This document outlines a webinar presentation on using content strategy to attract and retain association members. It discusses what content strategy is, how it can solve problems associations face, and provides suggestions on how to implement an effective content strategy. Specifically, content strategy is defined as planning the who, what, when, where, why and how of publishing content online to achieve business goals. It can help solve issues like hard to find information, siloed content, and an inability to communicate value to members. The document recommends shifting to an audience-focused approach and treating content strategy as change management.

1. A"ract
&
Retain
Members
with
Content
Strategy
RealMatch
webinar,
Jan.
29,
2015

2. About
me
Helping
organiza<ons
communicate
online
more
effec<vely
since
1996

3. ABA HIMSS
COMPT
IA
Florida
Realtors
FINRA
Oswego
308NAR
Cal
State
Commu
nity
Health
Some
orgs
we’ve
worked
with

4. 1. What
is
content
strategy?
2. Which
problems
can
it
solve
for
associaBons?
3. What
to
do?
4. Where
to
start?
What
we’ll
answer
in
this
webinar

5. Why
do
people
visit
your
website?
Design?
Graphics?
Widgets?
The
carousel
on
your
homepage?
hMp://shouldiuseacarousel.com/

11. Content
lets
users
do
what
they
need
to
do
• Take
advantage
of
what
you
offer
• Find
out
why
they
should
join
or
stay
• Learn
how
your
associa<on
helps
them
in
their
profession
• Not
need
to
call
you
to
answer
a
ques<on

12. Content
lets
you
achieve
your
goals
• AMract
prospec<ve
members
• Retain
and
engage
current
members
• Increase
use
of
programs,
resources,
tools,
and
informa<on
• Increase
awareness
of
and
par<cipa<on
in
poli<cal
advocacy
efforts
• Increase
non-­‐dues
revenue

13. hMp://envisioningtheamericandream.com/

14. Department
Message
Audience
Department
Message
Department
Message
Department
Message
Audience
Audience
Audience

15. The
number
one
challenge
to
membership
growth
is
“difficulty
in
communica<ng
value
or
benefit.”
—2014
Membership
Marke<ng
Benchmarking
Report
hMp://www.marke<nggeneral.com/resources/benchmark-­‐report/

16. What
is
content?

17. Many
types
of
content
• Policies
• Session
descrip<ons
• Product
details
• Course
catalog
lis<ngs
• Execu<ve
biographies
• Press
releases
• NewsleMers
• Magazine
or
journal
ar<cles
• Program
informa<on
• Etc.,
etc.,
etc.

18. Content
takes
different
forms
• Web
pages
• Blog
posts
• Infographics
• Images
• PDFs
• Video
• Audio

19. What
is
content
strategy?

20. Who
What
When
of
publishing
Where
content
online
WHY
How
How
What
is
content
strategy?

21. • Who,
what,
when,
where,
why,
and
how
of
publishing
content
online
• A
strategic
statement
tying
content
to
business
goals
• The
people,
processes,
and
power
to
execute
that
statement
Defini<on

22. • How
does
content
get
to
the
site?
• How
long
should
content
stay
live?
• How
can
we
make
sure
that
people
create
content
so
it
can
be
found
and
used?
• How
much
content
is
there
in
each
sec<on
and
how
oeen
it
gets
added
to?
• How
can
we
bring
together
similar
content
from
different
parts
of
an
organiza<on?
Content
strategy
ques<ons

23. • How
good
is
the
content
that
currently
exists
–
how
relevant
is
it
to
the
audience,
does
it
help
the
organiza<on
meet
its
goals?
• What’s
missing?
• Who
is
pos<ng
the
content,
vs
who’s
crea<ng
it?
• Is
the
system
working
to
help
make
publishing
and
finding
content
easier,
or
is
it
making
things
more
difficult?
Content
strategy
ques<ons

24. • How
can
we
make
sure
people
can
get
what
they’re
looking
for
on
any
device?
• How
can
we
proac<vely
share
informa<on
with
our
audience
most
effec<vely
through
ever-­‐increasing
digital
channels?
Content
strategy
ques<ons

26. What
problems
can
content
strategy
solve
for
associa<ons?

27. Content
problems
• Language/jargon
• Priori<zed
promo<on
• Content
hoarding
• Bad
editorial
processes
• New
content
missing
• Different
content
on
different
channels

28. More
content
problems
• Hard
to
find
informa<on
• Too
many
publishers
• Who’s
in
charge
of
the
home
page?
• “4002.pdf”
• Website
is
based
on
our
org
chart
• Not
accessible
from
a
mobile
device
• “We
should
be
on
YouTube”

33. hMp://xkcd.com/773/

34. What
to
do?

35. Department
Message
Audience
Department
Message
Audience
Department
Message
Audience
Department
Message
Audience
Old
thinking

36. 36
hMp://www.amazon.com/Have-­‐Always-­‐Done-­‐That-­‐Way/dp/184728857X/

37.
Organiza<on:
Programs,
offerings
Audience
Messages
Audience
Audience
Audience
New
thinking

38. Associations are complicated

39. Content
strategist
as
orchestra
conductor

40. Content
strategy
is
change
management

41. Myths
your
members
think
about
digital
• It’s
free,
instant,
and
you
can
do
it
in
your
spare
<me
• Search
engines
will
find
your
informa<on
instantly
and
display
it
at
the
top
of
the
first
page
of
what
anyone
searches
for
• Any
video
they
make
will
go
viral
• Every
member
wants
to
share
informa<on
about
the
board’s
latest
ini<a<ve
• Your
home
page
and
social
media
posts
should
be
primarily
about
your
associa<on

