Monetizing Your Content
by
@JackMolisani
Welcome Local and Virtual Attendees
PresidentProSpring Technical Staffing
Executive DirectorThe LavaCon Conference
AuthorBe the Captain of Your Career
I’ll ask questions about several slides in this session.
We’ll alternate getting answersfrom the live studio audience and the virtual audience.
Notice the title of this session is “Monetizing Your Content”…
…not “Monetizing Your Documentation”
Two Parts:
Organizational Positioning
Examples of Monetizing Content
What’s wrong with this diagram?
http://www.meierit.com.au/approach/process
It shows documentation at the end of the product development lifecycle
Better, but—
http://riskianawulan.net/2011/09/system‐development‐life‐cycle/
Documentation is stillseparate from development
Plus Documentation is on the outside looking in
http://www.pddnet.com/articles/2009/05/project‐plan‐bible
And this one, what’s right?
Tech Pubs is part of the ProductDevelopment Team, Yay!
What’s wrong with this diagram?
Development Strategy
Design
Information Architecture
Design
Develop
Develop
Test…
Content Strategy
Test…
Content Plan
Product Plan
3
4
1
2
5
4
5
1
2
6
6
3
System Architecture
Content development is being done in parallel with product development, that (with any luck) will ship at the same time the product ships
Development Strategy
Design
Information Architecture
Design
Develop
Develop
Test…
Content Strategy
Test…
Content Plan
Product Plan
3
4
1
2
5
4
5
1
2
6
6
3
System Architecture
34
12
5
45
12
6
6
3
This is how the content development looks today.
How should it look?
CONTENT!
ReqmntsDef’n
Design
Sales
Test
Build
Usability Test
P’type
Deploy
Support
Product Mgmt
• Total User Experience• Total Info Experience• User Interface Design• Embedded Content
‐ Field Names‐ Embedded UA‐ Error Messages
• External Content‐ Online Help ‐ User Manuals ‐ Training Materials‐ Support Site
• Developer Docs• Content Management• Translation Management• Controlled Language and
Vocabulary Management• More
DESIGN
CONTENT!
ReqmntsDef’n
Design
Sales
Test
Build
Usability Test
P’type
Deploy
Support
Product Mgmt
So if we can’t have a content‐centric development process, at least we can influence the product development process,every step of the way
Dev Strategy
Design
Develop
Test…
Product Plan
System Architecture
Information Architecture
Design
Develop
Test…
Content Strategy
Content Plan
Especially if you are an embedded member of a Agile team, working side‐by‐side with the developers
http://tinyurl.com/k5znhlq
You're not just a tech writer. You're a valuable part of a product development team. Start acting like it. @JackMolisani #STC14 #TechComm
So How Do You Monetize Content?
Content:
n. Any material, such as writing, pictures, or music, that appears on a website or other electronic medium
Several start‐ups were bankrupted by the high cost of producing original content.
http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/american/content
Monetize:
v. To earn money from something, especially something on the Internet, such as a website or piece of software
There’s a lot of discussion out there about how online content should be monetized.
http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/american/monetize
Monetizing Content
• Save money / cost avoidance
• Charge for It
• Content marketing to new customers
• Leverage content to sell more products to existing customers
Save Money / Cost Avoidance
One survey estimated that the annual cost of searching for information and creating, recreating, and publishing information is over $30,000 per worker per year.
How can you help your company save money?
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090506005284/en/Hidden‐Costs‐Information‐Work‐Enterprise‐Exposed‐IDC#.U3T4GCiowyo
Charge for It
• Subscriptions
• Pay Per View
• Tiered (Free + Paywall)
http://blackboard.emediate.com/2013/08/are‐paywalls‐a‐success/
Content Marketing
n. A marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience—with the objective of driving profitable customer action.
Content Marketing
Content marketing’s purpose is to attract and retain customers by consistently creating and curating relevant and valuable content with the intention of changing or enhancing consumer behavior. It is an ongoing process that is best integrated into your overall marketing strategy, and it focuses on owning media, not renting it.
http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/what‐is‐content‐marketing/
Content Marketing
Leverage Content to Sell More Products to Existing Customers
• There is no one answer
• HTC example
• QuickBooks example
• Bihler example
HTC
HTC uses MindTouch + SAP as their tech support content platform
They linked the support site tool with their automated marketing tool so they can generate additional revenue based on the customer’s support needs.
HTC
For example, suppose a customer logs into the website and searches for, “How do I replace my phone battery?”
HTC
Notified, the marketing tool would send the customer an email: “I see you need to replace your phone’s battery. Why not upgrade to a new phone? Use coupon code….”
QuickBooks
QuickBooks has a section of their UI that displays sales information:
QuickBooks
Bihler
Bihler makes programmable stamping machines with very advanced software.
Bihler
The product’s interface is touch‐screen, with little room for embedded help.
Bihler
Customers were so unhappy with PDF‐based user documentation that they were losing resales, so they hired SQUIDDS to rearchitect their publishing platform.
Bihler
From content authored in MS Word and Adobe FrameMaker, they used WebWorks Reverb to produce HTML5, and then created a mobile app customers could use to display content for their product.
Bihler
Customers were thrilled with the new platform.
Bihler
By improving the workflow and documentation, they saw a 3% increase in revenue last year from customers they otherwise would have lost.
Bihler
Georg Eck, SQUIDDS
Multi‐Device Publishing on Demand: Case Study—Bihler
4:15pm, room 105A
Recap
Position yourself as a valuable member of the product development team
Find ways to reduce costs and generate revenue
Then ask for a raise when you do!
Do you have an example of how you fiscally helped your company? Let me know!
[email protected]@JackMolisani
Top Related