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An introduction to Content Strategy

April 15, 2023

Simon Nash, Planning Director, Reading Room

04/15/2023 Architects of digital change 2

About Reading Room

Reading Room is an international award-winning digital consultancy. We act as architects of digital change, helping our clients create new and effective systems suitable for the challenges of modern business.


About me

Simon Nash

• Writer, blogger, consultant, and content strategist

• Past experience in B2B and B2C marketing, 10 years agency-side

• Wide range of sector experience advising small and large organisations

http://www.amazon.com/The-Fundamentals-Digital-Success-Challenges-ebook/dp/B00IYP38U2


An introduction to content strategy

• Why is content so important?

• What is content strategy?

• The foundations

• Key marketing concepts

• Bringing it all together

Why is content so important?



Content is not a new thing


But ‘digital’ has become an integral part of life


And content fuels digital experiences

04/15/2023 9

Content is an increasing priority for marketers


It helps you get found

• Web content

• Google Places for Business

• Wikipedia

• Social media content

• Media articles


It helps people find you

Content is often the first touch point a user has with a company, used correctly it establishes trust and credibility.

http://www.clipular.com/c/5308932291559424.png?k=XzXrXdkI8nqIhjLXNdZkoQuq1UI


It’s used to get attention

Podio sell project management apps, so they created an info graphic for the New Year.


It powers a different type of advertising

Q: When is an advert not an advert?

A: When it is ‘promoted content’

Or

A: When it is shared 3m times


It helps people get the information they need

Gov.uk has transformed the way the public access information.

Pages have been stripped back to address user needs.

Content structured for quick reference and language simplified.

Next steps clearly signposted.


And it can help close the deal

Without bricks and mortar stores Loaf.com have to convince buyers online.

Every single aspect of Loaf.com’s site consistently conveys their light hearted brand, whilst images and interactive tools help the user customise their ideal sofa.

Key messages are emphasised, key user goals addressed, and reviews and user feedback


It can help maintain customer relationships

Customers expect to be talked to, not at!


Its not always your content


And it has become really competitive

@markwscheafer

“”

At The New York Times, far too often for writers and editors the story is done when you hit publish,’ said Paul Berry, who helped found The Huffington Post. ‘At Huffington Post, the

article begins its life when you hit publish.

So the focus has to be on getting it out there



Distribution is vitally important


So nowadays it’s all about distribution

What is content strategy?



So what is content strategy?

The art of

• Understanding your audience

• Creating an interesting content offer that taps into their needs/goals

• Publishing that content in the most appropriate and effective way

• Using that content to attract, inform and engage your audience

• Building and maintaining better relationships


So what is content strategy?

The science of

• Making sure content delivers against your objectives

• Devising a content plan that conveys your messages effectively

• Targeting and personalising content to your different audiences

• Optimising content for visibility / findability

• Using content to convince, capture data and change behaviour

• Increasing the lifetime value of each and every customer

And it encompasses a range of channels

Paid content

Paid search adverts, display etc

Promoted content

Targeted social ads, advertorial, sponsored content, native advertising.

Owned media

Website, blog, social channel, email, apps

Shared

Word of mouth, shared content

Earned

Reviews, recommendations, referrals


What makes a content strategy?

Objectives: what does the business need from content

Research: who are the audience, what do they need / want

Strategy: How do you marry business & audience needs

People: Team, skills & culture needed to make it happen

Ideas: Creative content that will cut through the noise & engage

Journeys: Shaping experiences across channels

Mechanics: How it all works, what platforms, and when

Systems: publishing, automation, measurement, CRM





































Ideas: Creative that will cut through the noise & engage























Systems: Publishing, automation, measurement, CRM










Systems: Publishing, automation, measurement, CRM

The foundations


Audience

Craft

Focus

Alignment

Planning

Team

Process

The foundations

• Understand your audience

• Craft great content

• Retain a clear focus

• Align with wider activities

• Plan ahead, plan for the future

• Get the right team in place

• Agree and follow a process


Understanding your audience

Researching and understanding your audiences is critical. Creating personas to share with the development team and map typical user journeys to identify pain points and opportunities.


Craft great content

Great content is a craft, and in recent years we have seen the rise of the content designer.

A specialist writer with digital skills who is able to combine writing skills, digital marketing, search optimisation and UX.

Content for the web should be either written specifically with digital channels in mind or edited by someone with an understanding of key principles.


Retain a clear focus

Never lose sight of business goals, yes the user is a priority but the site must serve the needs of the business too. The Core model for content strategy is helpful tool.

http://alistapart.com/article/the-core-model-designing-inside-out-for-better-results


Align with wider activities

Your website does not exist in isolation and your customer will undoubtedly move between different channels, often within the same decision making journey.

Website content must align with other online and offline activities both in terms of style, tone and consistency but also in terms of customer services and operational processes.


