Write for the Customer ToolkitAhava Leibtag

President

Contents• How to use this toolkit• Personas• Identity Pillars • Messaging Architecture• Voice and Tone• Page Table• Web Writing Checklist• Web Writing Cheat Sheet• Sign Off

How to Use this Toolkit

To the content creator:

Congratulations! This kit contains a powerful mix of tools that will help you create awesome content for your brand. We created it specifically for you, to save you time and help you be even greater at your job.

Spend some time with it. Talk to your colleagues and boss about it. If you make it your companion every time you sit down to plan or produce content, you won’t have to reinvent the wheel. And you won’t have to constantly negotiate what you’re supposed to be saying, how, and to whom. You can just focus on making things and telling great stories, which is why we’re all here, right? What a relief.

Think of it as your trusty map to consistently creating findable, readable, understandable, actionable, and shareable content.

Basically, to winning the day.

The Tools• Personas: Who are we talking to with our content?

• Identity pillars: How does the world perceive us? How do we want them to?

• Messaging architecture: What statements should we use to move the brand where we want it to go?

• Voice & tone: How should we talk in different settings, to different audiences?

• Page table: How do we ensure our hard work is findable and useful online? (Hint: metadata and organic SEO!)

Personas

Content is a conversation. To have a great conversation, it helps to know who you’re speaking to. Really, really well. The persona tool virtually eliminates the guesswork in this task.

Personas are basically composite, fictional characters, based on data and shared understandings inside your organization. They represent the distinct audiences it’s most important for your brand to talk to. And they answer these questions in detail:

• Who is your audience? • What do they care about? • Where do they spend their time?

Great personas:

• Answer the critical question—What does our audience need from us to solve their problems?

• Help you produce content that makes your audiences feel valued and “seen” • Ensure everyone who produces content is talking to the same people and has the same

information about those people

Top brands and organizations around the world take their personas very seriously. You should too. Reference your personas in brainstorming sessions. Post pictures of them in the lunchroom. Do whatever it takes to make them real!

PersonasPersonas are…• Built on data• Representative of customers’ actual

attitudes, goals and thinking • A powerful design tool that

promotes deep customer empathy• A valuable way of ensuring we keep

the customer at the center of our thinking as we design and write

Personas are not…• Based on assumptions• A market segment• Sales projections• A single individual

Content Pathways

If personas help us understand who’s at the other end of the conversation, content pathways help us understand how to get those people the information they need. And that’s what we’re all after, right?

When you think about it, each one of us is on a personal journey when we go online. We want to achieve something, and the way we do that has a lot to do with who we are, or our persona.

That’s why personas and content pathways go hand in hand in the content creator’s toolkit. You’ll find personas and content pathways coupled together on the following pages. But first, just a little bit more about content pathways.

Content pathways visually chronicle the paths your audience takes and the encounters they have along the way to completing key tasks online (i.e., doing what’s important to them, which is important to you!).

By taking the time to understand where a user’s coming from, and what they may experience while navigating your content, you can determine the most effective ways to talk to them.

You can even plan to deliver content in different places along that journey to reduce anxiety and frustration, and ultimately get them to where they need to be.

Personas and content pathways

Here are all your personas, at a glance. Try to get to know these faces, names and stories, the way you would a new friend. Visualize them when you create content. When you do, what you create will be truly meaningful for your audience.

And meaningful, helpful content is what builds relationships, creates trust, and ultimately delivers on your business goals.

Trust us—this really works.

Backstory:He has been working for the same law firm for 12years and business has been growing quickly. Hisadministrator hired the previous two IT companiesbut neither of them could keep up with the firm’sgrowing needs and we was disappointed by theirwork ethic. He knows the firm needs outstandingoutside help because they don’t have the resourcesfor the IT services. He wants a company that will helpanticipate the firm’s needs. He wants to hire a highlyrecommended company that is extremely reliable.

Age: 38Lives in: Bethesda, MDEducation: Georgetown Law School, Penn UndergraduateOccupation: Patient Prosecution Attorney in Washington, D.C.HH Income: 250K (+50K)Family: Wife, Julie, 34, Graphic DesignerDaughter, Danielle, 11Son, Michael, 8

Lifestyle/Personality: • Drives an Acura and wife drives a

Honda CRV• Gym membership and plays tennis• Coaches Michael’s soccer team• Family travels twice a year to California• Shops at Brooks Brothers and J.Crew• Dines out often with clients

Devices: iPhone, iPad, laptop and desktop

News and Information: Reads the Wall Street Journal and world news online

Tasks and Objectives:• What kind of IT support do you provide?• How much experience do you have with the

legal industry? • Do you have after business hours and

weekend technical support? How responsive are you during those times?

