Newsletters in an Hour a Week

NCT4G Conference 2017Tuesday, June 6th

Michael NicholsonJeanette Larsen

@DesignHammer

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Michael Nicholson

Project Manager

Michael’s spirit animal

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Jeanette Larsen

Web Designer

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Jeanette’s spirit animal

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DH History

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Struggling with regularity

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• We did blog posts, sometimes

• Decent quality

• Variety of topics

• Inconsistent execution due to a lack of a detailed plan

• No real measurement of impact or frequency

Struggling with regularity

Cobbler’s children

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Have you seen any of these suspects?

• Technology companies with old computer systems?

• Stressed out relaxation therapists?

• Car mechanics with broken down cars?

Cobbler’s children

Problems

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• Lack of inspiration

• Lack of process

• Lack of time

Problems - 3 Main issues

How to generate content reliably, in a timely manner?

Problem - Lack of inspiration

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“I don’t know what to write about.”

Problem - Lack of inspiration

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• How do we get new ideas?

• What's good enough?

• What is the value of repeating content that already exists?

Problem - Lack of process

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I know I've got the file. It's right here in

storage... somewhere.

Problem - Lack of process

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"I don't know what I am supposed to be doing or

who to ask.”

Problem - Lack of process

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Problem - Lack of process

• Who am I supposed to talk to?

• Who are your resources for review and style guides?

• Do you have a defined set of items for a type of content?

• Do you have a timeline for your steps?

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Problem - Lack of time

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Problem - Lack of time

• Lack of organizational buy-in

• Lack of individual buy-in

• Prioritization

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Problem - Lack of time

Our staff always prioritized client work ahead of our content creation efforts.

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• Is this important?

• Does both staff and leadership think it's important?

• How do we get it done?

• Why isn't it getting done already if it’s important?

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Problem - Lack of time

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Distribute generated content

Distribute generated content

• Who do we want to reach?

• How do we best reach them?

• Are their multiple user segments in that group?

• What amount of time do I have to distribute content?

• Do we want the reader to take an action?

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Solutions

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Solutions - Content process

Scheduled crowd-sourcing content creation:

• Structure for regular content

• Scheduled time for crowd-sourcing

• Process in place for review/support with expected time frames

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Solutions - Scheduled crowd-sourced content

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Solutions - Structure for regular content

• Do you have style and content guidelines?

• Do you have a shared, efficient tool?

• What's a format everyone can contribute to?

• Do you have a way to keep track of your progress?

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Solutions - Scheduled time for crowd-sourcing

• How much time a week?

• How specifically scheduled is the time? Is this specific to a certain date or amount of time?

• Do you schedule as a group or as individuals?

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Solutions - Process in place for review/support

• How do people get their content reviewed once they've completed their portion?

• How quickly should that review happen?

• Is there enough time scheduled before the content needs to be finalized?

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Solutions - Scheduled content aggregation

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• Reading

• Taking notes

• “Reader’s Corner” - weekly posting

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Scheduled content aggregation

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Scheduled content aggregation - Reading

Subscribe to email lists that are appropriate/compelling:

• Find advocacy blogs

• Sign up for email lists

• RSS feeds

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Reading - How are you getting information now that is time efficient?

DesignHammer Updates List:http://eepurl.com/cEaYHj

What is important about what you're reading?

• Who said it?

• Who it applies to?

• Is it time sensitive?

• What is the 3 sentence version of why this matters?

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Scheduled content aggregation - Taking notes

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Scheduled content aggregation - “Reader’s Corner”

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“Reader’s Corner” Iterations - Google doc

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“Reader’s Corner” Iterations - Google form

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“Reader’s Corner” Iterations - Google Sheets

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“Reader’s Corner” - Post

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Taking notes example - Google Chrome SSL Warning

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“Reader’s Corner” - SSL example

Solutions - Ideas list for more meatier posts

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• Where do you track your ideas for compelling content?

• How often do you want to create ‘meatier posts’ as part of your communication?

• How often do you review this list?

• Who has access to this list?

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Solutions - Ideas list for more meatier posts

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Solutions - Owner of content generation

• Will there be one or multiple owners?

• Who makes final decisions?

• Should this responsibility rotate over time and at what frequency?

• What is their responsibility?

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Owner of content generation

What does follow up look like in your organization?

• Staff meetings

• Individual assignments

• Project management

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Owner of content generation - follow up

• Google calendar

• List of topics that people select

• What is the accountability of the owner?

• When assignments are made, how are individuals held accountable?

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Owner of content generation - accountability

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Owner of content generation - NOT a full time job

• How much time a week is reasonable for that person?

• How much support do they need?

• Can that support be distributed to spread out the burden?

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Owner of content generation - NOT a full time job

Solutions - What else can you do with your content?

• Educate

• Event registration

• Donations

• Advocacy

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Solution - Tools

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Tools

• Google office

• Social media - tools

• SMS services

• Surveys

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Tools - Google office

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Tools - Social media

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Tools - SMS

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Tools - Surveys

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• Please share your level of interest in the following categories

• How often would you prefer to hear from DH

• Other suggestions

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Surveys - Ask your readers questions you want answers to

Surveys - Ask your readers questions you want answers to

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Surveys - Benefits readers

• Relevant information

• Schedule they like

• Methodology of how the like to be reached

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• Expands your reach

• Increases brand or company awareness

• Identifies you as thought leaders

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Surveys - Benefits organization

MailChimp

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MailChimp - Lists and segments

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MailChimp - List signup forms

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MailChimp - Templates

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Conclusion

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Conclusion - Problems

• How do we create content? - Lack of inspiration, process, and time

• How do we distribute our generated content?

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Conclusion - Content problem

• Scheduled crowd sourced content creation

• Scheduled content aggregation

• Idea list

• Owner of content generation

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• Update list in MailChimp

• Posts on our website

• Promote through social media

• Use Hootsuite to manage social media

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Conclusion - Distribution problem

Questions?

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