5. Common comments
• “Our website is embarrassing”
• “We’re so far behind”
• “We don’t get any traffic/ROI”
• “Nobody’s updated this content since Clinton was in office”
• “What are we going to do about mobile?”
• “We’ve built dozens of microsites to avoid the CMS”
• “This website is a garbage dump”
• “The CEO is hot on Facebook”
• “Legal is being ridiculous on approvals”
• “We have so many PDFs”
• “There’s so much to do, I just can’t keep up”
5
12. Industrial economy
• Strategy as planning
• One-way communication
• Brand consistency
• Hierarchy
• Profit (quarterly)
12
13. Today’s communities
• Distrust in authority
• Unlimited information access
• Participatory communication channels
• Multi-channel use
• Culture of research
13
15. 15
We are clearly entering a period
where the extinction of the slow,
the inflexible, and the
bureaucratic is about to happen
in record numbers.
—Chris Zook, Harvard Business Review
21. 21
[Employees] want to be part of
something larger than themselves.
They want to be part of something
they're really proud of, that they'll
fight for, sacrifice for.
—Howard Schulz, Starbucks
23. Examples
• Apple: Think different
• Coke: Put a bottle within arms reach of every
possible customer
• Honda: Be the second Ford
• Amazon: Start with the customer and work
backwards
23
28. 28
[People] learn what they care about,
From people they care about
and who, they know, cares about them.
—Barbara Harrell Carson,
Thirty Years of Stories
30. Let conversation lead content
• Listen
• Speak with customers (not to customers)
• Give consistently, take once in awhile
• Make channel/format a secondary
consideration
30
32. Map the entire customer journey
Not just online tasks, not just your “jurisdiction”
• What’s the “big task”?
• Where are the conversation points?
• What kinds of content do they need at each
point?
• What content exists?Where are the gaps?
32
33. 33
Brands that simplify customer
decision-making are 115% more
likely to be recommended.
—Corporate Executive Board (2012)
37. Every piece of content needs to:
• Support a your vision/strategy
• Fulfill a customer need
• Have a person assigned to maintain it
(maintainable content only)
37
40. The old brand rules
Build the brand over time
• Speak B2B or B2C
• Use repeatable messages
• Require militant consistency
• Control information
• Be polished and perfect at all times
40
41. The new rules
Build relationships over time by:
• Speak P2P
• Create adaptable messages
• Develop organic consistency
• Allow radical transparency
41
45. 45
Consumers don’t expect brands to be
flawless; they will even embrace brands
that are FLAWSOME…
Brands that are honest about their flaws,
that show some empathy, generosity,
humility, flexibility, maturity, humor, and
dare we say it, some character and
humanity.
—Trendwatching.com
50. 50
Don’t plan your future, plan your
people. Outstanding people who fit
your broad vision will tend to make
the right decisions along the way;
not by following a plan but by
using their skill.
—Harry Beckwith
Selling the Invisible
54. 54
To reach our [strategic] goals, we must
first change our lifestyle and our daily
habits now.
Then we must summon the courage to
keep up the new habits and not yield to all
the old familiar temptations. Then, and
only then, we get the benefits later.
—David Maister
Strategy and the Fat Smoker