Too many organizations today rely on outdated or inefficient content distribution. Content should be treated as a business asset worthy of being produced efficiently, repurposed effectively and translated prescriptively. Not scattered like seeds with the hope it will grow new business.
Do you have a Contenteur? Likely not. What’s needed is to think about content strategically and assign accountability. A Contenteur is the individual at the forefront where content, channels and consumers intersect, delivering compelling customer experiences that drive new revenue opportunities. The individual that orchestrates business initiatives that leverage technology, optimized operations and calibrates multi-channel content delivery.
Even if you don’t have a Contenteur, there are three “ingredients” or strategies to address inefficient content distribution:
CONTENT OWNER
Start by simply asking “who owns content here?” Too many goals lead to one-off content. Put someone in overall charge of content. Establishing a more holistic view of content production, redundancies and inconsistencies will expose opportunities to address them. Trend is growing towards a Customer Experience owner; why not partner them with the Content Owner to fuel memorable and economically sustainable customer experiences?
Without a content strategy, and in spite of best intentions, content can become channel-centric instead of customer-centric.
CONTENT STRATEGY
Content strategy defines how you are going to use content to meet business objectives and satisfy consumer needs. It ensures that a clear, specific purpose for each content area and evaluates it against this purpose. And content will be created with the goal of making it reusable, rather than by someone who imagines it for a particular channel, product or location.
Curation is key to delivering accurate and sustainable content.
CONTENT CURATION
Curation guides decisions about content throughout its lifecycle, from concept to archival. Enforce practices that ensure that content will not be internally published or syndicated without a support plan results in a reduced amount of orphaned and stale content contributing to the overall bloat of information. Sustainable content is content you can create and maintain without impacting quality.
Our fragmented online environment makes it difficult to scale and maintain relevant customer experiences and the resulting inefficiencies. Consumers and experts tell us that more content is not always the answer. More content can overwhelm consumers and lose their attention.
When you deploy your unique blend of the three content ingredients – ownership, strategy and curation – you will take a measured step toward creating economically sustainable content, but more importantly, delivering relevant and memorable consumer experiences.
About the Author
Anne Cole
Senior Vice President Product Content
RateGain
Anne is an accomplished content strategist and travel distribution executive with 25+ years of experience in the travel & hospitality industry. In her current role, she leads the global strategy and innovation for DHSICO Content. Prior to Joining RateGain, Anne has played innovative leadership roles with Fortune 500 and industry recognized brands such as American Airlines, Hilton Worldwide, Sabre and Wyndham Worldwide. Anne currently serves as HEDNA Executive Committee Vice President and was a former member of Open Travel Alliance Board of Directors.
ABOUT DHISCO CONTENT
DHISCO Content enables hoteliers to easily manage the complexities of content management and global delivery of robust content to travel sellers that convert shoppers into guests. DHISCO’s content management transforms and distributes content for 500+ hotel brands with millions of images and over 125,000+ properties with native language descriptive content. It has made approximately 11,000 brand changes in the last year keeping all brand flags synchronized. To start your multilingual strategy and to unlock revenue everyday with DHISCO Content, contact Anne.Cole@dhisco.com
