There’s no value in content your users don’t understand or don’t trust. In this presentation, Sarah Rhea Werner digs into the importance of having a fresh, authentic, and honest voice for your organization, and shows you how to create content that people actually want to consume. It’s time to stop kidding ourselves about who we are and what our users want from us. It’s time to re-think how we talk to people online. It’s time for honesty.
19. Today:
● Gain a deeper understanding of your
audience & users.
● Create honest content with an
authentic voice that engages users.
● Take a moment to consider SEO
& web best practices for users.
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
20. Today:
You’re not going to come away from this
with a “silver bullet” that fixes all of your
problems.
In fact, you’ll probably leave with even
more questions than you started with.
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
23. Know the truth.
If your company was a person, what
would their personality traits be?
(Positive and negative.)
(And don’t spin it.)
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
24. Most companies
are unable to
do this.
They are not willing or able to come to
terms with who and what they are.
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
32. “The idea of advertising
is to lie without getting
caught.”
—Joel Spolsky,
CEO of Stack Exchange,
co-founder of Trello,
& kind of cynical dude
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
39. Why are we OK
with this?
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
40. We’re becoming less OK
with companies that are:
● Disingenuous
● Opportunistic
● Dishonest
● Insincere
● Clearly in it for the $$$
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
42. “The public is paying zero attention to
your own pronouncements, but they are
listening to one another talk about you.
And, unlike your advertising and PR,
they trust one another.”
—Bob Garfield,
WNYC’s “On the Media”
(emphasis mine)
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
46. “Business, government and all
institutions used to do business from
impregnable fortresses. Now they all
reside in glass houses. Everything they
do — or don’t do — is quickly located
online and Google-able in perpetuity.”
—Bob Garfield,
WNYC’s “On the Media”
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
49. “Are they really so inept at planning that
the call volume is unexpected? For
months at a time?”
—Seth Godin,
“And What Else Will You Lie About?”
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
50. A more honest revision:
“To save money for our customers and
investors, we keep our support team
lightly staffed. Please wait patiently for
a few days and we’ll get back to you.”
—Seth Godin,
“And What Else Will You Lie About?”
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
51. I believe web content &
marketing can have
integrity.
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
52. The idea of advertising is
to create awareness &
prove the trustworthiness
of your brand.
—Me
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
56. Who are your users?
Real vs. ideal.
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
57. Know the truth.
What type of personality traits do your
users tend to have?
(Positive and negative.)
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
58. Users want what
users want.
Not what your board wants.
Not what the president’s spouse wants.
Maybe not even what you want. (!!!)
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
59. Users want what
users want.
Users come to your website with a
question. Please don’t talk over them
with information they don’t want.
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
61. How do I know what
my users want?
Ask them.
● User interviews
● A/B testing
● Analytics
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
62. Users want what
users want.
Do they like you? Do they trust you?
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
63. Engagement?
● Is it a conversation?
● Is it giving users what they want?
● Is it you getting what you want?
It’s what happens BETWEEN the give
and the take.
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
64. Engagement:
● Eliciting an emotional response from
your users
and
● Inspiring them to act.
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
65. Trust & action.
“Action is quite rare. For most people,
the story of 'later' is seductive enough
that it appears better to wait instead of
leaping.”
—Seth Godin,
“Awareness, Trust and Action”
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
66. Trust & action.
The value of trust is action.
We like people we can trust.
We buy from people we trust.
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
67. “...for the first time in human history,
commercial interests are rewarded for
good conduct and penalized for bad
conduct and have no capacity for
obscuring which is which.”
—Bob Garfield,
WNYC’s “On the Media”
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
73. Is it something users
want to read?
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
74. Click Rain designs, strategizes,
and develops websites that adhere
not only to the fundamental best
practices of website development,
but embody a commitment to
ensuring that success can be
measured across all disciplines
and within every aspect.
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
75. At Click Rain,
we make smart, strategic websites.
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
76. Keep it readable:
● Dialogue, not monologue.
● Conversational (we, you, etc.).
● Use headers to break up text chunks.
● Shoot for a 7th grade reading level.
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
77. “But we need to
sound smart!”
Do you? (Whom does that serve?)
Use hemingwayapp.com/.
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
78. Keep it readable:
● Dialogue, not monologue.
● Conversational (we, you, etc.).
● Use headers to break up text chunks.
● Shoot for a 7th grade reading level.
● Make sure it is literally readable.
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
82. Write mobile first.
What’s good for mobile is good for
desktop.
But what’s good for desktop is
not necessarily good for mobile.
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
84. FAQs:
Are these questions REALLY frequently
asked?
Or is it just a repository of information
you couldn’t shoehorn in anywhere else?
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
94. It’s not PR spin
if it’s true.
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
95. "Nobody does it. And when they do it, it works.”
—Doug Kessler,
Author of “Insane Honesty”
& Creative Director at Velocity Partners
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
97. "No product or service is right for everyone on
the planet. Not even Coke.
So why can’t marketers simply admit that? Why
are we so allergic to excluding even the most
unlikely-to-buy from our target audience?”
—Doug Kessler,
Author of “Insane Honesty”
& Creative Director at Velocity Partners
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
99. "We should be developing content that actively
repels people we don’t want to work with."
—Ann Handley,
Chief Content Officer, MarketingProfs
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
104. "Insane honesty builds trust. And that’s maybe
the single hardest thing to build in a marketing
context.”
—Doug Kessler,
Author of “Insane Honesty”
& Creative Director at Velocity Partners
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
107. “Nickelback is too much of everything to be
enough of something. They follow genre
expectations too well, which is seen as empty
imitation, but also not well enough, which is read
as commercial tactics and as a lack of a stable
and sincere identity.”
—Salli Anttonen
The University of Eastern Finland
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
129. Keep in touch!
● Email: sarah@clickrain.com
● Twitter: @SarahRheaWerner
● iTunes: The Write Now Podcast
● Visit me at clickrain.com!
@SarahRheaWerner | Click Rain
See http://minnewebcon.org/sessions/lets-be-honest-creating-content-people-actually-want
How does this make you feel? I don’t feel like this is true.
If my call was important to them, they’d hire more people to staff their call center so I didn’t have to listen to shitty scratchy hold music for 39 minutes.
In fact, I feel like my time specifically is NOT important to them.
How does this make you feel? I don’t feel like this is true.
If my call was important to them, they’d hire more people to staff their call center so I didn’t have to listen to shitty scratchy hold music for 39 minutes.
In fact, I feel like my time specifically is NOT important to them.
Relationship vs. short-term revenue
The questions are where the answers are, anyway.
Or there’s a huge disconnect between management and employees.
A dialogue -- not a monologue
Two players at work here.
Could apply to any industry.
[DO NOT READ ALOUD.]
Reading level: 20th.
[DO NOT READ ALOUD.]
Reading level: 4th.
Which one do you connect with better? Impact?
A bit of an oversimplification, but you get the point.
You’ve got to earn your rankings from people, not links. From “rank signal building to rank signal earning.”
When you point out your own shortcomings, or treat them with self-effacing humor, they become unimportant for the user to point out— and much more manageable.
Really get into your users’ shoes. Don’t think about what you want to push, but what they want to receive.
What I mean by that is...
Chances are, the public already knows & is already talking about it.
Think about those traits (negative)...
2003 was 12 years ago. It’s OK to freshen up your content for a new era.
