Winning Content by Leen Jones

As promised, here is the annotated list of resources from my presentation at IA Summit 2009: Usable, INFLUENTIAL Content: We Can Have It All. Enjoy!

Rhetoric & Persuasion

Rhetoric is the study of using language persuasively or effectively.

• Argumentation: The Study of Effective Reasoning
  Part of The Teaching Company series, this rich course by David Zarefsky offers a wealth of tools to form clear arguments and identify suspect ones. You’ll never be fooled by a red herring again.
  
• Audience & Rhetoric
  Don’t knock this book because it’s a tad academic.  Sure, James Porter uses Foucault’s method to deconstruct the relationship of audience to author through the history of rhetoric, starting with Aristotle. But I swear it’s fascinating…and highly relevant. (Editorial content vs user generated content, anyone?) In the end, he concludes that all audiences participate in forums within formal and informal discourse communities.  To truly understand and reach an audience, he recommends finding and studying its forum.
• Crimes Against Logic
  This pithy book exposes the weaknesses in common arguments from politicians, journalists, and more.
• Dynamics in Document Design
  My technical communication roots are showing. I love this book for positing a rhetorical approach to document design and, only a few chapters later, explaining how to test the usability of document. Yes, it’s an older book and references print documents, but it applies well to the web.
• Persuasive Technology (includes psychology)
  In this prescient book, B.J. Fogg defines the study of computers as persuasive technologies (captology). It’s almost scary how much of what he anticipated in 1996 has come to bear. I appreciate how this book weaves together psychology and rhetoric. My beef? Often it’s the content, not the technology, that’s persuading.
• The Rhetorical Tradition
  Terribly, delightfully huge academic book. I dig how it traces some of the major debates in rhetoric using original texts. One of my favorites is Aristotle’s The Rhetoric, where he describes the three rhetorical appeals: logos, ethos, and pathos.
  
• Turn Usable Content into Winning Content – UXmatters
  This article is my first foray into a practical approach to making content not only usable but also influential.
• Submit Now: Designing Persuasive Web Sites
  Practical book offers useful tips to design persuasive transactional web sites.
  

Content Strategy

Content strategy is an emerging discipline or field of practice.

• The Discipline of Content Strategy – A List Apart
  Kristina Halvorson’s rousing call to define content strategy.
• Content-tious Strategy – A List Apart
  Jeffrey MacIntyre’s eloquent definition of content strategy.
• Content Strategy for the Web (to be released)
  Halvorson’s upcoming book, which will further define web content strategy.

Marketing

Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. (American Marketing Association)

• Become an Interactive Storyteller – iMedia Connection
  This article is one of my first explorations of storytelling as a practical way to engage and persuade.
• Get Content, Get Customers
  Joe Pulizzi and Newt Barrett give a marketing perspective on influencing customers through content.
• Marketing Metaphoria (includes psychology)
  Turns out metaphors aren’t just pretty language. They tap into our deep, universal needs. Consequently, metaphors are a powerful influence.  Gerald Zaltman and Lindsay Zaltman describe their extensive international research and the most common deep metaphors. Though the title says marketing, I think their research is a treasure trove for user experience designers and content strategists, too. Imagine how influential a metaphor could be if it were conveyed at every level of design and wording?
• Metaphorically Selling
  This practical guide gives tips to create effective metaphors for selling.
• Marketing Isn’t a Dirty Word - UXmatters
  Like many user experience folks, I sometimes find working with marketers frustrating.  I decided to try to understand their perspective and wrote this article as a result.
  

Cognitive Psychology

Cognitive psychology is the study of the mental processes involved in perception, learning, memory, & reasoning.

• Neuro Web Design
  This new book gives an easy-to-understand explanation of how our brains work and, consequently, how to influence. It also gives useful, practical examples. I’m not sure I like the subtle implication that persuasion is a psychological formula, as I’ve discussed.
  

Linguistics

Linguistics is the study of the nature, structure, and variation of language.

• Shifting Your Focus: Content As Conversation
  This Rosenfeld Media webinar will feature Ginny Redish’s new work in linguistics. I am sure it will be insightful.

Communication & Sales

• How to Win Friends & Influence People
  Dale Carnegie is an oldie but very goodie. This book is simultaneously common sense and deep insight. One of my favorite concepts is making people feel important. How do we make people who use our self-service designs feel important and not like a cog in the Internet machine? I think one subtle yet brilliant way is to offer crafted, human-sounding content.

• blink
  As a short, scrawny woman with a squeeky voice trying to work among IT and business execs, I found this book to be life changing. Malcolm Gladwell explores what influences our snap judgments. He also explores the good and bad consequences. A bad consequence is stereotyping. (Example: The vast majority of CEOs are white men who tower at least six feet tall.) But there’s hope.