Last week, Content Marketing World (CMW) took over downtown Cleveland. Key figures in the industry gathered in the large convention center to discover the latest tips and trends in content marketing. When I wasn’t looking at my Fitbit (I hit 15,000 steps just on Wednesday!), I was enjoying orange snacks [like orange-frosted (and sprinkled!) donuts and cheddar cheese spread] and connecting with others who share my love for content. The best chance for personal and professional growth came from attending the keynote speeches and breakout sessions, where we heard new ideas from content marketing leaders worldwide.
So if you weren’t able to attend CMW, I’m happy to share three key take-aways that you can incorporate into your content marketing:
1. Form a Strategy, Not a Vision
Keynote speaker Kristina Halvorson opened day 1 of the conference by prompting us to reflect on ourselves—in a positive way. She started with a strong claim that many content marketers have a hard time creating a strong content strategy. Why is that? In short, we often approach content creation in a random way, churning out as much content as we can in a certain timeframe. We aim to be present everywhere at all times. The emphasis is on quantity.
This approach is the result of us starting out with the assumption that content marketing is for us. This is the end point, she noted—not the starting point. The starting point, she said, was to ask ourselves why we are doing (or are wanting to do) content marketing in the first place. This was the million dollar question that made us momentarily sit back in our chairs and scratch our heads. We need to ask this question first in order to provide the fuel and justification for our content strategy. Otherwise, we’ll succumb to formulating a “strategy” that does not address our primary responsibilities as marketers: business outcomes and customer satisfaction. So, don’t fall into the trap of creating a “strategy” that’s really just a vision (e.g. “We will be the industry leader by delivering content that our customers can’t get enough of”). The main take-away here? Make sure your content strategy fully addresses your goals—not works against them.
2. Make Customers the Heroes of Your Story
With content today being dominated by pictures of babies and kittens…and puppies, it’s harder now than ever to tune out the noise. In fact, every minute, over 204 million emails are sent, 205 million social shares occur, and three days’ worth of video is uploaded to the internet. For content marketers, this is a huge noise barrier to break through.
So, how can we ensure that our content is compelling enough to stand on its own two feet? Speaker Michael Brenner addressed this predicament by honing in on the idea of content marketing as storytelling. The answer, he said, is that we content marketers need to approach marketing like it’s our job to tell stories. At the core, we are storytellers. Content marketing is about attracting people through stories that they love and that speak to them. This is the only type of content that will consistently draw people in.
On that note, it’s important to point out that content marketing should be customer-focused, not brand-focused. Brenner quoted Ann Handley with: “Take your brand out of the story—make your customers the hero.” All content marketers know that it’s easy to fashion our content as a way to promote our brand. But in order to create compelling content that our customers will actually love—and which will break through the noise—we need to whole-heartedly focus on our customers, their wants, and their needs. How? Get to know your customers and use your content to answer their questions. You already have the knowledge and the expertise to answer your customers’ questions, so this should be a walk in the park.
3. Create Ugly
Speaker Jay Acunzo discussed things that prolific content creators do really well…and why you should do them, too. Numero uno? Dive in and create ugly—ugly content, that is. It’s no secret that we content marketers are known for our mission to create perfect content every time from the get-go. But as a result, we seldom allow ourselves to fully unleash our creative minds. Just think—what could you create if you left the formulaic content creation process at the door and instead just let the creative juices flow…wherever they may go? The point here is that it wouldn’t matter what the initial output is (in fact, it’s meant to be ugly)—the only thing that does matter is the fact that as you go through the creative, unrestricted process of shaping your content into a masterpiece, you’ll learn more than if you stuck to your typical structured process and tried to perfect it from the start. Without taking chances with your content (side note: and in life), you won’t improve. Period. We must remember that creativity means giving ourselves permission to make mistakes—and with these mistakes comes the growth we so eagerly desire.
What were your primary learnings at Content Marketing World 2015? Or if you were unable to attend—what content questions would you have wanted the keynotes and sessions to address? Please share your perspective and insights in the comments section below!