Content strategy isn’t just about audits or aligning with information architecture. Directly supporting copywriters is a primary goal of content strategy as well. It falls to content analysts to distill insights and create an appropriate plan (based on business objectives, user needs, etc) – a plan that gives your copywriter enough to succeed.

Without content strategy, you create an unjustified delay; your copywriter is forced to research, analyze and strategize before they even start crafting the language that will entice your customers to convert. It’s unfair to your copywriter and is poor stewardship of your client’s resources.

After all, content strategy at the start of a project makes the creative process run faster and more efficiently, thus saving money for your client. Like information architecture and planning, content strategy work done up front will ensure that the best possible creative is produced…and that the entire project aligns with the given business objectives.

Here are 7 ways your content strategy department can save time and money by effectively preparing copywriters. (Please add additional suggestions in the comments section below.)

1. Prioritized Messages: Content strategy’s main deliverable to copywriters is almost always messaging. It is our job to provide the messages – prioritized by user need, business objective, channel, media type, or other project-appropriate criteria – that will move the needle for your client.
2. Primary and Secondary Research: Content strategists should compile any applicable primary or secondary research, either obtained from a planner or through their own work. Your messaging points will cover 95% of the questions a copywriter would have, but the research will be handy if they need more context or you are stuck in a meeting.
3. Links: Most of the links content analysts should provide are those going out from a particular page or another subject. This allows your copywriter to understand context and craft copy to ease the transition from page to page. However, copywriters may also benefit from knowing the in-links to a particular page to better understand a mental model or process flow.
4. Rules and Regulations: Content analysts must understand any applicable rules and regulations – both set internally or by government mandate. When I worked with a pharmaceutical manufacturer, the content strategy department at my agency was tasked with understanding linguistic guidelines set  by their legal department – and ensuring those guidelines were followed in the copy.
5. Source/Repurposing Material: Copywriters are rarely creating from scratch; they are often consolidating or otherwise repurposing existing content. Content analysts should provide clear direction as to where to find this source material with suggestions on exact elements to use.
6. Editorial Guidance: For complex or large tasks, content analysts can help copywriters prioritize their time. The content strategy department at Critical Mass has provided copywriters with everything from page-level editorial recommendations to a rank of the level of editorial effort required. This allows the copy team to prioritize their work based on the most pertinent factors (i.e. time, subject matter expertise, pages to consolidate, light vs. substantive edits required, etc).
7. Consistent Comparisons: Because copywriters and other creatives are determining the execution of the information you provide, the information content analysts provide must be consistent. We once had a client whose products were very similar – to each other and to the competition. We first outlined the prioritized messages (e.g. Product A is the “value” product; products B is the “luxury” product, etc) and then provided consistent facet comparisons for each product (e.g. Product A goes from 0-60 mph in 8.8 seconds; Competitor Z goes from 0-60 in 11.3 seconds). Some of these comparisons were executed as infographics, some as text and some within interactive tools. Our consistency made these executions possible.

Of course, these elements shouldn’t just be handed off. Content strategy is a resource for copywriters throughout the creative process – one which content analysts are an active and necessary part. But these are seven ways to reduce copywriting and overall project time while ensuring a smoother process for the entire team.

Naturally, content analysts will be called on to help other team members, such as designers, IAs and planners. But a good content strategy-copywriting relationship will prove essential for success, especially on large or complex projects. Mastering these seven elements are great ways to save time for your team and money for your client.

Joel Stanley | Critical Mass Chicago

What is any organizations’ true competitive advantage? Vision, values and process are all necessary, but fundamentally what makes one company different than another is the people. People are always our most important resource…so, in our ultra-competitive fields, are we equipping our people to perform to the best of their abilities?

The following are 8 brain rules – concepts of how our brains work that directly impact how we work best. These are taken from and all credit is given to John Medina’s excellent book, “Brain Rules”. These 8 rules provide insight on how we can align ourselves and our work to how we’re wired as people (with the added bonus of scientific backing behind mid-day naps).

1. Exercise Boosts Brain Power
The human brain operates best with proper oxygen flow. One of the most interesting scientific findings of the past few decades is that an increase in oxygen is always accompanied by an uptick in mental sharpness. Exercisers outperform non-exercisers in tests that measure long-term memory, reasoning, attention, problem solving as well as ability to reason quickly and think abstractly.

