When you look at content strategy closely, you'll discover it runs through virtually every discipline—both online and off—from web development to service design to advertising. Once you understand the generic principles, you can apply content strategy anywhere you choose.

1. Content strategists:
the men and women of a new renaissance
Eric Reiss
@elreiss
CS Forum
September 5, 2011
London, England

2. “We have 39 speakers lined up for
the Content Strategy Forum 2011,
who will shock and amaze.”

3. The strategy part is easy…
Define, acquire, publish, and link:
• the most useful content,
• in the most usable form,
• in the best possible quality
• and ensure it stays fresh
The rest is tactics!

4. Are we making things
easy for our clients?

5. http://www.29stories.com/blog/post/the-world-of-a-content-strategist/
Greg Ness

6. http://knol.google.com/k/content-strategy#
Rahel Bailie

7. There is no doubt that the
discipline of content strategy exists…
…but is there such a thing
as a “content strategist”?

8. Lessons learned from IA and IxD
Accept that there are other disciplines that also
do what you do
Use your energy doing the work,
not defending your turf
When you’re the smartest kid in the room,
it pays not to let the others know
Beware of “title creep”
(neither IA nor IxD have learned these lessons yet)

9. £
Senior consultant
Business analyst
Content strategist
Information architect
SEO expert
Visual designer
Social-media guru
Digital ninja
Generation Y sociologist
Content expert
(the PM took the picture)

10. tin iron foam
information

12. So much for the snark.
Now, it’s time to get down to business.

13. Three key take-aways
Create shared references
(this is the essence of much content strategy)
Build strong contextual relationships
(this is the key to valuable info architecture)
Practice basic cognitive techniques
(this is the secret to effective interactions)

14. Soho (Lon)
“suspenders”
Soho (NYC)

15. And what are you looking for in a shoe?

19. Scary fact #1
Longer text outperforms
short text by 40.5%
• Short-copy ROI = -14%
• Long-copy ROI = +21%
Source: Marketingexperiments.com

20. What’s in our shared-reference toolkit?
Words

21. http://www.cdnow.com
“Words”
Words

22. Words of wisdom #1
Content is king.
But context is the kingdom.

29. And what comes next…
Big Mac
Large shake
Fries

32. The Kuleshov Effect

33. Words of wisdom #1 (again)
Content is king.
But context is the kingdom.

34. And finally, a few words about cognition…

35. Cognitive challenges
• Control images and colors
• Limit choices (or expand them)
• Provide social validation
• Invoke scarcity
• Play on fear of loss

36. +
vs. vs.

37. Three different scenarios
Buy camera and case at same time
Expectation that some high-end cases would be sold
Case bought separately – two choices
Expectation that mostly low-end case would be sold
Case bought separately – three choices
Expectation that mostly mid-range case would be sold
Inspired by Dr. Susan Weinschenk

38. Social validation
Scarcity
Fear of loss

39. So, three things to remember…
CS is not new. Don’t overthink it.
Build share references
Respect the value of context

40. My 20 minutes are up.
Thanks for listening.

41. Eric Reiss can (usually) be found at:
The FatDUX Group ApS
Strandøre 15
2100 Copenhagen
Denmark
Office: (+45) 39 29 67 77
Mobil: (+45) 20 12 88 44
Twitter: @elreiss
info@fatdux.com
www.fatdux.com