Plato and Aristotle… getting back to the roots of rhetoric (image via image editor – Painting is Scuola di Atene by  Raphael Sanzio)

A few months ago Colleen Jones, principal of Content Science, released Clout, another great book that should be on every content professional’s bookshelf. Colleen has provided an excellent exploration of how to create influential content for the web. The book starts by discussing the foundational principles of influence. The rest focuses on putting these principles into practice: how to plan, follow through, evaluate, and adjust your approach to influential content. It wraps up with a discussion of the ethics of influential content, and a look towards future digital content developments that will make you glad you started developing that competitive edge now.

We grabbed a bit of Colleen’s time to ask her some questions about how she draws on other disciplines for the ideas in the book, why we should learn to love rhetoric again, what mistakes people tend to make, and some of the ways that influential content inspires her and drives her forward.

S/G: The subtitle of your book is “The Art and Science of Influential Web Content” and that’s not just a turn of phrase. In the book you explore the principles of influential content via two disciplines: rhetoric, as the art aspect, and psychology, as the science. How did you come to think of influential content in this way?

Colleen: Two big reasons. One was I studied rhetoric in grad school. I kept using rhetorical principles in my work successfully. But, if I tried to explain to people what I did as rhetoric, they had no idea what I was talking about. So, I saw an opportunity to make those principles practical and usable.

The other big reason was over the past few years, I’ve seen persuasive marketing and design use pushy tactics in the name of cognitive and social psychology. Psychology principles focus more on form than on substance. Psychology, as a simple example, would tell you to have logos and quotes that endorse your product or service. Rhetoric would tell you to have those endorsements be from brands and people that your audience identifies with. For example, Alice.com has a brilliant endorsement from Good Housekeeping. To me, psychology helps with form, while rhetoric helps with substance. They complement each other well.

S/G: The discipline of rhetoric has gotten a little bit of a bad reputation because of its misuse by people who want to manipulate others, and you’re trying to reclaim it by going back to its roots. What would you like people to know about the art of rhetoric to help them appreciate it again?

Colleen: I’d like people to know that they don’t hate rhetoric but the manipulation, and rightly so. We notice rhetoric more when the words don’t match the action behind them, when the promise laid out isn’t fulfilled, when there’s a contrast between what was said and what is really happening. When manipulation happens, it’s the fault of the person doing it, not rhetoric.

And, I want people to know that rhetoric is practical. You don’t have to get into all the depths of theory to get immediate value from it.

S/G: What is the most common mistake people make in the realm of influential content?

Colleen: Going too extreme. Trying to be too pushy or trying to be completely objective in your content are opposite extremes that will fail more often than not. For example of too pushy, I get at least one email from Banana Republic with a discount every day. (I haven’t unsubscribed because I like to observe what companies do.) Although the wording of the emails isn’t too pushy, the frequency is. And, it backfires. I pay little attention to BR email discounts because I know another one is probably on the way.

CDC, on the other hand, at times tries so hard to sound so objective they sound cold. While it’s appropriate for CDC to make their voice credible and professional, it doesn’t have to be inhuman. It’s possible to be scientifically accurate yet personable.

S/G: What influential content inspires you?

Colleen: I like Mint.com, especially as an example of bringing together data and content, then giving it meaning. It’s a fantastic example of helping people make decisions. It’s a deeper and more useful influence than a pithy ad.

S/G: If you could pull some organization aside and make a recommendation for how they could better use influential content, what would you advise ?

Colleen: I’m inspired by the possibilities of electronic health records. They could be like Mint.com for your health, bringing together your personal health data, quality health content, and communications with clinicians. Content strategists can turn that data and content into “meaningfulness,” as you call it. I’m deeply concerned that IT is driving that bus alone. Content strategists need to be brought on board, or else the possibilities for EHRs (and the applications that use them) won’t become reality.

Improving the health care experience through EHRs is deeply important to me. Growing up, I watched my younger brother, Parker, go through the worst possible ordeal. He had a brain tumor that was misdiagnosed for many years as separate conditions, such as migraine headaches. No system was tracking all the signs and symptoms that, together, pointed to a brain tumor. When it was finally diagnosed, surgeons couldn’t operate on it. Parker underwent months of radiation and other treatments. None of them worked. Along the way, there were countless appointments and bills to track. Talking to doctors happened mostly at appointments. There were constant miscommunications among clinicians and between doctors, hospitals, and insurance. All while treatments to help Parker were not working. I’ve never felt so helpless. No one should ever experience that. Ever. If electronic health records reach their potential, no one ever will.

