Content as a Business Asset

Photo credit: Rahel Anne Bailie

Copyright © 2016 Scroll LLP

RAHEL ANNE BAILIE

Chief Knowledge Officer

Scroll (UK)

@ScrollUK

• UK’s only full-service content company

• Provider of writers, editors, content designers

• Content strategy, content engineering, IA and taxonomy services

• Training for content professionals

@ScrollUK@ScrollUK

CONTENT ECONOMY

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Economic evolution

• Agricultural

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Economic evolution

• Agricultural

• Industrial

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Economic evolution

• Agricultural

• Industrial

• Service

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Economic evolution

• Agricultural

• Industrial

• Service

• Knowledge

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Economic evolution

• Agricultural

• Industrial

• Service

• Knowledge

• Information

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Economic evolution

• Agricultural

• Industrial

• Service

• Knowledge

• Information

• Attention

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Economic evolution

• Agricultural

• Industrial

• Service

• Knowledge

• Information

• Attention

• Content

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DEFINE CONTENT

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What is content?

<tags> </tags>

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Content is also…

• Potential information

• Human-usable, contextualised

data

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Content is …

• Our new “front door”

• How visitors perceive our brand

• How people understand what to do

• How customers make decisions

• Our way to brand differentiation

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How useful is this site…

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…without content?

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If you couldn’t find what you wanted…

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…would technical elegance matter?

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Without the content…

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…does the design matter?

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Consumer responses are simple and immediate

“That’s lame”

“I can’t find it”

“Try another

site”“Already there”

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All of this is content

Web communications

Digital

strategy

Web refresh

projects

Brand

communications

Sales and

support

Social media

Marketing

campaigns

Development

and design

Advert flyers

CONTENT

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Implications

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Create customer experiences that work

User assistance content

Support content

Marketing content

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Create content that works

Content, like design, gets noticed when there’s a problem with it

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• Ancillary: TV plus tablet for social

• Sequential: Use PC, then mobile; or use

mobile, then finish on PC

• Simultaneous: Collaboration requiring

instant synchronization between devices

Omnichannel use

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Subsets and relationships

• New user experiences:

• Smaller screens as primary entry point

to the content

• Mobile commerce and banking

• Tablets as entertainment devices

• Replicated content on commercial

devices (in-store kiosks, medical device

displays, airport screens, etc)

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Subsets and relationships

• Market maturity:

• Market differences

• Social network penetration

• Mobile market

• Growth opportunities

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Subsets and relationships

• Cross-market content:

• Single language for many markets

• Localization and trans-creation

• Offering native languages in other markets

• Cross-border commerce incurs content needs

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Finding the sweet spot

Brand

TrustEfficiency

Customers want to deal with brands

they trustOrganisations want to present well, with operational efficiency

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Changing the game

Brand

Trust

Efficiency

X factor

X factors:“Do it my way.”“Let’s be cautious.”“Do something cool.”

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VALUING YOUR

CONTENT ASSETS

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Calculate the value

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We know how to calculate value

On the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) side:• Extend scope of operations

• Manage risk and compliance

• Increase operational efficiencies

On the Return on Investment (ROI) side:• Build brand loyalty

• More engagement

• Better user experience

• Personalised content

• Increase revenue

• Improve findability

• Optimise quality

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Meaningful metrics

• HP reports that 90% of products are sold on the basis of

content alone

• A search for “Sony Braviax” shows “manual” as the top

search result

• “We found that people are looking at them before they

decide to buy.” – Sales exec, CMS Vendor

• “What is effective with management is seeing how when

the content supporting the product isn’t up to snuff, it

means lost sales.” – Global services provider

• “We live and die by content findability.” – Marketing exec,

global distributor

@rahelab

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Los Angeles Department of Water & Power

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“The company evaluated its call center volume and found that 25 to 35% of the four million calls received a year were from customers who did not understand their monthly bills. Using the rule of thumb that a call center inquiry costs $5 to $50 per call, you can easily calculate the costs associated with this issue.”Source: http://www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/2011/04/content-marketing-data/

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California Consumer Electronics

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Returned products due to failure to understand operations: over $1 billion annually. (reported a decade ago)

(Bonni Graham Gonzalez, Manual Labour Inc)

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Malaspina Labs

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(Founder, Malaspina Labs)

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Software Vendors

“We’re getting our docs in order because we

found that people are looking at them before

they decide to buy.” (Sales exec, tiny CMS vendor)

“Never mind justifying savings due to process.

What is effective with management is seeing

how when the content supporting the product

isn’t up to snuff, it means lost sales.”(Practice lead, gigantic multinational technology and consulting firm)

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Manage your assets

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Content deserves good management

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Content Lifecycle

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A tactic is not a strategy

• The analysis and prescription is the strategy

• The rest of the work is operationalisation and

implementation

• The earlier in the lifecycle you can get involved,

the easier it is to effect change

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Strategy in a multichannel environment

Product lifecycle

Customer lifecycle

Content lifecycle

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OK, GOT IT.

NOW WHAT?

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Think “Content First”

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Understand your requirements

Customer lifecycle questions:

• What content does the audience need at each phase during their customer journeys?

Product lifecycle questions:

• What content does the audience need at each phase of the product lifecycle to feel enough trust to proceed?

Content lifecycle questions:

• How do you acquire, manage, configure, and publishthe content so it reaches the right person at the right time during their customer journeys?

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Know your content touch points

• Throughout the customer journey

• Multiple variables for various market conditions,

product lines, and so on

• Multiple outputs for different devices and

platforms

• Localisation, which is becoming more complex

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Align your content quality

Align your brand:

• Consistent tone and voice

• Localised for your audiences and markets

• Connect all content types

Curate your content:

• Recombine content to create new contexts

• Promote comprehension

• Make knowledge out of information

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Know Your Tech

There continue to be too many people who know nothing about technology who are tasked with making huge decisions that involve technology.

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The power is under the hood

Source content

User experience

Content variation

Formatting variation

Interaction variation

Business requirements

Content planning

Publishing pipeline

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Technical side of content

For content to be able to:

• Converge (show content from multiple sources)

• Integrate (embed data into content)

• Syndicate (send content out on demand)

Content must be (on the technical side):

• Standards-based (eg XML for repurposing)

• Well-formed (using predictable schema)

• Semantically structured (for automated delivery)

• Have rich metadata (for search, filtering)

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So you can go from…

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( = international roaming)

( = SIM card)

…a content jumble…

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…to an integrated user experience

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So you can get content

• From the right sources

• On the right platform

• To the right audience

• At the right moment

• Through the right channels

• In the right formats

• In the right versions

• In the right languages

• In the right media

• At the right time

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Content strategy needs you to…

Get inspired

Get informed

Get involved

Get together

Get content

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Concepts covered in these books

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www.scroll.co.uk

info@scroll.co.uk

rahel.bailie@scroll.co.uk

Twitter: @ScrollUK / @rahelab

By telephone:

UK +44 (0)20 3318 1828 (office)

UK +44 (0)7869 643 685 (mobile)

Speaking and workshops:

bailie.com

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Copyright © 2016 Scroll LLP