10. Persuasion
YOU ARE SO TOTALLY AMPED. You know what content strategy is and why it’s important. You know what to do, and you’re ready for action. So, here’s the big question: How can you persuade clients or colleagues to take on a content strategy project?
Whether you’re a consultant or working inside an organization, making the case for content strategy can feel like an uphill battle. Not only do you have to get people interested in content, but you need to get them to participate in—and pay for—content strategy work. So bothersome.
In this chapter, we’ll talk about how to:
You can do this. We promise.
Start the Conversation
When you’re starting out, the goal is to get as many people excited about content strategy as possible. The more people understand about the value of content strategy, the more willing they’ll be to invest in it. There are a couple ways to go about it.
Bang the Drum
Start making lots of noise about content strategy. Tell everyone you know what content strategy is, and why they should care. Give talks and hold workshops about it. Leave your copy of this book on your boss’s desk. Write a blog or an email, and forward it to your clients and colleagues.
One hint, though. Before you march into the CEO’s office with a proposal of what you’re going to do and when, practice on some people who you know are sympathetic to your cause and can help refine your ideas.
Go Stealth
During a 2011 presentation at Confab: The Content Strategy Conference, Michael Fienen (Director of Web Marketing, Pittsburg State University) reminded the audience, “People in organizations will often look at content strategy as just more work.” He advocates for “stealth content strategy”—in other words, don’t formalize or advertise your efforts. Casually mention—and keep mentioning—content issues.
Or, if you’re already a content professional, steer conversations toward more strategic activities. Look for opportunities to forward people content strategy tools (like checklists or editorial calendars), articles, or blog posts—as if you stumbled across them and thought they might be useful. Hide the zucchini in the brownies. Wear dark sunglasses and hide behind people’s monitors. Oh, wait. Don’t do that. Just try to ease people into the conversation slowly.
You’ve Got to Start Somewhere
How you start the conversation depends on the organization, the person you’re talking to, your personality, and the urgency of your content problems. Whether you quietly take the stealth approach or start waving the content strategy flag, the important thing is to take action.
Tell a Good Story
The absolutely most effective way to win support is to tailor your message to each audience. Don’t just write generic emails about the topic of content strategy and blast them out to all your colleagues. Put content strategy in the context of their world—why should they care, and what will they get out of it? Think about what the individual or group wants (or is supposed) to accomplish. What projects are their priorities? Why? What’s in their way? What are the things keeping them up at night? (You can probably get this out over coffee. Or happy hour.) Then, working backwards, build a case around their worst pain points or biggest opportunities. Focus on how content strategy will specifically help them get wins where they need to. Make your constant subliminal message be, “When we do this work, you will come out looking like a rock star.”
(By the way, if someone has given you this book to help build their case for content strategy ... say “yes.” Because when the two of you do this work, both of you will come out looking like rock stars. Or ninjas. Or both!)
Pitch Your Project
When you have people’s attention, it’s time to take things to the next level: proposing a specific project. Although the exact conversation you have is audience-specific, there are several high-level themes you can use.
“Our Users Deserve Better Content”
If good user experience is a value the team shares, appeal to their inclination to do right by their audiences. After all ... it’s impossible to design a good user experience with bad content.
Provide examples of how content can assist—and fail—the users. Haul out those particularly cringe-worthy pieces of their content if you have to. Scour user testing and surveys for proof. Or, if you’re really lucky, get some content-specific user testing on the docket—even if it’s part of a bigger study.
Good content will increase audience trust and engagement, which in turn will help your bottom line. Keep reminding your stakeholders that people don’t come to your website for visual appeal or complex technical features: They come for the content.
“Content Strategy will Make Us More Efficient”
When in doubt, lead with workflow. Better content is a noble cause, but content quality may seem like a subjective goal to some. Almost everyone, however, can agree that inefficiencies are no good. Getting good processes in place simplifies everyone’s lives, saves time and money, and is conducive to workplace sanity.
Just point out how screwed up the content process really is. Highlight:
• Overlaps and gaps: “Does the marketing team really need to review content three times to ensure brand consistency ... or could a joint content style guide help?”
• Impacts to the bottom line: “Everyone calls our customer service phone number instead of getting the info on the website. If we could make the website content more clear, we could save lots of cash in call center staffing.”
• Errors and inconsistencies: “This content got passed around so much, we lost track of who was editing what. Now it contradicts most of the pages that link to it.”
• Embarrassing misses: “The ‘coming soon’ link on our home page is for a product that launched two months ago. Do we even know whose job it is to change that?’”
“Our Competitors are Winning”
You know from Chapter 6, Analysis that just because your competitors are doing something, doesn’t mean you should. But if your website content was created in 1998 and your competitor has a shiny new site that’s a serious threat, you might have to play the competitor card.
The “everyone else is doing content strategy” argument can have a silly amount of power. Nothing gets people riled up like fighting against a common enemy. Just be sure to invest time on a comprehensive, content-focused competitive review, so you can concentrate on competitive advantage, not specific features or tactics.
“The Numbers Say it All”
Business is, by and large, a numbers game. So, quantifying content strategy—whether its opportunity or potential loss—can make a huge impact. Use the results of your audit, site traffic statistics, and other sources to tabulate numbers that support your cause:
• Work with your sales or customer service teams to identify the number of incoming comments or calls that could have been addressed with better content. Even better, couple this with the average cost of an incoming call to show how much money can be saved.
