Selling Content Strategy
June 29th, 2010 | Published in Web Strategy, content strategy
So, you’ve read the books, the websites and you’ve been to the conferences. You’ve drunk the kool aid and are now on the path to content strategy enlightenment. And as the newly minted guru of content strategy in your office, it’s your job to bring the rest of them along with you.
But how to you go about doing that? If your office is anything like mine, it’s difficult to get people to do things that benefit them, let alone things they are skeptical about. And assuming that you’re not someone who can mandate office wide changes (just going out on a limb here) how on earth do you get your coworkers to buy in? Honestly, I can’t say for certain—I’ve never done it myself. But I’m about to and this is my plan.
Phase I—Start with the easy converts.
I’m guessing that in your office there are at least a few people who could totally get behind content strategy if they only knew about it. Start with them. Hold an intro training session to introduce the concepts and explain the basics. Bring snacks. Explain how working this way will make their lives easier. Give them the tools to hit the ground running. Set up follow up meetings to continue training and gather feedback. Bring more snacks.
Phase II—Make the business case.
Once you have your little content strategy army assembled its time to take your message to the dollars and cents people. Hold a training session that explains how it makes their lives easier. Show them how a simple modification in existing process will save time and money over the life of the project and will produce more effective work. Show them how it will make their clients easier. Explain the new deliverables and how they impact their jobs. Ask for feedback. Bring snacks.
Phase III—Continually follow up.
You may think your work is done when projects start including content audits, but that’s not the case. For change to truly take hold you’ll need to stay ever vigilant. You’ll need to keep content strategy top of mind and to do that you’ll have to keeping taking your word to the people. Continue to gather feedback from you coworkers. Find out what has been working and what hasn’t. Talk to your clients—see how this has affected them. Use the positive data you’ve received to help convince the naysayers and latecomers. Don’t back down until it’s become second nature, and once it has continue to look for areas of improvement.
Most importantly, don’t be afraid to try. It may be frustrating at first, but the rewards will be great.