The Content Evolution How content can change your business for the better

Melissa Rach | @melissarach

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“The information superhighway!”

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The goal

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The result

Common comments

• “Our website is embarrassing” • “We’re so far behind” • “We don’t get any traffic/ROI” • “Nobody’s updated this content since Clinton was in office” • “What are we going to do about mobile?” • “We’ve built dozens of microsites to avoid the CMS” • “This website is a garbage dump” • “The CEO is hot on Facebook” • “Legal is being ridiculous on approvals” • “We have so many PDFs” • “There’s so much to do, I just can’t keep up”

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Web content is hard

flickr user: cometstarmoon

Nobody was prepared for this …

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Or this …

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© 2013 Visual News

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What a mess

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We are in a transition from an economy based on material goods

to one based on knowledge.

—Peter Drucker,

The Landmarks of Tomorrow (1959)

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Things have changed

Industrial economy

• Strategy as planning

• One-way communication

• Brand consistency

• Hierarchy

• Profit (quarterly)

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Today’s communities

• Distrust in authority

• Unlimited information access

• Participatory communication channels

• Multi-channel use

• Culture of research

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In today's environment, traditional marketing and sales

doesn't make sense.

— Bill Lee, Harvard Business Review

(paraphrased)

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We are clearly entering a period where the extinction of the slow,

the inflexible, and the bureaucratic is about to happen

in record numbers.

—Chris Zook, Harvard Business Review

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Extinction!?!

It’s time to break all the old rules.

Rethink Strategy

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Focus on the long-term vision

Strategy vs. planning

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STRATEGY

Strategy

Planning

Day-to-day work

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[Employees] want to be part of something larger than themselves.

They want to be part of something they're really proud of, that they'll

fight for, sacrifice for.

—Howard Schulz, Starbucks

Strategic intent

• Constant • Flexible • Repeatable • Aspirational • Inspiring • Believable

Hamel and Prahalad, “Strategic Intent” Harvard Business Review

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Examples

• Apple: Think different

• Coke: Put a bottle within arms reach of every possible customer

• Honda: Be the second Ford

• Amazon: Start with the customer and work backwards

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They might think you’re nuts

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We are willing to be misunderstood for long

periods of time.

—Jeff Bezos, Amazon

Rethink Communications

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Goal: A true relationship

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[People] learn what they care about,

From people they care about

and who, they know, cares about them.

—Barbara Harrell Carson,

Thirty Years of Stories

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Reciprocal, respectful conversations

Let conversation lead content

• Listen

• Speak with customers (not to customers)

• Give consistently, take once in awhile

• Make channel/format a secondary consideration

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Go beyond product specs

Map the entire customer journey

Not just online tasks, not just your “jurisdiction”

• What’s the “big task”?

• Where are the conversation points?

• What kinds of content do they need at each point?

• What content exists? Where are the gaps?

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Brands that simplify customer decision-making are 115% more

likely to be recommended.

—Corporate Executive Board (2012)

Examples

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Images from Dove,

Amazon, and Patagonia

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For all the American people everywhere… they need

something like this.

—Fred Smith,

Creator, Wisconsin Concrete Park

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Why?

Wisconsin Concrete Park

Phillips, WI

flickr user: dakota kingfisher

Every piece of content needs to:

• Support a your vision/strategy

• Fulfill a customer need

• Have a person assigned to maintain it (maintainable content only)

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Rethink Consistency

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They’re on to us

The old brand rules

Build the brand over time

• Speak B2B or B2C

• Use repeatable messages

• Require militant consistency

• Control information

• Be polished and perfect at all times

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The new rules

Build relationships over time by:

• Speak P2P

• Create adaptable messages

• Develop organic consistency

• Allow radical transparency

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Example: Fluevog

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It’s bit scary

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But, not this scary

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Consumers don’t expect brands to be flawless; they will even embrace brands

that are FLAWSOME…

Brands that are honest about their flaws, that show some empathy, generosity,

humility, flexibility, maturity, humor, and dare we say it, some character and

humanity.

—Trendwatching.com

Examples

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Images from Miracle Whip, Johnson & Johnson, and American Red Cross via Trendwatching.com

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‘Established' is now often just another word for tired if not tainted.

—Trendwatching.com

Rethink Hierarchy

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Nobody’s smarter than everybody

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Don’t plan your future, plan your people. Outstanding people who fit your broad vision will tend to make the right decisions along the way;

not by following a plan but by using their skill.

—Harry Beckwith

Selling the Invisible

Chaos theory

Enough structure to allow for pattern development, but flexible enough to allow for creativity.

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Strategic routines

• Strategic routines, not rules

• Support instead of strictness

• Encourage innovation

• Invite participation

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Don’t stay tied to old habits

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To reach our [strategic] goals, we must first change our lifestyle and our daily

habits now.

Then we must summon the courage to keep up the new habits and not yield to all

the old familiar temptations. Then, and only then, we get the benefits later.

—David Maister

Strategy and the Fat Smoker

Redefine Success

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Success metrics are a bit fishy

Long-term success

• Make budgets customer-centric, not product or channel centric

• Not always immediate

• Not always exact

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Measurements that matter

Traditional

• Short timeframes

• Isolated pieces of content

• Easily accessible analytics

• Measuring what exists

Try instead

• Longer timeframes

• Content systems

• Mix of measurement techniques

• Predictive monitoring

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Research shows companies who invest in communications are

more profitable and keep executives longer.

—Paul A. Argenti,

Dartmouth

Summary

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Remember…

You can redefine:

• Strategy

• Communications

• Consistency

• Hierarchy

• Success

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When we look at the present through a rear-view mirror. We

march backwards into the future.

—Marshall McLuhan

Thanks!

Melissa Rach

@melissarach

melissa@dialogstudios.com

www.dialogstudios.com

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