{"id":13829,"date":"2022-02-16T11:19:04","date_gmt":"2022-02-16T11:19:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/02\/16\/get-ambitious-and-embrace-new-responsibilities\/"},"modified":"2022-02-16T11:19:04","modified_gmt":"2022-02-16T11:19:04","slug":"get-ambitious-and-embrace-new-responsibilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/02\/16\/get-ambitious-and-embrace-new-responsibilities\/","title":{"rendered":"Get Ambitious and Embrace New Responsibilities"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"\"We spend a lot of time at CMI thinking about the purpose of content in business. It sounds funny. The purpose of content in business?<\/p>\n

When we start work with a company on putting a functional plan around their content, a senior leader in the business (usually somebody in finance or operations) often says, \u201cIsn\u2019t that word content too big? Doesn\u2019t that mean everything we do?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYup. It does,\u201d I reply, followed by an awkward moment of silence.<\/p>\n

Without realizing it, they\u2019ve unconsciously made the argument of why it is valuable to sort out the function of content in their company.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, of course, we need to back off a little from saying it covers \u201ceverything.\u201d What we\u2019re going to solve in a consulting engagement, one of our events, a webinar, a blog post, or even CMI University<\/a> can\u2019t encompass \u201ceverything.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, I explain to the inquisitor that what we mean is by developing a strategy<\/a> for content you can equate content with communication. If your content is intended to communicate and deliver value to our audiences, then it is worth putting a plan around the creation of those things. That\u2019s a content strategy.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth putting a plan around your #content that\u2019s designed to deliver value to your audience. That\u2019s a #ContentStrategy, says @Robert_Rose via @CMIContent. <\/a><\/span>Click To Tweet<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

More than a decade ago, my good friend and CMI founder Joe Pulizzi put a stake in the ground for what would become known as content marketing. I loved that he said it so very plainly: Marketers now have the opportunity to provide \u201ctruly relevant and useful content to prospects and customers to help them solve their issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

The beauty of that definition is in the stated purpose. Content is purposely designed to be more than classic marketing and advertising, where content\u2019s purpose is to persuade people to become or stay customers. In the case of content marketing, content is created to help. Full stop. In other words, the content is valuable to the audience without any context of the brand or its products.<\/p>\n

Joe\u2019s original definition is still reflected on CMI\u2019s definitions page<\/a>. To this day, it remains in the No. 1 position for Google searchers who ask, \u201cWhat is content marketing?\u201d<\/p>\n

But, of course, like everything in marketing, our beloved practice has evolved.<\/p>\n

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Is It Time To Add a New Definition for Content Marketing?<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n

Tracking the evolving content ecosystem<\/h2>\n

Well before content marketing entered our lexicon, the phrase \u201ccontent strategy\u201d was a key<\/a> \u2013 if not fairly niche \u2013 part of business strategy. The term arguably predates digital, but the internet, large websites, structured authoring (i.e., separating the content from its presentation), and dynamically assembling meaningful content gave momentum to the practice of content strategy.<\/p>\n

Over eight years ago, I leaned in on my background in enterprise content and attempted to stratify the approaches of both content strategy and content marketing<\/a>. Content marketing is often the biggest opportunity, the largest gap in capabilities, or the most misunderstood of practices. But it is but one piece in the larger strategic content puzzle.<\/p>\n

Content marketing always has (and will always be) a subset of content strategy. That said, both practices have the same goal \u2013 effective, efficient business communication.<\/p>\n

More recently, new subsets of content marketing have emerged. Whether it\u2019s branded content, brand journalism, native advertising, or even customer experience, we\u2019ve written to separate the signal from the noise on those approaches<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here we are in 2022, and let\u2019s just say the last two years have been \u2013 well \u2013 difficult. It\u2019s been hard to get our bearings, hard to set a long-term strategy, and hard to know where to make our biggest investments.<\/p>\n

But those disruptions<\/a> also have been an accelerator. Changes in our digital capabilities, the media by which we consume content, the talent pool and skillsets, and where we do our work have pushed us to innovate. Content leaders, strategists, managers, writers, SEO specialists, technologists, AI practitioners, and data scientists have all found the optimal ways to make content in marketing and communications a scalable, measured, and exciting approach for business.<\/p>\n

2022 is the time to make #content a scalable, measured, and exciting approach for business, says @Robert_Rose via @CMIContent. <\/a><\/span>Click To Tweet<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Now we sit on the cusp of the third era of the web.<\/p>\n

Can you even imagine what things like crypto, blockchain, DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations), and the metaverse technologies will do to our practice?<\/p>\n

No. You can\u2019t. Not yet.<\/p>\n

From opportunity to responsibility<\/h2>\n

We\u2019re evolving at CMI, too. We\u2019re humbled at the level of innovation. In the last 12 months, we\u2019ve seen:<\/p>\n

So, we still fundamentally believe companies have the opportunity to operate like media companies. But, in 2022, it\u2019s not only an opportunity; it\u2019s a responsibility to act more like media companies.<\/p>\n