So, I feel an extra sense of urgency to make EHRs work. When EHRs turn data into influential content, they will help patients, clinicians, and other parties in the health system 1. communicate better and 2. make better decisions about diagnosis, treatment, and ongoing care.

If you’re going to Confab next week, come see Colleen at the closing panel, and pick up a copy of Clout.

(Full disclosure: Kristina Halvorson is a friend and colleague. She quotes me in her book and thanks me in the acknowledgements. I still feel comfortable saying: It’s a great book.)

Halvorson’s book is written in an easy, conversational style. It addresses both the reasoning behind the concepts, and the practical application of the discipline. Its broad approach will make it useful for a wide range of web professionals. Here’s what I think different groups of people will get out of it.

• Project Stakeholders: The book makes a great case for Content Strategy. If you have clients or bosses that are hesitant to invest the time or resources it takes to make sure the project has great content, if they think it can be done at the last minute, or they just want to buy cheap content, have them read Halvorson’s book to understand how much better, smarter, and more effective their content could be with a reasonable amount of time and attention.
• Project Planners/Project Managers: If you’re trying to scope, schedule or assign resources to a project, you’ll gain a much better understanding of what’s needed to make sure that content is ready at the same time as the rest of a web project.
• Web Design Generalists: You may be muddling through with the content part of your projects without any real guidance or methodology. This book describes the tasks that should be performed, provides a wealth of practical tips, and poses the questions that need to be answered at each stage of the design process.
• Web Design Specialists: If your organization is large enough for different people to focus just on IA, visual design, functional requirements or content strategy, there’s a need to identify what each person is going to contribute and who’s responsible for which tasks and deliverables. Whichever role you’re in, Halvorson’s book will show you how content touches all parts of a project. Even if you’re not primarily responsible for the content, it’s valuable to understand how the pieces will come together to make a more successful final product.
• Aspiring Content Strategists: If you’re looking to transition into the field of Content Strategy you’ll learn how your experience maps to the responsibilities of a CS, how to speak the language of the practice, and what skills you need to build to be well rounded in your new role. At 172 pages, the book can’t provide every detail to turn you into a Content Strategy expert, but Halvorson includes references to other resources that will be helpful for diving deeper into specific practices.
• Practicing Content Strategists: If you’re a specialist you’ll learn about aspects of the discipline that you might not practice on a regular basis, and you may reassess your strengths and areas of growth. If you’re a generalist you’ll learn which skills you need to build upon to become fully versed in all areas of the practice.

I’m willing to bet most people will think differently about their web content after reading this book. And I’m certain that everyone who reads it will gain new ways of explaining the practice and value of Content Strategy to other people who aren’t familiar with it.

As an added bonus, if you’re in the New York area, the Content Strategy New York City Meetup Group will be hosting a book launch party for Kristina on Tuesday, November 17^th. Come meet the author and a bunch of local content strategists. If you bring your copy of the book, Kristina will sign it for you (but she won’t be selling copies there, so make sure you get it in advance).

Food for the content strategist’s soul. (image via gadl)

The Breakdown: Melissa Joulwan, Senior Content Strategist from Austin, tells us what she’s been reading to keep inspired and maintain her CS edge.

A few months ago, Rachel Lovinger answered the question “What Makes A Content Strategist?”

It got me thinking about the experiences, conversations, and books that shaped my approach to putting the right content in the right places.

I’ve been a writer since my dad hung my first story on his office wall (one-sentence, illustrated in crayon, written at Blue Mountain kindergarten). As content needs have evolved, my thinking has also expanded to embrace interactive content, video, graphics, photography, and social interactions, in addition to the storytelling and wordplay I love.

In no particular order, here’s the list of books that helped me grow from writer to content strategist and are still within arm’s reach for inspiration.

Random House Webster’s Word Menu
What it is:
It’s like a mash-up of a dictionary, a thesaurus, and an almanac, with more than 75,000 entries categorized around 800 subjects. Need to understand electronics terminology? Searching for international synonyms for “house” to describe a conceptual model? The Word Menu can probably help.

Why I like it:
Its relevant for both its content and its structure. For word nerds, it’s an easy-to-use resource to become an instant expert on just about any subject, complete with jargon and related terminology. I once used the Word Menu to pretend to master the language of electronics for a Radio Shack pitch. I schooled the whole team on transducers and circuits; the client was duly impressed. (Ask me about the Data Transducer conceptual model!)

