The Content Revolution
Content Marketing has Become a Critical Business Imperative for Management; Why and What to do About it
Key executives and subject matter experts (SMEs) of leading firms in the future will be influencers in their markets. They will have both a view of what lies ahead, and a deep understanding of both the possibilities and limitations of the present. Business leaders will be in constant communication with their constituencies, bringing breaking news, insightful reflections on how to surmount current challenges and an opinion on potential opportunities coming down the pike. Companies that don’t support the creation of quality content from their experts will see eminence wane, and sales suffer.
The rate of exponential technology is pushing the world to innovate, transform and change like never before, and corporate communications will also have to change just to keep up. (Please read “Everything Must Change”). The fact is that the only folks who will be able to truly speak to evolving challenges, solutions, landscapes — will be those professionals actually with clients and customers in the front lines of today’s markets. Long-term, multi-year marketing programs and content produced only by marketing professionals will no longer cut the mustard.
And that’s not all. Future audiences will be highly expectant. No sales. Frank, authentic speak. A peer to peer relationship with a human they can trust . Potential clients and customers will take to the information highway in pursuit of solutions to benefit their lives, and their businesses, and if you’re not adding to that exploration with relevant, valuable, timely in-put — please get out of the way. Yes, as bountiful Millennial buying power moves swiftly to Gen Zers, the level and cadence of corporate content and communication will push all boundaries, forcing new models to meet dogged demands. Are your business leaders ready to report real-time?
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — So. What’s the Problem?
The problem for a large number of companies however is that in many instances, for many reasons and in varying degrees — “Marketing’ has been left up to — well, the “Marketing People”. After all, business lines and leaders do have jobs to do. They can’t be spending all their time creating content! Right? Well, Yes and No. Yes in that business leaders are busy people, so the process to enable professionals to publish will have to be Uber user friendly . That’s why winning Internal Content Creation Capabilities (IC3) will allow marketing professionals to work directly and closely with industry experts, while at the same time offering seamless processes to get them from ideation — to publication — quickly. The experience will have to be almost effortless.
But also No. The fact is that Content Marketing, and the social presence to share it, is becoming a part of senior executive job descriptions — and many heady firms are putting publishing thought leadership quite boldly in annual expectations. Never before has it been so important to have our Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) alive and at work in our content — so what’s the easiest way to get them there?
Then and Now
Start at the Top
Any content creation project has got to start at the top. The content you decide to create will steer your company so subject matters have got to reflect where management wants the company today, and where it sees the business going forward. Deciding on content creation then, becomes an excellent opportunity for leadership to re-visit long and short-term goals, differentiators, values and overall mission. Content creation transformation, if done correctly, will re-invigorate corporate objectives and motivate teams — all while also producing great content!
Go Forth and Multiply
In my experience, those programs that enjoyed the most success were the ones that started with direction from leadership teams, and grew to involve entire organizations. (Please read our series “Re-thinking Thought Leadership” for a detailed account of a firm-wide Internal Content Creation Capability (IC3) transformation.) The good news is that, when supported in their effort, talented professionals almost always have a great story to tell! In our last experience, we worked with a consulting practice that went from producing 1 white paper/year to producing 2 unique and provocative pieces of content/week! In 6 months the practice had produced over 100 articles on behalf of over 300 SMEs and launched an award-winning thought leadership website — but that was only the beginning…
“Now that I’ve got content — whadda I do with it?”
So content creation is only half the journey. Next its all about publication. Just as today’s sharp buyers don’t want to be sold to, they also don’t really trust ‘paid for’ content sharing. Modern information seekers want to know that your content has gotten to them because others have viewed it as intelligent and pertinent — and the best way to prove that, is to get your stuff shared by other market participants — and importantly — authentic industry influencers (Influencers paid to plug product do not pack the same punch!)
Build It and They Will Come
The fact that audiences prefer to receive their information organically could actually be a great thing for contemporary industries. Relying on a third party to reach your consumer base is never a good idea. Instead, best in class businesses today are procuring their own communities — and they’re doing that by reaching out to the right audiences, and getting into key market conversations, by offering killer content!
When we run a program, we practice ‘social listening’ which means to say we canvas the market to discover where pertinent conversations are taking place — and who is having them. We compile large databases of industry players, and the forums they prefer. We communicate with LinkedIn communities, websites, ‘twitterers’, bloggers — you name it! By respectfully joining important market discussions, executives quickly find themselves on center stage. In our last program, because the content we were producing was timely, relevant, valuable, our pieces were being picked up and syndicated by influencers across the industry for free! — and the rest, so they say, was history.
Within a 6 month period, using this ‘Eco-System Sharing’ approach our client was able to share content with over 6.5 million, specially targeted, potential customers. Our articles were re-tweeted by celebrities, co-hosted on popular industry sites and shared actively between market participants. SMEs marveled at the 1000’s of visits to their LinkedIn profiles, and were immensely empowered by the rise of their eminence.
The success of the program began to open more and more doors, as the practice began to receive journalism and innovation awards, invitations for speaking engagements, webinar host offers and much more. The newly emergent dedication to content by the leadership team ignited the entire firm, and quickly enhanced the creative culture of the company.
From Content to Conversion; Reaping Your ROI
So. Where’s the beef? What impact will a successful (IC3) program really have on your business? Well, the first thing to accept is that you can’t afford not to have an organic, authentic content program — because your strongest competitors will. The good news, however, is that new demands by business information consumers may be the perfect cure for the conversion conundrum. (Please read “What the Bleep is wrong with Content Marketing” for more information). Frank, honest and informed content will link the reader to the creator, and the firm, more directly and stronger than ever before. With this type of peer-to-peer connection, conversion opportunities are endless and sales quickly begin to climb.
Is your company ready for the Content Revolution?