• Find specific pain points you can measure that force stakeholders to face the ugly truth about the condition of their online content:
• Number of mistakes or inaccuracies found in the content
• Percentage of outdated or inaccurate content
• Number of pages that have virtually no traffic ... or none at all
• Number of pages or sections that have no identifiable owners
• Follow up your “scary” numbers with the percentage of your audience that use online sources, especially in making decisions that impact your business. Emphasize the fact that your audience isn’t coming to your website for fancy design, social media widgets, or a CMS bloated with “nice to have” features: they’re coming for the content.
Get the details, do some projections, and use numbers to set up the dire situation and hero opportunity.
Get the Budget
Getting people interested in content strategy is one thing. Getting them to invest in a content strategy project is totally different. Whether you are an outside consultant with a proposal, or an insider requesting budget—you need to have a plan.
Option 1: Start Small
If content strategy is new to the organization, a terrific option is to start with a “pilot” project to help you prove the value of content strategy. If your project goes well, it’s much easier to get a bigger budget next time. Focus on getting measurement and metrics to keep proving your case. Get some really solid numbers. Share the results with anyone and everyone.
In her blog post, “The Inside Job,” Brain Traffic’s Christine Benson advises:
Find low visibility content with high potential. People often have strong opinions about the home page and main section pages. These content hot spots can be difficult starting points until you have some success stories to back you up. Look for things that have high potential for customer engagement, but usually get ignored. Support content like help sections, customer service pages, or error messages are good candidates.*
*http://blog.braintraffic.com/2011/07/the-inside-job-getting-started/
Something to keep in mind: Starting small can be a great way to give people a taste of content strategy success, but there can be disadvantages, too. People may get the impression that future content strategy activities will be “cheap” like the initial investment. Or, they might think it’s okay to do lots of little projects, instead of doing a more all-inclusive strategy. These misperceptions are easily managed, as long as you set expectations appropriately from the start. Just be sure to keep communicating about the bigger picture to stakeholders throughout the project.
Option 2: Go Big
If you want to make a big impact immediately, then go ahead. Propose a big project. Propose a whole website content redesign. Address social media content from top-to-bottom. Suggest an entire integrated cross-channel web content strategy.
While this approach may seem scary (or nuts), there are definite advantages to going for the whole enchilada. Explain to your client or team that doing it right the first time is a money saver/maker in the long run. Content is an investment. Plain and simple.
It’s like a house remodeling project. If you can have a contractor come in, bid it out, do it all at once ... you will get a big bill. But, if you had a contractor come in 10 times, you’ll get several smaller bills that will add up quickly.
A Few Important Hints
Regardless of the size of the project you’re proposing, when you ask for money, we encourage you to:
• Ask in person. Don’t just email a proposal. Sit in the room and have a discussion (even if you feel uncomfortable). Or, if you can’t be there in person, schedule a phone call. That way, your stakeholder can ask questions, and you can clarify the finer points. A slight change in wording or scope can make or break your case
• Know your current budget. If you’re an employee or a consultant with an existing client relationship, take a good look at your current budget. Make sure you know what you can—and can’t—do with the funds you have today. Show how previous funds were put to good use, and be prepared to answer questions about why you need more. They’ll ask.
• Understand the organization’s fiscal year. If you understand the organization’s budgeting, planning, and reporting schedule, you can often target good times to ask for money. During the annual planning process? Good idea. At the end of the year, when people need to spend their remaining cash or lose it? A very, very good idea. Don’t be afraid to ask your client or boss straight-out when the optimal times are.
And if there is no Budget?
So you didn’t get the cash this time ... or there was never any cash to be had. Don’t be discouraged. Chances are, you can still do something. If you’re an internal employee, comb through your existing budget again. What can get sacrificed? Can another department help?
No matter what, keep building your case for content strategy, slowly but surely. Ask your stakeholders what’s keeping them from supporting the project. What would it take to get this project or another similar one funded? Is there somebody else you need to talk to? Be on the lookout for like-minded colleagues who can help you achieve some first steps. Be patient. It’ll be worth it.
A Note to the Bigwigs
Yes. You there. With the budget.
If we haven’t quite made the case for the incredible impact content strategy can have on your organization’s performance and bottom line, then at least allow us to encourage you to give content strategy a chance to show you a few small wins.
If you give somebody on your team the support and authority to dig deeply into your web content and the ecosystems in which it lives, you will get answers to questions you didn’t even know you had. You’ll be presented with recommendations and solutions that will improve your content quality, deliver on your online users’ expectations, and support your core business objectives.
If you force your content people into narrowly defined roles that essentially relegate them to a life of order-taking and production, you will never realize an iota of the benefits content strategy can offer.
Have their back, and help them make their case. Believe us when we tell you: Your content people have been waiting for the opportunity to step up to the plate for a long, long time. Give them the chance, and they’ll deliver for your business in spades.
Now, Remember
As of right now, you’re a salesperson. No more sitting in the corner and complaining about how no one pays any attention to the content. Get out there and get pitching!
p.s. This book is a very good size and thickness for smacking on the table to emphasize your point. Or whacking someone in the back of the head. Or killing a wasp. Regardless, wield it as your weapon. “Someone published a book on content strategy, and the book is red, and that means EMERGENCY and STOP, so it must be very important!” It has worked for others. It can work for you.
p.p.s. You didn’t hear any of this from us.