Implementing a content strategy requires a governance component. For a health care organization, such as the College of American Pathologists (CAP), that has multiple hierarchies of member clinicians, board members, senior management, long-term and new staff, the challenge as to who should make the content decisions often becomes a tug-of-war. Learn how the CAP establishes a new content governance model for their website. Presented at the Intelligent Content Conference on Life Sciences and Healthcare, May 2014, San Francisco.

1. Managing the
Tug-of-War of Content
Decision Making
Through Governance:
Case Study
Brande Martin, MA
Content Manager
College of American Pathologists
Intelligent Content Life Sciences &
Health Care Conference
San Francisco, CA
May 9, 2014
cap.org v. #

2. The College of American
Pathologists (CAP) was
established in
1946.

3. The CAP is the leading organization for
board-certified pathologists and
second largest medical society in the
United States.
© 2014 College of American Pathologists. All rights reserved. 3

4. The CAP serves
• patients
• pathologists, and the
• public
by advocating
excellence in the
practice of pathology
and laboratory
medicine worldwide.

5. The CAP represents more than 18,100
practicing pathologist members from
across the United States, Canada, and
abroad.
© 2014 College of American Pathologists. All rights reserved.

6. THE CAP WEBSITE
6

7. BACKGROUND OF THE WEBSITE
Main Audiences:
• Member Pathologists
• Laboratory Professional Customers
Site History
• “Bricks & Mortar” site architecture set up
• Center of marketing efforts
• Push marketing
• Print model transferred to online
© 2013 College of American Pathologists. All rights reserved. 7

8. NO GOVERNANCE PLAN —
WHO IS THE DECISION MAKER?
© 2014 College of American Pathologists. All rights reserved. 8

9. CONTENT TUG-OF-WAR
© 2014 College of American Pathologists. All rights reserved. 9

10. NO CONTENT GOVERNANCE LEAD TO…
© 2014 College of American Pathologists. All rights reserved. 10

11. • Varied writing styles
• Mixed messaging
(subject matter experts
or marketing)
• Multiple versions
of information
• Broken links
• No consistent
taxonomy
© 2014 College of American Pathologists. All rights reserved. 11

12. IMPLEMENT CONTENT GOVERNANCE
Quality
Content
Component of
Content Strategy
© 2014 College of American Pathologists. All rights reserved. 12

13. DEFINING ROLES – NEW CORE DECISION MAKERS
© 2014 College of American Pathologists. All rights reserved. 13

14. RAPID® DECISION-MAKING MODEL
•Content Owners
•Content Manager
•Marketing Manager
•Content Owners
•Content Manager
•Marketing Manager
Marketing Message
Marketing Manager
Web Content
Content Manager
•Content Owners
•Content Manager
•Marketing Manager
Digital
Team
Source: Adapted from the RAPID® Model. Bain & Company.
Subject Matter
Content Owner
© 2014 College of American Pathologists. All rights reserved. 14

15. PROCESSES & WORKFLOWS
USABILITY PROCESS
© 2014 College of American Pathologists. All rights reserved. 15

16. CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
• Requests only from content owners (not all staff)
• Content owners input basic changes
• 30-Day content reviews
• Workflow follows Web team process
• Decisions & approvals follow RAPID® model
© 2014 College of American Pathologists. All rights reserved. 16

17. GUIDELINES (DOCUMENTATION)
© 2014 College of American Pathologists. All rights reserved. 17

18. MODULAR-BASED CONTENT FORMS
© 2014 College of American Pathologists. All rights reserved. 18

19. INTELLIGENT CONTENT
Source: Joe Pulizzi
© 2014 College of American Pathologists. All rights reserved. 19

20. TRAINING = INTRODUCING CHANGE
Digital Content Writer’s
Guide Trainings
Held 2 or 3 weekly sessions for
a month with established
content decision makers.
o Introduced new
processes
o Gave content entry form
guidance
o Conducted basic Web
writing workshops
© 2014 College of American Pathologists. All rights reserved. 20

21. CONTINUOUS TRAINING
• Incrementally introducing
the changes
• Providing access to the
content governance
materials (staff website)
• Holding more trainings
o Workshops
o One-on-One
o Group
• Using blogs, videos, &
webinars
© 2014 College of American Pathologists. All rights reserved. 21

22. MANAGING THE CHANGE
Content strategists must
• Hold firm to the content governance model
• Negotiate, when needed, with challenging content
owners
• Be empathetic
• Reassure content owners of benefits of return on
investment
• Rely on the content governance model to
guide you
© 2014 College of American Pathologists. All rights reserved. 22

23. CONTENT OWNER REACTION …
to the CAP’s Content Governance Plan…
“It was a very collaborative process and the
marketing and business users had shared goals that
made the process work well.
Thanks for your leadership and direction!”
© 2014 College of American Pathologists. All rights reserved. 23

24. KEEP CALM
AND
FOLLOW THE
CONTENT
GOVERNANCE PLAN
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25. QUESTIONS
THANK YOU!
CONTACT ME:
Brande Martin, MA
brmarti@cap.org
brandemartin229@gmail.com
Linkedin: www.linkedin/in/brandemartin.com
Twitter: @brandemartin
© 2014 College of American Pathologists. All rights reserved. 25