Avoiding content strategy trap: The iFixit.com Case Study
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Transcript of Avoiding content strategy trap: The iFixit.com Case Study
Avoiding The Content Strategy Trapby Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler #CSA12 @ScottAbel
Content Strategy Applied EU ~ March 1, 2012 ~ London
web: www.contentwrangler.com twitter: @contentwranglerScott Abel, The Content Wrangler
the online resource for folks who view content as a business assetwww.thecontentwrangler.com
site dedicated to educating people about dynamic delivery of content to customerswww.thedynamicpublisher.com
Content strategists managethe cost of value @ScottAbel#CSA12
Everything must track back to value
Words alone aren’t enough. Content strategists use mathematics to make the business case for changes that create value @ScottAbel #CSA12
savings from optimization; revenue from sales
Two sides to the content strategy return on investment coin
To become indispensable, content strategists must help organizations to reduce waste AND earn revenue from sales @ScottAbel #CSA12
Understanding The Content Silo Trap
by Ann Rockley and Charles Cooper ‘Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy” (2012)
Publishing ‘How To’ Manuals That Sell Products:
The iFixit.com Story
by Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler
how do I dry out a wet iPhone?
how do replace an Xbox power supply?
how do fix a broken iPad screen?how do I change the fuel filter on a 2009 Honda Element?
very few organizations do it well
Today, everyone is a publisher!
many don’t recognize it
provide myriad opportunities for profit
New formats, standards, devicesbut there are obstacles to overcome
Problem 1: Organizations are siloedprevents them from adopting a unified publishing strategy
100% preventable, based on outdated business practices
or it’s cousin, WHADITWH
Problem 2: WHNDITWH
5 lucky registrants will receive a free copy of “Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy” [Second Edition] by Ann Rockley & Charles Cooper
prevents organizations from mimicking successes of others
Problem 3: Few role models
There is a roadmap availablewell-documented, road-tested methods, best practices, standards exist -- just look at technical publishing!
they’ve been producing multi-channel content for decades
iFixit.com Case Studyand that’s exactly what the folks at iFixit.com did, but not without learning a few lessons along the way
iFixit.com: Challenge/Opportunityto become the largest third-party seller of Apple replacement parts
millions of potential customers in the US alone
iFixit.com Round One: First Stepidentify manufacturers to provide products
become a proper distributor
iFixit.com Round One: Second Stepset up an online catalog of replacement parts
put it on the web and sell world wide
iFixit.com Round One: Third Stepmake sales, earn tremendous profit
lather, rinse, repeat...
iFixit.com Round One: Results not really “very poor” but certainly not the excellent results they had hoped for
iFixit.com: First Lesson Learnedbuild it and they will come (and buy) isn’t an eCommerce strategy
iFixit.com: Second Lesson Learned
instructions provided by manufacturers are of questionable quality
iFixit.com: Third Lesson Learnedconsistent, high quality content requires a standardized, repeatable structure
too much creativity and freedom is a bad thing
iFixit.com: Fourth Lesson Learned
when teaching how to repair, maintain or build mechanical things, big images accompanied by a little text often communicates better than many words accompanied by a few pictures
images help consumers believe they can “fit it” without messing things up
iFixit.com: Fourth Lesson LearnediFixit.com: Fifth Lesson Learnedpdf was not the answer
old approaches no longer valid
iFixit.com Round Two: First Stepsre-imagine the service repair manual as a high quality, media-rich, socially-enabled, mobile-device-friendly, eCommerce platform
adopt mobile-first strategy
recognize role as publisher
iFixit.com Round Two: Second Stepsrecognize the need for xml authoring environment that supports the separation of content from its formatting information
create multi-channel, device- and platform-agnostic content
iFixit.com Round Two: Third Stepcreate an easy-to-use standard designed to support the needs of readers and make content available on mobile devices of all types, including ones not yet envisioned
enlist the help of publishers that “get it”
iFixit.com Round Two: Fourth Stepbuild a community-based software platform
allow both writers and community members to create repair manuals
iFixit.com Round Two: Fifth Stepleverage keyword-rich content to drive traffic and generate sales of repair tools and replacement parts
iFixit.com Results: Google Juiceusers often discover iFixit.com via search
iFixit.com: Service Manualsrelevant keywords + rich media + simple instructions + social sharing = sales
iFixit.com: Paradigm shiftdominant image plus minimal text
iFixit.com: Multiple outputsprovide various viewing options
iFixit.com: Multiple outputsif you require a pdf, you can have one
iFixit.com: Multiple outputsembed code provided for social & blogs
iFixit.com: Multiple outputscontent is marked up in oManual xml
iFixit.com: Multiple devicescontent is dynamic published to mobile devices; updated automatically
iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android
content is ‘future-proofed’
iFixit.com: Questions/Answerscommunity / collaboration / co-authoring
iFixit.com: Patrolusers edit and monitor content
iFixit.com: Badgesawards, points, deputizing
iFixit.com: Usersuser community, ratings
iFixit.com: Teamsforming groups, consulting firms, niche communities
iFixit.com: Contributeusers encouraged to contribute / form-based entry
iFixit.com: Contributebehind the form: oManual xml standard
iFixit.com: eCommercethey sell tools and parts to pay for it!
iFixit.com: Next stepsprofessional / crowd-sourced translation
iFixit.com: Next stepscreate a movement for change
web: www.contentwrangler.com twitter: @contentwranglerScott Abel, The Content Wrangler