth, 29 Sep 2012. Discussing the vital role of good content to creating great user experiences, the perils of designing without real content, and tips from content strategy practice you can use to get better content from your clients sooner in the project process.
Gc let's put some strategy in our content strategy - van ue may 2019Content Strategy Inc.
Vancouver Experience Meetup Group (VanUE) presenation, May 2019. Learn how to make sure that your content strategy is strategic, by following a strategic canvas framework.
Let's Talk About Strategy (extended workshop): what it is, why it matters, an...Sophie Dennis
Peter Drucker once observed: “There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all”.
Strategy is how you avoid this. A sound strategy tells you where you are going, and sets out a high-level, achievable plan to get there. And strategy combined with service design ensures the destination delivers maximum value to both users and the organisation. A clear strategy, underpinned by service design, is how you make sure anyone can decide what the most valuable things are to work on.
Yet bad strategy documents abound: massive tomes, years in the making (during which the organisation has continued to do what it perhaps should not have been doing at all), full of platitudes, unattainable visions, or uninspiring lists of mundane tactical objectives. Service blueprints gathering dust in drawers, or slowly fading on a forgotten wall. It makes it easy to pooh-pooh strategy, dismissing it with another Drucker aphorism, “culture eats strategy for breakfast” - or the mantras of “strategy is easy, tactics are hard” and “the strategy is delivery”.
In this extended workshop, strategy consultant Sophie Dennis uses real-world examples of successful discovery and strategy projects, to explore a simple framework for understanding what makes a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ strategy, and discuss how we can reclaim strategy, do it well, and get the support we need to translate it into action. Culture may still eat strategy for breakfast, and implementation may still be the really hard part, but with a good strategy behind you you’ll have a lot more chance of succeeding.
User-centred digital strategy: what it is, why it matters, how to do it wellSophie Dennis
The word ’strategic’ is often met with scepticism. But service design is at its most valuable when shaping organisational strategy. Peter Drucker once observed: “There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all”.
Strategy is how you avoid this. A sound strategy tells you where you are going, and sets out a high-level, achievable plan to get there. And strategy combined with service design ensures the destination delivers maximum value to both users and the organisation. A clear strategy, underpinned by service design, is how you make sure anyone can decide what the most valuable things are to work on.
Yet bad strategy documents abound: massive tomes, years in the making (during which the organisation has continued to do what it perhaps should not have been doing at all), full of platitudes, unattainable visions or uninspiring lists of mundane tactical objectives. Service blueprints gathering dust in drawers, or slowly fading on a forgotten wall. It makes it easy to pooh-pooh strategy, dismissing it with another Drucker aphorism, “culture eats strategy for breakfast”, or the mantras of “strategy is easy, tactics are hard” and “the strategy is delivery”.
Using real-world examples of successful discovery and strategy projects, we’ll explore a simple framework for understanding what makes a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ strategy, and discuss how we can reclaim strategy, do it well, and get the support we need to translate it into action.
This will be an interactive session, so come prepared to share your strategy challenges. Topics we’ll aim to explore together are:
• the difference between vision, strategy and tactics
• how to hit the ‘goldilocks point’ with strategy: not so visionary you fail the “yeah right” test, not so mundane you fail the “so what?” test
• the benefits of ‘good strategy’ and why its essential to becoming “agile”
• how and when to engage with stakeholders, avoiding big surprises to get the support and buy-in you need to turn good ideas into action
• how to present findings and recommendations for maximum stakeholder impact
You should be able to apply what you learn whether you’re developing the overarching strategy for a whole company, for a particular product or service, or delivering a brand, content or user experience strategy. Culture may still eat strategy for breakfast, and implementation may still be the really hard part, but with a good strategy behind you you’ll have a lot more chance of succeeding.
The most effective interventions focus not only on individual target behaviors, but also on the needs, perspectives and motivational quality of the people who will use them. When we design behavior change interventions, we focus on providing information at the right time, in the right place, for the right person… and that requires a content strategy. In this webinar, Marli Mesibov will provide examples and guidelines for crafting a content strategy specific to behavior change.
Next Level Collaboration: The Future of Content and Design by Rebekah Cancino...Blend Interactive
Imagine a future where siloed departments and legacy workflows don’t stand in our way. Today’s content is complex, interconnected, and needs to be ready for devices we haven’t even dreamed of yet. Tomorrow isn’t going to get any simpler. Successful outcomes demand a new kind of collaboration. For the past two years, Rebekah has studied how successful teams collaborate and has helped transform the way her team works and produces together. In this session, you’ll hear what she’s learned about making effective cross-discipline collaboration possible, and leave with actionable inspiration you can use to unite your team and workflow, too.
This talk will show you:
* What it takes to make effective collaboration possible
* How you can play a key role in creating the cross-discipline teams of tomorrow
* Practical tips you can use to bridge silos, increase productivity, and deliver better project outcomes for everyone
From the 2016 Now What? Conference: www.nowwhatconference.com
“The Five Meetings You Meet in Web Design” by Kevin Hoffman (Now What? Confer...Blend Interactive
Web site building techniques are always changing, but the meetings supporting that work sadly haven’t changed much at all. At the core of every meeting is a group of human brains, and against the breakneck pace of iPhone model releases those brains have not evolved in the slightest. Better meeting design for web professionals addresses this constraint. Every web design organization has a core curriculum of five types of meeting goals: getting started, checking in, presenting, exploring, and the big finish. Each of the five meetings have classic mistakes, unique opportunities, best executions, and remote work implications. Kevin will explore how each of the five meetings is an opportunity to do your best work, with plenty of examples you can start using right away.
