This document summarizes a presentation on content strategy for associations. It discusses how associations are adopting content strategy at different levels - beginning, intermediate and advanced. At the beginning level, associations focus on tactics and planning. The intermediate level executes strategy but faces challenges around alignment. Advanced associations operate strategically by meeting member needs through content. Challenges include evolving strategies and preventing complacency. The presentation provides examples and advice for moving associations along the content strategy adoption spectrum.

1. Leading with Content
Using Content Strategy to
Advance Business Goals
Carrie Hane
Dina Lewis, CAE
Hilary Marsh
Maggie McGary

2. What you’ll learn today
• How executives integrate content
strategy into organization’s
member needs, offerings, and
culture
• How to improve your
organization’s strategic approach
to content
• Where your organization is on the
content strategy adoption path and
how you can progress
How associations are taking
a strategic, sustainable
approach to effective content

3. Why content strategy matters
for associations

4. ● Publications
● Newsletters
● Self-study guides
● Clinical guidelines
● Conference sessions
● Webinars
● Research reports
● Events
● Books
● Press releases
● News articles
Associations produce so much content!
Photo byLacie SlezakonUnsplash

5. and we have so many channels to fill!
Icons: Nucleo

6. By bgEuwDxel93-Pg at Google Cultural Institute, zoom level maximum, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25498286
Content
is the way
our work is
manifested
in the world

7. Content
is how we
deliver our
strategic
goals
PCAR Strategic Plan

8. Content
is our
value
Photo by Maja Petric on Unsplash

9. We
succeed
when we
publish in
a way that
resonates
with
members
Photo purchased from iStock

10. Content
strategy
is a win-win
(for members
and for
associations)

11. Content strategy defined
The planning and judgment for the
creation, publication, dissemination, and governance
of useful, usable, effective content
across departments and functional areas.

12. Old thinking

13. New thinking

14. How associations are
adopting content strategy
Our research project

15. Why research association content strategy?
2016 Operating Ratio Report
Periodicals/Publications
• 8.82% revenue/8.11% expense
Educational Programming
• 9.96% revenue/8.17% expense
Decision to Join
Current association
members ranked dissemination
of knowledge or content among
four of the top five most
important association functions
Competition

16. Project goals
• Who is doing it?
• Why is it hard?
• How content strategy is good for associations
• Share real-world successes the community can learn from

17. Project methodology
Phase 1: What are
associations doing?
• Environmental scan
• Survey
• Interviews
Phase 2: How they are
doing it
• Survey
• Interviews

18. What associations are doing
today

19. 18 content strategy tactics
1. Content strategy statement
2. Stakeholder interviews
3. Editorial style guide or content writing
guidelines
4. Personas
5. Customer journey maps
6. Content audits
7. Content governance policies
8. Collect digital analytics
9. Analyze, and use digital analytics
10.Usability testing or audience
surveys
11. Include content responsibilities
in job descriptions
12. Central content planning
calendar
13. Search engine optimization
14. Training on how to create digital
content
15. Metadata strategy
16. Single controlled vocabulary
(taxonomy)
17. Content model
18. Structured content approach

20. Activity
Find Your Content Strategy Adoption Level
● Complete Part 1 of your handout, Content Strategy Tactics
Find your peers
● Join a group: Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced or Haven’t Started Yet
Discuss:
● What are your biggest challenges?
● What is working for your association?

21. Bonus Tool: When You Return to the Office
● Download an assessment worksheet and review it with your team:
http://bit.ly/cs-assessment-tool2018

22. Associations of all types,
sizes, and scopes are doing
content strategy
In varying degrees….

23. Profile survey
participants
Second survey
participants

24. Profile survey
participants
Second survey
participants

25. Profile survey
participants
Second survey
participants

26. Research
summary:
Profile
survey
Content Strategy Adoption Key
Beginner: 1 to 6 tactics Intermediate: 7 to 13 tactics Advanced: 14 to 17 tactics

27. Research
summary:
Second
survey

28. Common challenges for
association content strategy

29. People, not process
It is easy to “implement” in
that it is all within the control
of the organizational
leadership.
What is not so easy is
getting a person in place
who takes this part of the job
seriously, and holding that
person accountable to it.
Creating our cross-departmental
Messaging Team about 4 years ago
really propelled the non-silo efforts in
messaging. We have the team and
are perfecting the strategy. It did not
happen overnight and we have a
ways to go. CEO buy-in to move in
this direction was key.

