lavacon2014 workshop: revenue content strategy 101

@jenniferfell @WebWorksChris #LavaCon

Revenue Content Strategy 101: Unifying Content

and Revenue Strategy

Christopher Ward

Jennifer Fell

© 2014 – Quadralay Corporation

Purpose of this workshop j

To expand the conversation beyond cost cutting to revenue generation.

Profit = Revenue - Cost


Purpose of this workshop c

How do we change the conversation –

Develop a business case using terminology that CEOs understand.

The information is probably already there, we have to define it to align with the strategy of the origination.

To sell your business case to get the proper buy in.How to get what you want, when you need it – the art of positioning


Why listen to us?

Christopher Ward

– Director of Sales for WebWorks

– 4 years as Military Intelligence with the U.S. Army

Jennifer Fell

– Technical communicator turned business strategist

– VP of Engineering, Technical Sales Specialist


Why are you here?

What are you looking to get out of this workshop

What does success look like for you at work

If you could only change one thing about your current work situation, what would it be?


Why we created this workshop c “The Evolution of Online Help” – white paper on help systems and

how they are evolving to meet the need of the end user.

Short follow up survey asking technical communicators what the primary objectives of their technical writing roles were:

– 95% believed that technical communication is in need of evolution

– 89% have seen change in technical communication throughout their career

– Top objective as a technical communicator:

49% weighed more heavily on being user friendly

35% said to provide accurate information

13% put importance on strategic business goals – of the 13% almost all were tenured technical writers of more than 10 years, with only two falling in the 6 to 10 years of experience range


Why we created this workshop c


Why we created this workshop

Two dynamics that are not making sense

The Value of Content is Increasing

TechComm Budgets are Shrinking


Tech comm budgets are shrinking

Budgets are shrinking

So our ability to deliver is becoming limited

So our ability to invest in efficiencies and bigger impact is decreasing

So our impact is decreasing

SO we get less money…repeat


Factors increasing the value of content

Advancements in Technology

Consumer Behavior

Big Data


Consumer behavior

• The Informed Consumer • Eric K. Clemons –

• How Information Changes Consumer Behavior and How Consumer Behavior Determines Corporate Strategy

• Internet Use• According to Pew Research, 87% of American

Adults use the Internet. Number one reason – product research

• People are creating content to read and share as a trusted source of material


Advances in technology

Broadband

– As speed increased so did adoption from users

Mobile Technology

– 91% of all Americans own a cell phone

– 63% of cell phone owners use it to go online

Social Apps

– Changed the way people think about other, and businesses


Big data

Volume, Variety, Velocity –

– 30B pieces of content shared on Facebook every month

– 400M Tweets are sent every day

– 4B hours of YouTube video are watched each month

– 150 exabytes of US health care data in 2011 (worth $300B)

80% of data is content

And we know more than ever, in real time, about how that “data” is being used


How did you make your last purchase?


Consumer decision-making process Needs Analysis

Research

Evaluation of Solutions

Purchase and Consumption

Post-Purchase Phase


Sales funnel


What is a revenue strategy?

Companies are in the business to generate revenue, not in the business of cutting cost

If you understand consumer behavior, you can create a strategy that generates revenue

Once you understand your company’s strategy, you can create a content strategy that generates revenue


What is a content strategy?

A business strategy for content

A strategy for how to use content to achieve business goals


Our definitions (group exercise)

Documentation can shape the customer experience, creating loyalty and generating revenue

– Writer's responsibility

– Content Quality

– Content Value

© 2014 – Quadralay Corporation 20

Why does the customer experience matter?

Documentation can shape the customer experience, creating loyalty and adding value back to the company.