From a structure perspective, it demonstrates the ways people search for and understand information. This single reference acts as a dictionary, thesaurus, reverse dictionary, almanac, and a collection of glossaries, allowing the reader (user) to consume the content from within their individual mental construct.

Rapid Viz
What it is:
It’s a quick-read instruction manual and workbook to help non-drawers share ideas visually. Emphasizing speed and simplicity over technique, it requires only pen and paper and good ideas for the artistically-challenged to hold their own with more visually-oriented thinkers.

Why I like it:
My drawing skills? Mostly nonexistent. But in our work, much of what we do needs to be communicated quickly on a whiteboard with a group that could include designers, illustrators, animators, technologists, account people, and more. The easiest way to make sure everyone is visualizing the same thing is to draw it. Rapid Viz provides a hands-on class in just 150 fun-to-consume pages.

Elements of Style
What it is:
It’s the most cited, best-known treatment of English grammar and usage, detailing eight elementary usage rules, 10 composition principles, a few matters of form, and a list of commonly misused words and expressions.

Why I like it:
Strunk & White are 100% convinced theyre right, and they leave no wiggle room which I believe gives writers the freedom to consider the S&W way, and to choose another path.

To be fair, most of the time, S&W are right. Simpler is better. Clarity is king. And when a writer does opt for another way, that deviation sings and sparkles in contrast to its Spartan surroundings. My advice? Read it once a year as a refresher.

Understanding Comics
What it is:
It’s a comic book about comics. So meta! Author Scott McCloud explains the visual language of comics, both as entertainment/art and as a communications medium for effective storytelling.

Why I like it:
There are strong parallels between storytelling in comics and way-finding online. In a comic, much of the narrative happens between the panels, and it’s up to the author and artist to provide the right context and the right paths through the content to deliver the story to the reader. That should sound familiar to anyone tasked with creating an interactive, digital experience.

The book’s seventh chapter, which outlines a six-part creative process, is particularly valuable for helping teams create a shared sense of how to get from initial assignment through concept and production to launch.

Cook’s Illustrated
What it is:
It’s the anti-glossy food mag, a sepia-toned, bi-monthly that includes recipes, cooking techniques, and product recommendations based on the kitchen action featured on the TV show America’s Test Kitchen.

Why I like it:
Cook’s Illustrated is a master class in how to deliver a voice and tone that effectively communicates with the reader and defines an unmistakable brand. Marrying the scientific method with a true passion for food (and a wry sense of humor), a CI recipe could never be confused with a recipe from anyone else.

“Ever since pineapple came to town, apple upside-down cake has been a bit player. A successful comeback would require a flavorful topping and just the right kind of cake.”

Choose Your Own Adventure books: The Cave of Time
What it is:
The Choose Your Own Adventure books, first published in the late ’70s, are young adult novels that put the reader in the protagonist role. At every plot turn, the reader selects the next action, and the plot branches, leading to more decisions and to multiple possible endings.

Why I like it:
I remember reading this book in third grade and loving the idea that I got to pick what would happen next. It was fascinating to see how the plot fit together like a Rubik’s Cube, and I flipped back and forth, systematically working my way through the options because I wanted to see how each choice played out. From a content strategy perspective, these books are a tangible reminder that end users are calling the shots (or should be calling the shots) in an interactive digital experience.

Chicago Manual of Style
What it is:
The Chicago Manual of Style (known as simply “Chicago” around a newsroom) is a grammar and usage style guide for American English. It’s been the so-thick-it-doubles-as-a-weapon standard since 1906.

Why I like it:
The rules! More detailed than AP Style and even more persnickety than Strunk & White’s Elements, the Chicago Manual of Style has answers to questions about usage that I didn’t know I had.

It was challenging to narrow my selections to this meager handful of titles. Some of the other books that are worth dissecting to extract the useful bits are AP Style, any epistolary novel (I’m partial to Willie Collins’s The Woman In White because it’s one of the first mystery novels.), Wired Style (Did you know Wired declared internet a common noun in 2004?), DRAW! from the authors of Rapid Viz, and the vampire grammar series that bloomed around The Transitive Vampire.

Now that I’ve shown you mine… what are the books you turn to for a metaphorical kick in the seat of the pants?