30. Trusting the data
The culture of the
association has not yet
evolved to a point where the
analysis of data drives what
is done next, it's still very
much reliant on the passion
projects of volunteers and
staff.
Our content team's efforts
started in 2011/2012 but in the
past year, the association has
decided it will take an
association-wide data-driven
approach to all aspects of
association management, and
this has encouraged a greater
focus on association-wide
content issues.

31. What the future could look like
● Staff working together, not just one person, not competing
● Basing decisions on audience behavior—not perception, anecdotes, or
what members say they want
● Flexibility to shift tactics while aiming for same goal
● Organization aligned around members’ journeys and topics

32. What’s working
● Cross-department content councils
● Research-based personas
● Content strategy roadmap
● Education and empathy
● Get help and support

33. How to get there
The Association Content Strategy Adoption Spectrum

34. Beginning
• Feel excitement
• Have permission
• I’m planning
Intermediate
• Feel uncertainty
• Have responsibility
• I’m executing
Advanced
• Feel confident &
accomplished
• Have collaboration
• I’m iterating
Content Strategy Focus
• Tactics
• Mindset
• Aspirations
Content Strategy Focus
• Risk: Bust silos → Build bridges
• Fear: New models needed
• Growth: Small wins → Big wins
Content Strategy Focus
• Less about how
• Tactics are part of processes
• Creating/sustaining culture

35. Beginning profile
Top challenges
● Moving from department focus
to organizational strategy
● Defining personas
● Defining/measuring success
● Everyone is a content provider
27% of associations surveyed
Excitement
I have
permission!
Planning
Tactics
Mindset
Aspirations

36. Beginning challenges
Always put your member first. Your board isn’t
first. Your staff isn’t first. Your member needs are
first.
We have disparate
priorities and goals across
the organization.
Meanwhile, we are
investing in new
technologies, but just
learning to talk to each
other (across
departments).
The hardest thing to do is get a
controlled vocabulary because we lack
buy-in or even acknowledgment at
leadership and staff levels

38. Beginning next steps
To get this result... ...do this
Set baseline goals and measure
against them
- Collect analytics
- Analyze analytics

39. Beginning next steps
To get this result... ...do this
Discover organizational and
member content priorities
- Stakeholder interviews
- Member surveys and usability studies

40. Beginning next steps
To get this result... ...do this
Formalize content planning - Content planning calendar
- Style guide

41. Beginning next steps
To get this result... ...do this
Inform and begin to educate - Socialize the idea of content strategy
- Find ways to communicate up, down, across
organization

42. Intermediate profile
Top challenges
● Keeping everyone on track
● Finding time to keep up
strategic focus
● Managing content
● Governance
● Creating overarching strategy
55% of associations surveyed
Uncertainty
Responsibility
Accountability
Executing
Risk: Bust silos
→ Build bridges
Fear: New
models needed
Growth: Small
wins → Big wins

43. Intermediate challenges
All departments think their content
is the most important.
The CEO gets it, some in senior
management understand the
importance but to make it an
enterprise-level initiative it will take
extra resources and buy-in.
We have an internal, cross-
functional team working on content
issues….We're doing a lot of
experiments.
Getting everyone to participate and
contribute content, and manage
that content appropriately across
all communication
channels/outlets.