From the 2016 Now What? Conference: www.nowwhatconference.com
User-centred digital strategy - UX in the City Manchester 2017Sophie Dennis
Peter Drucker once observed: “There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all”. Strategy is how you avoid this. A sound strategy tells you where you are going, and sets out a high-level, achievable plan to get there. It’s how you make sure anyone can decide what the right things are to work on.
Yet bad strategy documents abound: massive tomes, years in the making (during which the organisation has continued to do what it perhaps should not have been doing at all), full of platitudes, unattainable visions, or uninspiring lists of mundane tactical objectives. Documents that sit in draws, routinely ignored. It makes it easy to pooh-pooh strategy, dismissing it with another Drucker aphorism “culture eats strategy for breakfast” or the mantras of “strategy is easy, tactics are hard” and “the strategy is delivery”.
Using real-world examples of successful discovery and strategy projects, this talk will show you how to reclaim strategy, do it well, and get the support you need to translate it into action. You’ll be able to apply what you learn whether you’re developing the overarching strategy for a whole company, for a particular product or service, or delivering a brand, content or customer experience strategy. Culture may still eat strategy for breakfast, and implementation may still be the really hard part, but with a good strategy behind you you’ll have a lot more chance of succeeding.
You will learn:
* how to distinguish between vision, strategy and tactics, decide which your organisation needs right now, and the UX methods to apply to each
* how to hit the ‘goldilocks point’ with your strategy: not so visionary you fail the "yeah right" test, not so mundane you fail the "so what?" test
* how and when to engage with stakeholders, avoiding big surprises in order to get the support and buy-in that’s necessary to turn recommendations into action
how to tackle the discovery process and structure your findings and recommendations
Design Sprints for Awesome Teams: Running Design Sprints for Rapid Digital Pr...Dana Mitroff Silvers
Pre-conference workshop at the 2016 Museums and the Web Conference in Los Angeles, CA, on April 6, 2016.
Design Thinking is a set of methods and a mindset that combines empathy, creativity, and rationality to solve human-centered problems, and is the foundation upon which Design Sprints are built. We have run numerous Design Sprints with museums and cultural heritage organizations, and have refined its application to the unique constraints and opportunities of the museum sector.
Come join us for this fun and high-energy workshop in which we’ll walk you through a hands-on Design Sprint and give you tools and resources to bring sprints back to your own organization—and make your team more awesome!
Tell better stories-stories that connect with your audience and your mission.
Discover methods and tools for engaging stakeholders, creating a story framework and executing measurable content. Great for content strategists, creators, marketers and editors.
Content strategy for information professionals: slides from LIKELauren Pope
My slides from a talk/workshop I did for London Information and Knowledge Exchange (LIKE). LIKE is a community for information and knowledge professionals, and I went along to talk about content strategy and go through some exercises to help the attendees see how they could use it in their roles.
It’s kind of ironic that there’s often very little strategy in what many people refer to as “content strategy”. The work being done is either tactical or applied best practice. Now, there’s nothing wrong with either of those things — they’re both quite necessary at times.
But a strategy needs provide a solution to a significant problem by identifying specific obstacles and opportunities, outlining a guiding vision, and planning for how an organisation will achieve that vision. A content strategy, simply does the same thing but uses content and content practices to achieve the goal.
In this webinar, Kathy breaks out the essential parts of good strategy and provides hands-on, practical advice for making sure your content strategy is strategic.
Slides from #BrightonSEO Sept 2015 and #Mozinar October 2015
Practical thinking skills and brainstorming techniques that will drastically improve your idea generation for content.
Get the free ebook here: http://www.content101.com/ebooks/how-to-have-ideas/
Catalyzing Change: Tools and Strategies for Digital Transformation (Museums a...Dana Mitroff Silvers
Slides from Museums and the Web 2015 pre-conference workshop, "Catalyzing Change: Tools and Strategies for Digital Transformation."
workshop presenters:
Dana Mitroff Silvers @dmitroff
Emily Lytle-Painter @museumofemily
Carolyn Royston: #caro_ft
Why content marketing needs content strategyLauren Pope
My slides from the Content Marketing Show, 8th November 2013.
In my talk, I explain the difference between content strategy and content marketing, and look at the elements of content strategy and how they can help improve your content.
20,000 pages and counting: Content strategy for large collectionJonathan Roper
Websites with massive page counts are a jungle. The rules and practices you use on a 120 page website don’t really work when you are facing 20,000 pages.
This practical session looks at how to approach big websites in order to improve user experience, content quality and content marketing.
Based on his experience across different content projects at large government and educational websites, Jonathan shares how he guided clients through their own particular sea of content in order to transform their online user experience.
