The Content Strategy Podcast

The Content Strategy Podcast

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A podcast for people who care about content. Join host Kristina Halvorson and guests for a show dedicated to the practice (and occasional art form) of content strategy. Learn more at www.contentstrategy.com.

Kristina Halvorson


    • Apr 30, 2024 LATEST EPISODE
    • monthly NEW EPISODES
    • 34m AVG DURATION
    • 69 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from The Content Strategy Podcast

    Episode 69: Sara Wachter-Boettcher - Taking responsibility for how you show up in the workplace

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 30, 2024 44:25


    Kristina Halvorson chats to Sara Wachter-Boettcher about the challenges content professionals face in the workplace. They discuss the need for validation, the importance of setting goals within your control and explain the window of tolerance. Sara also introduces a new workshop series, the Manager's Playbook, which focuses on improving relationships and communication in the workplace.

    Episode 68: Nikki Godley and Rob MacFie - Maturing content and design at scale

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 16, 2024 44:24


    Kristina Halvorson interviews Rob MacFie and Nikki Godley from Wise about their work in scaling content and design across the organization. They cover the challenges of rapid growth and the need to create a clear mission and principles for the team. Rob and Nikki explain the process of developing a career map and discuss the importance of creating pay parity across disciplines. The chat reveals how storytelling has played a role in communicating impact and creating influence to build a user-centred culture. It's jam packed with advice and examples.

    Episode 67: Trisha Causley and Maria Hofstetter - Content design and AI

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 19, 2024 43:36


    Kristina Halvorson interviews Trisha Causley and Maria Hofstetter, both content designers at Shopify. They discuss the role of large language models (LLMs) in AI, the importance of prompts and instructions in guiding LLMs, and the potential career paths for content designers in the AI field. There's practical advice and examples, bringing clarity and valuable discussion to an ever important topic for those working in content and UX.

    Episode 66: Jeff Eaton - The importance of observability in assessing content

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 27, 2024 39:30


    In this episode, Kristina Halvorson interviews Jeff Eaton, a partner at Autogram. They share the challenges organizations face in content production and management and discuss the importance of observability in assessing content quality and effectiveness. The conversation leads to the key roles needed in content strategy and to the importance of starting with small pilot projects to gather data and build confidence before implementing large-scale changes. Plus, Kristina and Jeff find time to chat about the role of storytelling in strategy and the need to articulate a theory of change.

    assessing observability kristina halvorson jeff eaton
    Episode 65: Erica Jorgensen - The value and impact of content work

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 30, 2024 34:39


    Kristina Halvorson interviews Erica Jorgensen, a content designer and author of the book "Strategic Content Design: Tools and Research Techniques for Better UX." They discuss the role of content designers in organizations and the need to demonstrate the value of content. Erica emphasizes the need to use data and analytics to measure the impact of content work and provides insights and advice on documenting content patterns, collaborating with stakeholders, and leveraging data to drive business impact. She also shares her thoughts on the future of content strategy and the importance of content designers taking on leadership roles within organizations.

    jorgensen kristina halvorson
    Episode 64: Meghan Casey - Improving approaches to content with collaboration and curiosity

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 16, 2024 41:18


    Kristina Halvorson and Meghan Casey, two of the field's most experienced practitioners, interview each other for the Content Strategy Podcast. They discuss the importance of collaboration and fostering curiosity, effective listening and common points of friction within an organization. The chat also covers the challenges of working with non-content leaders, the current state of the content strategy field and advice and insights to help leaders evolve their content process maturity.

    Episode 63: Kaysie Garza - A multidisciplinary approach to content at Hotjar

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 6, 2023 43:28


    Kaysie Garza, Content Design Lead at Hotjar, discusses the role of content design within the organization and its collaboration with other teams. Kaysie delves into communicating research effectively, a collaborative approach to naming and offers advice for hiring content designers. The conversation delves into the structure of user experiences at Hotjar, with a focus on enterprise level customer journeys and the evolving nature of these journeys based on strategic research.

    Episode 62: Mark McCormick - Content strategy and the customer experience

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 15, 2023 45:08


    Mark McCormick, a retired content strategy and customer experience leader. He joins Kristina on the Content Strategy Podcast where they discuss the importance of content strategy and its evolution over the years. Mark shares his insights on the roles and processes of content strategists and emphasizes the need for content strategists to see themselves as leaders. They also cover the white paper Mark wrote on content strategy and its major sections, as well as discussing content as a strategic asset and advantage and enterprise content strategy.

