Case Study: Building a startup’s content strategy from scratch

Everyone in Austin has a startup, why don’t I?

That was my thought when I was attached in the spring of 2016 about joining an interesting startup that aligned with my interests, background and values.

GivingDocs is a part-fintech and part-social good startup focused on helping organizations fundraise through planned giving (i.e. bequests). The elevator pitch is we provide an added value to your donors and help them to help you.

It’s an exciting idea in a, well, growth industry. Markets will rise and fall, trends will come and go, but death will always be there. An estimated $30 trillion in wealth will be transferred from the Baby Boomers to their descendants in the coming years. It would be folly for non-profits, NGOs, educational institutions and the like to not involve themselves.

That’s part of why we were selected to join the Startup Lab of the Center for Advanced Hindsight at Duke University. The Center is headed by Dan Ariely, one of the for foremost experts in behavioral economics.

Essentially, he studies the science of why we make the financial decisions we do. The science can be used for good, like how we intend to apply it. Or, like Cambridge Analytica, it can be used for the opposite.

Regardless, it’s all fascinating. Here, Dan can explain it best:

So, what does that have to do with content and our content strategy? Well, that’s what I’m working on right now.

As a startup, the slate is obviously blank, which is very exciting…and a little terrifying. The opportunity to have such a profound impact on something that I actually have a material stake in may never happen again and if I get it wrong, the thousands of hours I and the rest of the partners in the company could be for naught.

So, no pressure.

Process, Process, Process

So, where do I start? I have some information to work with. We’ve run some pilot programs, some of them wildly successful, so I have some information to work with. We have engagement metrics and feedback from a test run on AppSumo. There are some web metrics to play with, but the site hasn’t really evolved past the actual platform. I have a decent amount of information on competitors (think LegalZoom) and a LOT of general market insights.

From this, I’ve been able to make these assumptions with some level of confidence:

1. The general population is aware they should have a will, but most don’t.
2. The younger you are, the less likely you are to have one. Millennials hover around the 10-percent mark.
3. Charitable giving has a multitude of benefits, be they tax or mental health.
4. The space is open and there is no thought leader.
5. Most of our clients are woefully uninformed on planned giving.

So, what does all this mean?

Using the data I have, taking into account our business strategy (be where the established names aren’t) and input from Dan, I have a few personas to work from: fundraising heads for non-profits that raise under $5 million annually, college-educated under-35s that are married and/or have children and, well, dog owners.

Put the Fun in Fundraising

Our first persona is a reflection of our business. We would love to have access to the United Way or the Texas Exes, but as a startup, that’s just not likely. Most larger organizations have planned giving officers, which is valuable knowledge in and of itself. Small and mid-sized, though, we can do something with.

Some SEO research shows there’s some untapped potential here. “Planned giving” is fairly open and would be worth an early investment. Heck, “planned giving definition” ranks fairly high. This is an opportunity to educate.

Others of interest include “charitable bequests” and “give to charity”. Let’s apply that knowledge and turn them into deliverables for the content development plan:

1. A full page on what planned giving is, the benefits to a charity and the individual and why visitors should care. There’s a high opportunity to apply Dan’s knowledge in our language here. For example, use words that apply to emotion, like “leave a legacy of good” and “put good back in the world.”
2. Case studies on organizations like them. The Chive Charities pilot is good and there are three more starting in February. Step one: do those well and make those organizations money. Step two: shout it from the rooftops. It’s accessible, authentic knowledge. It’s not even marketing, it’s just facts.

Famlennials

No, that’s not a word and I can barely even pronounce it, but it means something to me, so I’m running with it. Millennials are woefully under-educated on the needs for “estate planning”, because few of them have what they would call an “estate.”

First off, estate is a bad word that we should move away from. It’s a word associated with things like “estate tax” and “real estate” and other things that, well, few Millennials have any realistic concept of. I’m killing it off in all messaging to them.

Research shows potential in things like “social good”. I can pull from previous experiences here, having done this research before, with a lot of success. I can back this hypothesis up with research science.

Potential deliverables include:

1. Social media investment, with a focus on Instagram and potentially something quirky on Snapchat. Imagery should be hopeful and optimistic. For the Snaps: lean into morbid humor.
2. Similarly, quirky blog posts that would play well on Twitter. An idea: when Avengers 4 comes out in April, a blog post on what would happen to the estates of every character that left us in Avengers 3. Why yes, I AM a huge nerd.

Dog spoke, and it was good

All the research in the world shows that dog owners are more responsible, more mature and more empathetic than other pet owners, or those that don’t own a pet. That’s our demographic.

Obviously, anything having to do with our best friend is a tough market to get into. It’s a multi-billion industry and the best content on social media, any platform. We’re gonna lose that battle. For SEO, though, words related to “pet insurance” or “dog insurance” would be effective. Note to self: remember pet insurance as a potential partner in the future.

However, a campaign based around the idea of what happens to a pupper if something bad happens to you has potential. I want to ensure that we stay away from anything fear-based (our voice is optimistic and thoughtful), but the mental image of your pet being protected for their entire life is a powerful one. Dan likes it, by the way.

So, some creative ideas:

1. A full page on what happens to pets if you pass away unexpectedly. We should be a thought leader here. It should be built to be shareable, i.e. tell the entire story in a paragraph, then spend 300 words reinforcing it with emotional language.
2. A Facebook post on what happened to the $2 million Michael Jackson left Bubbles the Chimp. Related, what happened to Bubbles the Chimp? This would probably play well on Instagram and Twitter as well.
3. A “Do you need help” module that pops up on the Pets page with a dog with a headset as the imagery. Really, don’t do this, but the idea made me laugh.