10 steps to salvation: Creating digital governance that worksKate Thomas
For organisations to succeed in the digital age, they need to adopt new frameworks and ways of working. The key to doing this is to dust off and turn inside-out existing governance frameworks, reinvigorating them with more nimble ways of working. Governance is no longer a separate policy or individual decision maker. It is everyone working in digital. It is every digital touch point and policy. It is the digital strategy, the customer strategy, the media strategy, the KPI framework, analytics, and SEO.
Twenty-first century governance is the supportive mesh of digital success.
Presented 01 Oct 2014 at Confab Europe Barcelona
http://confabevents.com/events/europe/program/10-steps-to-salvation-creating-digital-governance-that-works
Few words about happiness (Polish talk) / O szczęściu słów kilkaTomek Borek
Since latest One Beer Talks were rather on the hard side, I went with soft presentation and talked about happiness. I outlined new research and showed what was found and how and provided links for more. It's a short preso, a lightning talk if you will.
Ponieważ ostatne Piwne Gadki były raczej mocno techniczne, zrobiłem miękką prezentację o szczęściu, zarysowującą nowe badania nad nim i dającą ogólny pogląd o kilku rzeczach w tej domenie, wszystko w kwadrans.
ESTA ES LA GALERÍA DEFINITIVA PARA NUESTRO BLOG ESCOLAR LLAMADO LLEGINT PER EL MÒN EL BLOGGER
NUESTRO BLOG TRATA DE VIAJES Y LIBROS Y AQUÍ HOS DEJO UN ENLAZE POR SI OS INTERESA;
http://llegintperelmon.blogspot.com.es/
Y QUE QUEDE CLARO LAS FOTOS SON HECHAS POR MI NO HAY COPYRAIGHT :)
SALEN FOTOS HECHAS A LOBROS COMO:
EL THEOREMA DE KATHERINE(JOHN GREEN),BAJO LA MISMA ESTRELLA (JOHN GREEN),BUSCANDO A ALASKA(JOHN GREEN),FANGIRL (RAINBOW ROWELL),LA TRILOGIA DE LA SELECCIÓN (KIERA CASS),EL CORREDOR DEL LABERINTO ( JAMES DASHNER),LOS CUATRO LIBROS DE HUSH HUSH ( BECA FITZPATRICK),LOS ORÍGENES DE CAZADORES DE SOMBRAS (CASSANDRA CLARE),LOS LIBROS DE LA SAGA PRINCIPAL DE SHADOW HUNTERS O CAZADORES DE SOMBRAS (CASSANDRA CLARE),LOVE YOU (ESTELLE MASKAME),ÁNGELES CAÍDOS (SUSAN EE), LA REINA ROJA(VICTORIA AVEYARD),SOY EL NÚERO CUATRO( PITTACUS LORE),AFTER (ANNA TODD), LAS CRÓNICAS DE MAGUS BANE ( CASSANDRA CLARE) Y YA ESTA
TDD (Test Driven Development) and coding QUOTESirenella89
I prepared these quotes with the aim of hanging them during our JS CodeRetreat event in Munich... due to the fact that several people asked me to share them...well, here you are!! :D hope you like them! As I wrote in a tweet (@irenelladn89), "My job is to make sure that programmers enjoy their JS CodeRetreat: A HAPPY PROGRAMMER IS A GOOD PROGRAMMER!”. Enjoy :)
Defining the content strategy is the easy part. But how do you actually make it work? Not just today, but tomorrow, and next year, and the year after that? How can you continually evolve and mature your content practices, create rock-star content teams, and produce better content faster? Sound magical? Nope, it’s just good content governance.
In this introductory workshop, we’ll use group discussions and debates, thought-provoking exercises, and real-world client stories to build your knowledge and awareness of content governance.
Here’s what you’ll learn:
How to identify where your organization fits in the content maturity model, and how to progress
Different options for content governance within an organization
The five pillars on which you need to build your content governance
How to advocate and influence for content governance changes
The steps to take to get you started towards better governance
This slide presentation was used as part of Brutal Pixie's first Summer School at the Majoran Distillery in Adelaide. The exercises are extended versions of suggestions made by Margot Bloomstein in her fantastic book Content Strategy at Work.
Antony Mayfield and Katie Smith, Brilliant Noise
Content strategy seminar
www.charitycomms.org.uk/events
In this session Antony and Katie will step you through the 'Six Ps' of content strategy - Purpose, Principles, Platforms, Processes, People and Performance - helping you ask the right questions to formulate an effective approach to content development and communications.
Upcoming CharityComms events can be found here: http://www.charitycomms.org.uk/events
Content strategy - Beyond the wireframe (UX Bristol 2014)Nomensa
A workshop for UX designers and researchers.
Have you ever experienced that sinking feeling at the end of a project when you realise the content that’s been loaded onto the site is nothing like what you were thinking of when you created the wireframes? Or revisited a site you built a while ago and found that additions and changes made over the years have altered it beyond recognition?
Content strategy can help you plan for great content right from the start of a project. This workshop demystifies the content production workflow – how it’s commissioned, created, measured and maintained – talks a bit about governance, and provides some practical tips and tools to help plan and manage content, whether you’re from an agency or in-house.
