strategy: content strategy's other half
DESCRIPTION
Presentation to Confab 2011 by Melissa Rach, Dialog Studios (formerly Brain Traffic) Let’s go beyond content deliverables and tactics and focus on the overall strategic process. In this session, we’ll discuss what strategy is, and what makes content strategy different from other strategic disciplines.TRANSCRIPT
Strategy: Content strategy’s other half
What is strategy?
Strategy is …a plan designed to achieve a particular long-term aim.
Strategy is …what to do + what not to do.
Strategy is …the art of creating advantage.
Strategy is …amplifying what you’re good at.
Strategy is …putting your pants on before your shoes.
Strategy is …selecting which stakeholders to disappoint.
Bud Caddell: whatconsumesme.com
Strategy is …[Insert your personal theory here.]
What I used to think
What I used to think
1. Bigwigs +
strategists
2. Research + analysis
3. Objectives about mo
4. Grand master plan
5. Send plan to minions
6. Minions rejoice!
7. Success + $$$$$$$$
What I used to think
1. Bigwigs + strategists
2. Research +
analysis
3. Objectives about
4. Grand master plan
5. Send plan to minions
6. Minions rejoice!
7. Success + $$$$$$$$
What I used to think
1. Bigwigs + strategists
2. Research + analysis
3. Objectives about
money
4. Grand master plan
5. Send plan to minions
6. Minions rejoice!
7. Success + $$$$$$$$
What I used to think
1. Bigwigs + strategists
2. Research + analysis
3. Objectives about money
4. Grand master plan
5. Send plan to minions
6. Minions rejoice!
7. Success + $$$$$$$$
What I used to think
1. Bigwigs + strategists
2. Research + analysis
3. Objectives about money
4. Grand master plan
5. Send plan to minions
6. Minions rejoice!
7. Success + $$$$$$$$
What I used to think
1. Bigwigs + strategists
2. Research + analysis
3. Objectives about
money
4. Grand master plan
5. Send plan to minions
6. Minions rejoice!
7. Success + $$$$$$$$
What I used to think
1. Bigwigs + strategists
2. Research + analysis
3. Objectives about
money
4. Grand master plan
5. Send plan to minions
6. Minions rejoice!
7. Success + $$$$$$$$
I invented strategy.
It didn’t always work
My theory wasn’t fact.
Classical American Method!
1950s. No kidding!
The age of the Alfreds
Scientific management means a constant search for the facts, the true actualities, and their intelligent, unprejudiced analysis. Thus, and in no other way, policies and their administration are determined… Only by increased knowledge can we progress, perhaps I had better say survive.” (Sloan 1941)
“Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.”
-John Maynard Keynes (1936)
Also, very quietly, around 1955the “information age” began.
Did it work? 1960s: Everybody did it1970s: Competitive advantage 1980s: Market positioning 1990s: Focus inside
Results: Silos
Results: Layers
60 years later “Strategy” is necessary to survive Profit is the #1 outcome of strategy Classically-educated finance guys make the
best “generals”Constant research and measurement is
required – and must map to money (report progress quarterly)
Work is done in functional silos
Guess what, it’s not 1950 anymore.
"Well, in our country," said Alice, still panting a little, "you'd generally get to somewhere else — if you run very fast for a long time, as we've been doing.“
"A slow sort of country!" said the Queen. "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!“
- Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass
Adaptability is the key Today’s sustainable strategies need to have: Flexible frameworksOngoing learning/educationQuick responses and reactions Strategic routines vs. long-term
strategies
Knowledge is the advantageKnowledge: Gives you the ability to change quickly Is valuable precisely because it’s not easily
captured Is dispersed throughout the organizationRelies on innovation, which is not obviously
profitable Requires constant learning and education
Enter content strategy
You have excellent timing.
Organizations need content to survive.
They need us.
And, some of them even know it.
Content strategyhelps organizations use content to achieve their business goals.
We don’t play by the rules.
Rebel yell! Mo, mo,
mo!
No designated silo
Not always at c-level
No obvious super powers
Can’t define value conventionally
They need us anyway.
Start thinking about strategyin a new way.
Never forget journalism is a service industry.
– David Brinkley
Think of strategy as a VERB
Everything you do, needs to do one of these things: Create clarity Align stakeholders Make smart decisions Operationalize change
(Chris LaVictoire Mahai, Aveus)
Deliverables are tools, not outcomes
Education moments Conversation starters Records of past conversations Memory aids
Create clarity
We are not competition, we are a complement
Make smart decisions Give people the tools, knowledge, and expert advice they need to:To move confidently Act independently To move quicklyMake content decisions in their area
of expertise
Make smart decisions
Operationalize change
We can be strategists AND engineers Strategy sets the stage/direction Engineering creates a solution
based on expertise As content professionals we often
do bothAnd, both are extremely important
Operationalize change
In summary…
Brier’s first law At some time in the life-cycle of virtually every organization, its ability to succeed in spite of itself runs out.
You can be a
CONTENT PERSON
and a
BUSINESS PERSON
You can be an
EXPERT
and a
PARTNER
You can focus less on
DELIVERABLES
and more on
DELIVERING
You can think of strategy as a
VERB
Not a
NOUN
Create clarity Align stakeholders
Make smart decisions Operationalize change
Help your team be
KNOWLEDGABLE
and
KNOWLEDGE-ABLE
Ready. Set. Go.
I’m
waiting!
THANKS!@melissarach