Matter Of Form: Content Driven Commerce - Creating a Strategy that Works to Sell. MOF's Suzie Ryan talks to 30 leading retailers on eCommerce content strategy in Soho; the first installment in Matter Of Form's 'Retail Therapy' Event Series.

1. M A T T E R O F F O R M
Retail Therapy / Event & Content Series.

2. I N N O VA T I O N | B R A N D E X P E R I E N C E | C O M M E R C E
Areas of Specialism

3. C O N T E N T D R I V E N C O M M E R C E
Creating and Planning a Content Strategy that Works to Sell

4. Harvey Nicholls
We Are Social
Matter Of Form
S U Z I E R Y A N - C O N T E N T S T R A T E G Y L E A D

5. W H Y H A S T H E C O N T E N T P R O D U C T I O N P R O C E S S B E C O M E S O D I F F I C U L T ?
PR
ATL
BTL SEARCHPPC
SOCIALDIGITAL MOBILE
ANALYTICS CRM
DATA
CONTENTBRAND
LEAD
UXCROTECH
WEB

6. S E T T I N G T H E S C E N E

7. “How do we find space in the hearts of our consumer?”

8. People buy because of something much deeper than necessity.
They are driven by emotion.

9. To tap into that emotion, we need to craft a story behind our products.
What we sell doesn’t provide a solution to a problem.
It fulfils a psychological need.

10. It’s a great advantage to create content in this space, but we aren’t
without competition.
So, while we can bask in the desirable and aspirational qualities of what
we sell, it doesn’t mean we can become complacent.

11. Too often, we can lose sight of the story - and our customer - because
we’re bogged down with all the other stuff.

12. If you take away one thing from today, it’s to remember that everything
you do should be centred around creating meaningful two-way
relationships with your customer.

13. The second thing should be that it’s not enough to rely on just the feels.
We’re passionate about our industry, and our customers, yes - but it
doesn’t mean we know everything.
We’re also not here to simply ‘tell stories.’ Our aim is to sell. Data is an
incredibly powerful weapon in our armoury that allows us to know more
about our consumers than ever before.
Baking data into your content strategy, and telling authentic and
emotive stories based on real insight, will ensure you’re set up for
success. 5%
of all branded content
accounts for 90
percent of total
engagement

14. M O S T B R A N D F A I L : T H E C O S T O F M I S A L I G N M E N T
A L a c k O f A D o c u m e n t e d S t r a t e g y
T e a m s W o r k i n g I n S i l o s
T o o M u c h O f T h e ‘ H a r d S e l l ’
U n d e r R e s o u r c e d T e a m s
L a c k O f I n s i g h t I n t o P e r f o r m a n c e
W h i c h L e a d s T o A n I n a b i l i t y T o P r o v e S u c c e s s .

15. G E T T I N G E V E R Y O N E M O V I N G I N T H E S A M E D I R E C T I O N

16. N A I L I N G A C O N T E N T S T R A T E G Y

17. Content marketing is the strategic approach of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and
consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the objective of
driving profitable customer action.
F I R S T , L E T S D I S S E C T W H A T A C O N T E N T S T R A T E G Y A C T U A L L Y I S
The strategy is defining why you’re doing it, who
you’re targeting, and how you’ll achieve it.
1.

18. L O O K H O W P O W E R F U L T H I S C A N B E

19. A L I G N I N G Y O U R G O A L S ( S H O R T T E R M )
• Building an engaged email database
• Build an engaged blog readership
• Optimise website for conversion
• Increase newsletter signups by X% by X
• Increase pageviews on blog by X% by X
• Reduce abandoned baskets by X% by X
SHORT TERM GOALS CONTENT GOALS

20. A L I G N I N G Y O U R G O A L S ( L O N G T E R M )
• Loyalty
• Brand affinity
• Changing brand positioning
• Build an Rewards by Harvey Nichols
• #Vogue100
• Warren Evans
SHORT TERM GOALS CONTENT GOALS

22. CHECK IN WITH YOUR BRAND. DO YOU KNOW IT WELL? HOW WELL?
2.

23. Inspiring &
ambitious
Concise, memorable
& easy to understand
Guides company
direction & behaviour
Not ownable by
anyone else.
A completely unique
perspective
Forward thinking
Defines hiring
policy & culture
Works in digital
Relevant
(culture, audience etc)
N O T G U I D E L I N E S . A S T R A T E G Y .

