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Content Is King : Content Strategies and Content Development

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To accomplish our missions and achieve goals in the market, we must educate our targeted audience. The audience could be vendors, contractors, employees, marketers, distributors, customers, students, associates, partners or philanthropists.

The mission could be one of these :

giving a project brief,
informing new requirements,
building capacity,
winning a bid,
resolving issues,
selling an idea,
promoting products,
acquiring funds,
improving services,
for a social cause and etc.

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Development

A Simple Example

If you have an initial meeting with a potential client, a highly conceptual presentation material would be handy. A quick one that tells all in a very short time as a warm up. The material must deliver what you really want them to know in brief. It should be comfortable, easy to understand and sells. This meeting could be crucial in influencing the client’s future decisions. So it has to be short, simple, smooth and impressive.

And if you’re short-listed in any bid, you may need to do another presentation in front of several decision makers. It should be more elaborate and refined. This is where you want to look good and win over them.

At any instance, business presentations must be custom-made based on your understanding of the audience’s background. This builds a sense of confidence in the audience. You’re telling them you understand their needs and apt for the job.

Characteristics Of A Strategic Content

You must look good and be understood. In most presentations, content elements may come in many formats. A presentation may contain several pages or slides. Each page may consist of Text, Graphics, Animations, Sound, Video and Photos. They should be designed and developed to match with each other well. All pages must flow progressively for continuity. These elements should support each other to support your ideas and inspire your audience.

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To educate your audience effectively, I propose the following premises for your content:

All content should portray your solutions or ideas in such a way that most audience sitting there can understand it almost immediately.

For complex matters, information can be converted into simplified conceptual graphics to enlighten customers.

Content should flow smoothly from header to header, paragraph to paragraph and from page to page. They can be easily referenced when anyone throws impromptu questions.

Relevant elements such as video, animations, sound, graphics or photographs can be used to enhance your materials. They should be used wisely.

As a rule of thumb, all materials should match each other even if the group of elements come in different formats.

All audience should also be able to navigate in their mind and notes with ease and not be lost or confused in an info jungle.

Audience are sold and they feel good

Basic Content Flow in Presentations and Proposals

Most contents follow 2 formats:

1. According to client’s required formats.
2. Or in an Open Format that usually have the following page titles:

An Executive Summary or Introduction
Current Situation
Future Expectations
Proposed Solution
Benefits of the Solution
Implementation Plan
Technical
Financial
Conclusions.
Appendices – elaborations of selected topics or issues

The Table of Content above is the basis for most Presentation Materials and Full Business Proposals.

Logically, content should be customized for specific requirements. Some topics require a surface understanding but some require deeper knowledge. So, research is a must. Even if you think you know the subject well, the research has to be relevant to your audience. At times, the inputs from qualified consultants are needed.

There is one important fact to know. Organizations with similar products see their products in different perspectives. Each organization places unique values for their products. These are usually highlighted in their promo materials. Unique values are the first group of items we need to look at. Organizations are sensitive about their products and want everyone else to see their products the way they see it. So these values must be highlighted in presentations and proposals.

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Organizations spent (and continue to spend) countless hours and a great amount of resources on their products, services or ideas. So in content development, the core effort is to understand the clients and understand what they value most in their products. Makes development a breeze, quality of content superb and the audience inspired.

Initial Steps I Take

First and foremost, what I’ll do is to understand the objectives my clients seek to achieve from presentations or proposals. I need to know who are their intended audience. Then I would insist on listening to a product brief and browse through available catalogues, brochures, web sites or posters.

The Next Step

Once I have got some firm ideas on the set of products and the company’s perspectives, I would start a short research from the market on competing products. A second research will then take place in the company through focal points such as the CEO, GM, Marketing Officers or Engineers.

Upon assuming of having a full grasp of the products, I would start my write-up and offer a short review of my assumed understanding to the focal points. After being corrected, I would have an improved and more accurate understanding of the products. At this point, I will start writing a draft, get a review again and start over until the focal points are satisfied.

My best guide to produce an effective presentation or proposal – wear 2 hats. My client’s hat and my client’s clients hat. ( lol … tough job but a delightful one ).

My Resources & Development Philosophy

To produce elements for every page, I use original material and software. There will be no copyright infringements. My team members are copywriters, graphic artistes, animators, videographers and musicians. If we happen to have limitations in certain ways ( eg. budget ), we have the option to use limitless number of royalty-free libraries in the market.

The Final Product

A complete set of Presentation, Proposal and other collaterals may come in several formats. Here are possible formats: