Michael Lawrence, Indeed
I’m a copywriter and content strategist at Indeed. I’m part of Indeed’s Design Platform Studio, an interdisciplinary design team working on elevating the user experience. The team is building Indeed’s first design system and shaping the way the brand is expressed through our site and apps.
My role involves work on in-product copy, voice and tone, product narrative, some internal and external comms related to the team’s work — a great big range of things that all fall under the umbrella of “word problems”.
How did you get into content strategy?
I connected the dots. I’m new to the field, but this work pulls together the weird mix of skills and interests I’ve been exploring my whole life. In high school I taught myself HTML and started making web pages. In college I studied linguistics, cultural studies, critical theory, design, visual arts. I worked as a writing tutor. I went on to get a PhD in communication studies, with a focus on rhetoric and media culture. I spent a decade teaching college students and doing academic research, but also writing essays and poetry. I thought of myself as floundering; turns out I was doing exactly the right things to prepare for what I do now.
I was sure I’d be in academia forever, but my last full-time faculty job ended in a big wave of layoffs. Prospects in higher education looked bleak, so I took a fellowship year with Experience Institute to explore other possibilities and figure out what a rhetorician could do in the real world.
That year was transformative; I got practical training in design thinking and business, and the opportunity to work on projects with entrepreneurs, non-profits, and huge brands. I was fortunate to land gigs with the brand teams at eBay and Method. I learned a ton and got a better sense of how my very theoretical academic expertise could be useful. I was drawn to projects where brand, writing, design, and strategy came together. I knew I wasn’t quite a traditional copywriter, and not quite a marketer. I was calling myself the “rhetorician in residence”, until I discovered that “content strategy” was a thing, and a (somewhat) more recognizable name for what I was doing.
What does a normal day look like?
They’re all so different. A typical week involves meetings about brand identity; fielding “quick” copy questions from product teams that lead to big explorations of user flow and product narrative; drafting internal communications about our new design system; helping finesse language about design guidelines; watching user research sessions; joining design sprints and brainstorms. A big project right now is developing system-wide guidelines for our in-product voice and copy. This involves researching best practices, collecting examples, defining patterns, and (in our very data-driven company) figuring out ways to validate guidelines through testing and research.
There’s a lot of time spent building connections between designers, product teams, marketing and brand folks, and our other content strategists. It’s a very cool time to be part of this evolving company, and part of this emerging discipline. Every task doubles as an opportunity to evangelize for ways of thinking about design and content that consider the whole user experience — including the words that give that experience meaning.
What are the top 3 apps you use?
I’m in Google Docs and Slides all day long for just about everything. I also use Evernote for notes and clippings, and Trello to keep track of everything.
Where do you go and what do you do for inspiration?
I’m really inspired by other content folks sharing their wisdom and experience — through articles, Facebook groups, Slack channels, meet ups, coffees. And I’m inspired by my colleagues at Indeed. I work with these incredible visual/UX/interaction designers and think: “That. I need to do that. But for words.”
I pay a lot of attention to the apps I use and the brands I interact with. When I was teaching, I was always collecting examples to illustrate rhetorical principles or cultural theory; now I’m doing the same but with a slightly different purpose. It took me forever to do my taxes this year because I was taking screenshots of every bit of copy in TurboTax for voice and tone inspiration.
TV ads are great inspiration for establishing voice and narrative quickly, and they’re short enough to show in a meeting to get folks on the same page. I was watching TV and this one came on and immediately I was like: “Ooh, Indeed should sound like that!” — and then our logo appeared and I realized it was in fact our new ad.
I’ve also been paying attention to how hotels use copy to guide guests through the stay — the words on the shampoo bottle, the card about minibar prices or reusing towels — it all communicates practical information while still conveying a sense of welcome and reinforcing the brand.
Are there any books or blogs you’d recommend?
Aristotle’s Rhetoric isn’t a bad place to start. 😊
What have you worked on that you’re most proud of?
I’m really proud of the little moments when I’m consulting with a designer or product manager about copy and I see that “aha!” moment where they get that tweaking the language can change the whole experience, the whole logic of a flow, the mental model. They see that it’s not just “cleaning up the verbiage”. I’m proud of changing their mental model — and showing that content strategists bring more to the table than a thesaurus.
How do you approach getting stakeholders on board?
When I get those “quick questions” that are actually big challenges in need of real exploration, it’s tempting to point out all the problems and ask for 2 weeks or 2 months to address what they want in 2 minutes. But that doesn’t help anybody. So I’m trying to be very conscientious about providing a response that both points to the bigger things we can explore long term and offers a decent quick fix. I try to show what’s possible while also addressing the urgent need, and plant the seed that content folks could be brought in a little earlier next time.
What are the biggest challenges you face as a content strategist?
The idea that words are like cute little stickers that get added on after the real work is done. The narrative of a product experience, the concepts and metaphor that structure it — these are fundamental things. Other kinds of designers have been fighting this fight for ages; they don’t want to just ‘make it look good’ after the fact; they want to build something that is right in its core. Content folks want the same thing.
What’s your biggest content pet peeve?
Arbitrary capitalization.
Do you have any advice for aspiring content strategists?
Everyone you’re working with in any capacity has some kind of content need; help them with it, and document the process. It’s so important to be able to talk about the steps, the process, the constraints, the impact. No one cares much about the loveliness of your prose.
Is there anything you want to promote?
Indeed’s design team is growing! Indeed’s content strategy practice is growing! Watch for opportunities in San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, and Tokyo.
Where can people find you?
I’m @doctorlawrence on Twitter, Medium, and Instagram. Say hi 😊
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Thanks again to Michael Lawrence for taking the time to answer these questions.