Measures for a business plan

Quality

Pain

Delivery

Reuse


Measure pain


Measure the time it takes to do everything and categorize it to see where the most time is spent

Measure Pain


Measure the time it takes to do everything and categorize it to see where the most time is spent

Measure hard costs to see where you are spending the most money

Measure Pain


Measure delivery


Measure the number of projects produced and delivered against the goal

Measure Delivery



Measure the number of projects delivered according to the schedule

Measure Delivery



Measure the number of projects delivered according to the schedule

Measure the number of channels the projects were delivered to

Measure Delivery


Measure reuse


Measure Reuse

Measure similar content that may be inconsistent


Measure quality


Measure distribution and support

call volume for printed manuals

Measure quality


Measure distribution and support call

volume for printed manuals

Measure support call volume and

statistics on audience and views for PDF manuals

Measure quality


Measure distribution and support call

volume for printed manuals

Measure support call volume and

statistics on audience and views for PDF manuals

Measure web analytics and feedback/ comments from the audience for responsive web output

Measure quality


Building a business planOnce you have defined and labeled your measures, now you can build your case

Measures of Pain = Needs These are you current deficiencies and what you want the company to invest dollars in to fixing.

Measures of Delivery = ProgressThese are the measures you are going to use to show the progress of your plan

Measures of Reuse = EfficiencyThese measures will show how efficient your process is and that you are maximizing the investment dollar

Measures of Quality = Return.These are the brass rings, this is the return or value the company gets by investing in to your plan


Building a business planOnce you have defined and labeled your measures, now you can build your case

Measures of Quality = Return.These are the brass rings, this is the return or value the company gets by investing in to your plan

Measures of Pain = Needs These are you current deficiencies and what you want the company to invest dollars in to fixing.

Measures of Delivery = ProgressThese are the measures you are going to use to show the progress of your plan

Measures of Reuse = EfficiencyThese measures will show how efficient your process is and that you are maximizing the investment dollar


Positioning a business plan

Objections

DiscoveryPositioning

Close

Rapport


Positioning your plan j

RapportMust come first

Has to be truthful

Do not need to “agree” with or be “similar to” for rapport to be built


Positioning your plan c

Ask Why – 5 times

Listen, do not assume – I am wise because I understand I have no wisdom

Walk away

Discovery


Positioning your plan j

Align your needs with the goals of the company – the answer to the whys

Don’t go in to the details – they don’t need to know how they just need to know what the result will be

Positioning



MUST BE DONE RIGHT AFTER POSITIONING

MUST BE A DIRECT QUESTION

Ask how what the process is and the next step

Close



MUST BE DONE RIGHT AFTER YOU GET A NO FROM CLOSING

DOES NOT MEAN YOU ARE A LOSER OR WRONG, JUST MEANS YOU MISSED SOMETHING IN THE PROCESS

Go back to to figure out what you missed

Objections

Discovery


It’s your turn

VASONT SYSTEMS | @VasontSystems | www.vasont.com WEBWORKS | @webworks_com | www.webworks.com


Back to the beginning…changing the end

Opportunity

The Value of Content is Increasing

Tech Comm Budgets can Increase


Summary: What it’s going to take

Refine ourselves: Business 1st, content 2nd

Keep learning

– Business strategy

– Sales and negotiation techniques

Be bold

– Tough decisions

Make new friends


Finding us

Christopher Ward

– Tues 8:00: A Printer, Desktop, and Tablet Walk in to a Bar…Creating Tech Comm Nirvana

– Tues 9:00: How to Measure Revenue through Content

– Wed 3:30: Revenue Content Strategy 101

– WebWorks booth

– [email protected]

Jennifer Fell

– Tues 2:15: Technical Content in the Sales Process

– [email protected]


References

http://www.leadformix.com/blog/2011/05/changing-dynamics-%E2%80%93-the-rise-of-new-b2b-marketing-funnel/

http://stevepatrizi.com/2012/10/23/the-new-marketing-sales-funnel/

https://noppa.aalto.fi/noppa/kurssi/t-128.5540/luennot/T-128_5540_how_information_changes_consumer_behavior_and_how_consumer_behavior_determines_corporate_strategy.pdf

http://www.pewinternet.org/data-trend/internet-use/internet-use-over-time/