    Episode 61: Morgan Marie Quinn - Getting to grips with large language models

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 10, 2023 46:03


    Morgan Marie Quinn is a Content Design leader at Google where she oversees content teams across Bard and Google Assistant. Morgan joins Kristina to talk about all things large language models (LLMs) and generative AI. From defining LLMs, accuracy, vulnerabilities and governance, this episode has it all direct from someone at the forefront of this new era for content design.

    Episode 60: Keri Maijala - Building and leading a content practice at LinkedIn

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 26, 2023 43:51


    Keri Maijala has been in the user experience space for more than 20 years. Currently leading a content design team at LinkedIn, Keri has a wealth of knowledge and experience which she shares in her chat with Kristina. No topic was off limits as they chatted about content skill sets and roles, the evolution of content and UX terminology, the invisible work of content design and connecting the dots between business goals and content design.

    Episode 59: Aladrian Goods - The role of content in generative AI

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 11, 2023 34:49


    Aladrian Goods leads the content design team at Intuit. Aladrian has lots of experience and advice for aligning content with other disciplines, connecting the dots between teams and getting people to experience the value of content design. As if that's not enough reason to listen in, Aladrian also has plenty to share about the role of content in generative AI and how the field of content design is evolving. A must listen? You bet.

    Episode 58: Chris Baty - UX writing, content and product design

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 27, 2023 38:27


    Chris Baty joined Figma as their first ever UX writer. Now he is the Head of UX Writing, leading a team at the intersection of content, UX and product design. Chris talks to Kristina about growing the UX writing team at Figma, the business value of UX writing and using data to inform your work and decisions. He also accidentally founded National Novel Writing Month, which you likely know as NaNoWriMo and used to work at Dropbox. All of these experiences are connected and discussed in the latest episode of the Content Strategy Podcast.

    Episode 57: Peter Merholz - The maturity of content and design disciplines

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 13, 2023 35:55


    Peter Merholz works with organizations of all sizes across different sectors. He sees first hand how they are unique and where they are similar when it comes to design, content and UX. Peter joins Kristina to discuss the intersection of these disciplines, their maturity and how they are perceived by leadership.

    Episode 56: Kara DeFrias - Content strategy and the power of storytelling

    Play Episode Listen Later May 9, 2023 34:39


    Kara DeFrias has written for Vice Presidents, was part of the California Covid Task Force for the first 100 days of the pandemic and has worked on the Super Bowl, Oscars and Emmys. And that's not the full list of accomplishments and career milestones. With so much experience, it was inevitable Kristina would invite Kara to the podcast. Plus they first became connected in quite extraordinary circumstances that forged a friendship of mutual respect and a shared love of Broadway.

    Episode 55: Katherine Karaus - Getting hired and career progression in content and UX

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 25, 2023 32:18


    Katherine Karaus knows what it takes to find your ideal job in content and UX and to know your own worth. Katherine shares lots of practical advice with Kristina Halvorson about competitive differentiation when job hunting, building and maintaining a strong personal brand and content and UX portfolios. They also cover salary negotiation, cover letters and elevator pitches. It's jam packed with tips to help you and your career.

    Episode 54: Ann Rockley - Reflecting on a career in content

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 28, 2023 39:16


    Ann Rockley is known as the “mother” of content strategy.  She has an international reputation for establishing the field in content strategy. In her chat with Kristina, Ann shared some of her experience and advice from decades of experience in content including creating a methodology for content, ways of effectively communicating with people, content modeling, measuring content and so much more.

    Episode 53: Are Halland - Understanding and using the core model

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 14, 2023 26:43


    Are Halland is the inventor of the core model, a framework for working together to create better content for digital products and services. In this episode, Are shares the origins of the core model and describes the components of the model in detail, along with how it can be used. Along the way, Are and Kristina chat about getting alignment across an organization, how to stop jumping to solutions first and bringing research into content conversations and decision-making.

    Episode 52: Noz Urbina - Content and the customer journey

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 28, 2023 30:26


    Noz Urbina has decades of experience in content. He's especially interested in omnichannel strategies and how the sum of the parts work together to support the user's journey. In his conversation with Kristina Halvorson, Noz covers personalization, delivering effective customer experiences, customer journey mapping, content in the pharma sector and some quick but thought-provoking opinions on content, AI and the Metaverse.

    ai metaverse customer journey noz kristina halvorson noz urbina
    Episode 51: Joanne Ward - Leading content strategy at scale

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 14, 2023 31:18


    Joanne Ward believes a good content experience is critical to the customer experience. In her chat with Kristina, Jo talks about leading content strategy at scale as part of Salesforce's evolving content practice. They cover collaborating with other disciplines, advocacy, and the importance of technical writing. Across the entire conversation, there's a focus on creating task focused and user centered content.