• Is there an assigned primary technical consultant?

• Will you recommend and purchase hardware and software products for my law firm?

• What is your pricing structure?• Who are some of your clients? Can you

provide customer recommendations?

[Name] Seeking IT services “We need professional help with our IT”

Motivations

• Find an IT company that will be a good fit for his firm

Primary Questions

• What kind of IT support do you provide?• How much experience do you have with the

legal industry?• Do you have after business hours and

weekend technical support? How responsive are you during those times?

Secondary Questions

• Is there an assigned primary technical consultant?• Will you recommend and purchase hardware and

software products for my lawfirm?• What is your pricing structure?• Who are some of your clients? Can you provide

customer recommendations?

Actions

• Call with questions• Schedule a meeting

Possible Encounters:

• Search online• Referrals

Possible Pages:

• Services• Portfolio• Support Hours

Possible Pages:

• Products• Pricing• Customer Testimonials

Possible Modes of Engagement

[Name] Seeking IT services “We need professional help with our IT”

Backstory:

Age:

Lives in:

Education:

Occupation:

HH Income: Family:

Lifestyle/Personality:

Devices:

News and Information:

Tas ks and Objectives:

Motivations Primary Questions Secondary Questions Actions

Possible Encounters: Possible Pages: Possible Pages:

Possible Modes of Engagement

Name Name Name Name Name Name Name Name

Age

Geography

Education

Work

HH Income

Marital Status

Family

Race

Persona Matrix Demo

Persona Matrix, p1

Name Name Name Name Name Name Name Name

Age

Geography

Education

Work

HH Income

Marital Status

Family

Race

Persona Matrix, p2

Name Name Name Name Name Name Name Name

What you should know about me

Devices & Channels

Persona Matrix, p3

Name Name Name Name Name Name Name Name

Questions I really need to answer

Now that you’ve met your audience, what’s next?

Once you’re in the habit of using personas to talk to your target audience (hooray!), you’ll want to keep getting to know them. Can you collect better data on their lifestyles or behaviors? Maybe your business has changed (most do). If so, you might need to have different conversations with different types of people. Which: you guessed it. Revised personas.

This is all normal stuff. Keep your personas accurate and relevant by revisiting them and the content pathways once a year. Make sure that those are still “your people.” And if you’re in a leadership position, work to ensure the entire staff is on target about your content audience.

Identity Pillars

So you know who you’re talking to. But what should you say?

Before you can figure that out, you have to know who you are. Think of a brand as a personality. The things people think of when they think of that personality are what we call brand attributes.

• Do people laugh when they see your logo, or cry?

• Are you (your brand) fun? Playful? Affordable? Dangerous? Caring? Technologically advanced? What about classy? Elegant? Boring and reliable? Controversial? Dull?

All of these traits define your brand just like “funny and smart” might help define a friend of yours.

Let’s say you have a good handle on your brand attributes. You know who you are, or at least how the world sees you.

What if you want to change that perception? Or, if not fundamentally change it, you just want to improve it?

Most brands do. The effort to shift or enhance brand “personalities” and the way customers feel about brands will go on as long as there are brands. (We all have an image to maintain, right?)

But how can we use content to bridge the gap between who we are and who want to be? Identity pillars.

The identity pillars tool illustrates three to four core principles of your brand, today and tomorrow. Remember: identity pillars aren’t personality traits—those are brand attributes.

Think more foundational things, like mission, values, and purpose. Things that, while your audience may or may not agree that you are those things, you work to be those things anyway. Because they’re part of your core identity as a brand.

By showing the current and future pillars, this tool illustrates how to use content to get your audience thinking about you the way you want them to. To shift your brand identity. (You’ll see what we mean in the coming pages.)

You can use identity pillars to help shape your internal conversations about content priorities and objectives, too.

The pillars let you point to a shared understanding of who the brand is now and who everyone agrees they want it to be in the future.

Does the new content project you’re considering move the brand in the right direction? Check the pillars.

