how content strategy & ux can tackle the content challenge together

Murray CoxActing Head of Content Strategy

How Content Strategy and UX can tackle the content challenge together

Julie Mahoney | Head of Content Strategy, LBi

Once upon a time there was an information architect and a content strategist…

And a long, long time ago, they had less “interesting” problems than they do today.

They got along OK, but never really had many “opportunities” to work on projects together…

But life was still pretty good, until one day an account person brought in a new kind of project. This one was

shiny. And big. Big enough to rule the world really. It was called portal. And it wanted to go global.

Insert brand here

Luckily, both Kurt and Frank took deep breathes and gathered their courage before plunging into those portal

depths…

“Dude. No one knows

what I do…”

“Why does every

website have to be so self-referential

and use click here text!”

And they did three really good things…

Defined their roles early

on

Did a show and tell

Agreed

“what to call things

”

They knew they would wear many hats

“Researcher”

Finder of 3rd party stats and

competitive insights

Defined their roles

early on

“Big concept ” guy

Creator of main categories

“Relationshipmaker”

Creator of relating content types to each

other

Kurt and Frank did a show and tell of deliverables…

Did a “show

and tell”

And when blending their deliverables, they agreed on a methodology first

Did a “show

and tell”

Frank created a visual glossary of content types that he and Kurt refined until they had a universal way of

thinking about content Agreed

“what to call things

”

This made them totally popular and successful when the project was delivered in time and on budget

But our story doesn’t end there. Over the years, Kurt and Frank rose through the digital ranks…working their way from place to place, until they landed in a very nice agency that eventually

launched its own content strategy department…

Funny enough…when Frank first joined the agency, most people had a totally different interpretation of content

strategy

So Frank had to do roadshows (and socialising and chatting), educating people about content strategy

And Frank did three really good things…

Demystified the process

Made the case for content

Showcased examples

of amazing content

Sometimes he showed the content strategy in full…

Sometimes he showed examples of content strategy deliverables and how they helped both businesses and

users

Sometimes he built the case around the commercial value of content

Metrics!

Case Studie

s!

Research!

And sometimes he just got people excited with examples of good content

Meanwhile… a mysterious monster emerged from the deep, dark internets called POE a.k.a Paid, Owned, and

Earned Media

But luckily Kurt was still sharpening his collaboration skills working with more and more content strategists.

And Kurt did three really good things…

Established regular check

points in a project

Encouraged agile

sharing

Encouraged UXers to

think beyond the

sprints

He always used a reconciliation process and routine with creative, user experience, and content strategy all

putting up WIP every Friday

He always encouraged agile sharing from everyone…Frank’s colleague Michael Exon was known to quickly

sketch up his deliverables to show their purpose

He always clarified the purpose of his deliverables, knowing that his sitemap would live on

…dictating content creation and migration…

And eventually user-centered content!

a more beautiful answer goes to he

who asks the more beautiful

question-e.e. cummings

A BEAUTIFUL QUESTION IS ONLY BUILT WITH UX AND CONTENT WORKING

TOGETHER