AUTHORS:
Juliet Richardson
Juliet is Principal UX Consultant at strategic UX design agency, Nomensa based in their Bristol office. She has been working in the field of UX for longer than she cares to remember and has worked on some great projects with some fabulous clients along the way, including a recent collaboration with Sophie to create a content strategy for a large national charity.
Sophie Dennis
Sophie is a freelance consultant. She is a freelance consultant specialising in UX and content strategy. She started her career in publishing before being enticed away by the bright lights of web design, where she has spent 15 years trying to get clients to take their content as seriously as they do design. She recently collaborated with Juliet on the content strategy for a major UK charity, and is currently working as a User Experience Director at cxpartners.
Defining the content strategy is the easy part. But how are you actually going to make it work? Not just today, but tomorrow, and next year, and the year after that? How can you continually evolve and mature your internal content practices, create rock-star content teams, and produce better content faster? Sound magical? Nope, it’s just good content governance.
Web Content Strategy - How to Plan for, Create and Publish Online Content for...Joe Pulizzi
A presentation from Joe Pulizzi (Junta42) and Kristina Halvorson (Brain Traffic) on February 6, 2009 Online Marketing Summit in San Diego.
The presentation goes into detail about why marketers have to develop a publishing mindset, why web content strategy is so difficult, and what you can do now to create an effective content strategy and plan within your own organization.
Content Assess & Progress: How to identify high-impact content initiatives an...Content Strategy Inc.
With so many competing content needs within a large organization, you can’t do everything at once. So how do you know where to begin making content improvements? Now, there’s a better answer than, “Wherever you can!”
In this interactive webinar, we’ll introduce you to our “Content Assess and Progress” methodology. It helps you hone in on the specific aspects of your content, or content practices, that need the most work and will have the biggest impact on your organisation.
How to Jump Start Your Video Focused Content Strategy | Webinar 04.09.2015BizLibrary
In this webinar, you will learn how to link a learning content strategy that relies upon bite-sized video to organizational objectives. The specific elements of a video strategy each guide a range of choices from how to incorporate the power of storytelling through video to achieve these objectives to decisions about specific video types, styles and delivery tools.
When it comes to building your content strategy, one size does not fit all. In this presentation, I discuss why best practices aren't always best, things to think about when building your brand's content strategy, and how finding a balance between "old and new" will set you up for sucess.
The presentation is from the Toronto HubSpot User Group on 12.2.21
Thinking Strategically About Content - Localization World SingaporeScott Abel
In this presentation from Localization World Singapore, April 2013, Scott Abel explores the importance of thinking strategically about content (how it is created, why its created, and the goals of global content initiatives) by helping the audience understand the importance of vision in content strategy. The presentation also touches on how organizations can find time for innovation and provides several resources for content strategy professionals.
Avoid a redesign train wreck: Get your content from point A to BLynn Winter
When redesigning your Drupal website, one of the most important things to consider is content. And while we all dream of large budgets and lots of time to invest in a fancy process, sometimes it’s just about getting from point A to point B.
With any content strategy plan, there are key points where your team might breakdown or derail on your way to your final destination — launch. This talk will focus on addressing these potential problem areas, offering up tools, tips, and documents that can help at each stage.
How to build a content marketing and social media engineMarcel Santilli
What does it take to create a successful content marketing and social media engine that drives strong business results?
- Building a content and social media strategy that is tailored to your resources
What are your business objectives?
Who are you trying to impact?
Write down your vision.
How will your content create value for your target audience?
What resource constraints do you have?
What type of content could disrupt customers priorities?
Who do you need to get buy in from for your strategy to work?
What skills do you need to be successful?
Structuring your cross-functional team
Define roles and responsibilities
Building processes and workflows (Get work done and scale)
Use the right tools to enable collaboration
What type of tools does my team need to be successful?
Multi-cluster Kubernetes Networking- Patterns, Projects and GuidelinesSanjeev Rampal
Talk presented at Kubernetes Community Day, New York, May 2024.
Technical summary of Multi-Cluster Kubernetes Networking architectures with focus on 4 key topics.
1) Key patterns for Multi-cluster architectures
2) Architectural comparison of several OSS/ CNCF projects to address these patterns
3) Evolution trends for the APIs of these projects
4) Some design recommendations & guidelines for adopting/ deploying these solutions.
APNIC Foundation, presented by Ellisha Heppner at the PNG DNS Forum 2024APNIC
Ellisha Heppner, Grant Management Lead, presented an update on APNIC Foundation to the PNG DNS Forum held from 6 to 10 May, 2024 in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
Bridging the Digital Gap Brad Spiegel Macon, GA Initiative.pptxBrad Spiegel Macon GA
Brad Spiegel Macon GA’s journey exemplifies the profound impact that one individual can have on their community. Through his unwavering dedication to digital inclusion, he’s not only bridging the gap in Macon but also setting an example for others to follow.
# Internet Security: Safeguarding Your Digital World
In the contemporary digital age, the internet is a cornerstone of our daily lives. It connects us to vast amounts of information, provides platforms for communication, enables commerce, and offers endless entertainment. However, with these conveniences come significant security challenges. Internet security is essential to protect our digital identities, sensitive data, and overall online experience. This comprehensive guide explores the multifaceted world of internet security, providing insights into its importance, common threats, and effective strategies to safeguard your digital world.