24. in a multichannel world, formalising tone of voice is more important than ever

25. CHECK IN WITH YOUR AUDIENCE. DO YOU KNOW THEM WELL? HOW WELL?
HAVE YOU CREATED BUYER PERSONAS FOR KEY DEMOGRAPHICS?
DO YOU KNOW WHAT THEIR PAIN POINTS ARE? WHAT THEIR AMBITIONS ARE?
WHERE THEY ENGAGE WITH YOU, HOW OFTEN THEY BUY, WHAT THEY BUY?3.

26. AUDIENCE ASSESSMENT
Behave yourself!

27. AUDIENCE ASSESSMENT
first.
Keyword Research

28. AUDIENCE ASSESSMENT
then.
UGC Analysis

29. AUDIENCE ASSESSMENT
oh. don’t forget
Interviews

30. Personas represent the goals and behaviour of intended users. They
express users’ goals, needs, expectations, and difficulties. The
understanding we get from personas about users informs the lens through
which we will speak to them.
They allow us to start to develop a perspective on what is important not
just to the brand, but to the user too.
This work allows us to create (or evolve) a set of personas

31. COME UP WITH AN EDITORIAL MISSION STATEMENT, BASED ON THE THREE PREVIOUS STEPS.
4.

32. AN EDITORIAL MISSION STATEMENT IS A SIMPLE, SUCCINCT PARAGRAPH
THAT NEATLY SUMS UP THE TYPE OF CONTENT YOU’LL CREATE
“Life’s too short to spend it looking drab. We’re here to enable you to be
fearlessly stylish in all of life’s most defining moments. What to wear to a polo
match when your ex-husband might be there, how to get out of an uber
without flashing your (Stella McCartney) knickers, how to expertly hide
hungover eyes at work. We do things differently.”

33. RUN A CONTENT AUDIT
5.

34. T H A T S O L V E S B U S I N E S S P R O B L E M S
1
S O L V I N G B U S I N E S S P R O B L E M S ?
Are you…

35. T H A T S O L V E S B U S I N E S S P R O B L E M S
2
T A K I N G R I S K S ?
Are you…

36. T H A T S O L V E S B U S I N E S S P R O B L E M S
3
T E L L I N G A C O N S I S T E N T S T O R Y ?
Are you…

37. T H A T S O L V E S B U S I N E S S P R O B L E M S
4
S W E A T I N G I T ?
Are you…

38. 5
B E I N G S E N S I T I V E ?
Are you…
(Particularly if you’re International)

39. FOCUS
6.

40. F O C U S
Think Strategically About Which Platforms To Publish Content On.
Have You Got The Bandwidth To Commit To A New Platform? Is It Necessary?
It’s Better To Do One Thing Well Than 10 Things Averagely.

41. YOUR EDITORIAL CALENDAR
7.

42. C E N T R A L I S E D A C T I V I T Y C A L E N D A R S
Not just for social or CRM

44. T H E N …
LVMH. Nowness Hilton. Our Stage, Your Story. Hamilton Island Ultimate Instameet
C R E A T E C U R A T E C O L L A B O R A T E

45. KNOW WHAT TO MEASURE
8.

46. K N O W W H A T T O M E A S U R E
1. Page views
2. Newsletter signups
3. Bounce rate/time spent
4. Social shares
5. Click-through rates
1. Mobile vs. Desktop
2. Demographics
SUCCESS MEASURING AUDIENCE INSIGHT

47. T E S T & L E A R N A S A T E A M

48. C R A F T I N G C O M P E L L I N G S T O R I E S *
(*Powered by data)

49. “If I’m given six hours to chop down a tree,
I’ll spend four hours sharpening the axe.”
Abraham Lincoln

50. You’ll have big stories - like campaigns, events, or launches.
You’ll also have your ‘always-on’ content, like email newsletters and social media
Then, you’ll have your reactive content.
And last but not least - your ‘hygiene’ content. This can be some of the most fun
content to work on

51. A L W A Y S O N
Seamlessly And Subtly Offer Interested Users The Ability To Shop The Stories Through
Links To Featured Products
Know The Differences Between Audiences On Your Channels
Use Ga Keyword Planner/Moz To Inform Topics
Authentic Partnerships
Make Your Content Work As Hard As It Possibly Can - Cross-Promote

52. T H A N K Y O U
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