HOW TO SELLCONTENT STRATEGY

…IN SPAIN

Fabrizio Ferri-Benedetti

@remoquete

SO YOU WANT TO BE A CONTENT STRATEGIST IN SPAIN? TELL ME MORE…”

Warner Bros (1971)

= ?Not quite

FACTS

1. NO COUNTRY FOR BIG CORPSSmall and medium companies

make for nearly 99% of all

businesses in Spain!

2. 77% ARE NOT ONLINEBut, according to the “Marketing

Digital y las PYME” study (QDQ

Media), 98% consider online

presence to be important

3. THEY VALUE CONTENTQDQ’s study also reveals that

most SMEs value having diverse

content and a good CMS

4. BUT THEY WANT IT CHEAPThe responsible for content is

always the customer, unless he

looks for keyword stuffing tricks

5. NO ONE SEEMS TO CAREOnline content of most Spanish

SME is either non-existent or

poorly done / outdated

6. NOT EVEN BIG CORPS

WHO YOU

GONNA CALL?

7. IT’S THE UNSEEN PROFESSIONThere are almost 8,000 profiles

for CS in the USA. In ES less than

200, and no job offers

8. IT’S THE UNKNOWN DISCIPLINENothing about “estrategia de

contenidos” or “content strategy”

in Google Trends (Spain)

SO, YES

SPAIN IS DIFFERENT

IT’S A GOOD PLACE FOR CS PIONEERS

HOW

THE SIX MASKS OF THE CONTENT STRATEGIST

1. THE SMUGGLERSlips Content Strategy into a

bigger package of web services,

establishes pacts with designers

BUILD A TROJAN HORSE

CONTENT STRATEGY IS

YOUR SECRET INGREDIENT

2. THE NINJAInfiltrates and studies the target

company, identifies resources,

opportunities, hidden allies

FIND YOUR INTERNAL ALLY

Really strive to understand the processes

and culture of the organization. […] It’s

important to speak their language and

figure out where they’re coming from

— Karen McGrane

3. THE PROFESSOREducates about Content Strategy

and its benefits for the company,

builds awareness and CS culture

Lucasfilm (1989)

EDUCATE FIRST,

SELL LATER

BUT NOT TOO LATE

Thinking that a CMS will solve your content

issues is as naive as thinking that a fully

equipped kitchen will cook for you.

4. THE MAD SCIENTISTProvides dramatic formulas and

figures of savings and earnings,

shows a glimpse of the future

Universal (1985)

USE SMALL DATA

If people aren't questioning your price, it's probably too low. Give

estimates early, estimate on time, price on value, aim for consumer

surplus, & provide numbers in person.

— Melissa Rach

Our goal is to create business value. Businesses want to make

money — period. Arguing that you are going to increase sales, is

so much more valuable that you’re going to reduce costs

— Karen McGrane

5. THE GANGSTAWorries the customer with

examples of bad content and UX

Makes an unrefusable offer

Palette Pictures (1989)

GO FOR DRAMA CASES

USE YOUTUBE IF NECESSARY

• “This does not look good” <awkward silence>

• “Content like this lowers the ROI in X%”

• “There’s so much more you could achieve…”

6. THE SHRINKHelps to customer to cope with

change and personality issues,

inspires top level stakeholders

HBO (2008)

HIT THE WHY

People are not averse to quality

content. They’re not opposed to happy

users. They’re resistant to change.

— Rick Allen

ONE MORE THING…

Nothing will change if we don’t start to

SHARING IS CARING

Join the local meetups (not only the ones about CS)

Follow content strategists in Twitter, join the conversation

Focus on what your own experience can bring to the field

Break silos: mingle with designers, developers, translators

http://www.meetup.com/Content-Strategy-Barcelona/

GRACIASTHANKS! GRACIAS! @remoquete

SOURCES

Content strategy challenges and opportunities in Spain (Ferri-Benedetti, 2014)

How to sell content strategy in Germany (Meyer, 2013)

Content & Cash: the economics of content strategy (Rach, 2013)

Selling content strategy: Karen McGrane (King Gordon, 2011)

Selling sontent strategy, a continuous process (Allen, 2011)