Embracing Stretch Projects

"Stretch projects" are projects that allow your direct reports to stretch their skills and take on temporary tasks outside of their role. It's a great way for them to sample new types of work and showcase leadership traits. 

The main thing you need to watch for is time-management. Stretch projects should only be taken on if the person can squeeze it in with their other tasks.

Ideas for stretch projects:

EASY

  • How did a previous project perform? Analyze the project through Google Analytics or another tool. Then, look at each piece and note things like word count, structure, what kind of data is used, does it have quotes or interviews, what's the topic about, what time of year was it published, ect. Share the patterns you find with the group.

  • What are some winning patterns for your content overall? Analyze the top 10 performing pages of the site's content either through Google Analytics or another tool. Look at things like word count, structure, what kind of data is used, does it have quotes or interviews, what's the topic about, what time of year was it published, ect. Share the patterns you find with the group.

  • Is there some kind of documentation that needs to be refreshed, such as a how-to guide or editorial calendar?

  • Does your website need to rank high up in Google's search results? What are some current trends to get a site to the top? Share your findings with the group.

  • If it's toward the end or beginning of the year, what are some current industry trends your team should be aware of? 

MEDIUM

  • Is there a current team process that could run a lot smoother? What improvements can you think of? Pitch the improvement or, better yet, lead the way to fix them.

  • Are there free certificates worth completing? These can be found through sites like Hubspot or LinkedIn.

  • Does your team have an audience profile? If not, build out a profile report, which can include information like: Who is your average audience? What problem do they need solving? What are they afraid of? Then, look into questions like: What are some trends in this industry overall? What are competitors doing?

  • Similar to a how-to guide, is there a ‘Welcome to [x] Site’ available in any onboarding docs? If not, you can create one using the 5 Cs. You fill in information for: Company [When was it formed, average traffic, average revenue], Customers [Who is the average audience?], Competitors [Who are the main competitors?], Collaborators [Are there any partnerships?], Climate [What’s the current business climate for your industry?]

  • What patterns are working for other departments? Talk to other leads in other departments about their top-performing content to see if there are tips you can use within your own team.

  • Need new ideas? Watch some webinars, read some business books, sign up for some newsletters, and report back any advice to the team.

HARD

  • Are there awards worth submitting to? Find some and submit.

  • Does your website have social media? PR? Videos? Should there be? If so, build a strategy to bring this element to the site. This can include looking at competitors, researching costs, and estimating the workload it would take to launch. Better yet, offer to lead this new initiative.

  • Does the site need a new direction? Create a full content strategy and then pitch to the team and any stake-holders, such as upper management.

How to Create a Content Strategy

On a very basic level, this is how you build a content strategy.

  • Look at your top 10 best performing pages. What insights can you get from them? Are they similliar topics? Can they be refreshed with new content, data, or visual elements? Are there any spoke pieces that can be created from these topics?

  • Look at 3-5 competitors. What types of content pieces are they producing right now? What channels are they posting in? What are the topics/formats of their content? Is there anything they’re doing that we should try?

  • Research 3-5 trends happening in the industry today.

  • Now put it all together. List out new ideas to try. Consider organizing them as:

    • Easy - Things like refreshes and new pieces in areas we haven’t explored.

    • Medium - Things that might require another team’s help, like creating a survey with the data team.

    • Ambitious - Things that would require dev work, like a wage calculator.

How to Pitch a Content Strategy

When it’s time to put your slides together, these are a couple of options.

Option 1: Storyteller’s Approach

  • The Problem [ex. The problem that your audience is having. For instance, career changers feel uncertain that their skills can translate into a tech career]

  • The Opportunity [ex. What’s the opportunity for our business if we fix this problem? Such as: No competitor is addressing this problem, giving us an opportunity to be first]

  • The Idea [ex. We’ll create a skills translator tool that shows how non-tech skills [ex. scheduling shifts for your team] can translate into tech career skills [ex. project management].

  • The Game Plan [ex. How long it will take, price, teams involved]

Option 2: Trend /Solution Approach

  • Context - An overview

    • What’s a trend going on in the industry? [ex. list out some trends; maybe even include some trends with our competitors]. Or, what’s a problem happening in our industry?

    • Here is why our site is uniquely situated to fix that problem or capitalize on the opportunity of the moment. [ex. our history in this space or our expertise.]

  • Solutions - Here’s how

    • Easy solutions

    • Medium solultions

    • Ambitious solutions

Option 3: Raskin Winners/Losers Approach

  • Change is happening - Describe what change is happening in the industry.

  • There will be winners and losers in that change - Acknowledge that not adapting will hurt your company.

  • Here’s the promise land - Here’s what the ideal state looks like with our company adapting to that change.

  • Here’s how we’ll overcome obstacles - Acknowledge the obstacles that could get in the way of the promise land and how you’ll solve them.

Option 4: Raskin Happiness Approach

  • Name the enemy / What is in the way of your customer’s happiness? - Describe the issues in the way of your users’ happiness.

  • Why now? - Why is now the time to act?

  • Here’s the promise land - Here’s what the ideal state looks like with our company fixing those issues.

  • Here’s how we’ll overcome obstacles - Acknowledge the obstacles that could get in the way of the promise land and how you’ll solve them.

  • Demo - If possible.

Jennifer Cuellar