Liveblogging IndieConf: Content Strategy - A Framework for Marketing Success

Presenter: Laura Creekmore (@LauraCreekmore)

Marketing today involves analytics. However, there is an issue with having too much data to make sense of it all.

Avoid HiPPO prevails (Highest Paid Person's Opinion Prevails).

Why Content Strategy?
How most businesses view content...it's what comes after everything else.

Instead, we should look at content as a business asset. Business goals MUST come first.

But I'm Not in the Content Business: Rebuttal
Everybody is in the content business. If you're selling a product, then the product information is THE CONTENT.

Even if you're selling something else. The quality really affects the customer experience.

Content Strategy, Step by Step

• The Diagnosis
• The Cure

Diagnosis: Inventory

• You're going to need a spreadsheet
• List everything you've got
• No, everything
• Yes, that too.
• For a comprehensive inventory, list content from all channels
• Capture process too
• Site crawlers can be helpful
• Check your CMS for useful functionality
• Even on a small project, you'll start to see issues at this point

Diagnosis: Analyze

What your're looking for:

• ROT: Redundant, out-dated, trivial content
• Unclear/inaccurate messaging
• Signs of inefficient process: Creating similar content repeatedly
• Gaps: What's missing?
• Note characteristics  (Headline, copy with links, images, etc) 
• Look for places where you can find additional resources for content
• Group like items (customer groups, for example)
• Review the website and the backend UXs
• See through your user's eyes
• See through your editor's eyes
• Is your site navigation the same as your org chart? If so, then you're doing it wrong. Customers don't call things the same as employees.
• Does your back-end system work for you?
• Metadata: Information about your content (title, creation date, creator id, character limit, body, keywords, section, categories, and image URL)
• Taxonomy: Hierarchy of content (navigation for one)

Cure: Optimize Tools

• Get the technology right
• Simple = Often better
• Metadata and taxonomy are your friends

Cure: Define Process
Don't over-process (read it, tweak it, get sign-off from legal, etc.). The answer is to hire the right people and let them do the work.

The Final Step
Plan for day 2. This is a plan for that which happens AFTER the site launches.

Content Strategy: Changing Life for the Better
It's not the holy grail!