Let’s recap:

• Brand attributes are the words others would use to describe your brand• Identity pillars describe the core principles of your brand now … and then map them to

what the brand should be in the future

[Client name’s] identity pillars are on the next page. To create them, we:

• Analyzed your current business objectives • Articulated your current brand attributes • Expressed how you’re trying to move the brand• Articulated the promises of your brand in the future

Identity Pillars

Current Pillars Future Pillars

x x

x x)

x x

x x

Messaging Architecture

So now that we know who we are (brand attributes) and who we want to be (identity pillars), how do we get from A to B? How do we use language to show that we’re becoming someone different?

Messaging architecture!

Here’s our definition: The goal of a messaging architecture is to provide priority to your business objectives and firm documentation for explaining why certain content—and messages—need to come first.

Sound complicated? It’s not, really. Messaging architecture is the glue that holds everything together. It tells you exactly what messages you need to use to if you want move the brand from where it is now to where we’ve all agreed it needs to go. No more guesswork.

It’s kind of amazing.

Messaging Architecture: How does it work?

• Your messaging architecture maps your current and future identity pillars to what we call an “articulation statement.” This sentence basically explains what the move from point A (current identity pillar) to point B (future identity pillar) is all about.

• Then, the architecture lists a finite set of approved “messaging statements” that support, or provide proof for, that articulation statement. In other words, what evidence can your brand provide to show that it’s indeed becoming more solid, more nimble, more reliable, or whatever direction you’re moving in? It’s important to back up your promises with facts.

Messaging Architecture: How does it work?

• The messaging statements aren’t the exact copy you’ll use as a content creator. Rather, they’re specific ideas you’ll need to express as a way to talk about the brand. But the language you use can vary, so there’s still plenty of room for creativity!

• Maybe you’re seeing now why the messaging architecture is so helpful in prioritizing business objectives. There are countless ways different content creators can talk about your brand. The messaging architecture reflects all the strategic thinking around the right messages. So you don’t have to do it every day.

It says, “Tell these stories. Communicate these ideas.” This way we all communicate in one voice and have the same conversation with our audience, no matter who’s talking.

Messaging Architecture

Current Identity Pillars Future Identity Pillars Articulation Statement Messaging Statements

Expensive Value We provide access to top quality care.

Peace of mind Same customer service and benefits

with low and high cost plans No hidden costs Local customer service Reliability: bills get paid on time

Current Identity Pillars Future Identity Pillars Articulation Statement Messaging Statements

Unclear Clear We make the complex easy to understand.

Tools and calculators are available Personal relationships: You can talk to

people who care on the phone, in the store, at a seminar or in your home

We explain how your healthcare choices fit into your entire retirement experience

Voice and Tone

Let’s go back to the “content is a conversation” idea. So far, we’ve talked about who is having the conversation.

It’s:

1. You (identity pillars)2. Your audience (personas)

We’ve also talked about what you’re saying in that conversation (messaging architecture). Now we just need to know how to say it. Enter: voice and tone.

• Voice is an expression of your brand’s personality. It’s steady and strongly tied to your core identity.

• Tone, on the other hand, reflects the feelings you have when you communicate, so it changes a lot depending on the situation.

Let’s talk about tone.

We create tone with the stresses we put on words—otherwise known as intonation.

Consider the following sentence: “Come here right now.” Now imagine that sentence said by your parent, boss, or friend.

The stress on each particular word in the sentence—as well as the hardness or softness of that person’s voice—will tell you how they’re feeling when they say that sentence.

Few people may say, “Don’t use that voice with me, Missy.” But they do say, “Don’t use that tone.”

Again: tone changes—voice should not.

That’s why emoticons are so popular these days: Because written digital text can be so flat and devoid of tone, we’ve resorted to using graphic smiley faces to communicate what we truly mean.

So in the context of your brand, tone is how you sound in different situations. Let’s say you’ve established that one of your identity pillars is “fun”. That’s partly who your brand is, and it’s important to stay true to it.

But if a customer is annoyed, a cheeky email that may come across as cute in one situation could be a major turnoff in another. You can still be fun, but you’ll want to “tone” it down sometimes, too.

Always be aware of where your audience or customer is in his or her journey. Your team might even want to develop tone guidelines for specific scenarios—how to authentically interpret your brand’s identity pillars in a way that’s appropriate to various settings.

If you think about it, you do this all the time in offline conversations.

You’re always you, with your identity, personality and core voice. But the way you greet your grandmother will usually be different than the way you talk to a customer service rep if you’re dissatisfied with a service you paid for.