    Episode 50: Corey Vilhauer - Demystifying content strategy

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 13, 2022 35:35


    Corey Vilhauer shares with Kristina Halvorson how he moved from being a marketing and ad copywriter into content strategy and leadership. They pack plenty of topics into the chat including how to communicate with clients, driving meaningful conversations about content and aligning around a shared language and understanding. They also reveal their passion projects.

    Episode 49: Sarah Winters - Unpacking content strategy and content design

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 6, 2022 37:22


    Sarah Winters takes us from the beginnings of her career in content, through to the future plans for Content Design London. Along the way, Sarah and Kristina chat about content strategy, content design and related disciplines. They touch on codifying content design as a practice, industry definitions, ownership and measuring success of content strategy and the hierarchy of content roles within organizations.

    Episode 48: David Dylan Thomas - Understanding design, content and bias

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 22, 2022 36:06


    David Dylan Thomas is a founder, author and speaker who is an expert on designing for cognitive bias. In his conversation with Kristina, David shares his experience and insights on patterns in representation, assumption audits, designing for bad outcomes and the need for meaningful conversations about bias.

    Episode 47: Sarah Etter, Procore - Building reputation, visibility and value for content

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 15, 2022 31:44


    Sarah Etter, Senior Manager of Content Design at Procore offers an abundance of practical advice based on years of experience as a content practitioner. From embedding content designers across an organization and ensuring a design system is content oriented to scaling content design. The chat also touches on writing globally and inclusively, demonstrating ROI for content design and establishing a content operations governance model. That's not even the full list of topics packed into this episode, all with examples and top tips.

    Episode 46: Candi Williams, Bumble - Leading content teams and inclusive content projects

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 1, 2022 33:42


    Candi Williams is an experienced content leader who cares deeply about community, diversity and inclusivity. In her chat with Kristina, they talk about building and leading a content team, the importance of connecting with peers, the need for effective onboarding and examples of inclusive content projects.

    Episode 45: Torrey Podmajersky, Google - Demonstrating value as a UX practitioner

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 15, 2022 34:27


    Torrey Podmajersky is a UX Writer at Google and author of Strategic Writing for UX with plenty of experience in establishing a career in content and UX. Torrey talks to Kristina about getting hired into content and UX roles, what the UX practice at Google looks like, and how to demonstrate value and make an impact as a UX writer.

    Episode 44: Cruce Saunders, [A] - Content systems and customer journeys

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 23, 2021 32:16


    Cruce Saunders and the [A] team work with the largest and most complex enterprise content publishers. They know how complex content can be and have experience untangling the mess. Cruce brings his wisdom to the Content Strategy Podcast to talk about content transformation, unifying customer journeys through content, and establishing a true organization-wide shared vision around content. Plus his thoughts on the topic of evolving content roles and disciplines.

    Episode 43: Vidhika Bansal, Intuit - Intentional language for better experiences

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 12, 2021 25:47


    The language we choose is an important part of the user experiences we create. Vidhika Bansal, UX Manager at Intuit cares deeply about language for the audience and also when communicating internally. She talks to Kristina about connecting language to decision making, using language as a tool for acceptance and belonging and the importance of avoiding bias in data when making content-related decisions.

    Episode 42: Chelsea Larsson, Zendesk - Tactics to advocate for content design

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 28, 2021 32:00


    Establishing and growing a content design practice requires strong leadership and teamwork. Chelsea Larsson shares how she has grown such a practice at Zendesk and offers some tactics to help advocate for content designers. There's also an insight into the content design team structure at Zendesk and peer mentorship. And let's not forget the part of the chat which was all about bears.

    Episode 41: Tenessa Gemelke, Brain Traffic - Tips for delivering a stellar talk proposal

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 14, 2021 31:46


    As Program Manager at Brain Traffic, Tenessa Gemelke has reviewed thousands of conference talk proposals. In this episode of the Content Strategy Podcast, Tenessa offers her top tips for what to talk about and how to pitch it. There's also a potted history of Confab: The Content Strategy Conference and musings about the caring content community.

    proposal delivering stellar brain traffic traffic tips
    Episode 40: Gord Roberts, Bank of Canada - Governance, collaboration and good practices

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 31, 2021 33:07


    Gord Roberts loves website content strategy and instilling good practices for successful collaboration on content. As Manager of Web Content Strategy at the Bank of Canada, Gord shares his thoughts on connecting silos for unified content strategy and the relationship between content operations and design. Gord has experience leading a team through a pandemic, delivering crisis comms and making a case for content strategy.

