avoiding content strategy trap: the ifixit.com case study

Avoiding The Content Strategy Trapby Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler #CSA12 @ScottAbel

Content Strategy Applied EU ~ March 1, 2012 ~ London

web: www.contentwrangler.com twitter: @contentwranglerScott Abel, The Content Wrangler

the online resource for folks who view content as a business assetwww.thecontentwrangler.com

site dedicated to educating people about dynamic delivery of content to customerswww.thedynamicpublisher.com

Content strategists managethe cost of value @ScottAbel#CSA12

Everything must track back to value

Words alone aren’t enough. Content strategists use mathematics to make the business case for changes that create value @ScottAbel #CSA12

savings from optimization; revenue from sales

Two sides to the content strategy return on investment coin

To become indispensable, content strategists must help organizations to reduce waste AND earn revenue from sales @ScottAbel #CSA12

Understanding The Content Silo Trap

by Ann Rockley and Charles Cooper ‘Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy” (2012)

Publishing ‘How To’ Manuals That Sell Products:

The iFixit.com Story

by Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler

how do I dry out a wet iPhone?

how do replace an Xbox power supply?

how do fix a broken iPad screen?how do I change the fuel filter on a 2009 Honda Element?

very few organizations do it well

Today, everyone is a publisher!

many don’t recognize it

provide myriad opportunities for profit

New formats, standards, devicesbut there are obstacles to overcome

Problem 1: Organizations are siloedprevents them from adopting a unified publishing strategy

100% preventable, based on outdated business practices

or it’s cousin, WHADITWH

Problem 2: WHNDITWH

5 lucky registrants will receive a free copy of “Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy” [Second Edition] by Ann Rockley & Charles Cooper

prevents organizations from mimicking successes of others

Problem 3: Few role models

There is a roadmap availablewell-documented, road-tested methods, best practices, standards exist -- just look at technical publishing!

they’ve been producing multi-channel content for decades

iFixit.com Case Studyand that’s exactly what the folks at iFixit.com did, but not without learning a few lessons along the way

iFixit.com: Challenge/Opportunityto become the largest third-party seller of Apple replacement parts

millions of potential customers in the US alone

iFixit.com Round One: First Stepidentify manufacturers to provide products

become a proper distributor

iFixit.com Round One: Second Stepset up an online catalog of replacement parts

put it on the web and sell world wide

iFixit.com Round One: Third Stepmake sales, earn tremendous profit

lather, rinse, repeat...

iFixit.com Round One: Results not really “very poor” but certainly not the excellent results they had hoped for

iFixit.com: First Lesson Learnedbuild it and they will come (and buy) isn’t an eCommerce strategy

iFixit.com: Second Lesson Learned

instructions provided by manufacturers are of questionable quality

iFixit.com: Third Lesson Learnedconsistent, high quality content requires a standardized, repeatable structure

too much creativity and freedom is a bad thing

iFixit.com: Fourth Lesson Learned

when teaching how to repair, maintain or build mechanical things, big images accompanied by a little text often communicates better than many words accompanied by a few pictures

images help consumers believe they can “fit it” without messing things up

iFixit.com: Fourth Lesson LearnediFixit.com: Fifth Lesson Learnedpdf was not the answer

old approaches no longer valid

iFixit.com Round Two: First Stepsre-imagine the service repair manual as a high quality, media-rich, socially-enabled, mobile-device-friendly, eCommerce platform

adopt mobile-first strategy

recognize role as publisher

iFixit.com Round Two: Second Stepsrecognize the need for xml authoring environment that supports the separation of content from its formatting information

create multi-channel, device- and platform-agnostic content

iFixit.com Round Two: Third Stepcreate an easy-to-use standard designed to support the needs of readers and make content available on mobile devices of all types, including ones not yet envisioned

enlist the help of publishers that “get it”

iFixit.com Round Two: Fourth Stepbuild a community-based software platform

allow both writers and community members to create repair manuals

iFixit.com Round Two: Fifth Stepleverage keyword-rich content to drive traffic and generate sales of repair tools and replacement parts

iFixit.com Results: Google Juiceusers often discover iFixit.com via search

iFixit.com: Service Manualsrelevant keywords + rich media + simple instructions + social sharing = sales

iFixit.com: Paradigm shiftdominant image plus minimal text

iFixit.com: Multiple outputsprovide various viewing options

iFixit.com: Multiple outputsif you require a pdf, you can have one

iFixit.com: Multiple outputsembed code provided for social & blogs

iFixit.com: Multiple outputscontent is marked up in oManual xml

iFixit.com: Multiple devicescontent is dynamic published to mobile devices; updated automatically

iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android

content is ‘future-proofed’

iFixit.com: Questions/Answerscommunity / collaboration / co-authoring

iFixit.com: Patrolusers edit and monitor content

iFixit.com: Badgesawards, points, deputizing

iFixit.com: Usersuser community, ratings

iFixit.com: Teamsforming groups, consulting firms, niche communities

iFixit.com: Contributeusers encouraged to contribute / form-based entry

iFixit.com: Contributebehind the form: oManual xml standard

iFixit.com: eCommercethey sell tools and parts to pay for it!

iFixit.com: Next stepsprofessional / crowd-sourced translation

iFixit.com: Next stepscreate a movement for change

web: www.contentwrangler.com twitter: @contentwranglerScott Abel, The Content Wrangler