Aquent/AMA Webcast: Embracing Brand-Driven Content Strategy

@mbloomstein | #AMAAquent 1

Embracing Brand-Driven
Content Strategy
Managing content can become overwhelming with the growing number
Margot Bloomstein
of delivery platforms. Content strategist Margot Bloomstein, principal
Embracing brand-driven April 18, 2013
of Appropriate, Inc., breaks down the steps to implement a strategy
content strategy
that saves time, money, and frustration. @mbloomstein

Produced by

© 2013
© 2011


COMMUNICATION 101

© 2013

@mbloomstein Sam Korn, via Wikipedia
CC | #AMAAquent 6

Gnothi sauton

© 2013


Know thyself.

You invest in knowing your users,*
but what about your brand?

*right?

© 2013

Unless you understand what
people are trying to do with
your content you cannot know
if it’s working or not.

Gerry McGovern

If you don’t know what
you need to communicate,
how will you know if you
succeed?


First things first.
Why start blogging, audit the content,
consolidate site architecture, add video
testimonials, incorporate user reviews,
relaunch the site, develop new brand
guidelines, switch to a new CMS, or go
“mobile first”… if you don’t know what
you need to communicate?

© 2013


What is content strategy?
Planning for the creation, aggregation,
delivery, and governance of useful,
usable, and appropriate content in an
experience.

© 2013


Steps along the way…
Message architecture
Content audit/inventory
Prescriptive content matrix
Content model
Editorial style guidelines
Metadata guidelines
Governance guidelines

© 2013


Steps along the way…
Content audit/inventory
Prescriptive content matrix
Content model
Editorial style guidelines
Metadata guidelines
Governance guidelines

© 2013

Deliverables are
merely punctuation in
the conversation.

Don’t let them replace
the conversation.

Why content strategy?
Because we all want the same things,
but content keeps getting in the way.


Content demands attention

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Content demands time
Because we all want the same thing,

(CC) http://www.flickr.com/photos/slworking © 2013


Content is expensive
Because we all want the same thing,

(CC) http://www.flickr.com/photos/slworking © 2013

Sustainable content is content you can
create—and maintain—without going
broke, without lowering quality in ways
that make the content suck, and without
working employees into nervous
breakdowns.

Erin Kissane,
The Elements of Content Strategy


Content dredges up politics

© 2013


You cannot act in passive voice
to change, empower, support,
advocate, teach, simplify,
consolidate, remind, inform…

© 2013


You cannot act in passive voice
to change, empower, support,
advocate, teach, simplify,
consolidate, remind, inform…

Content demands an owner
& ownership.
© 2013


What’s a message architecture?
A hierarchy of communication goals
that reflects a common vocabulary.

© 2013


A little thing with big impact.

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“ How could we prove this is a car not like
anything else out there? It’s a small car,
but it’s premium. You get a Porsche 911
ride for a fifth of the cost. It’s got history…
but in Europe.
You need to give people content to give
them history.”

© 2013


Premium technology
• Assertive; ready to perform as a driver’s car
• Proactive and supportive of spontaneity
Classic design
• Experienced and savvy
Cheekiness
• Smart, “punny,” hip
• Fun, gleeful

© 2013


If these emails are boring you
and you don’t mind missing out
on all the lip-smackin’ stuff
we’ll be sending in the future,
simply send a message to owner-
unsubscribe@insiders.miniusa.com
and include “Unsubscribe” and
your favorite fruit in the
subject field.

© 2013


Message architecture drives
the user experience

© 2013


…in content

Nomenclature
Calls to action
Instructional content
Sentence structure
Diction

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…and in design

Photographic angles
Dark backgrounds
Bold headlines
Thick stroke weights

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…and in the choice of features
and content types

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A hierarchy of communication goals
that reflects a common vocabulary.

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Concrete, shared terminology,
not abstract concepts.

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Welcoming,
but elite.
Selective?
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Accessible,
open, and
premiere.
© 2013


Why do this?
Promote new content types to manifest
the message architecture—not just
because they’re trendy or feasible.

© 2013


Passionate about strategic discovery
• Creative, spirited, inspired
• Visionary, innovative thought leader and industry leader
• Flexible
hands-
Tactical and hands-on
• In the trenches, in touch
• Detail-oriented and methodical
Pioneering
• Groundbreaking, trend-setting
• Modern and savvy
People- market-
People-focused and market-driven
• Trusted by medical professionals, researchers, and media
• Industry news source

© 2013

Audit to understand what you
have and what you need.
Don’t just do it for fun.

Before you can start, you need
to know why.
What are you trying to learn?


Every tab tracks the same data
Quantitative:
• Head count: what do we have?
• Is it consistent? What are the patterns?
• Are similar content types
consistent in size and structure?
• Is there parity of length, level of
detail, and tone?
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Every tab tracks the same data
Qualitative: is it any good?
• ROT analysis: redundant, outdated, trivial
• Current, relevant, and appropriate
to the message architecture
• Does it serve the communication goals?
• Does it speak to the target audience?

© 2013


What will you learn?
• What do we have?
• What are the patterns, elements, & types?
• Is it any good?
• Do people even like it? (Check analytics!)
• What do we need to update?
• What do we need to translate?
• Where do we need more?

© 2013


Where can you go?
• Identify new content types and channels
• Advocate for more frequent content updates
• Promote a new editorial calendar
• Reallocate budget across channels
• Adapt content for future-friendly cross
–channel and –platform delivery

© 2013


But first things first:

What are you trying to
communicate?

What content do you have and
what do you need to do that?

© 2013


Thank you!
Margot Bloomstein
@mbloomstein
margot@appropriateinc.com
slideshare.net/mbloomstein
amzn.to/CSatWork

All photography © Margot Bloomstein unless otherwise noted.
Screen grabs property of their respective owners at time of capture.

© 2013

Aquent/AMA Webcast: Embracing Brand-Driven Content Strategy

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Aquent/AMA Webcast: Embracing Brand-Driven Content Strategy