In 2022, it’s not only an opportunity; it’s a responsibility of companies to act more like media companies, says @Robert_Rose via @CMIContent. <\/a><\/span>Click To Tweet<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The subtitle of Edelman\u2019s seminal 2022 Trust Barometer<\/a> is \u201cSocietal Leadership is now a Core Function of Business.\u201d As the authors write, \u201cWe have studied trust for more than 20 years and believe that it is the ultimate currency in the relationship that all institutions \u2013 business, governments, NGOs and media \u2013 build with their stakeholders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Think about that quote as I refer back to Joe\u2019s 2009 definition of content marketing: \u201ctruly relevant and useful content to prospects and customers to help them solve their issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Content marketing is at the heart of any business that wants to build trust<\/a>.<\/p>\n

#ContentMarketing is at the heart of any business that wants to build trust, says @Robert_Rose via @CMIContent. <\/a><\/span>Click To Tweet<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Where CMI is headed<\/h2>\n

If I can humble brag for a minute, at CMI, we have been fighting the good fight for the last decade. We haven\u2019t always gotten it right, but we\u2019ve had a front-row seat to what\u2019s actually going on in the world of business content.<\/p>\n

Over the last two years, my team and I have worked directly with more than 60 of the Fortune 1,000 companies<\/a>. The research team recently produced our 12th annual content marketing research<\/a> that surveyed about 1,400 marketers around the globe. Lastly, despite the pandemic and lockdowns, Content Marketing World<\/a> continued last year with thousands of marketers from more than 50 countries gathering both virtually and in person to talk about the strategic approach of content.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the point: We see what\u2019s really going on in the community. And our community is you \u2013 the practitioner. We see you.<\/p>\n

As we move into 2022 and beyond, you\u2019ll see us focus on some of these three major observations:<\/p>\n

1. Content marketing and content strategy will merge<\/h3>\n

Successful businesses take the function of enterprise content seriously. They recognize content is communication, and making it functional is more than just copywriting, thought leadership, storytelling<\/a>, metadata structures, content management, SEO<\/a>, or workflow processes<\/a>. It is all those things.<\/p>\n

Successful businesses recognize making #content functional is more than just copywriting, thought leadership, storytelling, metadata structures, SEO, workflow processes, says @Robert_Rose via @CMIContent. <\/a><\/span>Click To Tweet<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

We see organizations moving beyond the one or two ad-hoc content marketing practitioners to holistic, specialized teams focused on strategic content. Prepare for the great merger of marketing content, content marketing, and content operations. Content is a business strategy. Copywriting, storytelling, measurement, and structured content operations will become a single, functional strategy.<\/p>\n

To achieve that, content marketers will need to upskill in strategy, technology, and content structures. Content strategists will need to upskill in media operations, creative, journalism, storytelling. And everybody will need to upskill into measurement design.<\/p>\n

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Content Operations Framework: How To Build Yours<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n

2. The best content teams will enable the story<\/h3>\n

Spoiler alert: If you think you can check the content strategy box by installing a content studio of writers, designers, podcasters, and designers who are chartered to build internal capacity for the increasing demand for content, think again.<\/p>\n

Robert\u2019s content law is this: The need for more content expands in direct proportion with the number of resources allocated to it.<\/p>\n

A successful strategy is integrated. Content creation, management, and measurement must be organizational strengths. All teams need to be empowered to create content for their audiences. The secret superpower of a content team is being the arbiter of good \u2013 to create, help, guide, and direct (when necessary) individuals at the edges of the business to be consistent and engaging storytellers.<\/p>\n

I promise you CMI will be talking a lot about this in the coming months.<\/p>\n

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Want To Scale Your Content Strategy? Hiring Isn\u2019t the Answer <\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n

3. Goals and measurability will continue to frustrate<\/h3>\n

The through-line in the struggle for content to gain traction in the business is how to support goals<\/a> and measure progress towards them.<\/p>\n

The double-edged sword is that when content grows to be a business strategy, it becomes critically important to measure, and it becomes much more complex to measure.<\/p>\n

It is inherently difficult to precisely define value in measuring communication clearly across all parts of the customer\u2019s journey. We have seen some performance frameworks emerge, and certainly, more will become available.<\/p>\n

However, the operational model itself may become one of the most important measures of success. In other words, when content strategy becomes the foundational model for communication in the business, the content must work harder. Content must be reusable and scalable across multiple approaches. Thus, businesses will need to measure performance<\/a> as it relates to the audience\u2019s response and how effectively you\u2019re saying it.<\/p>\n

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How To Measure Content Marketing: The (Updated) Essential Guide<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n

What this means for you<\/h2>\n

Our goal remains largely the same as it has since Joe wrote his seminal blog post \u2013 to advance the practice of content marketing. But if this mission is our North Star, we must enhance our focus with better telescopes.<\/p>\n

And your future is the focus of all of this. In the \u201920s, a modern content practitioner:<\/p>\n