How associations and nonprofit organizations can overcome politics to create effective content. Talk for Content Strategy New England Meetup, December 2013

1. MANAGING
THE POLITICS
OF CONTENT
Content
Strategy
New
England
Meetup
December
4,
2013
Hilary
Marsh,
Content
Company

2. CONTENT STRATEGY CHALLENGES
• No
one
can
find
anything
on
our
website,
and
they’re
complaining
to
the
CEO
• PracFcally
everyone
in
our
organizaFon
publishes
content
online,
and
you’d
almost
never
know
it
was
from
the
same
organizaFon
• No
one
is
in
charge
of
the
home
page
–
or
everyone
is
in
charge
of
it
• We
can’t
add
comments
because
we
don’t
know
how
to
handle
them
• Some
of
our
best
material
is
presented
as
PDFs,
with
Ftles
like
“4002.pdf”
• Our
website
is
organized
based
on
our
org
structure
rather
than
on
how
our
audience
thinks
about
us
or
our
content
Hilary
Marsh,
Content
Company
CSNE
Meetup,
December
2013

3. BUSINESS CHALLENGES
They’re
about
• process
• ownership
• collaboraFon
• mutual
understanding
(or
lack
thereof)
Hilary
Marsh,
Content
Company
©
Don
Graham,
1998,
Flickr
CSNE
Meetup,
December
2013

4. BUSINESS CONSEQUENCES
©
Don
Graham,
1998,
Flickr
Hilary
Marsh,
Content
Company
CSNE
Meetup,
December
2013

5. WHAT IS CONTENT STRATEGY?
WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY, HOW OF
PUBLISHING CONTENT
A STRATEGIC STATEMENT TYING CONTENT TO
BUSINESS & USER NEEDS
PEOPLE, PROCESSES, AND POWER TO EXECUTE
THAT STATEMENT
Hilary
Marsh,
Content
Company
CSNE
Meetup,
December
2013

6. User
Needs
(What’s
Desirable)
Business
Drivers
(What’s
Important)
Technological
Capabili/es
(What’s
Possible)
Hilary
Marsh,
Content
Company
Content
Strategy
CSNE
Meetup,
December
2013

7. WHAT IS “CONTENT”?
EVENT
PRODUCT
CLASS
PROGRAM
RESEARCH
Hilary
Marsh,
Content
Company
CSNE
Meetup,
December
2013

8. CONTENT STRATEGY IS REALLY…
EVENT STRATEGY
PRODUCT STRATEGY
CLASS STRATEGY
PROGRAM STRATEGY
RESEARCH STRATEGY
Hilary
Marsh,
Content
Company
CSNE
Meetup,
December
2013

9. “EVERY PIXEL HAS AN OWNER”
–
Paul
Ford,
former
Web
editor
at
Harper’s
magazine
Confab
2013
Hilary
Marsh,
Content
Company
CSNE
Meetup,
December
2013

10. WITHOUT A CONTENT STRATEGY
Hilary
Marsh,
Content
Company
CSNE
Meetup,
December
2013

11. WITHOUT A CONTENT STRATEGY
If
you
build
a
site
without
knowing
the
content
that
will
exist,
the
site
you
create
may
not
be
able
to
be
successful!
Hilary
Marsh,
Content
Company
CSNE
Meetup,
December
2013

12. FOCUS YOUR CONTENT
ON THE READER
ON THE MEMBER
Hilary
Marsh,
Content
Company
CSNE
Meetup,
December
2013

13. CONTENT
STRATEGIST
AS
ORCHESTRA
CONDUCTOR
Hilary
Marsh,
Content
Company
CSNE
Meetup,
December
2013

14. IDENTIFYING AND PRIORITIZING AUDIENCES
Hilary
Marsh,
Content
Company
CSNE
Meetup,
December
2013

15. TO TRANSCEND POLITICS
1. SELL THE VISION
2. RESPECT THE DEPTH
3. FOSTER COLLABORATION
4. MOTIVATE AND RECOGNIZE
5. REDEFINE SUCCESS
Hilary
Marsh,
Content
Company
CSNE
Meetup,
December
2013

16. SELL THE VISION
Hilary
Marsh,
Content
Company
CSNE
Meetup,
December
2013

17. RESPECT THE DEPTH
Hilary
Marsh,
Content
Company
CSNE
Meetup,
December
2013

18. FOSTER COLLABORATION
Hilary
Marsh,
Content
Company
CSNE
Meetup,
December
2013

19. MOTIVATE AND RECOGNIZE
Hilary
Marsh,
Content
Company
CSNE
Meetup,
December
2013

20. REDEFINE SUCCESS
I
put
the
informaFon
up
online
–now
I
also
need
to
know
how
many
people
have
used
it???
Hilary
Marsh,
Content
Company
CSNE
Meetup,
December
2013

21. MORE TIPS
1. EDUCATE/REMIND REGULARLY –
HOW-TOs, SUCCESS STORIES
2. REPORT REGULARLY
3. “BLAME THE POLICY”
4. CREATE & SOCIALIZE PERSONAS
5. INVOLVE STAKEHOLDERS
Hilary
Marsh,
Content
Company
CSNE
Meetup,
December
2013

22. THANK YOU
DOING CONTENT STRATEGY SINCE BEFORE CONTENT STRATEGY WAS COOL
Content
strategy
doer,
manager,
mentor,
teacher
since
1999
Consult
with
associaFons,
corporaFons,
nonprofits
..otherwise,
I’m
kniZng
@hilarymarsh
hilary@hilarymarsh.com
Hilary
Marsh,
Content
Company
CSNE
Meetup,
December
2013