Voice and Tone

Voice and tone guidelines are:

••••

Voice and Tone Matrix

Examples of Voice and Tone in Action

We aren’t … Problematic example (taken from site content)

We are … On-brand example (written by AMG)

Notes

CategoryCategory

Category

Voice and Tone MatrixCategory

Level Level

Level Level

Page Table

A page table is a great way to help you create and manage findable online content. Aim to create and maintain a table for every page you produce.

URL

Browser Title (65-80 characters)

Page Title [h1] (<70 characters)

Descriptor Tag (<160 characters)

Photos

Photo Alt Tag

Goal of the page

Using Web Writing Best Practices

Revise content1. Using links2. Adding headings3. Using bullets or numbered lists4. Adding alt-images

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Web Writing Checklist

There are some tried and true tricks to creating great online content that supports your business goals and meets user needs. Here are our top picks.

Great content is:FINDABLE. It includes:

An H1 tag (see cheat sheet for more on tags) At least two H2 tags Metadata including a title, descriptors and researched keywords (see cheat sheet for

more on metadata) Links to related content (see cheat sheet for more on links) Alt tags for images and graphics

Great content is:READABLE. It uses:

The inverted pyramid writing style Chunking to create sections of text Bullets (no more than 5-7 items!), numbered lists and tables when possibleWriting that conforms to your style guide Active voice

Great content is:UNDERSTANDABLE. It:

Uses an appropriate content type (text, video, etc.) Reflects that the content creator considered user personas Takes into account user context (in what environment are they consuming the

content?) Respects the audience’s reading level Articulates an old idea in a new way

Great content is:ACTIONABLE. It features:

A call to action A place to comment (if appropriate) An invitation to share Links to related content A direct summary of what to do

Great content is:SHAREABLE. It includes:

Something to provoke an emotional response A reason to share A direct ask to share An easy way to share Personalization (hashtags added to tweets, etc.)

Web Writing Cheat Sheet

As you know, content creators these days must be great communicators and digitally savvy. The online environment has given rise to a whole new playing field, with different rules for what gets seen and shared.

The good news is that there are very doable, concrete ways to get ahead in this space. You just need to know what they are. Here’s a primer on what you can do to help your stories succeed online.

LINKS add depth to your site. Here’s how to use them:

Use action words Match links to the page title (H1 tag) as much as possible Link 3-7 words only Label links if they don’t jump to a web page (example: [PDF]) Ensure active and visited links use consistent colors (i.e., blue and purple,

respectively) NEVER: use “click here”, put links in places where you’ll lose the reader in the

conversation, or make headlines links

KEYWORDS are like labels on a file. They drive traffic and help users feel familiar with the topic. DO:

Define keywords and customer phrases using research tools like Google Trends, Google AdWords, Word Tracker, Serp Stat, and Google Keyword Suggest Tool

Get specific and highly relevant

METADATA helps users and search engines quickly understand your content. They tell search engines whether or not to send people to your content.

Here’s a glossary:

Descriptor tag: Think of this as a mini-commercial to invite people to click your link. Use active verbs, and think usability

Browser title: Structure this so the most important part is at the front: Name of page | Name of section on website | Name of company

H1 is the page title. It should be easy to understand and use keywords if it makes sense H2 is for subheads. Use it with a question, to introduce a new idea, or give instructions (

“Contact us”)

CHUNKING text makes it more likely that a user will read (and understand) your content. DO:

Limit chunks, or paragraphs, to 2 sentences Chunk at topic changes Include up to 2 paragraphs (or chunks) under a heading for page symmetry

CLARITY is critical when writing content. Here are some things to keep in mind:

Limit paragraphs to 2 sentences, sentences to 14 words and words to 5 syllables Translate jargon Look for metaphors to explain complicated subjects

REMEMBER a few key things when writing for the web:

People scan; they don’t read. Give users what they need, and cut unnecessary words Write using natural, human language patterns, and answer questions Keep in mind the four models for great storytelling: WIIFM (What’s in it for me?); FAB

(features/advantages/benefits); Focus on You, and Cut the Clutter (to increase comprehension!)

Use a piece of your own content1. WIIFM: What’s In it For Me?

2. FAB=FeaturesAdvantagesBenefits

3. Focus on You

4. Cut the clutter to increase comprehension

Thank you

Ahava LeibtagAha Media Group, LLCahava@ahamediagroup.com

@ahavaL @ahavaleibtag

www.ahamediagroup.com