When it Comes to Content, Think Consumers First

Posted on 01. Dec, 2008 by Camilla Sullivan

Sitting down to work on our website content strategy for 2009, our discussion quickly dove to the core questions at the heart of things:

• “What do home buyers and sellers want to know?”
• “What information is useful enough for them to spend their time on?”
• “How has the market changed most recently and how can we best adjust what we provide to reflect that?”

In a quickly changing market, consumers are even more powerful and have the ability to nimbly pick and choose across the world of information at their fingertips. They will only spend their time with information that addresses a specific need — generic, “one-size-fits–all” content just won’t do.  That’s why I’ve been spending time planning content that will be relevant to home buyers and sellers in today’s market.

To assist with the task I was lucky enough to meet with designer Stephen Saint-Onge, a Better Homes and Gardens® magazine regular. We discussed creating practical advice, makeovers and style tips that will help home owners and sellers present their homes in a most appealing way. We also covered improvements most likely to pay off and unlock the true potential of homes in practical ways. In today’s economy, it’s more about how to you create a personal space you love to live in or, if you’re moving, how to highlight the best features your house has to offer that doesn’t require a celebrity’s budget.

It made me think about the auto industry and how taking your eye off of emerging consumer demands for even just for a few product development cycles can quickly put you in a position of playing catch up.  If you don’t look after consumer needs, someone else will.

I’m excited about the programs we are putting together for the coming year – and am reminding myself to constantly challenge assumptions and the status quo to make sure that consumers are at the center of our content design strategy. If that means revisiting our editorial calendar more often than we would have in the past, then we’ll just get used to being busier!

Posted by Camilla Sullivan in Real estate Tags: Better Homes and Gardens, Buyers, Content Strategy, Economy, Editorial, Product Development, Sellers, Stephen Saint-Onge