## Understanding Internet Security
Internet security encompasses the measures and protocols used to protect information, devices, and networks from unauthorized access, attacks, and damage. It involves a wide range of practices designed to safeguard data confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Effective internet security is crucial for individuals, businesses, and governments alike, as cyber threats continue to evolve in complexity and scale.
### Key Components of Internet Security
1. **Confidentiality**: Ensuring that information is accessible only to those authorized to access it.
2. **Integrity**: Protecting information from being altered or tampered with by unauthorized parties.
3. **Availability**: Ensuring that authorized users have reliable access to information and resources when needed.
## Common Internet Security Threats
Cyber threats are numerous and constantly evolving. Understanding these threats is the first step in protecting against them. Some of the most common internet security threats include:
### Malware
Malware, or malicious software, is designed to harm, exploit, or otherwise compromise a device, network, or service. Common types of malware include:
- **Viruses**: Programs that attach themselves to legitimate software and replicate, spreading to other programs and files.
- **Worms**: Standalone malware that replicates itself to spread to other computers.
- **Trojan Horses**: Malicious software disguised as legitimate software.
- **Ransomware**: Malware that encrypts a user's files and demands a ransom for the decryption key.
- **Spyware**: Software that secretly monitors and collects user information.
### Phishing
Phishing is a social engineering attack that aims to steal sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details. Attackers often masquerade as trusted entities in email or other communication channels, tricking victims into providing their information.
### Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) Attacks
MitM attacks occur when an attacker intercepts and potentially alters communication between two parties without their knowledge. This can lead to the unauthorized acquisition of sensitive information.
### Denial-of-Service (DoS) and Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Attacks
1.Wireless Communication System_Wireless communication is a broad term that i...JeyaPerumal1
Wireless communication involves the transmission of information over a distance without the help of wires, cables or any other forms of electrical conductors.
Wireless communication is a broad term that incorporates all procedures and forms of connecting and communicating between two or more devices using a wireless signal through wireless communication technologies and devices.
Features of Wireless Communication
The evolution of wireless technology has brought many advancements with its effective features.
The transmitted distance can be anywhere between a few meters (for example, a television's remote control) and thousands of kilometers (for example, radio communication).
Wireless communication can be used for cellular telephony, wireless access to the internet, wireless home networking, and so on.
This 7-second Brain Wave Ritual Attracts Money To You.!nirahealhty
Discover the power of a simple 7-second brain wave ritual that can attract wealth and abundance into your life. By tapping into specific brain frequencies, this technique helps you manifest financial success effortlessly. Ready to transform your financial future? Try this powerful ritual and start attracting money today!
2. Freelancing at a digital agency
Digital transformation of Acme Finance:
Global insurance / financial investment company
Hundreds of years old (the default choice)
Losing financial customers to digital disrupters
The most profitable meeting of my life
First meeting with client, Susie
3. Writing for
the web
workshop
Tone of voice
Content
measurement
Structured
briefing
templates
Governance
Archiving and
retention
Translation / localisation
Centralised?
Devolved?
Content purpose /
strategy
4. Writing
for the
web
workshop
Tone of voice
Content
measurement
Structured
briefing
templates
Governance
Archiving and
retention
Translation /
localisation
Centralised?
Devolved?
Content purpose /
strategyThe what, why, how, when, for
whom, by whom, with what,
where, how often, what next
of content*
A global content strategy
* Kristina Halvorson, Content strategy for everything
5. Yes!
We have to do
this!
This is exactly
what we need!
Says Susie
Yay!
Let’s do it!
Says I.
Huzzah!
Says the
commercial
manager for the
agency
6. None of this
Susie
Freelancer with some UX experience
Married to Steve, our main client contact
Had been at Acme for six weeks
What happened next?
10. What happened
I went too big too soon
Of course Acme needed a content strategy
Every digital endeavour needs a content strategy
Content strategy = business strategy
Content without strategy is just stuff
11. With five minutes reflection
There’s no way Acme could agree to my plan
(With six minutes reflection,I wouldn’t have agreed with it ;)
Sound and theoretically awesome!
Basic assumptions, but meaningless:
No genuine user insight
No real client involvement
12. 1. Break. It. Down.
2. Not present deliverables as faits accomplis.
3. Start with strategy. And don’t stop.
4. Base every decision on insight.
5. Be flexible. Be open. Be inclusive.
What I would do next time
15. A leadership team that didn’t want to share
No access to client stakeholders
25 people working 10-hour days
16. What I did
Aligned with others working on the account:
Invited myself to meetings for the micro projects
Created deliverables for these
Interrogated and investigated and asked questions in
context of micro projects
Focused on how I could help them
17. Persistence
Being consistent in my advice
Listening
Ignoring rejection
Acknowledging reality
What worked
18. Lesson 3: Just do it
(You don’t need a content
strategy to do content strategy)
19. “Doing content strategy should not be confused
with having a content strategy.
Very few organizations have a content strategy.”