Basically, fit employees are capable of mobilizing their God-given IQs better than sedentary employees.

The most productive business day (and meetings within that day) would include walking.

2. We Don’t Pay Attention To Boring
Better attention always equals better learning. But, research has shown you have about 10 minutes of an audience’s attention before attention starts to wane.

You must do something emotionally arousing at each 10 minute mark to regain attention…and it has to be relevant and interesting (random jokes won’t work). Inserting information/data that is unusual, unpredictable or distinctive are powerful ways to harness attention.

3. The Brain Cannot Multitask
The brain is not capable of multi-tasking. We can talk and breathe, but when it comes to higher level tasks, we just can’t do it. This doesn’t bode well for our always-connected culture, specifically at work.

The biggest problem comes from task switching, which is basically being interrupted from whatever is your primary focus. Research has shown that it takes someone 2x as long to complete a task if you are interrupted and you make 3x more errors as well. An error for a 4 year old means 2+2=5, an error for those of us in professional world means sub-optimal output. Whether it be in a new business pitch, creative presentation or strategic recommendations, we can’t afford those mistakes.

4. Repeat To Remember
We usually forget 90% of what we learn within 30 days. The human brain can only hold about seven pieces of information for less than 30 seconds. If you want to extend that, you’ve got to consistently re-expose yourself to the information.

Repetition is key in remembering ‘effortful’ information (kinds not easily remembered, as opposed to remembering first kiss – that’s ‘automatic’). Here’s the easy solution: 30, 60-90. Repeat information within 30 seconds to get information to working memory, then repeating within 60-90 minutes to get it into long term memory. Without repetition, your brain resets.

5. Sleep Well, Think Well
When we’re asleep, the brain is not resting at all. It is almost unbelievably active! It’s possible that the reason we need to sleep is so that we can learn.

3 things you should know about sleep:

• Loss of sleep hurts attention, executive function, working memory, mood, quantitative skills, logical reasoning, and even motor dexterity.  Sleep deprivation is thought to cost US business more than $100B/year.
• Napping is normal.  Around 3pm the part of your brain that wants sleep is locked in an epic struggle with the part that wants to stay awake.  It can be nearly impossible to get anything of value done around this time and fighting it keeps the gnawing tiredness for rest of afternoon.  NASA instituted a 26 minute nap and improved pilots performance by 34%.  What other management strategies will improve performance by 34% in just 26 minutes?
• “Sleeping on it” works.  Research shows the sleeping brain tries to solve problems you tackled during the day, allowing the mind to wander for approaches we may not have thought of while awake.  It also appears to repeat patterns that occurred during day, basically trying to commit what you learned that day to long term memory and weeding out what’s not important.

6. Stress Makes You Dumber
Your brain is built to deal with stress that lasts about 30 seconds. The brain is not designed for long term stress when you feel like you have no control. Stress damages virtually every kind of cognition that exists and severely hampers your ability to concentrate. The CDC estimates that 80% of medical expenditures are now stress-related and stress causes companies to lose $200B/year

Also, you have only one brain. There’s no firewall between personal issues and work productivity. The same brain you have at home is the same brain you have at work or school. The stress you are experiencing at home will affect your performance at work, and vice versa.

7. Vision Trumps All Senses
We are incredible at remembering pictures. Hear a piece of information, and three days later you’ll remember 10% of it. Add a picture and you’ll remember 65%.

Reading is inefficient for us because our brain sees words as lots of tiny pictures, where we have to identify certain features in order to read them – which takes time. So if you want an audience to quickly understand and remember your presentation, toss out the old, 100 words-per-slide PowerPoint and create presentations that incorporate images with text as supplement. In memory tests where people are shown hundreds of photos, they can remember 90% three days later — and 63% after a year.

8. We Are Natural Explorers
The desire to explore never leaves us, regardless of our age or environment. Recent research has discovered adult brains are as malleable as babies, so we should be life-long learners. We are naturally curious and one of our best attributes is ability to learn through a series of increasingly self-corrected ideas.

One of the best examples of this in action is Google. For 20 percent of their time, employees may go where their mind asks them to go. The proof is in the bottom line: fully 50 percent of new products, including Gmail and Google News, came from “20 percent time.”

