In the first phase Pre-expansion, map out what content you will create for whom and why. Determine:
- The target audience
- The reader's purpose and situation
- The action
- The organizational goal
- The context
- Publication channels and format
You can jot down the findings from your preparation on the content cheat sheet.
The target audience
Who is your target audience? What preferences, desires and background does your visitor have? What is his or her decision-making type? Use personas for this purpose.
The reader's purpose and situation
What is the reader's overall customer journey, what does he or she want to achieve, and to which top task does the content fit? Write this down in the form of a story. The content you create answers the customer's needs described in the story.
If possible, involve a subject matter expert or someone from the target audience. Do your stories properly describe the questions and goals of the target audience? Are any stories missing or are some not needed at all?
Story
A story is a fill-in-the-blank exercise that consists of a situation or person, in which someone wants to do something, to achieve something. 'Story' is the Dutch translation of job story or user story:
As [ ___ situation or person ___ ] I want [ ___ action ___ ] so that I can achieve [ ___ goal ___ ].
For example:
- If [I want time off] I want [to know how many days off I have left] so I can [make an informed decision].
- If [I start my studies] I want [to know what the Binding Study Advice means] so [I can take this into account in my expectations and future].
Put the story at the top of the document in which you are working (with a subject matter expert).
The action
A (top) task is not complete until the user has taken the desired action. What can you offer?
For example:
- Viewing the number of leave hours in BASS;
- Inform the reader about the Binding Study Advice and let them know where to go with questions.
In doing so, consider what stage of decision-making the visitor is in. These stages are:
- Problem Definition
- Orientation
- Considering options
- Making a choice
Place the decision-making stage next to the decision-making type and determine: How big a spectrum is there for the project or service your content is about?
Want to learn more about personas and customer journey mapping? Take the Audience Research training course.
The organizational goal
Determine what Radboud University as an organization wants to achieve with the content. Do we want more student enrollments? That employees take their leave earlier? If necessary, you can start measuring and directing this. That is the domain of content strategy. In the ideal situation, this strategy already exists before you start content creation. Try to translate this goal into added value for the visitor.
And possibly determine a call-to-action that fits the action of the visitor and the organizational goal. For example:
- Sign up now!
- Download the file
- Cast your vote
- Sign up on time!
Read more about call-to-actions.
The context
Determine the context in which the content is offered. Ensure "flow": a consistent message throughout. Read more about "flow".
Publication channels and format
Determine the appropriate publishing channels: website, social media, newsletter? Right now Drupal only serves the website, but in later stages, you can publish content through Drupal on other channels as well.
And before you start creating your content, think: what is the best form for my information? Text is often efficient, but an infographic, video, blog post can also be effective. Be aware that sometimes you may need help from a designer or developer. Is there room for that?
Also, consider how you convey content. Do you convey it more factually or do you use storytelling? Read more about storytelling.
Content cheat sheet
You can write down the findings from your preparation on the content cheat sheet. You can keep this with you when you start creating the content.
