Content Strategy is not, in and of itself, content writing and editing although, in my experience, content development is a key skillset required by the role. That’s fine with me. I’ve always enjoyed both disciplines.
Customer Focused Experience & Design
Within the Digital Experience (DX) team, Content Strategy helps create end-to-end experiences that meet customer needs and business goals.
One of the seminal experiences of my career was learning the finer points of customer service/experience from one of my mentors, David Rebholz, when he was Vice President of Customer Service/Experience for Federal Express.
Over the course of a couple of years, my job was helping Dave create and deliver internal messaging to promote the critical importance of meeting customers at their point of need. Dave, members of his staff, and I flew (in a private jet of course) all over the country putting on presentations at meetings and conferences to bake this focus into the DNA of the corporate culture.
Dave named the projects we did together, The Moments of Truth Tour after the book Moments of Truth by Jan Carlzon. Sort of like a corporate version of the Rolling Thunder Review.
Last year each of our ten million customers came in contact with approximately five employees, and this contact lasted an average of 15 seconds each time. Our firm is ‘created’ 50 million times a year, 15 seconds at a time. These 50 million ‘moments of truth’ are the moments that ultimately determine whether we will succeed or fail as a company. They are the moments when we must prove to our customers that we are their best alternative. – Carlzon, Jan; Moments of Truth, 1987, p.3
Content Creation
- Document and contribute to content models, style guides, patterns, information architecture and conventions for features in content style guides and design systems.
- Write, edit, test and improve short and long-form content including in-context education for transactional flows.
- Advocate for content strategy and design thinking across the broader organization.
- Utilize data and analytics to inform and improve your work.
As a member of Aetna’s Writer’s Center for Excellence, I worked on my own writing assignments while tracking metrics and managing the workflow of 15+ writer/reviewers.
Data, Analytics, Design Thinking
- Use data from customer research and product analytics to inform content strategies.
- Utilize data and analytics to inform and improve work
- Advocate for content strategy and design thinking across the broader organization
- Contribute to content models, style guides, patterns, and information architecture
Data and analytics are now a core requirement/element of Content Strategy.
I define Content Strategy as, “The research and analysis required to create repeatable strategies, processes, and tactics that govern the creation and management of content cradle to grave.”
We’re at the beginning of the Digital Revolution where content needs to be managed and measured from an ROI perspective just like any other asset.
Intelligent Content structured for retrieval and reuse, in combination with data and analytics have the ability to manage content in ways dat deliver high value for customers and content owners alike.
The question is always, “How good are we at delivering the right content to the right person at the right time regardless of the device they’re using?”
In a perfect world, this is possible when a content team finds ways to deliver content across different channels from a single source repository of intelligent content assets. My ultimate goal is to play on a team committed to that ideal.
Ultimately Intelligent Content should be designed to facilitate the deployment of Adaptive Content where the structuring and logical modeling of content elements are generated dynamically to match the needs and goals of the users as they interact with the brand. This allows an even greater specificity from a UX perspective because it responds to user needs in a greater context. I am driven by a passion for this work.
We’re looking for a senior-level UX-focused content strategist, passionate about creating effective user experiences with a solid understanding of design content engineering processes.
- Lead Content activities and initiatives on cross-functional teams
As the day-to-day business administrator and trainer for Alfresco, Aetna’s open source Enterprise Content Management System, I supported 236 users on 62 collaboration worksites and set-up ad hoc workflows for special projects and cross-functional projects.
- Worked closely with engineering and product management teams as part of teh software development process
UDX Team Partnerships
Over the course of my career, I’ve participated in numerous UXD projects involving Discovery, Requirements Gathering, Use Case Development, Usability Testing, Wireframing, Persona Research/Development, Sitemaps, Navigational Design, Heuristic Evaluations, SIPOC Diagrams, etc.
UXD, Research, Analytics
From a research perspective, I’ve worked on Content Briefs, Governance Models, Requirements Matrices, Content Inventories, Content Audits, Content Matrices, Taxonomies, Analytics, and Workflow Mapping.
Google Analytics Certification #30687190
I managed all email marketing for Medigap360 where I was responsible for authoring and managing email campaigns using Listrak and Silverpop software. See my CV for further information and this Case Study that describes how I used a combination of email marketing, a WordPress website, and an RX Benefits Card to drive annual recurring revenue of over $2M.
Content Engineering
Define the content strategy and execute design content engineering processes and execute data-informed product content across web and mobile, digital communications, engagement drivers, and more.
- Help evolve content design processes to facilitate the needs of the business
- Think strategically about how content scales across platforms and verticals
From a strategic perspective, less is more when it comes to scaling content across platforms and verticals.
The term “diseconomies of scale” refers to the idea that as more and more content is produced, quality suffers. This is especially true in healthcare.
According to an article in Healthcare IT News, the amount of healthcare data in 2012 was 500 petabytes (10 billion four-drawer file cabinets). By 2020 that amount is projected to be 25,000 petabytes (500 billion four-drawer cabinets).
CMS solutions like Drupal and Alfresco both provide solid solutions to aid content engineers in their quest for the Holy Grail but, the need for a truly robust technical infrastructure that allows personalized customer experiences built on adaptive content and responsive design requires a single-source (or interoperable) repository of intelligent content assets and an advanced delivery capability.
In a perfect world, the ultimate open source solutions allow content engineers to run multiple analytic functions on the same data, provide access control and governance tools across workloads, and manage any data in any cloud.
- Develop accessible messaging consistent with A11y guidelines
= WCAG 2.0
In the realm of healthcare insurance, A11y guidelines are critical to meeting compliance requirements. One of the more difficult projects I worked on was a visual description of a video presentation without audio for the blind.
Requirements
- 5+ years creating content for digital channels
- Worked with writers, content strategists, and other UX disciplines across departments to create consistent user experiences
I began creating content for digital channels 24 years ago in 1995.
- Bonus points for accessibility and localization knowledge and experience
I have localization experience with Aetna and as a content strategist for Mannatech.
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