Whose community is it anyway? How to understand, research and plan for different communities of users Thursday 17 March 2016 Suzanne Kavanagh Director of Marketing & Membership Services suzanne.kavanagh@alpsp.org T. 01622 831131 @sashers @alpsp www.alpsp.org

Shopping list The ALPSP experience Who’s in your world (whose world are you in?) How can you get inside their minds? What have you got to offer? From co-dependence to symbiotic Things to do when you get back to the office

Who are we? The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) is an international membership trade body which works to support and represent not-for-profit organizations and institutions that publish scholarly and professional content.   Our membership also includes those that partner with and provide services to not-for-profit publishers.  We have over 330 members in 40 countries, including university presses, NGO, IGOs, societies and associations, institutions, libraries.

What do we do? Connect Inform Develop Represent Conference, events, collaborative projects Inform Advice, briefings, Learned Publishing, ALPSP Alert Develop Professional development, webinars, training, workshops Represent Consultation, policy review, representation, Policy Bulletin

Who’s in our community?

Size isn’t everything Source: ALPSP Membership Report 2014

Their interests are diverse Source: ALPSP Member Survey 2014

The future’s uncertain

Who’s in your world? (or whose world are you in?) Map your community What do you already know? Identify other resources Capture, keep, regularly review

Document it Group Sub group Examples Needs Government & policy bodies Government Departments BIS, DCMS, OSTP Information, statistics, policy input, access to industry, time, changing priorities, compliance Funders & Research Councils HEFCE, AHRC, Wellcome Information, compliance, open access, speed, impact Education, research, institutions HEIs Universities, departments, faculty, library, VC office, Governance Compliance, research, openness, recognition, branding Publishing & supply chain Partner content creators Societies, associations, university presses, faculty, research institute, authors, series editors Profile, branding, dissemination, research output, tenure, impact, outreach, furthering discipline/field Vendors/suppliers Agents, distributors, technology partners, press, sponsors Access to publishers, information & statistics, network, profile; Access to network, information about publishers, the industry and developments which affect their customers Individuals Volunteers, leaders Senior industry figures on: Council, Committees, Tutors, Subject Directors Clear statement of responsibility/requirement; communication; secretariat support; peer recognition; involvement in relevant areas. Managers & staff Content management, editorial, marketing, sales, licensing, etc. Bringing people together, learning new developments, networking, keeping up-to-date Junior staff/New entrants Students, first job, early career professionals, members of SYP, etc. Career opportunities, goals, ideas and inspiration; building skills, professional development.

How can you get inside their minds?

Analyze it Find out what they are looking for: use analytics Conduct a short survey

Personas

Persona development

What have you got to offer?

Brand values

Brand personality

Key messaging

What do they want? How can you help them achieve it?

User scenarios

Testing assumptions Wireframe testing The power of five: Jakob Nielsen’s rule ‘Elaborate usability tests are a waste of resources. The best results come from testing no more than 5 users and running as many small tests as you can afford.’ https://www.nngroup.com/articles/why-you-only-need-to-test-with-5-users/

Needs versus objectives

Priorities

On being small Don’t try to keep up Be nimble Work smarter Small is beautiful One thing at a time Focus on objectives Focus on community Hit the sweet spot in the middle Technology is cheap(er) The cloud is your friend

3 things I’ve read Content Strategy for the Web – Kristina Halvorson and Melissa Rach http://contentstrategy.com Read This! Business Writing that Works – Robert Gentle http://bit.ly/1Ux343h Periodic Table of Content Marketing – Econsultancy http://bit.ly/1qP6QFZ

Thank you Suzanne Kavanagh Director of Marketing & Membership Services suzanne.kavanagh@alpsp.org T. 01622 831131 @sashers @alpsp www.alpsp.org