Carrie Hane Dennison @carriehd
20. 3 x lunchtime sessions about content strategy
14 x content strategy cheat sheets
Aligned the editorial style guide with Acme’s corporate guide
Updated tone of voice guidelines
Governance roadmap
2 x project briefs for Acme’s corporate site, and e-commerce site
Worked with UX to agree landing pages for TV campaigns
What I did
21. Used standard deliverables
Cheat sheets created specifically for the
agency team to use with Acme
Used content strategy and the content strategy
framework to move projects forward
22.
23. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good
Seek forgiveness, don’t ask permission
Dip into the grab bag of content strategy
tools and find something that suits
What I learned
24. Lesson 4: Own it
(No one else is thinking
about content like you are)
25. Re-setting the scene
Acme and the agency: content is king!
Words were everywhere! Apps, microsites, design
treatments, navigation labels
Content free for all!
Lorem ipsum ruled the day!
26. Which was a problem
Content had no value: Acme didn’t know what content should be
doing, nor how it should sound
No one was thinking about content for the full lifecycle*:
Strategic analysis
Content collection
Content management
Publication and post-publication maintenance
Preservation or re-purposing of content + a loop back to analysis
* Robert Rose Content lifecycle
27.
28. Respect the lifecycle. There’s no escaping it.
Ensure no part is neglected in your strategy
Don’t overwhelm the client at once with everything
they have to do
Take a need-to-know approach with client
stakeholders
Bringing the content lifecycle to life
29. Somewhere in every client organisation there is
someone who had spent years preaching what
you’ve been brought in and paid to say.
Your agent of change on the inside
Find that person
Recruit them to your cause
Make them an inclusive priority
30. Lesson 5: Ask for help
(It will always be given to
those who ask for it)
31. Safety nets and sure things
Real and virtual friends working in content strategy, all
generous with knowledge and time
Don’t fret! When you’re not quite sure what to do…
Call on the goddesses and gods of the content
strategy world and they will provide
Conferences, networking and sharing is how we learn
32. Content strategy forum - https://csf.community/
The Language of Content Strategy www.thelanguageofcontentstrategy.com/
Carrie Hane Dennison @carriehd
Lisa Welchman @lwelchman
Hilary Marsh @hilarymarsh
Rahel Bailie @rahelab
Robert Rose @Robert_Rose
Buy / borrow / read books
Search for every conference speaker here
LinkedIn; Facebook; Slack; Google; MeetUp
33. Lesson 6: Go stealthily
(You always have to do
content strategy by stealth)
34. The hard truth:
You always have to do content strategy
by stealth
Always true. To some degree.
Content strategy is a process, it’s challenge, it’s
change
Involves different people with different
understandings of what it means
35. And keep your eye on the prize
Is content marketing eclipsing strategy and stealing the
content spotlight?
Is content strategy as we know it in danger?
Content has to be future-proofed so it doesn’t break on
devices we know about and those we can’t imagine
Writing in the perfect tone of voice isn’t going to help here
Someone needs to be talking to developers and tech
architects about the demands of content
36. Forget about job titles
Own the content
Own the process
Be the content boss
And that person is you.
And remember: No one else is thinking
about content like you are
38. Six weeks after I finished on Acme, the agency hired
another content strategist
Two of the three agency directors jumped ship to work
directly for Acme
The website remains unchanged, complete with typos,
redundancies and undiscoverable content
But they will get there
39. 1. Start small
2. Find allies
3. Just do it
Recap: going dark
4. Own it
5. Ask for help
6. Go stealthily
The agency had created a digital transformation strategy six months previously
Some projects were rolling out of this
Content strategy was set up as a separate stream, and I was brought in to help
Acme was losing customers to digital disrupters who were easier to deal with. And on the surface, cheaper
More of a get-to-know-you session than anything else
Conversation with Susie turned to problems she’d had with a recent content update
I suggested a writing for the web workshop to help
For this, we’d need to do work on tone of voice…
Need to understand content strategy and purpose
Then create briefing templates linking content back to strategic goals
You’ll be investing a lot more in content so will want to measure performance and impact and ROI
More people are going to be involved too, so we need to think about access, permissions, approval, who writes, who edits, who has the final say
And of course when content’s done it’s job, it needs to come off the site, so we’ll need some rules around sun setting content - what do we have to keep? Who says so? What compliance and legal issues are in play?
As you’re global, you also need to think about translation and localisation
What happens centrally?
What happens locally?
Is authority devolved or centralised?
Who makes decisions?
What’s relevant for individual markets?
How do markets relate to other markets?
Conversation with Susie turned to problems she’d had with a recent content update
I suggested a writing for the web workshop to help
For this, we’d need to do work on tone of voice…
Need to understand content strategy and purpose
Then create briefing templates linking content back to strategic goals
You’ll be investing a lot more in content so will want to measure performance and impact and ROI
More people are going to be involved too, so we need to think about access, permissions, approval, who writes, who edits, who has the final say
And of course when content’s done it’s job, it needs to come off the site, so we’ll need some rules around sun setting content - what do we have to keep? Who says so? What compliance and legal issues are in play?
As you’re global, you also need to think about translation and localisation
What happens centrally?
What happens locally?
Is authority devolved or centralised?
Who makes decisions?
What’s relevant for individual markets?
How do markets relate to other markets?