We at CM Chicago brainstormed around all of these rules and came up with some great ideas on how we as individuals, teams or as an office can institute changes to help us align better with how we’re wired.  Here are a few:

• Laptop friendly treadmills/exercise equipment
• Engage audience with questions every 10 minutes in presentations
• Specified rooms for 25 minute naps
• “No Meeting Fridays” or  simply “No interruption” times during the day

Any others?

Joel is the Account Director for CM’s Moen account.

Neil Clemmons, President, and Arif Hirani, Consumer Research Director.

We spent hours and numerous breakout sessions outlining the myriad obstacles that can prevent companies (ourselves included) from moving faster, more efficiently, and above all, more effectively. From noise to process to culture and tools, we mapped out the challenges and corresponding solutions to keep us on a path toward continual evolution, and to manage growth while remaining a nimble, innovation-focused culture.

Our lengthy discussions on this topic underscored a compelling point: no matter how steeped you are in digital expertise or “best practices”, whether you are a boutique hot shop or a leading established player, the pace of change—in the industry and culture at large—is mind-blowing. Seemingly everyday, the ground is shifting: new agency models, new technology players and platforms, new consumer behaviors that are rendering our tried and true marketing strategies utterly irrelevant.

So how do you remain competitive or, as we strive to do, continue to lead our clients and inspire our employees by “moving at the speed of culture”?

Our good friend over at Business Week, Bruce Nussbaum, penned a great post on “Cultivating Innovation and Creativity, Not Managing It.” In it, he alludes to a wonderful analogy made by Diego Rodriquez, partner at IDEO, about how “cultivating” a culture of innovation is much like a tending to a garden, as opposed to the traditional command-and-control model of “managing” from the top down.

He also references The Innovation Principles that Rodriquez eloquently fleshes out on his blog, metacool. They’re thought-provoking, inspiring and in our minds, worth repeating.
1.  Experience the world instead of talking about experiencing the world
2.  See and hear with the mind of a child
3.  Always ask: “How do we want people to feel after they experience this?”
4.  Prototype as if you are right. Listen as if you are wrong.
5.  Anything can be prototyped. You can prototype with anything.
6.  Live life at the intersection
7.  Develop a taste for the many flavors of innovation
8.  Most new ideas aren’t
9.  Killing good ideas is a good idea
10. Baby steps often lead to big leaps
11. Everyone needs time to innovate
12. Instead of managing, try cultivating
13. Do everything right, and you’ll still fail
14. Failure sucks, but instructs
15. Celebrate errors of commission. Stamp out errors of omission.
16. Grok the gestalt of teams
17. It’s not the years, it’s the mileage

Our amazing portfolio of clients enables us to attract top talent, from the creative, planning, user experience and technology disciplines. At Critical Mass, we believe the key to nurturing our best and brightest will depend upon the delicate balance of managing our business objectives while fostering an environment, a garden, if you will, where innovation and creativity can truly flourish.

In a recent post on my personal blog, I proposed that an effective ethical strategy required speaking to the emotions of your audience. Watching this car maker’s mounting mistakes and the continuing ethical violations still coming to light, I’m reminded about one of the keys to a successful crisis management strategy:

Crisis management begins before the crisis.

In January (the same month the Toyota debacle really hit the fan, incidentally), clothing retailer H&M was hit with a story claiming that their employees were slashing up clothes before they were discarded. While some brand protection can be understood by some, it looked dastardly in the midst of a recession.

H&M responded to the hubbub immediately, issuing a 5-tweet salvo that concisely stated their case: They gave their brand statement, contact information, a promise to resolve the problem, and a link to a robust corporate social responsibility page. (Here is a history of the incident and the Twitter effect.)

You’d be forgiven if you missed this story. At the time, H&M’s 30K Twitter followers got out the message, mostly defended the brand (or at least stopped disparaging it), and pretty much quashed the story. Compare this to Toyota’s handling of their ethical crisis.

Toyota Goes The Old Route: Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems

Toyota spent a lot of money on ads in newspapers (yes, they still exist) and on television. They had very few Twitter followers. They have no blog that I know of (and certainly not one I heard about developed after the story broke).

No customer communication channels. No tools for dialogue. No presence in a community where fans could defend them.

