The Communications Manager's Toolbox
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Eeshita Grover, an experienced communications manager at Cisco, emphasizes the importance of innovative content strategies and a holistic approach to content management across various platforms. The document outlines key elements such as vision, strategy, and metrics that guide the creation and delivery of content, highlighting the role of customer feedback and industry trends in shaping these strategies. It also discusses the need for collaboration within cross-functional teams to ensure that content is integral to product success and resonates with users.
The Communications Manager's Toolbox
- 2. About the Speaker Eeshita Grover is an experienced professional of 18+ years with a career equally divided across writing, teaching, and leading content creation and delivery teams. Eeshita has been with Cisco for the past 10 years building and driving innovative content strategies for cutting edge products with an emphasis on delivery for the web, mobile web, and video. Eeshita has led content design using DITA for the various content types and their presentation for ease of use. Her passion lies in driving teams to innovative goals and evolving mindsets.
- 3. Tools for Communications’ Manager Vision, Strategy, and Metrics Rate of Adoption – Role of Content Innovation and Content Team Brand and Presence Holistic Team – More than writers Performance and Feedback @Speaker Hashtag @LavaCon
- 4. Tools for Communications’ Manager @Speaker Hashtag @LavaCon Vision • Aspirational description of what an organization intends to accomplish in the mid-term or long-term future. Serves as a clear guide for choosing current and future courses of action. From Business Dictionary Strategy • A method or plan chosen to bring about a desired future, such as achievement of a goal or solution to a problem. From Business Dictionary Metrics • Standards of measurement by which efficiency, performance, progress, or quality of a plan, process, or product can be assessed. From Business Dictionary
- 5. Vision and Strategy Why? • Goal setting for the next 3-5 years • Defining a content strategy How? • Product Roadmaps – provide product direction • Industry Trends – market and industry shifts • Market Share • Competitors – How are they doing content? How can we do that and better? @Speaker Hashtag @LavaCon
- 6. Metrics Why? • Decisions are data driven • Success is measured in numbers How? • Customer outreach – opinion about the users’ content experience • Share-ability – how many times was the content shared? • Likes • Number of Comments @Speaker Hashtag @LavaCon
- 7. The Connection Vision • Roadmap • Industry trends • Competitors • Market share • Customer Outreach Strategy • Authoring • Publishing • Content Management – Information Architecture, Reuse, Metadata and Taxonomies • Localization Metrics • Customer feedback and satisfaction • Social Media – mentions, share-ability numbers • SEO results • Web Analytics
- 8. Rate of Adoption Why? • Establish deep rooted relationships with the cross-functional product teams • Content is integral to the product • Critical to product success – used as a pre- and post-sales tool • Cannot be an after thought How? • Define a content roadmap • Establish direct communication with users and support personnel • Partner with other product content creators • Understand the power of omni channel content delivery – video, mobile, in-product @Speaker Hashtag @LavaCon
- 9. The following data was presented in a webinar hosted by SDL and Acrolinx: Documentation as a Sales Tool
- 10. Content Roadmap Launch/New Product • Learning and Training • Emphasis on Getting Started • Use cases and Work flows • Higher involvement from product/customer support Growth and Expansion • Learning and Training • Emphasis on more complex features and advanced functionality • Troubleshooting – Transition to make the users independent End of Support/ Life • Minimal product information • Basic information/content to cover the last version available in the field • Legal information
- 11. Innovation and Content Why? Content management and marketing, using content as a sales tool, pre-sales and post- sales – Getting to the next level Content professionals have a lot to learn: SEO, techniques and tools for making content readily available, on demand – Key motivation factor Exploiting the power of content, power of component management, new products and technologies, new content platforms (social media, search engines, new form factors) – Grow skillsets How? • Thinking outside the box – cliché? NOT really. • If you don’t think it, someone else will @Speaker Hashtag @LavaCon
- 12. A Holistic Team Communications Team Web Skills – Design delivery of the content by exploiting available platforms e.g. mobile, video, blogs, wikis etc. Content Strategy - Provide content experience (authoring and presentation) based on the nature of the product and technology Tools Proficiency Information Architecture Technology Expertise - Enable content directed to simplifying the product understanding for the user @Speaker Hashtag @LavaCon
- 13. @Speaker Hashtag @LavaCon Your Brand Extending your services to adjacent teams, when possible Impressing the value of content on your internal consumers Content is powerful – explain and emphasize to product development, QA, and marketing Content creates impressions and perspectives about products Understand and use the span of influence of Communications What did you build? – architecture for an in-product content model or a killer instructional video Did you see success? – Likes within the first few hours or are some more improvements needed to the page layout for responsive delivery Sharing successes and innovations within your span of influence Build your Brand Is ‘content’ in the product support category or is content ‘the’ product?
- 14. Performance Defining criteria and expectations for content professionals • Build from your vision and strategy - For example, – All conceptual content should be delivered in video on YouTube. – Video – in-person, animation, or screen captures – Defining the tools for creation, platform for publishing – Structured content and reuse • Encourage the team to connect the dots. For example, – Understanding the audience – demographics, age group, commonly used platforms, etc. – Technology trends – open source leads to more API content • Content experts vs. product experts • Coaching and Mentoring • Providing career path support to a team with diverse skills