Content Strategy: It’s not all Greek to anyone, anymore.

Posted: May 18th, 2010 | Filed under: Stuff I've Done, Thinking | Tags: , | Comments Off

(This article originally appeared in Hanson Dodge Creative’s May 2010 Active Insights newsletter.)

Back in the early days of interactive, all we talked about was HTML— the simple way to breathe life into website and, by extension, user experience. Quickly we realized HTML wasn’t enough. Websites needed to be easier to get around and find things in, so we started talking about usability. But before long, even usability wasn’t enough. People began to clamor for a user experience that’s beyond beautiful, useful and thrilling. Websites packed with pertinent information — that also reflect our clients’ brands, and, of course, their marketing goals.

Flash-forward to 2009. We aren’t just designing website user experiences any more. We’re designing experiences for any number of online, mobile and offline properties. Consumers have grown to expect all of the things we’re designing to be beautiful, fun and easy to use. That stuff’s a given.

So what’s the new bar? Beautiful, enjoyable and usable also has to deliver useful. And by this we mean more than simply easy to use: actually useful in a consumer’s daily life. When users visit a website, application or any other interactive property, the first question they’re asking is “yeah, and so?” or in other words “What’s the point?” or “Why should I care?” And if we expect anybody to read, linger, return later or talk about our brands, we’d better be prepared to answer these questions. These are questions any copywriter worth their salt should be asking whenever they write copy for all media. And consumers are expecting deep, meaningful and resonant answers to be somewhere that’s easy accessible. Basically, before they buy, they want to know everything.

In 2010 and into 2011, we want you to think of getting — and holding — your consumer’s attention as a competitive sport. If your site doesn’t have a strong plan for your content — a clear purpose, call to action, a reason to stay, believe and return — you will lose.

This is what content strategy is all about.

What is content strategy?
Content strategy is a way of planning communication so that it meets specific objectives. Instead of simply organizing pages into groups of content and writing copy at the last minute, an effective content strategy will set the direction for the creation, delivery and guidelines of all content on a website.

And according to Google and content strategy evangelist Kristina Halvorson, it’s the Next Big Thing.

Why can’t we just fill the copy in later?
Look: the entire Internet is filled with nothing but ill-conceived content, a lot of it exceptionally useless and irrelevant. Most of the time, this is because the creators of these websites suffer from Content Delay Syndrome. CDS is when you push copywriting, imagery and video to the very end of a project as executables rather than strategically planned concepts, so that content is treated as an afterthought. Shoehorning content into a website this way often undoes all the careful thought and planning that went into the rest of the project. And it’s common.

Real, thought-out and meaningful content on a site creates a good user experience. It’s best when it’s concise, purposeful and directed toward a specific audience. And that takes planning.

The benefits of benefit-rich content.
A well-planned content strategy makes your site trustworthy, engaging and useful, which is good for brands and their users, of course. But even more importantly, when any company is in the middle of a project — like updating or creating a website — a funny thing happens when that content is clearly defined, planned and communicated to the team: the team gains consensus and does better work toward common objectives and final goals. If everyone knows why they’re working on a piece of content and how it fits into the larger project, their work is better, more focused and more complete even before it’s actually completed.

And if project stakeholders are external to your organization (as most of HDC’s are), a great content strategy can also create a shared understanding with clients of where the project is going. This makes everyone happy.

So, what does content strategy look like?
Erin Scime, a content strategist at Huge, (renowned design and user strategy shop), created this great sketch (click to enlarge) to describe the lifecycle of a content strategy. Looks complicated, but it doesn’t have to be. In fact, if you’re doing any kind of interface planning, you’re probably already doing some of it. Have you ever done a content inventory? Put real headlines in a wireframe? Asked “what is this for?” If the answer is yes to any of these, you’re already on your way.

At HDC, we’ve created content strategies in a variety of ways: incorporated them into wireframe notes, took a picture of a whiteboard sketch and written fat outlined documents. We approach content strategy as communication instead of a deliverable. That way, we can focus on shared understanding.

To sum it up
Creating a great user experience takes careful planning around technology, structure, design and content. Don’t let poorly conceived copy, video, photography or other empty content take down the worth and probably months’ to years’ worth of other planning; taking your content to the strategic level from the very start will make the difference between the mass of Internet filler and something that cuts clutter and actually matters.

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