1.
Content Strategy 101
Using content to show member value

2.
What is content?
• Magazine articles
• Conference session descriptions
• Course listings
• Executive biographies
• Press releases
• Newsletters
• Program information
• Membership details
• Advocacy issue updates
• Topic research and surveys
• Etc., etc., etc.

3.
Content takes different forms
• Web pages
• Blog posts
• Infographics
• Images
• PDFs
• Video
• Audio

4.
What is content strategy?
The right content
To the right person
At the right time
For the right action

5.
Put another way….
Content strategy is the practice of planning for the
creation, delivery, and governance of
useful, usable content.

6.
Three faces

7.
Multiple parts
• A strategic statement tying content to business
goals
• Guidelines and policies: Who, what, when,
where, why, and how of publishing content
• Defining people, roles, and processes

8.
Audience-centric
Business-sensitive
Content
The ultimate vision

9.
Foundational tenets
1. Content creators & SMEs have a common
understanding of what key audiences want, and how
their content helps deliver that.
2. Content creators & SMEs have a common
understanding of the org’s goals are and how their
content contributes to them.
3. Content creators & SMEs share their content in a
consistent, effective way

10.
Principles
• The organization creates content that its audiences want
• The organization creates content that helps it meet its
goals
• Content has success metrics and is measured against
those
• Content that is no longer relevant is no longer available
• Content is promoted, surfaced, and cross-linked based on
its topic, not its source
• Content is created in the organization’s voice

11.
Department
Message
Audience
Department
Message
Audience
Department
Message
Audience
Department
Message
Audience
Old thinking

12.
11
Silos

13.
Different views of the audience
http://www.fastcompany.com/3019930/leadership-now/the-5-blind-men-and-other-myths-of-innovation

14.
13
http://www.amazon.com/Have-Always-Done-That-Way/dp/184728857X/

15.
Difficulty prioritizing

16.
Consequences

17.
Diluted
impact
16

18.
Lack of
understanding
of your value

19.
Opportunities
1. Be the primary source of information
2. Use your content to draw the right people
3. Get people to take the action you want them to take
• Must be a win-win
• Without a strategy, it’s just content

20.
Organization: Programs, offerings
Audience
Messages
Audience Audience Audience
New thinking

21.
Typical project flow
1. Gather data to know what we know (discovery)
2. Audit and assess website content
3. Audit and assess e-newsletters
4. Analyze competitive organizations and for-profit
companies
5. Audience personas and customer journeys

22.
Typical project flow
6. Facilitate the development of content creation and
publishing guidelines
7. Identify roles, content lifecycles, workflow,
governance models
8. Create a framework for content promotions
9. Plan for sustainability

23.
Data gathering
1. Review existing studies, surveys, assessments, reports
2. Interview stakeholders to learn about current goals,
opportunities, and challenges
3. Survey members to learn what they like and don’t like
about your communications today, and what topics and
channels they are interested in

24.
Stakeholder interview goals
• Learning more about each department’s
business needs and goals
• Getting an understanding of each department’s
knowledge about and perception of the
association’s audiences and their needs
• Hearing first-hand what is working now, as well
as the impact of current challenges

25.
Web content audit
1. Review existing online content, document content
types, topics, audiences, and usage
2. Create guidelines for what to keep, what not to keep
3. Based on guidelines and best practices, recommend
action for each page (keep, delete, revise, archive)
4. Look at patterns and themes, document observations

26.
E-newsletter audit
• Review 6 months’ worth of e-newsletters
• Recommend opportunities for improvement

27.
Audience personas and customer journeys
• Flesh out existing personas to foster
understanding and empathy
• Think through the customer journey to
understand members’ contexts and needs

28.
Audience personas and customer journeys
• Shared focus on the audience
• Shared understanding of the audience

29.
29
http://www.slideshare.net/est3ban/empathybased-personas-gaining-a-deeper-understanding-of-your-audience-presen

30.
30
Anthony
Susan
Allen
Maggie

31.
Content creation and publishing
guidelines
• Identify your organizational voice and tone
• Develop editorial style guidelines to enable
that in all content the organization creates
• Adapt digital publishing best practices to
your content and channels

32.
Governance
• Define roles needed to keep content
effective
• Define content access-level strategy
• Define content success metrics and
ongoing decision processes

33.
Content Promotion Framework
• Organization-wide content calendar
• Data-driven decisions
– start gathering metrics regularly
– communicate metrics information
– use data to make decisions

34.
Sustainability
• Ongoing education and training
• Content contributors, management
• Onboarding for new staff

35.
Working
together
for member
satisfaction

36.
Thank you!
Hilary Marsh
hilary@contentcompany.biz
@hilarymarsh