Consider Joseph Jaffe’s admonition of Toyota:

“Toyota did not have a direct line…with their customers, with their advocates, with their loyalists, with their influencers. They weren’t able to go to their community and say, ‘Help us, we need your help, we need your advice…’

You can’t expect to miraculously turn to your customers if you haven’t been building up that relationship with them in advance… You’ve got to anticipate this stuff because it’s going to happen.”

And Toyota’s crisis grew and grew and grew. Now, executives are testifying in front of Congress. The brand has taken a huge hit. Toyota had few means to defend itself, and none where brand loyalists could contribute. Instead, it poured money into old media venues in an attempt to change public opinion. I dare say it failed.

And yet, people still question the value of social media?

Not Apples To Apples, But Close

Sure, the crises fostered by Toyota and H&M are different. No one died because H&M slashed clothes (allegedly).

But the lessons to be garnered are very much the same. If you’re used to talking at your customers, you will be stuck with doing just that whenever a crisis hits. And only that.

Over a decade ago, The Cluetrain Manifesto claimed that “markets are conversations.” Yet, clearly many companies aren’t listening. A Complaint Is A Gift expounds upon this idea as one of customer dialogue:

“People get angry only about things that are important to them. If they sense you don’t find their issue important, they will get louder…They want you to hear. Your acceptance can help them change and soften their tone.” (page 167)

Notice that the authors didn’t say “appease” or “fix everything all at once.” They said that customers want to be heard.

It’s this process of being heard that gives companies the opportunity to speak to customer emotions. After all, this is empathy. This is a chance to change an ethical crisis into a recommitment to good behavior.

An open dialogue might just allow your brand loyalists to save you during a crisis. Imagine that.

Last week, we learned that Idea Aid, with not-for-profit partner Heifer International, selected its top five idea submissions. In a bit of unexpected news, one of the winners came from Critical Mass – submitted by this very blogger.

The goal of 2009’s Idea Aid (the first of hopefully many to come) was to generate new fundraising models to raise $1 billion annually. The weeklong brainstorm benefit, organized by Mensa Process, resulted in 585 ideas from participants in 66 countries including Argentina, Bangladesh, Belgium, Congo, Croatia, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, and Iraq. Heifer International will share the winning ideas with other like-minded organizations – after all, when the goal is to eradicate global poverty, sharing the idea wealth is a must.

The five winners include ideas that emerged multiple times over the course of Idea Aid week. (“Great minds think alike” is cliché for a reason.)

1. “Rounding Up Around the World” has an approach alá Bank of America’s “Keep the Change,” where users enjoy automatic savings derived from rounding their check card transactions to the next dollar. Here, consumer transactions would round up for the benefit of charities. This idea came from Tomer Ram of Israel – and based on the results of our brainstorm breakouts, it was a popular theme. An added thought from this blogger: Just as BoA offers a 100% match for the first three months and a 5% match thereafter (with an annual cap) to help motivate sign-ups, a similar tactic should be used here – with the help of a generous third-party entity (anyone have Richard Branson’s or Bill Gates’s number?).

2. “A Penny Goes a Long Way,” from Dr. Christina Bautista of New Mexico, suggests that an extra penny from consumers’ credit and debit purchases go to charity. Though consumers would hardly feel these micro-transactions, money would accumulate to a significant charitable sum. This theme was another popular one – in fact, more than a handful of brainstorming CM’ers referenced Office Space as silver-screen proof.

3. “Gift Cards: The little bit that’s left” proposes that the little bit of extra on retailer gift cards be funneled to charity. It’s a no-brainer – consumers could lighten their wallet of those pesky remaining gift dollars, to benefit those who need it more. This idea, from Jay Bassett in Georgia, had at least one idea doppelganger in Critical Mass’s very own Duane Wheatcroft.

4. “Global Online Auction,” a winning idea from Ruth Parvin in Oregon, combines art, charity, and the global reach of the Internet. Artists would donate works to an online auction, with all proceeds going to charity. Ebay would be the first tree to bark up, as they have the global reach this idea would thrive on.

5. The final idea was a submission of mine – originally called “Beautiful Change,” revised to “Destinations for Donations.” In this idea, artists, sculptors and/or architects would create fun, interactive money-collecting structures to appear in cities that get significant tourist traffic. This idea was inspired by the Chicago cows, an irresistible coin-spinner I experienced as a kid (a donation mechanism itself), and a similar thought from a coworker of mine (Senior Copywriter Jamie Toal, who, during one of our office-wide brainstorms, asked, “Why can’t we just clear out the change from the fountains of the world?”)