Huzzah says the commercial manager for the agency.
Who’s rubbing his hands, as I’ve just brought in an unexpected windfall of hundreds of thousands of pounds, over a multiyear engagement.
Woo hoo! Content pays!
Like any great boom, there is a bust.
Susie, it turns out:
An organisation, you’ll recall, hundreds of years old, full or lifers working towards their pensions who have seen many such initiatives like ours come and go over the years and they’re well practiced at just shuffling papers, ignoring emails, carrying on as they were and not really changing their work practices which are just fine. Thank you very much.
From a global, interconnected network of user centred content working hard to achieve strategic objectives, there was instead a slow diminishing of vision to the fatal words:
Like any great boom, there is a bust.
Susie, it turns out:
An organisation, you’ll recall, hundreds of years old, full or lifers working towards their pensions who have seen many such initiatives like ours come and go over the years and they’re well practiced at just shuffling papers, ignoring emails, carrying on as they were and not really changing their work practices which are just fine. Thank you very much.
From a global, interconnected network of user centred content working hard to achieve strategic objectives, there was instead a slow diminishing of vision to the fatal words:
What to do: I had grand plans to pay rent and feed and clothe myself - I needed to keep the contract going.
But more importantly, the client couldn’t achieve what they wanted without this work.
So I decided to go dark. I decided to do content strategy by stealth!
Which brings me to the six lessons I learned by going undercover.
I went too big too soon. Please don’t do this.
Of course Acme needed a content strategy.
Every digital endeavour needs a content strategy. Content strategy = business strategy.
Content is what you and I and everyone in the world today uses to make decisions that shape our lives.
It’s how businesses manifest themselves to the world. So of course it has to be strategic.
And in the same way companies make strategic decisions about the number of widgets they’ll make this quarter based on customer needs, business goals and marketplace realities, content needs to relate to what customers are looking for, what the business is trying to achieve and what’s happening in their particular corner of the world.
Content without strategy is just stuff. [https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140210115838-5853751-content-without-strategy-is-just-stuff] It’s not tied to strategic goals. It’s not being measured, no one knows how long it needs to be on a site to do its job (which isn’t written down anywhere, remember).
And the client will waste their time and money and not achieve what they want
Insight from users and data would all come in good time - I’d make it part of my plan.
I knew that. But Susie didn’t.
One of our primary tasks as content strategists is to help translate, demystify and deconstruct digital for clients. Our opinion counts, but we’re guides, helping clients navigate THEIR digital labyrinth.
We need to harness insight and mould into their framework, not assume or dictate it
Break. It. Down. No one likes to hear they have 12-months work ahead of them just to get to the start line
Do not present deliverables as faits accomplis. Keep deliverables at the service of the strategy. (Otherwise clients will focus on the deliverable, not the work.)
Start with strategy. And don’t stop. Keep this at the heart of all conversations and work.
Base every decision on insight. If this doesn’t exist, which it didn’t in this case, build intelligence gathering into your plans
Be flexible. Be open. Be inclusive. Include stakeholders on the journey; it will make your work more meaningful. (And allows you to demonstrate a show don’t tell approach in action, helping educate the client about the work ahead.)
The main problem with this account was the leadership team at the agency and at Acme. At the agency, directors of:
Strategy
design
experience
They had produced the holy grail of a digital strategy and loved to talk to each other and Steve, the client stakeholder about it.
And no one else.
All account and major project decisions were made between these four. At weekends, at dinner…
I had 3 challenges.
A second problem (not unrelated to the first) was that none of the standard project controls were in place. e.g.
no coordinated strategic oversight
few fully costed and planned micro projects
no agreed standards or style
no roadmap of coordinated delivery
Such poor project governance plus 25 people working on the micro projects for the account meant:
competing deadlines
resource strain
redundant and duplicate activity
And then we had the digital strategy itself. This was on the underweight side, lacking robust input from content and user research that meant it was found wanting when put to the test.
Which left me and the 25 others working on the account without the solid foundation we needed to guide our work.
The account was profitable but chaotic
I sought out and found allies.
I gave up on ever having meaningful client contact.
So my chance of decent insight from stakeholder interviews etc had disappeared
Fortunately, there were quite sensible senior strategists, designers, and project managers amongst the 25, and I worked directly with them.
To pick up an point in lesson 1, this is where being flexible and inclusive comes into its own.
For me, softening my approach meant I could:
Invite myself to meetings for the many micro projects to understand what was happening and seed content strategy advice
Create deliverables for the micro projects e.g. copy briefs for an app
Interrogate and investigate and ask questions in context of the micro projects. (Much easier for colleagues to grasp my meaning at this level rather than the huge beast of a global content strategy.)
Work out how I could help them. I was a mere contractor at the agency for only a few months. But these senior staff couldn’t just sprinkle some freelancer magic and walk away like I did; they had to deliver a viable product for the client. One that was commercially advantageous for the agency. So the more I could do to help them, the better.
Yep. You need a thickish skin, and need to know which battles to pick, as you’re not going to win them all.
My favourite I think of the six lessons. Borrowed from Carrie Hane Dennison.
