Issue 6
Transitioning to XML-based Marketing Materials
XML and Marketing Materials, part 2
By Ann Rockley, President, The Rockley Group
In the first article on XML and Marketing Materials, I discussed how using XML for marketing materials provides considerable benefits, including consistent messaging, reduced time to create content, reduced costs to maintain content, reduced translation costs, and powerful multichannel conversion capabilities. In this article, I discuss what adopting an XML-based approach to marketing materials means in practice.
Adopting XML for marketing materials is certainly about new technology, but more importantly it is about changing the way people work. Many are concerned that working in this way will be intimidating and stifle creativity; however, you may find the transition to XML marketing materials is easier than you think.
There are four main areas of focus when you transition to XML-based marketing materials:
- Structured writing
- Collaborative writing
- Writing for reuse
- Not having visual control of content
Structured Writing
Structured writing simply means following a specified structure when you write. Communicators have been writing this way for years with the use of templates and writing guidelines. What changes with XML is that you adopt an approach to writing content in a structured way. XML then applies rules that tell the structured content where it needs to appear in the layouts of the multiple types of marketing materials you produce.
The benefits of structured writing include:
- Speed – It’s faster to create content when there’s a pattern to follow.
- Consistency – Consistent content reinforces brand and messaging. And consistency makes it much easier to automate reuse.
- Predictability – Using a predictable content structure makes it easier for your authors to write, and it makes it easier for customers to find the information they are looking for or compare your product offerings. Predictability is also very important for automating publishing.
- Reuse – Structured writing guarantees that content which should be the same is the same.
Let’s take an example of a value proposition — a small piece of information, but probably the most important piece of information you will write. The structure for the value proposition could consist of a value statement and identification of competitive differentiators. The value proposition could be represented within a structured authoring tool with embedded writing guidelines such as:
Example of guidelines for writing a value proposition using a structured content approach.
The author is cued that “value” and “competitive differentiators” are required and the guidelines provide guidance for writing. The guidelines disappear when the author begins to type.
So a well designed structure for writing content — represented in XML — can guide your authors to rapidly create consistent, effective, and coherent content. It’s not intimidating, it’s communication best practices.
Writing for Reuse
Content reuse is the practice of using existing components of content to develop new documents. Reusing content can provide a dramatic improvement in the way content is created. Improvements include increased quality and consistency, reduced time and costs for development and maintenance, and reduced costs of translation.
Let’s take the example of the value proposition. It is key to every piece of marketing content we write. It is important to ensure that we convey the same message wherever it appears. As part of your suite of marketing materials, the value proposition could appear in the elevator speech, a brochure, and sales training materials.
Outline for three types of marketing materials, all of which incorporate the same value proposition.
Authors need to write with the understanding that their content will be reused. Writing for reuse means thinking about all possible uses of that content and honing the content to a point where it clearly and succinctly conveys the right message, regardless of its use and channel.
I know, you’re going to say, “But we can’t always use the same content, there are different target markets that need a different message,” or “We’d want to have a really tight succinct statement in the Elevator Speech, after all we only have 30 seconds, whereas in the Sales Training we’d want to elaborate to ensure sales people clearly understood the message to convey.” And you’d be absolutely right. You probably would, in fact, have different value propositions, a specific one for each target market. Or you could have a core message for all markets that is augmented or changed for specific markets.
For greater or lesser detail we use a technique called “filtered reuse.” This means that we write content in such a way that we have a key point that provides a short, succinct statement, followed by a more extensive summary statement, followed by supporting detail. The Sales Training uses all of the content, while the Elevator Speech only uses the Key Point. Unwanted content is automatically filtered out by the style sheets and publishing engine that are part of the XML publishing process. But the author creates the whole set of content at once.
Representation of which information would appear in each use of the content.
Some authors feel that writing this way stifles their creativity, but as one client told me, “Structure sets you free!” Writing structured reusable content makes it possible to focus on what’s important — the content — while providing the author enough time to do it well.
Collaborative Authoring
In an XML-based approach to marketing materials, collaborative authoring is required to ensure content can be reused across many different types of information and channels. In a collaborative authoring environment, authors work together to create a suite of marketing content. Contrast this to the traditional concept of marketing writing in which a single author may be responsible for a particular deliverable or a particular channel.
In a structured, XML-based approach, an author may now be responsible for creating content for a set of common topics that appear across information types or multiple channels. The author may no longer own the content for a whole deliverable; instead the author may be responsible for a piece or a cross-section of a series of information types.
The lack of complete ownership of content can be frustrating for an author. Authors may feel that the value of their contribution is diminished because they cannot specifically point to a complete marketing deliverable.
For years, it has been drummed into our heads that Web-based content has to be written differently than print-based content. Not so. Certainly when authors first began to transition to the Web this was true, but writing standards have improved and well-written content can be used in multiple channels. The look and feel may change, and the level of detail or segments of information may change from channel to channel, but well-written content can be used anywhere.
Effective collaborative authoring is a matter of training and teamwork. Like an athletic team that shows pride and joy in a team win, so can authors. It’s the end goal that counts.
Not Having Visual Control of Content
It is true that when you write using a structured, XML-based approach to creating marketing materials, you have no control over how the content will eventually look. Instead, designers create style sheets that control look and feel. However, organizations have learned that effective Web content is best authored using templates where content can be easily re-skinned to present a fresh look and feel as desired. And most authors of print-based materials write in Word and hand it off to a creative team for design and layout. So while authors don’t have control over the look and feel of their content, this is really no different than current best practices.
Conclusion
Moving to a structured, XML-based approach to marketing increases productivity, reduces costs, and improves time to market. It’s professionally and personally rewarding as well. This approach does involve a change in the way authors work, but with good design, change management, and training, it can be easier than you think.
Consider the following:
- Is it hard to keep track of the most current approved version of content?
- Are your reviewers going crazy keeping up with all the changes they get through e-mail attachments?
- Do you find it difficult to maintain a consistent brand and message across your materials?
- Do you find you are saying the same thing over and over again or the same thing with only slight changes?
- Do you publish to multiple channels?
- Do you address multiple markets with your campaigns?
- Are you hard-pressed to get content out to your markets and channels in a timely manner?
If you answer yes to most of these questions, XML-based marketing may be a solution for you.