Needless to say, my Critical Mass cohorts and I are thrilled to have contributed a fundraising idea worthy of the hope and confidence of Heifer International and the Idea Aid organizers. If you asked me, I’d say it’s a lovely way to close out the year. We’re excited to see what comes next.

Starting Saturday, 11/14 and for one week, I’m going to donate ideas to Idea Aid – the world’s first online global brainstorming benefit. In addition, Critical Mass will harness its creativity for the cause through flash-brainstorms.

For Idea Aid’s inaugural year, participants around the globe will identify solutions to help Heifer International raise $1 billion annually to eradicate global poverty.

From the latest press release:

According to the World Bank, 1.2 billion people – 20 percent of the world’s population – survive on less than $1 a day. More than 800 million people go to bed hungry every day and 300 million of them are children.

Heifer International has said that one thing that makes a difference is, indeed, money – but at this point, there’s no single way to efficiently and consistently generate necessary funds for the cause.

Critical Mass is signed up. Will you participate too?

Idea Aid needs great minds to offer new ideas for fundraising – a way to make giving easy and efficient, usable by everyone, everywhere. Any ideas, from “safe” to “absolutely nuts,” will do. Participants will vote on the ideas, and Heifer International will recognize five standouts. Will one of them be yours?

Idea Aid’s launch date is fast approaching, so sign up here. And spread the word on Facebook and Twitter – your friends have great ideas, too!

@IdeaAid is the world’s first brainstorming benefit, launching 11/14. Sign up to donate ideas (NOT $$) http://www.ideaaid.com

Got a group of big-idea rockstars?

Idea Aid is also looking for groups like local communities, college campuses, and offices to help get the momentum rolling. If you’re part of a group that would like to participate, please contact David Wynett at inquiries@ideaaid.com or (404) 551-4311.

350 parts per million is the level of CO2 many climate scientists agree is the safe upper limit of carbon in our air (we’re at about 390, by the way). But that’s not all 350ppm is. It’s also one of the strongest examples of social media optimization the world has ever seen.

To help promote its International Day of Climate Action (last Saturday, 10/24), 350.org simply asked supporters to use a special hashtag in related tweets: #350ppm. According to search.twitter.com, it was used 1,500 times over the weekend (10/23-10/26).

The Day of Climate Action was a rousing success. 181 countries participated (meaning fewer than 15 didn’t), and there were 5,245 events across the globe.

As for SMO success, 350.org now has over 10,000 Twitter followers. They’re ranked #43 in the “Everywhere” region (via Twitterholic). 350’s most recent Influence score from Twitalyzer is a “profound” 64 of 100, after a recent increase of 31,900%. Twitalyzer bases Influence on Reach (followers), Authority (getting retweeted), Generosity (RT’ing others), and Clout (getting mentioned). 350’s Clout score is 100 of 100, unchanged in the recent past.

On Sunday, 350’s Day of Climate Action was the most talked-about news story on the planet – tops on CNN, The New York Times, Le Monde, Google News, and more. The top Google headline was “Campaign Against Emissions Picks Number,” due in no small part to thousands of participants using “350.” For Sunday and Monday, the story of 350 got more impressions than any other in the world.

Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, knows nothing would have been the same without today’s technology: “Some journalists have described the whole sprawling day as a ‘beta test for the wired world.” Read more of
Bill’s reflections on the day.

One '350 Action' photo includes three groups of activists along the Dead Sea (left to right): Israel, Palestine, and Jordan.

Though not intended for tracking purposes, a visual representation of “350” was requested in participants’ photo submissions. As it turned out, photos from Australia’s, China’s, and New Zealand’s Saturday events served to fire up supporters preparing for the Saturday rallies on the other side of the world. Organizers even displayed hundreds of freshly submitted photos on screens during an event in Times Square.

350’s slide shows keep growing and growing. The total has topped 19,000 photos, plus hours of video. Check out 350’s flickr stream.