    Episode 39: Alexa Apallas, PayPal - Advancing into content leadership

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 17, 2021 28:39


    Alexa Apallas was one of the first five content strategy leads at PayPal. Alexa talks to Kristina about her path into content and what it takes to advance to a content leadership role. Alexa also shares how content designers collaborate with product for a better customer experience, getting people to care about content and content success stories at PayPal.

    Episode 38: Preston So, Oracle - Designing usable voice content

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 3, 2021 36:31


    Preston So shares his thoughts and advice for new ways of delivering content. He offers examples and insights into omni-channel content audits, thinking about audiences holistically and techniques for enabling content strategy whatever the channel and format.

    Episode 37: John Collins, Atlassian - Maturing content disciplines

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 20, 2021 34:03


    With experience in technical writing, UX writing, content strategy and content design, John Collins shares his thoughts on maturing content disciplines. In his chat with Kristina John also talks about centralizing and scaling Atlassian's content practice, content titles versus content roles and demonstrating the value of content work.

    Episode 36: Helen Lawson, Co-op Funeral - The importance of empathetic language, voice and tone

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 13, 2021 34:18


    When communicating about difficult topics, like death, using the right words, voice and tone is essential. Helen Lawson shares how she approaches this with empathy at Co-op Funeralcare to ensure clarity in their communication. Helen also gives an insight into leading on the change of language, building self-serve products and why avoiding euphemisms in content is necessary.

    Episode 35: Erica Jorgensen, Microsoft - How research and content strategy work together at Microsoft

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 6, 2021 34:02


    Erica Jorgensen offers an insight into content practices at Microsoft. From more content not being better, ensuring content is an asset and the relationship between content and brand. Erica's chat with Kristina covers using style guides to talk the same language across teams, the way that content works with research and testing and measuring content.

    Episode 34: Jonathan McFadden, Red Ventures - Working towards an inclusive and diverse industry

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 29, 2021 33:51


    Jonathan McFadden moved into content strategy to solve problems and help people. He talks about using content strategy for change by advocating for underrepresented users, building designated spaces of inclusion and ultimately working towards an inclusive and diverse industry.

    Episode 33: Jordan Craig, Twitter - Scaling content design at Twitter

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 21, 2021 34:03


    Jordan Craig has worked at Twitter for 18 months as the lead of their content design team. Jordan shares her experience of growing the team, managing Twitter's terminology, using AI for style guidance, finding a community and creating paths into content design.

    Episode 32: Andy Welfle, Adobe - Building a content design discipline at Adobe

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 14, 2021 34:17


    When Andy Welfle joined Adobe four years ago he got to work founding and building their content design practice. He now manages a growing team and talks about the relationship between content design and UX writing, content as part of a design system and equitable terminology in tech.

    Episode 31: Robert Mills, GatherContent - Content Operations

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 4, 2019 32:48


    Kristina welcomes Robert Mills of GatherContent to talk about his experience as head of content for GatherContent. He talks about what content ops is, not just in the context of his team's product but also as part of a larger conversation about the field of content strategy. Rob also shares how he handles content operations internally at GatherContent (how very meta).

    Episode 30: Beth Dunn, HubSpot - UX Writing and Full-Stack Content Design at HubSpot

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 14, 2019 31:45


    As the UX operations lead at HubSpot, Beth Dunn applies a content strategy lens to the way she's helping lead the company's UX practice. In this episode, she and Kristina talk about how HubSpot defines UX operations and design, how she's working to advance the practice, and how teams can get aligned on terminology and goals.

    Episode 29: Bram Wessel, Factor - User-Centered Enterprise IA

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 29, 2019 36:47


    Bram Wessel is a co-founder of Factor, a Seattle-based consultancy that brings user-centered design principles and practice to enterprise-scale information problems. In this episode, he breaks down the types of taxonomy problems many large orgs face, including problems with findability, site search, and navigation. Bram's work aims to cater to how customers think, applying user research to ensure everyone is speaking the same language through information.

    Episode 28: Abby Covert, Etsy - How to Make Sense of Any Mess

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 17, 2019 29:33


    Abby Covert, better known as Abby the IA, returns to the show for a repeat appearance to talk about information architecture, her influential book, How to Make Sense of Any Mess, and life in the design world as a new mom (congratulations!). In this episode, she breaks down the steps to information architecture as outlined in her book, and shares some real-world stories of sensemaking from her readers.

