Defining Our Profession Defining Ourselves at Confab

DEFINING OUR PROFESSION,
DEFINING OURSELVES
Confab Central/Mothership/Minnesota
#ConfabMN May 22, 2015
Margot Bloomstein
@mbloomstein

Wiesloch Stadtapotheke Erste Tankstelle, cc Rudolf Stricker
1888, Wiesloch, Germany
City pharmacy

City pharmacy = filling station
@mbloomstein | #ConfabMN 3

In the absence of best practices,
just try, practice, and learn.

Perfection is a pursuit
Wicked problems pull us forward

1909, Altoona, Pennsylvania
America’s oldest gas station
JohnnieandAngela.blogspot.com

1913
Road maps & tire service
JohnnieandAngela.blogspot.com

Road maps & tire service
Full service
Attended pumps
Self service
Air pumps
Squeegees

cc flicker.com/photos/baggis
Is this a gas station?

“A retail business providing the public
a convenient location to quickly purchase
a wide array of food, gasoline, and
services”
NACS, the National Association of Convenience & Fuel Retailing

“2400 square feet
of packaged consumer items.
Today, there are different types of stores:
mini stores under canopies, expanded
food service, in-store seating.”

Industries thrive through differentiation:
both buyers and sellers benefit.
What’s right for me?
What’s right for right now?

Prospect:
Financial services
messaging, workflow,
editorial training

Prospect:
Financial services
editorial training

Prospect:
Financial services
editorial training
for social media

Prospect:
Midmarket institutional investment
editorial training
for social media

vulnerability clarity specificity strength

I help brands clarify their communication
goals to develop, instill, and maintain
appropriate content and editorial voice.

Content strategy plans for the creation,
delivery, and governance of useful,
usable and brand-appropriate content.
This is how I define content strategy.

Content strategy plans for the creation,
publication, and governance of useful,
usable content.
Kristina Halvorson, A List Apart 2009

Content strategy is to copywriting as
information architecture is to design.
Rachel Lovinger, Content Strategy: The Philosophy of Data

I work on how content is organized and
structured. I translate designs into what
needs to be built in the CMS to make the
content work the way it's supposed to.
Rachel Lovinger (@rlovinger), Razorfish

Content strategy within our practice is
less editorial and more strategic. It helps
us determine what and how content will
help solve business and web goals.
Corey Vilhauer (@MrVilhauer), Blend Interactive

We’re like the managing editors of a
magazine: we help to define what goes in
and make sure all the writing is
memorable, fresh, and authentic.
Tiffani Jones-Brown (@ticjones), Pinterest

I'm a content strategist. This means I help
clients and companies figure out how,
when, and why to talk to their audiences.
Keri Maijala (@clamhead)

We are management consultants for
external messaging and editorial
workflow challenges.
Ahava Liebtag (@ahaval), Aha Media Group

I am often a ‘fulcrum’ between disciplines.
I spend at least half my time focusing on
business and cultural change, before
thinking about content.
Elizabeth McGuane, @emcguane

A content strategist is like a business
analyst for your content. We look at how
content is currently helping (or hindering)
your business and develop a strategy to
make it work better.
Sally Bagshaw, @snappysentences

both practitioners and clients benefit

both practitioners and clients benefit
but only when we precisely define our
practices and needs
and then encourage diversity

• Drive the development and organization of content that is useful, compelling and
meaningful on our site, all social media platforms, and distributed content
• Create user flows, information hierarchies, wireframes, and content strategy
• Maintain fluency in industry terminology and develop our “voice” within it
• Determine content requirements, inventory existing content, identify gaps,
evaluate possible sources for additional material, and manage the process of
getting that content into production
• Maintain current content audit
• Creatively look for opportunities to improve content, consumer experience, and
SEO performance
• Manage editorial calendar to proactively keep content useful and up to date
• Train internal and freelance copywriters; develop any necessary training programs
• Develop analytics, conduct consumer and usability testing to help improve the UX
• Lead projects with the PR and marcomm team to support campaigns and launches
• Work with brand architecture and terminology to guide product organization and
internal customer service content and training
• Drive the architecture of and improvements to the internal product CMS
• Occasionally write or edit content, particularly metadata, titles, alt text and edit
general content to optimize for natural search

Without clear differentiation,
hiring (and selling) is frustrating,
training is expensive, and
“content strategy” gets a bad name.

But will we dilute the meaning?

We’ll free the meaning
to communicate what we do or need
with greater precision.

But what about the generalists?

But what about the generalists?
Broaden your knowledge,
but narrow your passion.

Broaden your knowledge,
but narrow your passion.
EXPERTISE

Content strategists,
1. Be precise: own your definition.
2. Get specific: narrow what you want.
3. Be honest—and encouraging.
“No… and”

Corporations and marketing departments
who want to hire content strategists

“Clients”

Clients
1. Be precise: own your definition.
2. Get specific: narrow what you want.
3. Be honest—and encouraging.
“No… and”

Content strategy faces two opportunities:
expand the industry & specialize within it

because how we define our industry is
the sum of how we define ourselves.

THANK YOU!
Margot Bloomstein
@mbloomstein
margot@appropriateinc.com
slideshare.net/mbloomstein
amzn.to/CSatWork
© 2015 Appropriate, Inc.
http://appropriateinc.com/ideas/growing-t-shaped-content-strategist/
http://www.slideshare.net/jcolman/content-strategy-for-marketers-smx-advanced-2013
http://www.clevegibbon.com/2011/08/what-do-content-strategists-do/

Defining Our Profession Defining Ourselves at Confab

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