Click Here To Be Redirected to the 350 Video

In Jan 2009, the FTC released proposed guidelines for marketing in social media. The FTC understands the role and influential impact of social media marketing and wanted to update its 29-year old guidelines to reflect this understanding. WOMMA worked directly with its members and the FTC to submit feedback and shape these guidelines which were released, in the form of a 100 page document, on Monday, October 5. They will go into effect on December 1, 2009.

These guides can be used by any law enforcement agency or consumer class action cases. Because other legal avenues can use these guides, no party is too small to be caught and fined.

Highlights

• Any sponsored communication is subject to regulation.

• Any relationship between blogger and advertiser must be disclosed i.e. a blogger must identify when he is speaking on behalf of an advertiser. The FTC equates an influencer who has been given consideration to a paid review or review by an employee

• Any kind of consideration that goes from an advertiser to the blogger must be disclosed. This includes cash payment, gifted product or service, and likelihood of future receipts of compensation or products/services.

• Celebrities must disclose their relationships with advertisers when endorsing products outside of traditional advertising, including blogs and twitter feeds. Other examples include talk show and other public appearances.

• Performance claims must represent typical results and have supporting evidence. Safe-harbor disclaimers like “results may vary” will no longer satisfy these guidelines.

Industry Impact

Enforcement

The FTC maintains a database of complaints from consumers, better business bureaus, and competing brands and organizations. Rather than a policing or surveillance model, the FTC relies on these communities to report non-compliant behavior.

Liability for misleading and unsubstantiated statements falls on all parties –advertisers, advertising agencies, and endorsers. However, the FTC has outlined that advertisers should advise endorsers to make necessary disclosures.

Impact on Consumers & Marketers

These regulations formalize a set of best practice guidelines which have been loosely established in the influence marketing community. Having these guidelines supported with the authority of the FTC brings value to the consumer who looks to these community influencers for product and service advice. The biggest impact for marketers is that they bear the burden of this new liability. They will need to implement a rigorous selection process for engaging influencers, and generally be vigilant about policing their social media campaigns. The new rules will add credibility to marketers who are compliant, and arm them with an avenue for enforcement for their non-compliant competitors.

Recommendation

Brands should address the disclosure issue early and often –at the onset of a blogger relationship and as a part of regular ongoing communication. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Disclosure is easy; some may argue disclosure is easier than deception. It can be one sentence, as little as four words “x gave me y”. What’s changed is that now full disclosure is a requirement instead of just being the right thing to do. Outside of formalized influencer relationships, brands can’t control what people say, but we can proactively find it and deal with it through monitoring and community management. Make sure to update new guidelines in the existing legal docs, including:
1. Employee social media guidelines
2. Post compliance statement in all branded/sponsored communities
3. Update style guides and rules for community managers & PR
4. Monitor for crisis management
5. Paid media terms and conditions/contracts

For example, many companies are eager to take advantage of “social media” efforts, meaning non-traditional marketing initiatives that involve either unpaid media or interacting directly with consumers/customers/users and communities. BUT, there is risk involved and the most often asked question which is inevitably asked becomes “what’s the ROI”?

The thing about playing in the “social space” is that while ROI can actually be measured in things like views, the number of times content has been embedded or shared, comments etc.—it also involves experimentation and potentially a high volume of iteration to see what actually works. The ROI question can sometimes kill an initiative before you ever have a chance to learn anything from it. And so recently, our very own Neil Clemmons asked this insightful question.

What about the “Return On Insight”?

I’ve thought about this as well being someone who lives and breaths much of the evolution we see on the Web—there is a real opportunity to become “digital anthropologists“—to gleam insights into the minds of consumers via leveraging social technologies. However, these insights will never be obtained and traditional ROI is allowed to take out the potential before we have a chance to learn something from it, and organizations may have to experience a cultural evolution before things can change. So we thought it was time for a conversation to take place. And maybe even a revolution in how we approach marketing in an age of consistently evolving consumers. On October 28th at the Forrester Consumer Forum, I will be having a casual discussion with Deborah Schultz who has worked with P&G on their Social Media Lab initiative. The talk is billed as follows:

“Today’s evolving consumers are sophisticated, informed, fickle, and multifaceted. And they’re just getting started! To stay ahead of the (r)evolution, organizations will need to break down their internal silos and adapt to new ways of connecting, communicating, and listening. As companies toss focus groups aside for other forms of input, “netnography” and communities can yield rich insights that lead to future product and service innovations. But to do this, organizations need to rethink return on investment (ROI) from the ground up to rapidly launch and iterate efforts before they get dismissed. Learn how P&G is getting a “return on insight” through initiatives that will help it connect to the ever-evolving customer.”

