building your agency's content strategy practice

I hope you like spreadsheetsImplementing content strategy on your agency projects !

Brought to you by @eaton and @gathercontent

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Hi. I’m @eaton! I’m with Lullabot.

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strategy, design, and development

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MarketingCopywriter

Webmaster

Enterprise Web CMS

Content Strategy

Content Strategy: 1. The planning, development, and

management of content — written or in other media

2. What content you’re using, where it goes and when, who uses and manages it, and why it matters

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If your projects succeed, your’e probably doing

Content Strategy.

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1. Ignoring it 2. Doing it 3. Doing it deliberately 4. Getting paid to do it

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‣ 2006: Two web nerds with a dream ‣ Built Drupal sites, then planned them ‣ Training, workshops, consulting ‣…Then building bigger sites. ‣ 2014: We’re ~50 strong ‣Devs, designers, strategists,

project managers…

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Lots of content

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We were stuck in the middle

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Practice: 1. The application or use of an idea, or

method, as opposed to theories 2. Repeated exercise of an activity or

skill to acquire or maintain proficiency

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How it works

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…for us…at the moment

Five things our team needs to understand:‣ The game plan ‣ The inventory ‣ The content model ‣ The presentation model ‣ The workflow

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Gameplan

The problem the project is trying to solve, the strategy we think will solve it, the tactics we plan to use, and the way we’ll measure the results.

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Goal Increase the purchase rate on expensive products.

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Strategy Get shoppers to imagine how the products will fit into their lives.

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Tactics Take product action shots around the office, publish several each week.

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Inventory

A list of content resources the client currently has, whether they’re online, offline, tucked on a shared drive, or trapped old Word Docs. !

…And what they’ll need to execute the plan.

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Oh, the spreadsheets you’ll meet…‣ Content inventories and audits ‣ Current and future publishing channels ‣ Content gap analysis ‣Many, many, many spreadsheets

…And some spreadsheets

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Content model

The types of content they’ll need, what properties they have, how they relate to each other, and what they should accomplish.

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‣Whiteboard sketches ‣Database models ‣Detailed spreadsheets ‣Migration planning ‣ Taxonomy and grouping

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Presentation Model

How content will be assembled and disseminated to accomplish the project’s goals.

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‣Navigation systems ‣ “Intent Maps” of the site ‣ Prioritized page elements ‣Wireframes ‣Working prototypes

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Workflow

Who’ll write new material, update existing content, and remove old stuff? What roles will work on the site, and what tasks will they be responsible for?

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‣ Interviews with content managers ‣ Tools for actual tasks ‣Where does that actually come from? ‣Where are the risky parts?

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‣ The game plan ‣ The inventory ‣ The content model ‣ The presentation model ‣ The workflow

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How do they work?

‣ They emphasize understanding ‣ They require collaboration across disciplines ‣ They inform each other over many iterations ‣ They provide sanity checks

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A tale of two clients

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MSNBC

A cable news network ready to ramp up an engaged online community and tackle multi-channel publishing! !

…running a Wordpress Archipelago.

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‣ Tons of existing content ‣Multichannel (web, mobile, TV, XBox…) ‣Not our strategy, not our design ‣ Parallel design and development ‣ Editors needed to love it ‣…And a tight deadline

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Design ContentCode

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Content

CodeDesign

crazy but awesome

Lots and lots of communication

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Lots and lots of translation

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Loads of interviews

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The quick model33

The monster model34

Results!

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The NAMM Foundation

An awesome nonprofit that promotes music education and recreational music-making. !

…And has a site designed a decade ago.

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‣ Big dreams, limited budget ‣ Lots of stakeholders ‣ Site had lots of content, no message ‣ Internally focused IA ‣ Limited staff for maintenance

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Workshop!

‣ What makes you special? ‣ Who’s your audience? ‣ Why do they care? ‣ What’s your voice? ‣ What’s not working now? ‣ Old fashioned brand

identity work

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Attribution text and URL go here

The Inventory39

Model and map40

NAMM Foundation Site

NAMM Foundation Blog

Series/Columns

Chronological ArchiveYour Community

Best Communities Data†

Survey Promotion

Music Teacher Finder†

Music Merchandiser Finder†

Why Music Matters

Testimonials

Music Statistics

Research Results

Resources for Educators

Recruitment and Retention

Tips for Success

Downloadable Teaching Tools

Blog posts for Educators

What We Do

Sponsored Research

Grantees

Legislative Victories

Foundation History

NAMM Show*

Museum*

Partners

MACDonation*

Get Involved

Webcasts

Sign up

Action Kits and Downloadables

Advocacy Blog Posts

Donation

Partner Orgs and other Resources*

Displays and styles41

HTML wireframes42

Responsive Design43

Results!

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The lessons we’ve learned

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Mixed teams rock

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Language matters

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Silos hurt

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“Big reveals” suck

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Iteration isn’t optional

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Building your strategy practice

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Just do it.

Content Strategy’s tools make projects more successful. You don’t have to have a Grand Unification Theory to practice, iterate, and improve.

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Eating the elephant

Focus on the slice that best matches your existing work. Grow from there.

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Build it into the plan

Until clients are willing to hire you as specialists, treat it like Project Management: An ongoing, necessary part of every project.

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But I don’t need the rustproofing.“We don’t need that service!” means a client has the answers. You still need to understand, though. !

…Or, show them they need the answers

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No need for bombast

Use Content Strategy tools first to understand your clients’ needs, then to advise on solutions.

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Playbooks, not blueprintsHold your process with an open hand, and assume that different projects may need different tools.

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Questions?

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