Plan ahead, and plan for the future

Content strategy thinking should start from the moment you begin a website project.


Plan ahead, and plan for the future

Content strategy should influence decisions in terms of functionality, design, content management and technology selection.

Starting early means you break down the tasks of sourcing, producing and editing content for the web into manageable chunks.

And planning for the future means thinking about how you will maintain and govern your contact after go live.

From day one you should be beginning a process of continuous improvement and periodically refreshing and quality checking content.

You’ll need a plan otherwise this is the first task that gets dropped.

Get the right team in place

People should be a key consideration any content strategy, it is important to understand your digital roadmap. If you are planning to scale up your ambition then be prepared to scale up your team. And remember content design is a specialist task.

Get the right team in place

Larger organisations tend to find that a central team are unable to cope with centralised content management over the longer term. They often have to consider how to distribute responsibility throughout the organisation

Agree and follow a process

As stated previously, it is important to break the content production process into manageable chunks so that you can focus on crafting great quality content.

DiscoveryDesign &

ArchitectureHTML +

SpecificationsHigh-Fidelity

PrototypeBuild

Content AuditCapability Review

Insights & Recommendations

Strategy Development

Content Strategy

Planning andConsultation

Content Plan Editorial Calendar*

Guidance, Training and Support

Content Development*

Editing & search optimisation

Publishing & Migration*

Key conceptsCommon techniques that lie behind successful content strategies.



Thinking like a publisher

We live in an attention economy, our audiences are bombarded with content and messaging. To rise above the noise we have to think like a publisher.


Thinking like a publisher

Traditional ‘push’ advertising tended to focus on short term goals but in the attention economy our first priority has to be to capture and maintain attention.

So instead of focusing on what we want them to believe, we have to focus on creating content that they find, interesting, helpful or entertaining.

Our message must be woven into the content but in such a way as not to impinge on the value of that content to the user.

The art of storytelling

Humans have always used stories to make sense of the world and to convey complex ideas.

This makes us very receptive to messages and information conveyed in story form.

A story can centre on the key stages of a single experience like a website visit. But most often it used as a narrative that emerges through a series of seemingly disconnected interactions.

If you have ever owned an iPhone you may recall the theatre of the box opening experiences, this has carefully designed to maximise impact. It is just one of the ways that Apple use storytelling at every stage, from retail experiences through to product and packaging

Always On

This shift in thinking, combined with the rise of CRM & social networks, has led digital marketers to move towards what is known as ‘always on’ marketing.

Ongoing scheduled moderation and publishing according to strategy

2015 Campaign

2016Campaign

Time

Size of Social Following

2014 Campaign


Always On

The aim is simple, to move away from the boom and bust of campaigns toward a more sustainable model of audience engagement which keeps your brand, product or service and USPs front of mind.

Put simply, campaigns are used to grow the contactable audience (primarily email & social) and new contacts are then exposed to ongoing content led communications designed to engage their interest and attention and to move them from casual interest to active engagement

.


Content Marketing


Content Marketing

Creation of valuable content assets such as white papers and reports

Promoted and shared via social media using snippets of quality sharable content

More valuable assets offered in exchange for contact and interest data

Aim is to capture and qualify inbound leads which are then fed into the marketing DB and or passed to sales


Content Marketing

For example:


Staircasing: from engagement to lead

• Use periodic campaigns to grow your contactable audience then maintain consistent always on publishing to maintain and develop engagement

• Following a thematic content calendar that warms followers and subscribers to your key brand messages

• Periodically run campaigns targeted solely at engaged followers and subscribers e.g. register for an event

• Those who respond to the campaign can be classified as the warmest prospects on the list and targeted with specific response based promotions

• Respondents are then qualified and the hottest leads fed into the sales team

• Over time (in theory) this should provide a steady flow of warm prospects from your engagement activity that will justify ongoing investment in engagement

Structured content

Different channels require different formats and approaches, so now we are thinking about content in a more granular way.

• Taxonomy

• Schemas

• Social Meta

And lastly a note on Viral Spreadable content

To encourage sharing and advocacy we need to understand and leverage the reasons that people might share our content. If our content serves our audience’s personal objectives then they have an incentive to share it.

“If I like your content it’s not because I like your brand it’s because I like my friends.”

Henry Jenkins, ‘Spreadable Media ‘

Fitting it all together


Inspiring visits to England

With a dynamic content strategy

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Editorial

Web

Social

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Thanks, that’s all we have time for

Please feel free to get in touch

@simonnash, [email protected]

www.readingroom.com

Recommended further reading:

Elements of Content Strategy

http://www.abookapart.com/products/the-elements-of-content-strategy

Content Strategy for the Web

http://contentstrategy.com/

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.readingroom.com/

http://www.abookapart.com/products/the-elements-of-content-strategy

http://contentstrategy.com/