This document summarizes Ian Alexander's presentation on content strategy at an IA conference. It discusses the importance of content, strategy, and design; how people find content through search, history with a brand, or referral; the different purposes of content for trust building, being informative, or sales; and how content must be tested and implemented properly to be effective.

1. Content Strategy
Off to the market. IA Conference 3-19-09

2. Eat Media—A Content Agency
Content. Strategy. Design.
in that order. for a reason.
Ian Alexander
VP of Content
www.eatmedia.net/blog

3. Eat Media
WHAT WE DO
*Design, manage, strategize and deliver ongoing content
*Design and build websites
*QA/content migration management
*Manage magazine production
ISN’T THERE AN EASIER WAY TO MAKE A LIVING?
*Hey, we’ve been literary agents, programmers, ad execs and writers,
but content strategy and IA was just too sexy to pass up.

4. Ian Alexander
WHAT I DO
*Draw on the whiteboard wall
*Write, edit, strategize
*Juggle what is technically possible and editorially proper with
stakeholders, check-writers and code-monkeys.

5. The Holy Trinity of Content
How did you get here?
What are you looking for?
'Styles upon styles upon styles is what I have.' (+10 if you can name artist.)

6. How Did You Get Here?
Blind—Search Engines (aka Google).
History—We already know the brand.
Referral—From a trusted brand or source.

7. How Did You Get Here? Blind
Blind—Search Engines (aka Google).
'Searching' is the active reaching out for a want, or need, that
either is not currently unavailable or unclear. We search when don’t
have something or when we aren’t sure. 'Browsing' is the act of
casually looking at something. We browse when we don’t know what
we are looking for, or we are bored. Different emotional and
strategic elements are at play here and this is reflected in the
content tone, quality and presentation.
Browsers have wants: Information
Searchers have needs: Solution*
*Information can be a predecessor to a solution.

8. How Did You Get Here? History
History—We already know the brand.
The market leaders are easy to find: Nike, Whole Foods and
Starbucks. The web has made niche market leaders easier to find:
you want obscure music check out acquariusrec.com, interested in
the most up-to-date design issues click on over to
smashingmagazine.com
Once a brand is recognized as an authority, the content it creates,
recommends or partners with is assumed valuable and trustworthy.

9. How Did You Get Here? Referral
Referral—From a trusted brand or source.
We are sometimes introduced to content via a trusted source:
Newsletter, magazine, friend, link off another site, Twitter, IM or
__________. (Fill in with the latest nizzer-keen social media tool/site.
Referral content weighs a ton, not unlike my uzi. (+5 Anyone)

10. Content Purpose
Content is either:
Trust Building
Informative
Sales Pitch

11. Content Purpose Trust Building
Trust Building—Examples of trust building content.
Pull Quotes: 'I Just signed up for Mint and it completely knocked
my socks off. This is going to revolutionize how I
manage my money.’
Clients.htm: Helps users determine whether or not you are in
their league.
Portfolio.htm: Gives users confidence that you do what you say
you do.
Case Studies/Product in Action: Seeing is believing. The bottom line
speaks volumes.

12. Content Purpose Informative
Informative—Examples of informative content
Simplifying the not so simple:
Support.htm: Everything from 'Do you have an internet connection?'
to 'where is my order?’
Contact.htm: Maybeillgetbacktoyou@surenuff.com may not be quite
enough info.
Materials.htm: Today’s customer is going to ask questions, save
yourself the phone charges.

13. Content Purpose Sales Pitch
Sales Pitch—Examples of Sales Pitch content
Signing up is selling and sometimes upselling
Services.htm: Give users incentive to do something or just rock the
laundry list, your call.
Pricing.htm: Are the hoops you ask your customers to jump through
elegant?
Copy: Sales pitch content is all about verbs (sign-up, get started,
login, checkout).

14. Styles upon styles is what I have
Same story. Many mediums. Different Presentations.
Charticle/Infographics
Mobile Editorial
Video Print
Email Newsletter
Pictorial Audio
Slideshow Event
Widgets White Papers
Social Media Case Studies

15. Leaving on a Jet Plane
IA and Content Strategy—Birds of a Feather

16. Leaving on a Jet Plane
Snake oil anyone?
Content is not a magic elixir. It does not work right out of the box.
It needs to be measured, tweaked and tested.
IA/CS—We have a duty to create, support and push for the proper
implementation of our strategies. Our clients are best served by
doing this together.

17. Leaving on a Jet Plane
Safety Dance
Safe is dangerous. Playing it safe on the web is the high school
equivalent of being 'cute'. No one wants to be cute.
On the flip side, safe is also relative and your audience is a
barometer of how far you can push your content. Not everyone
wants snark, crazy right?

18. Leaving on a Jet Plane
ThinkGeek
Like it or not, the rules of content and content delivery are being
rewritten by technologists, not writer/marketing folk. So embrace
your inner geek, or your outer geek—that’d be the guy in the corner
with the Steampunk keyboard and Vanna White shrine.*
*See play nice with the IA/UX team

19. Leaving on a Jet Plane
Convince
Having a website/blog and newsletter just gets you into the game.
When every day millions of pages are being indexed, 'Why should I
care?' is a question that content strategy has to answer definitively.

20. Thanks
The ducks are robotic. Sorry for the spoiler.