4. 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
4
5. If your projects succeed,
your’e probably doing
Content Strategy.
5
6. 1. Ignoring it
2. Doing it
3. Doing it deliberately
4. Getting paid to do it
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7. ‣ 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…
7
10. 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
10
12. Five things our team
needs to understand:
‣ The game plan
‣ The inventory
‣ The content model
‣ The presentation model
‣ The workflow
12
13. 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.
13
14. Goal Increase the purchase rate on
expensive products.
!
Strategy Get shoppers to imagine how the
products will fit into their lives.
!
Tactics Take product action shots around the
office, publish several each week.
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15. 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.
15
16. 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
16
17. Content model
The types of content they’ll need, what
properties they have, how they relate to each
other, and what they should accomplish.
17
20. ‣ Navigation systems
‣ “Intent Maps” of the site
‣ Prioritized page elements
‣ Wireframes
‣ Working prototypes
20
21. 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?
21
22. ‣ Interviews with content managers
‣ Tools for actual tasks
‣ Where does that actually come from?
‣ Where are the risky parts?
22
23. ‣ The game plan
‣ The inventory
‣ The content model
‣ The presentation model
‣ The workflow
23
24. How do they work?
‣ They emphasize understanding
‣ They require collaboration across disciplines
‣ They inform each other over many iterations
‣ They provide sanity checks
24
26. MSNBC
A cable news network ready to ramp up an
engaged online community and tackle multi-
channel publishing!
!
…running a Wordpress Archipelago.
26
27. ‣ 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
27
36. The NAMM Foundation
An awesome nonprofit that promotes music
education and recreational music-making.
!
…And has a site designed a decade ago.
36
37. ‣ Big dreams, limited budget
‣ Lots of stakeholders
‣ Site had lots of content, no message
‣ Internally focused IA
‣ Limited staff for maintenance
37
38. 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
40. Model and map
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NAMM Foundation Site
NAMM Fou
Your Community
Best Communities Data†
Survey Promotion
Music Teacher Finder†
Music Merchandiser Finder†
Why Music MResources for Educators
Recruitment and Retention
Tips for Success
Downloadable Teaching Tools
Blog posts for Educators
What We Do
Get Involved
Webcasts
Sign up
Action Kits and Downloadables
Advocacy Blog Posts
Donation
Partner Orgs and other Resources*
52. 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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54. 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.
54
55. 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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56. No need for bombast
Use Content Strategy tools first to understand
your clients’ needs, then to advise on solutions.
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