And so this is what I did. 25 people working on the account were keen as mustard - talented, super helpful and happy to get stuck in. They were all busy working on the many microprojects and were keen doers, who’d all drunk the agency cool juice about how work doesn’t count unless it’s done at midnight.
My task was to guide this enthusiasm into more effective channels:
Ran 3 x lunchtime sessions presenting on content strategy (Which means there are now 25+ people roaming around London who have a better idea of what content strategy is and how it can be used)
Created 15 content strategy cheat sheets, on different topics
Aligned the project’s editorial style guide with what the client had provided (that was languishing on the server)
Updated their 80 slide TOV presentation to a more manageable 20 slides and presented that to the team
Wrote a roadmap for them to create a governance framework (from nothing) (Using Lisa Welchman’s book, Managing Chaos, as my inspiration)
Wrote the SOW for two big mini projects: content strategies for the client’s corporate site, and their e-commerce site
Made sure that a related TV campaign had somewhere sensible to land on the client website
14 one page cheat sheets covering introductory topics - content strategy, content audit.
Plus more conceptually challenging, Adaptive content, Intelligent content
3 sections:
What is it?
When and how is it helpful?
What this means for Acme
Do not let perfect be the enemy of good. Don’t wait until all conditions are right or you have been given permission or have orders to go forth and strategize. Another gem from Carrie Hane Dennison (https://gathercontent.com/blog/content-strategy-on-every-budget)
(And I'll expect you'll find there'll be no forgiveness asked for.)
There’s plenty in there. Create something that suits the context you need.
OK folks. Time to step up.
Acme and the agency knew content was the magic bullet
Everyone was buy with content: 25 people were creating apps, microsites, design treatments, navigation interfaces in the micro projects.
Words were everywhere.
And before I worked on the content strategy treats I was just telling you about, it was a content free for all.
Lorem ipsum ruled the day!
Even though Acme knew content was the answer, it had no value. Content wasn’t strategic.
Robert Rose, content lifecycle (from Language of Content strategy)
This is what sets content strategists apart from copy writers, content managers, SEO-ers, UX-ers, project managers, developers, designers who all have a vested interest in and work on content at various times in the project.
Content strategy covers the end-to-end process of content; any other discipline is looking at just one or two of these stages.
There are many examples of content life cycles.
This is from Rahel Bailie. They vary in detail, but in essence cover the same points.
Like I did!
e.g. legal and compliance folk will want a high level view, but the ability to drill down into detail of the lifecycle where needed. But marketing perhaps just creates, and leaves analysis to others
There always is. I met the very same at Acme but unfortunately too late in my time there.
I’ve been that person when I’ve worked client side, and have sat in meetings seething with underlying resentment
That person knows more about the ins and outs of content and how it moves through the organisation than you will ever glean in your stakeholder interviews.
Work with them to understand all aspects of the content lifecycles for that organisation.
Now, I don’t want you to think I made all of this up or just pullet it out of my head.
When I do my job, I do so with a safety net of advice and experience underneath me that I know will catch me and bounce me where I need to be.
I have many virtual and some real friends in the content strategy community and the one thing they have in common is their generosity of knowledge.
When you need to know something, if you think something’s wrong but you’re not quite sure how to respond, don’t despair!
Call on the goddesses and gods of the content strategy universe and they will provide.
There are some examples of content strategy qualifications that are starting to bubble to the surface in Europe and the US.
But until then, I recommend a DIY approach
And there is no shortage of DIY resources.
As you’re at this conference, you’re most likely aware of the very active community in the Content strategy forum - https://csf.community/
For the cheat sheets I created for Acme Finance, I drew heavily on the Language of Content strategy
Here’s the list of resources and people I tapped into when working on the Acme Finance account and for this talk
(Lisa Welchman’s governance book, Managing Chaos, is like a baby blanket; secure and warm and caring)
There are so many other resources out there that I couldn’t possibly list them all. To find something you need that suits your style, search for experts in the usual channels.
Content strategists are everywhere
This is the killer line that you don’t want to hear: You always have to do content strategy by stealth. At some level.
No one is ever going to say to you ‘Please go off and do this one thing. Do a content strategy.’ and leave you to it.
Every day I have to defend and justify my role as content strategist
Every day, I have to insist that strategy isn't forgotten. That just because X happened, it doesn't mean we don't still need to do A, B, C.
As the world complies with Google:
Is content strategy as we know it in danger?
If content marketing does take the spotlight and eclipse the strategic aspects of content, not to mention everything that isn’t editorial.
(And in my head it was to work on the plan I’d done for them months earlier ;)
The website remains unchanged, complete with typos, redundancies and undiscoverable content.
But the client will get there; they have a l o n g road ahead. It won’t be in a year, and probably not the next.
However their hand will be forced, by client demand. And commercial pressures, as they lose out to digitally savvy competitors selling an inferior product
Remember your six lessons for doing content strategy by stealth are:
キLesson 1: Start small, and plan your way out
キLesson 2: Find allies (Or, ‘You can’t always pick your friends’)
キLesson 3: You don’t need a content strategy to do content strategy
キLesson 4: No one else is thinking about content like you are
キLesson 5: Help will always be given to those who ask for it
キLesson 6: You always have to do content strategy by stealth
Thank you