3. 3
A few definitions…
The main goal of content strategy is to use words and data
to create unambiguous content that supports
meaningful, interactive experiences. Rachel
Lovinger, “Content Strategy: The Philosophy of Data.”
Boxes & Arrows, 2007.
Content strategy is about how we get the right content to
the right people at the right time. Kevin P.
Nichols, “Enterprise Content Strategy Practitioners’ Guide.”
kevinpnichols.com, 2011.
Content strategy is the practice of planning for the
creation, delivery and governance of useful, usable
content. Kristina Halvorson, Content Strategy for the
Web, 2010.
What?
4. 4
Our house view 2013…
Content Strategy is the systematic, thoughtful
approach to surfacing the most
relevant, effective, and appropriate content at
the most opportune time, to the appropriate
user, for the purpose of achieving a
company’s strategic business objectives.
Simply, content strategy is…
A practice or discipline
A systematic way of approaching content
development, creation, management and
governance.
Content
Strategy at
SapientNitro
5. 5
Why content strategy?
Volume (of content) and complexity (of the digital
environment)
Companies are producing more and more content, often
with no sense of:
How much they have
Where it is
Who’s taking care of it
How effective it is at meeting business and audience
goals (if they even know what these are)
ROI
Why?
6. 6
What’s the difference?
Copywriting
If copywriting is about the words on the
page, content strategy is about everything that goes
into getting them there and why they need to be
there in the first place.
UX
Content strategists and UX practitioners care about
some of the same things, but from a slightly
different perspective. If UX is concerned with the
presentation layer, content strategy is concerned
with the content beneath that presentation level that
makes that UX vision a reality.
Content
Strategy, C
opywriting
and UX
9. 9
Content strategy work falls into two buckets
1. Tactical. This type of work covers the
practical, operational aspects of
producing, managing and governing content. This
work includes things like defining template
requirements for a CMS
implementation, producing content matrix files to
capture page-level copy, and content migration
and production planning.
2. Strategic. This type of work (obviously!) covers
the more strategic aspects related to content and
content production. It tends to be more analytical
and forward thinking in nature and includes things
like content auditing and competitive
assessments. Strategic work plans for content that
speaks to your target audience.
Two types
10. 10
Content strategists ask clients questions like…
What content do you have?
Where is it?
Is it enough or do you need more?
Is it effective?
Does it distinguish you from your competitors?How?
They do things like…
Inventories and audits (“This is what you
have.”)
Make recommendations (“This is what you
need / need to do with what you already have.”)
Plan (“This is how to do what you need to do.”)
11. 11
User experience, content experience
Content strategy bridges the gap between the
theoretical work of the UX practitioner and the real
world of content by:
• Making sure content exists to support all design
elements (tactical)
• Making sure that the design elements support
content goals and priorities (strategic)
Content
and UX
14. 14
In summary…
• Content strategists makes the theoretical real
• Content strategists facilitate, support and compliment the work
of the UX practitioner
• Content strategists specialize in different areas
• The more complex the digital world becomes, the more content
strategy and UX have to work together to make the vision a
reality.
Key
messages
15. 15
Content strategy at Sapient
Kevin Nichols (knichols@sapient.com)
Director & Global Content Strategy Lead (Boston)
Julie Christie (jchristie@sapient.com)
Manager, Content Strategy (London)
Wrap up
Emphasize how the CS can support and facilitate the work done by the UX team.
Key points:Common mistake.Content shouldn’t be an afterthought, although it often is. Don’t underestimate the time and effort required to create the content that will support the concept.
Talk here about CS specialization.
How we define content requirements.
Make connection between UX and CS.Emphasize how a content strategist can make the job of the UX person easier. Emphasize that the idea of a “content experience” is a key part of the user experience.
Emphasize how a content strategist can make the job of the UX person easier. A content centric approach.CS would be responsible for defining the source content elements.