If you plan on attending the Forrester Forum, please join us—in fact, join the revolution. Viva La Evolution!

Written by David Armano

Trouble keeping everyone up to speed? See how this easy-to-use tool can organize your team. 

Picture this. You have a senior executive who is responsible for your digital initiatives. She is extremely bright, knowledgeable and savvy. She even spent hard-earned political capital to secure your budget. But she is extremely busy. She is not trained in analytics or user experience metrics. She does not place priority on the minutiae of your many worthy projects. Neither does she have time to keep up on digital-related reading.

Now multiply her by 10.

How do you keep all of these execs informed in a timely, relevant basis?

A widget can successfully provide this information in an efficient little package. At Critical Mass, I’ve had great success utilizing widgets to share knowledge with clients and I’m willing to bet you can too.

You can create a widget that will display key performance indicators (KPI) from various initiatives, current status on projects and updated industry news. The widget can be attractive, easy to use, and have a bit of cool factor. I promise, pitch this simple idea to your senior client contacts and they’ll love it. Here’s how:

Step one: Decide what information goes in, and what stays out.
This is the hardest part, because everybody wants everything and soon you end up with something completely overwhelming and useless.

HINT: Treat each page of the widget as an advertisement of your value. The analytics page should advertise how much value you are adding to the company. The project update page should advertise how organized you are. The updates page should advertise how smart and plugged-in your team members are. Keep it simple, graphic and relevant. And simple. Did I say simple? I want to hear you say this to yourself repeatedly until you mean it: “My widget will be simple, simple, simple.” I won’t let you read any further until you say it a few more times. Now SAY IT LIKE YOU MEAN IT.

Step two: Decide who is responsible for the raw data.
Your analytics should come from the analytics team. It may even be easier to get the relevant information and directly feed it in by hand as opposed to using your analytics tools. Or you may find differently — the more robust the KPI, the better. Senior executives love to watch visits, but you’ll want to include conversions, engagement measures and other indicators of your true value. You could point them to your analytics tool directly, but they’re too important to mess with that, and you want to keep them in the lovely environment you’ve created for them. They have people to look at the analytics program for them. That’s you.

Your account service team should prepare the project status. Project managers and tech-focused people are a good resource, but they’re not usually responsible for communicating to the client. The same rules apply as above — simple, graphic and relevant. You can use little icons to denote Ahead of Schedule, On Track and Needs Attention, and it makes the page easy to scan.

Your entire team can be useful for coming up with relevant industry reading. If you’re digital you’re plugged in anyway. Set a rule that nobody on the team is allowed to forward an article without doing a summary, including a relevant quote and adding a “so what” to why the person thinks it’s relevant. Not only does that cut down on the forwards, but it provides regular fodder for the widget.

Step three: Appoint a keeper of the widget.
The trick is to make sure just one person is responsible for widget content.

Step four: Build it.
Obviously there are plenty of options here. I’ve experienced building widgets in Action Script 3 and packaging in Adobe Air — this way it is compatible with PCs and Macs and you can add lots of shiny things to it down the road. You can then set it up so it will be fed by an XML file that the keeper of the widget can easily update. The widget pings the XML file at regular intervals and updates automatically. That’s as geeky as I get.

Step five: Brand it.
Getting a widget on the desktops of senior executives requires some selling, so make it compelling, useful and fun. Create a fun name for the widget and get it to stick. It’s gratifying to hear senior executives refer to your pet name in a very serious tone. Knowledge is power, and senior executives know power.

Step six: Work it, baby.
Once people are paying attention, keep it fresh. Change it often to keep their attention. Update content regularly. Force them to look at it — instead of sending out emails with articles, for example, just tell everybody to look at the widget for the new content. Hide Easter Eggs in the widget for people to find and see who finds them. Have fun with it.

Above all, be proud of the work you’re showcasing. I recently had one of our very senior executives ask me why we moved a hash-mark in the analytics section — now that’s user engagement! You will make a big difference and you’ll prove your ROI in ways never imagined.

Good luck!