    Episode 27: Ryan Skinner, Forrester - How to Treat Content as a Business Asset

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 24, 2019 32:03


    Ryan Skinner is the principal marketing analyst at Forrester, where he advises enterprise clients on content marketing activities through a strategic lens. In this episode, he and Kristina talk about the blind spots marketers (or sometimes entire companies) have when it comes to the customer experience, specifically in creating content that ties back to both the user needs and business goals. Ryan offers advice for those tasked with shifting an organization to a more strategic approach to content as a business asset, including specific examples of things to start on first. Kristina also pitches an exciting new idea for podcast merch. (Okay, we'll tell you. It's a bobble head.)

    Episode 26: Christine Polewarczyk, SiriusDecisions - Enterprise Content Strategy and Operations

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 3, 2019 36:44


    Christine is the Service Director of Content Strategy and Operations at SiriusDecisions. In this week's podcast, she describes the Content Transformation Roadmap she uses to identify the strategy, people, processes, and technology needed to achieve these milestones. She also shares some thoughts on the definitions of “content marketing” and “content strategy” in B2B environments. (Kristina gets VERY excited.)

    Episode 25: Rebekah Baggs and Chris Corak, Onward - Integrating Content Strategy and SEO

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 14, 2019 30:47


    This week, Kristina discovers that user-centered SEO isn't just some magic you sprinkle on finished web copy right before hitting publish. After clashing on projects and stepping on each others' toes, Chris Corak (an SEO) and Rebekah Baggs (a content and UX strategist) found smarter ways to integrate their work and create helpful, relevant web experiences that are search-engine friendly, too.

    Episode 24: Dana DiTomaso, Kick Point - Marketing and Measuring Content

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 1, 2019 30:47


    Dana DiTomaso joins Kristina this week to stray only slightly from the topic of content strategy—this time diving into the world of marketing and measuring content performance. As president and partner at Kick Point, an Edmonton-based digital marketing agency, Dana works with clients to untangle their varied and sometimes disjointed marketing efforts. In this episode, she shares specific tools her team uses to analyze content consumption and build more data-based and customer-centric marketing strategies.

    marketing measuring edmonton dana ditomaso kick point
    Episode 23: Mike Petroff and Aaron Baker, Harvard University - Democratizing Data at Harvard

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 16, 2019 35:50


    Mike Petroff and Aaron Baker have teamed up to create a custom editorial analytics dashboard called “Scoop,” which they use to serve the content teams at Harvard University and the online version of The Harvard Gazette. Their goal? To give power back to the content creators, using data to answer their questions and help make informed decisions about content. Instead of just number crunching, they're able to use data to tell a cohesive story about content performance and get to the questions that really matter, like “Is this content really working?” and “What do our users actually need?”

    Episode 22: Tina O'Shea, QuickBooks - How Content Teams Work at QuickBooks

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 18, 2019 34:09


    This week, Tina O'Shea (Director, Content Design & Strategy at QuickBooks) talks in depth about how content design went from being “just writing the words” to a key part of the QuickBooks product design process. She describes her team structure, and how she won executive support for their contributions to design. She also digs into how they created the QuickBooks voice and tone guide—and how they're making sure it's getting used across the global company. 

    Episode 21: Lou Rosenfeld, Rosenfeld Media - Industry Leadership in a Time of Change

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 5, 2019 37:03


    Author, publisher, conference organizer, and all-around renaissance man Lou Rosenfeld talks shop about writing the first book on IA, watching the evolution of design practices, and how he's helping to keep people at the forefront of their respective industries.

    Episode 20: Cruce Saunders, [A] - Enterprise Content Publishing

    Play Episode Listen Later May 21, 2019 32:50


    Cruce Saunders joins Kristina this week to talk about multi-channel content publishing at the enterprise level. He describes how enterprises are starting (or hopefully starting) to take a more holistic approach to their content and customer experiences, moving away from the “content center of excellence” approach present in so many large organizations. He also shares some thoughts on content marketing in general—what's working and what isn't.

    Episode 19: Karen Cross, Atlassian - Building a Content Design Team

    Play Episode Listen Later May 7, 2019 25:52


    Karen Cross is head of content design at Atlassian, an Australian-based company known for their suite of software development and collaboration tools like Trello and Jira. Karen's work to build a centralized content design team at Atlassian has unified their various product teams and finally brought writers and designers working together. The ultimate goal? More efficiency and better experiences for their customers. In this episode, Karen describes some of the tactics she's used to build this new team, and some of the challenges she's overcome along the way.

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