how content strategy supports communications strategy, by diana railton

How content strategy supports communications strategy

Diana Railton

Content Strategy Forum 2011

Key points

• Across the world the communications profession is redefining itself

• Communications strategy needs content strategy

• Content strategy must live up to its name

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THE COMMUNICATIONS PROFESSION

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41,000 members

‘The Never-Ending Turf War between PR and Marketing’

Call for ‘integrated communications’

‘Peanut butter and jelly’

Call for ‘integrated communications’

‘The director should be a Communicator 360° with sufficient knowledge of all parts involved’

Call for ‘integrated communications’

‘If we persist in this argument, we will never be able to set in place a sound communications strategy’

Call for ‘integrated communications’

‘United we stand, divided we fall’

www.communicationmonitor.eu

www.ogilvypr.com.au/

Australia

Corporate communications

Marketing communications?External / internal communicationsBrand management Reputation managementPress / media relationsInvestor relationsGovernment relationsPublic affairsCorporate social responsibility Crisis communications Change management communications ...

CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY

Business strategy

Corporate communications strategy

External communicationsstrategy

Internal communications strategy

Professional communications

teams

Other departments

Content teams

Communicationmanagement

Professional communication

teams

Other departments

Content teams

Communicationmanagement

Need to share communications strategy

Professional communication

teams

Other departments

Content teams

Communicationsstrategy

Provide a template to integrate strategies

The mind-set of senior managers

Strategic management

Carrying out the strategic plan

Measurable results

NUMBERS

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Communications strategy

The only purpose for communications strategy is to achieve measurableresults that help the organisation reach its vision / mission

Les Potter

Focus on results, not activity

CONTENT STRATEGYRESULTS + ACTIVITY

Strategy essentials

Simple to explain and carry out

‘Do-ability’

Producing a strategy

What do strategies look like?

PASTA

Purpose / Vision / Mission Aims / Objectives / GoalsStrategyTacticsActivities

VISIONWhere you want to get to

‘Dream the dream’

inspire ● communicate ● demonstrate

Which organisation?

To be earth’s most customer centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online.

Which organisation?

To be earth’s most customer centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online.

Which organisation?

To organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

Which organisation?

To organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

Which organisation?

To be the fabric of real-time communication on the web.

Which organisation?

To be the fabric of real-time communication on the web.

GOALSWhat you want to achieve / outcome

VISION

GOALSWhat you want to achieve / outcome

VISION

Critical success factors

Key performance indicators

STRATEGY

GOALS

VISION

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STRATEGYHow you’re going to meet the goals

GOALS

VISION

Goal

Response

‘It would be an inspiring goal if there was a serious strategy.

‘But there isn’t. Even with the best will in the world, it is not going to happen.’

Guardian

TACTICSShort-term actions

STRATEGY

GOALS

VISION

Strategy v tactics

‘I do not believe that there is value in spending time debating the nuances of the differences between strategies and tactics.’

‘One person’s strategy could be another person’s tactic depending on their level and role within a business.’

Strategies of the Serengeti

Stephen Berry

STRATEGYROBUST, LONGER TERM

TACTICSCHANGE RAPIDLY

ACTIVITYDay to day

TACTICS

STRATEGY

GOALS

VISION

Schedule: action plans

COST

ACTIVITY

TACTICS

STRATEGY

GOALS

VISION

Budget

COST

ACTIVITY

TACTICS

STRATEGY

GOALS

VISION

Cost

Measurement

ROI

What does a basic strategy look like?

Purpose / vision. What is it for?Aims / goals. Max of 7? Strategy. How will you do this?Tactics. What’s your action plan?Activities. Day to day. Who, when, where?

BudgetMeasurementROI

What does a communications strategy look like?

What should a communications strategy include?

Principles

Where does content strategy start?

Principles

Can content strategy stand alone?

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Communications strategy

Channels strategy

Business strategy

Contentstrategy

Communications strategy

Channels strategies

Business strategy

Contentstrategies

Communications channels matrix

Face to face

Phone Paper Broadcast Electronic Web

Communications channels matrix

Face to face

Phone Paper Broadcast Electronic Web

Meet

Visual aids

Landline

Mobile

Letters

Print

TVRadio

Billboards

VideoAudio

Email

E-readers

WebsitesIntranets

Social media

Tablets

Digital (‘web enabled’)

Face to face

Phone Paper Broadcast Electronic Web

Meet

Visual aids

Landline

Mobile

Letters

Print

TVRadio

Billboards

VideoAudio

Email

E-readers

WebsitesIntranets

Social media

Tablets

New channels, new techniques

Twitter is awesome. Only

140 characters so saywhat you mean.

Google+ is awesome. More than

140 characters so proper content.

Adapted from Shel Holtz’s original

Content ‘shifting’

July 2011, Digital Media 3.0, http://blogs.forbes.com

Which do we go for?

Digital strategy Digital comms strategy

Digital content strategy

Social media strategy

Social media comms strategy

Social media content strategy

Twitter strategy Twitter comms strategy

Twitter content strategy

Website strategy Website comms strategy

Website content strategy

Which do we go for?

Digital strategy Digital comms strategy

Digital content strategy

Social media strategy

Social media comms strategy

Social media content strategy

Twitter strategy Twitter comms strategy

Twitter content strategy

Website strategy Website comms strategy

Website content strategy

INTEGRATED COMMUNICATIONS MANAGEMENT

A central team of content strategists

Advise on content creation, delivery and governance

Coordinate between teams

Monitor channels

Keep track of what’s showing

User-generated content

Standards Brandtone of voice

Messaging

Audit

Refine strategies and action plans

Recommend best channels for tasks

Share advanced techniques

MEASURABLE

RESULTS

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Thank you

© DRCC 2011

@dianarailtoninfo@drcc.co.ukwww.drcc.co.uk