42. The
real
facts
• Every
digital
channel
needs
a
strategy
and
the
right
iden<ty.
The
more
channels,
the
more
<me
and
complexity.
• Page
views
are
not
a
goal
–
the
goal
is
the
goal.
• You
can’t
succeed
in
your
goals
unless
your
users
succeed
in
theirs
• Success
builds
over
<me
• Think
>
plan
>
do
–
all
three
steps
are
required

43. Quality
takes
<me
Good
web
wri<ng
is
• Short
• Ac<ve
• Scannable:
uses
bullets
and
subheads
• Leads
with
the
most
important
informa<on
• Readable
–
aim
for
9th
grade
– test
at
read-­‐able.com
• Free
of
jargon
• Has
compelling
headlines
that
will
make
sense
even
out
of
context

44. I
have
made
this
[le.er]
longer
than
usual
because
I
have
not
had
7me
to
make
it
shorter.
Blaise Pascal, 1657"

45. Content
needs
a
measurable
goal
• What
the
user
should
do
aeer
reading
the
content
• What
the
user
should
know
or
feel
aeer
reading
the
content
– Download
– Register
– Understand
– Perceive
– Succeed

46. Content
results
come
from…
• Quality
wri<ng
• User-­‐centric
terms
• Promo<ons
Measure
and
learn

49. It’s
about
them,
not
you
• To
convert
a
larger
share
of
your
site
visitors,
the
content
must
focus
more
on
the
visitors
than
on
the
business.
• Customer
Focus
Calculator
hMp://www.customerfocuscalculator.com/

50. It’s
about
them,
not
you

51. It’s
about
them,
not
you

52. It’s
about
them,
not
you

53. It’s
about
them,
not
you

54. Content
Lifecycle
Conceive
Create
Publish
Promote
Maintain
Re<re

55. Conceive
and
create
• Conceive
• Set
goals
• Business:
make
or
save
money
• User:
increase
sa<sfac<on/encourage
use
or
decrease
dissa<sfac<on/reduce
customer
service
needs
&
costs
• Create
• Op<mize
• On-­‐site
• Search
engines
• Other
outlets

56. Publish
and
promote
• Publish
• Review
process:
quality,
facts
• Content
Management
System
(Wordpress)
• Promote
• On-­‐site:
home
page,
landing
pages,
topics
• Off-­‐site:
e-­‐newsleMers,
social
media,
adver<sing

57. hMp://www.lightboxcollabora<ve.com/2014-­‐editorial-­‐calendar

58. Maintain
and
re<re
• Maintain
• Measure
• Test
and
tweak
• Refine
• Re<re
• Archive/Delete/”Unpublish”
• Renew

59. Governance
• Who
is
in
charge
of
your
content?
• Who
reviews
and
approves
it?
• Who
makes
sure
it
is
tagged
correctly?
• Who
can
say
“no”?
• What
processes
do
(or
should)
exist
to
ensure
that
the
right
content
is
published?
• How
will
content
be
archived,
and
what
does
“archived”
mean?

60. Be
a
“deejay”
for
your
content
• Save
<me
• Save
$$
• Help
members
help
themselves

61. Act
like
a
user
• Do
the
top
searches
yourself
and
see
what
you
see
• Go
beyond
the
first
few
pages,
and
you’ll
see
problems

62. hMp://loremoopsum.tumblr.com/post/37034901905/tweeted-­‐by-­‐my-­‐friend-­‐and-­‐fellow-­‐content-­‐strategist

64. Priori<ze
• Put
the
most
important
things
at
the
top
of
your
content
– Users’
goals
– Business
goals
• Work
with
designers
to
make
them
prominent

68. Where
to
start?

69. • Benchmark
where
you
are
today
• Focus
on
one
thing
• Ask
“why?”
Start
today

70. • Eliminate
ROT
(redundant,
outdated,
or
trivial)
• Put
your
content
through
the
“we
we”
test
• Use
their
words
Give
the
users
what
they
want

71. Does
your
site
have
ROT?
Taken
Jan.
27,
2015

72. • Eliminate
jargon
• Increase
readability
Improve
the
quality

73. • Ensure
that
content
has
a
goal
• Show
budget-­‐holders
that
your
content
strategy
is
working
• Help
content
owners
share
their
successes
Get
and
keep
buy-­‐in

74. • Content
strategy
checklist
hMp://www.hilarymarsh.com/content-­‐strategy-­‐libraries/
content-­‐strategy-­‐checklist/
• Content
strategy
roadmap
hMp://www.hilarymarsh.com/?aMachment_id=880
• Content
assessment
scorecard
hMp://www.hilarymarsh.com/?aMachment_id=879
Some
useful
tools

75. Thank
you!
To
reach
me:
Hilary
Marsh
hilary@hilarymarsh.com
312-­‐806-­‐7854
www.hilarymarsh.com
Also:
twiMer.com/hilarymarsh
slideshare.net/hilarymarsh
linkedin.com/in/hilarymarsh