Johns Hopkins University Content Strategy Initiative

Johns Hopkins University:
Managing an Identity Initiative, Redesign
and Content Strategy All at Once
AHAVA LEIBTAG
PRESIDENT
AHA MEDIA GROUP, LLC
@ahavaL @laurenish
LAUREN CUSTER
DIRECTOR, DIGITAL STRATEGY
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

@ahavaL @laurenish #confabedu
RealityPerception

CHALLENGES

Hard to update
Content management is not possible

Measuring success is not
easy when the resources
are not in place

Mobile not-so-friendly view

Navigation is not intuitive

Google Custom Search is not tuned properly

HOW ARE WE
(NOT)
TELLING THE
UNIVERSITY’S STORY?

About Johns Hopkins University

Does this school have my major?

Can I get in? Can I afford it?

Speak to too many audiences
None of them well

SO, NOW WHAT?

JHU.edu is one of the
most visible
manifestations of our
brand
We need to:
• Define our audience
• Tell the university’s story
• Encourage engagement
• Create gateways
• Implement workflow and
governance!

CONTENT IS A CONVERSATION.

WHO ARE WE TALKING
TO?

WHO ARE WE?

CONTENT REVEALS
TO THE WORLD WHO
WE ARE.

CONTENT STRATEGY
EXTERNAL MESSAGING INTERNAL WORKFLOW

CONTENT IS THE
CONVERSATION THAT FUELS
THE SALES PROCESS.

CONTENT IS A SHARED ASSET.

ANY GOOD NEWS YET?

CONTENT STRATEGY= THE GPS

New Johns Hopkins University Identity
Please visit identity.jhu.edu for the whole story!

STEP BY STEP PROCESS
• Discovery
• Personas
• Pillars
• Messaging Architecture
• Voice/Tone

DISCOVERY
• 8 primary stakeholders
• Interviewed 17 stakeholders from different
parts of the university
• Ran surveys on Facebook and from the email
newsletter

Presented Discovery to Core
Team

PERSONAS
• Ran a persona workshop where we created 6 distinct
personas
• Chose 3 ultimately
• Went back and did parent research to confirm our parent
personas (interviewed 7 parents)
• Talked to admissions to confirm our student personas

PILLARS
Brainstorming session that gives the primary
stakeholders an opportunity to express what
they currently think the perception of the
brand is, as well as what they would like the
brand to become.

Example of Shifting the
Brand
Scientific
Amazing Research that Changes the
World

MESSAGING ARCHITECTURE
1. Gives priority to your business objectives
2. Gives you firm documentation for
explaining why certain content—and
messages—need to come first

Current Identity Pillars Want to move
the identity
pillars
Messaging Statement Business Objective
Collaborative Teamwork  Our specialists collaborate across
disciplines to provide you with
personalized care
 Collaboration across
disciplines
Approachable Approachable  Our doctors are genuine
 We are the opposite of stuff: We call
our doctors by their first names
 Accessibility
Expert Expert Leaders  We provide complex care
 We provide excellence in research and
education resulting in innovation
 An academic medical center provides a
higher-level of diagnostic and
treatment care
 Expand geographic
reach
 Excellence in
research and
education
 AMC
Fractionated Patient-
centered
 We put patients first
 Our specialists travel to the community
to make it easier for you to come to us
 Fast access
 Specialists in the
community

Six slots on each card interlock for building the
house of cards of your dreams.

5 RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Prepare for the politics
2. Clarify the tools
3. Define the roles
4. Manage the communications
5. Maintain momentum

#1: PREPARE FOR
THE POLITICS

RESPECT THE NEWNESS OF THE
PROCESS
• People feel ownership over their process
• When you introduce a new process, be
prepared for questions about the process
itself, not just the content strategy parts of
the process

Recommendation
Change is VERY scary:
You need to manage that fear.

#2. CLARIFY THE
TOOLS

Content strategy is a mystery to
most people.

DON’T GIVE ANYONE ANYTHING
TO READ

Establish
Content
Governance
Content
Analysis
Content
Creation
Establishing
workflows
Content
Planning
• Persona
Development
• Messaging
Architecture
• Identity Pillar
Identification
Build OR
clarify the
business
case
Content
Auditing
Discovery

Recommendation
• Explain how each tool will be used
each time you begin the workshops
to create it
• Don’t get bogged down in the exact
wording during the workshops
• Try to emphasize that it will take
time for these ideas to marinate

#3: DEFINE THE
ROLES

Filter the team
1. What’s the job of the consultant? What’s the
job of each person on the team?
1. Who are the best people to be involved in all
aspects of the process? Manage
accordingly.

Define Digital
• Define what people’s backgrounds are
in the web and digital
• Consider going out together for an
icebreaker to get to know each other
in a different way
• Understand that education is an
ongoing part of the process

Understand group dynamics

Recommendation
Ask?
• Who is there to give feedback?
• Who is there to be a stakeholder?
Prompt stakeholders for specific types of
feedback, understanding you don’t need to take
every piece of feedback they give.

#4: MANAGE THE
COMMUNICATIONS

Pick the right point person
• This person guides the internal process
and frequently engages with the
consultant
• It could be an editor, project manager, or
strategist; someone with proven editorial
skillset who understands content planning

Content Strategy Point
Person
Find the person who can clearly define
and articulate the content needs as
they align to the business objectives

Project Management
• Hold the team accountable to their to-do list
• Connect the dots within the project, and related projects
• Ensure the right people are in the right conversation
• Assign deadlines and enforce them with everything in your
being

Recommendation
• Provide weekly status updates on both ends
– Don’t rely on a project management system to
keep in touch with the team
– Tools can help team be collaborative, but that
doesn’t make it collaboration
– Determine what works for you and your team

#5: KEEP
MOMENTUM

KEEP ENGAGEMENTS SHORT & TIGHT

Recommendation
Stakeholder interview process should be a
separate part of the timeframe

How do you keep the sense of
momentum going?
Establish
Content
Governance
Content
Analysis
Content
Creation
Establishing
workflows
Content
Planning
• Persona Development
• Messaging Architecture
• Identity Pillar
Identification
Build OR
clarify the
business
case
Content
Auditing
Discovery
YOU ARE
HERE

Recommendation

THE ONLY EASY DAY
WAS YESTERDAY.
-NAVY SEAL CREDO

QUESTIONS?
Ahava Leibtag Lauren Custer
Aha Media Group, LLC Johns Hopkins University
ahava@ahamediagroup.com lauren.custer@gmail.com
ahavaL @laurenish

Johns Hopkins University Content Strategy Initiative

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