1. Case Study: Getting The Most Out Of Limited Resources
What we do
The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a privately funded nonprofit organization, works to save America’s historic places. We are the cause for people saving places.
Who we serve
Preservation Allies (reachable by direct mail and ) – 378,145
Social Allies (reachable on our social channels) - 211,591
Members – 88,200 (receive our magazine)
Leader audience – I don’t have exact numbers for this, but here is a figure that Susan West-Montgomery shared with me.
50,000 “members of partner organizations” - These members belong to our affiliated preservation organizations and see the Trust branding as part of that partner relationship. This number is discounted by 50% to factor partner organizations who do not co-brand with the Trust.
March 28, 2017

2. 2010 to 2015 Blog Preservation Nation Forum Saving Places
Trust Program Stories
2010 to 2015
Magazine Extras
Preservation
Nation
Blog
Membership Experience
Magazine Content
Themed Content
Forum Community
Join / Renew
Historic Hotels of America
Preservation Tips & Tools
Leader
Content
Distinctive Destinations
HOPE Crew
Treasure Information
Forum
Organization
Info
Forum Blog
Historic Sites
Treasure CTAs
Main Street
11 Most
Treasures Update
Real Estate Listings
Saving Places
Historic Real Estate
First, some context and background about our content ecosystem.
Where we used to be: split up across multiple domains and platforms, separate content efforts, duplicate work, disparate branding
Note: social was growing all around this

3. Preservation magazine
Content Generation (2011)
Preservation magazine
PreservationNation.org
9 FTEs
6 issues per year
5 to 7 online stories per week
mostly original content
print content not available online
little correlation to NTHP online
3 to 4 FTE equivalent
5 to15 posts per week
mostly contributed content
little correlation to print brand
web team had own content contributors
The employees who worked on editorial projects operated in a similar separate way.
Here’s a snapshot of how we approached work in We were two separate teams that did not communicate.

4. Today (and Future) Forum 2.0 Historic Real Estate Main Street The New
Trust Program Stories
Today (and Future)
Magazine Extras
This Place Matters
Membership Experience
Magazine Content
Themed Content
Forum Community
Join / Renew
Historic Hotels of America
Preservation Tips & Tools
Leader Content
Distinctive Destinations
HOPE Crew
Treasure Information
Forum 2.0
Forum Blog
Organization
Info
Historic Sites
Treasure CTAs
Real Estate Listings
11 Most
Treasures Update
Main Street
Main Street
Historic Real Estate
The New
Saving Places
Today:
more unified branding
clearer differentiation where necessary (Forum)
Better end user experience
More easily compared analytics
Clearer guidelines about what goes where
New system required a new way to organize staff and resources. Here’s how we got there.
Print (magazine, now Editorial)
Social (once Web, now Social)
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest
Blog (once Web, now Editorial, now the main website)
(once Web, now Digital Acquisition and Engagement, close connection to Editorial)
Leader bucket
Website/community forum, LinkedIn/shared social, separate , webinars, journals, events/conference
Websites
SP.org, PLF.org, HRE.org
Affiliates: HHA, Main Street, NTCIC, NTIS, Tours

5. Preservation magazine
2016
Preservation magazine
SavingPlaces.org
FTE equivalent = 5
4 issues per year
original story content for SP.org
95% print content published on SP.org
integrated with NTHP online
FTE equivalent = 6
10 to12 posts per week
mostly original
close correlation to print brand
digital content team solicits input from cross-section of NTHP staff

6. Combined Team Efforts historic houses TRAVEL National Treasures
Sustain-ability
HISTORY saves & Popular threats
Culture
ARCHITECTURE
Adaptive Re-use
magazine: 150,000 printed per issue
online:
150,000 unique visitors per month
So how did this reallocation of FTEs and processes play out in our editorial mix?

7. Print and Online Combined Mix
We looked at what appears in print and online for our largest audience (the LPs). Here’s the rough breakdown of our biggest, most popular content buckets.

8. A Unified Vision Content that: supports our cause/work grows audience
reflects traffic drivers
Both art and science –
some buckets derive from our work (NTs, history)
some from market research (Arch, Shelter)
some from experimentation (pop culture, travel)
All content should filter through this vision, no matter where it’s created or shared.
And we can then align it through priorities and objectives, such as diversity or sustainability – important topics that should pervade our work and storytelling.

9. Tactics & Tools New Advancement Division
Ongoing tests, experimentation, and iteration
Strategic planning for outlying properties
Content inventory and audit
Shift in magazine focus
Bi-weekly content meeting
Bi-weekly digital traffic working group
Style and brand guidelines
Here are some of the tactical ways we moved toward implementing that vision.
Sometimes the most basic techniques are the most effective. Example: meetings
Overall: use resources more efficiently. Share research, reuse assets, repackage materials
direct the right stories to the right people at the right times for the right reasons.

10. Questions? Julia Rocchi (t) @rocchijulia (e) jrocchi@savingplaces.org
Director of Digital Content
National Trust for Historic Preservation