44. Intermediate next steps
To get this result... ...do this
Consistent priorities
across departments
Connect all work to association strategic
initiatives
- Content strategy statement
- Organization-wide editorial calendar
- Include content strategy responsibilities in
job descriptions/performance evaluations

45. To get this result... ...do this
Data-based decision
making
Set KPIs and use analytics to track
- Set-up and use analytics
- Perform regular content audits
Intermediate next steps

46. To get this result... ...do this
Organization-wide buy-in Regular cross-functional meetings
- Review data
- Provide training
Intermediate next steps

47. To get this result... ...do this
Governance Create and enforce guidelines, policies, and
standards
- Provide training
Intermediate next steps

48. To get this result... ...do this
Model for the next stage Form an editorial board
- Controlled vocabulary
- Implement structured content
- Create journey maps and personas
Intermediate next steps

49. Intermediate growing pains
It’s gaining traction. A year ago
there was no content strategy
effort. In 8 months we’ve grown a
team from a couple of writers to 20
people with specific roles related to
content strategy.
Leadership supports it, but is not
necessarily actively engaged in (or
completely understanding of) the
strategy.
It's a work in progress and slow-
going because we are committed
to ensuring this is a cross-
functional, transparent effort.
We're flying under the radar, and
the executive team has little
awareness of what we're doing
other than when we try to bring a
success to their attention.

50. Advanced profile
18% of associations surveyed
Confident
Smoothly
Operationialized
Working
strategically
Meeting
members’ needs
and achieving
the org’s
strategic goals
through content
Top challenges
● Continuing to evolve with new
strategic goals, new
initiatives, new staff
● Not getting complacent
● Measuring and learning more

51. Hallmarks of Advanced Content Strategy
Topics (not departments)
Organizational Structure
(not silos)
Member Journeys/Personas
Shared planning, shared
results
Governance
(clear roles,
responsibilities,
and processes)
Entrusted to senior staff

52. What success looks like
• Higher website traffic
• Association growth: Member renewals, new
members
• More positive member feedback
• Higher attendance at meetings, requests to
become a volunteer

53. Advanced stories
Our Content Champions representatives from each
department/division meet at least once a month and
work to identify content from their department and
share information so they can link to one another’s
content.
We are using our
personas and our
understanding of
industry issues to
drive decisions about
topics and deliver
valuable content.
Every department that
develops content sees the
content strategy as an
underlying principle in their
work.

54. Advanced
Looking at our content has helped us discover our
content gaps and opportunities to produce more
content in areas that members want, remove content
that’s not relevant anymore. It’s been eye-opening for
us, allowing us to package our content in new ways and
thinking of it with new perspectives.
It all makes sense
when you tie the
members’ needs with
strategic objectives.
We are making decisions
based on member behavior
now, rather than what someone
sitting in a committee tells us
they want. We are considering
the right audiences.

55. Advanced challenges
The biggest challenge we face is a
lack of resources (funding and people)
to effectively execute a strategy. We
are doing the best we can with what
we have.

56. Advanced role models
To get this result... ...do this
Enable staff in multiple departments
to see similarities in what they do
and how it serves members and tell
the organization’s story together
from different perspectives
- Make sure top executives and middle-level directors and
managers buy in (REALLY buy in)
Internal departments share
information because they know it’s
an organization-wide initiative that
will support and benefit the entire
org
- Make sure content responsibilities are part of people’s
job descriptions
Make decisions about content
volume, topics, frequency informed
by how the audience is using
content
- Gather, analyze and regularly refer to digital analytics

57. Activity: Where is your organization on the
Content Strategy Adoption Spectrum?
Complete Part 2 of handout
• Reassess: Have you changed your mind about where you
are? If so, move to a different group: Beginning, Intermediate,
Advanced, Haven’t Started Yet
Discuss:
• What are your biggest challenges?
• What is working for your association?
• What are you going to do next?

58. What does this mean?

59. Get serious about content strategy
Have measurable goals
Lead content strategy
What you can be doing now

60. What’s next from this
ASAE Foundation project
Full report available late fall/early winter
Potential tools and artifacts to
• assess where you are compared with other associations
• make it easier for you to mature your content strategy

61. Thank you!
Dina Lewis, CAE
Distilled Logic, LLC
@dinalew
dina@distilledlogic.net
Carrie Hane
Tanzen LLC
@carriehd
carrie@tanzenconsulting.com
Hilary Marsh
Content Company, Inc.
@hilarymarsh
hilary@contentcompany.biz
Maggie McGary
McGary Associates
@maggielmcg
maggiemcgary@gmail.com