When interviewing CMOs for a recent Forbes study, The Publish or Perish Report, one thing became clear: moving enterprise content strategy to one of individualized or personalized experiences was the shared vision of most. These same CMOs did not have as much clarity, however, around how to approach personalization or even how to define it. Many others shared their frustration that technology investments did not deliver the lift they anticipated in their ability to deliver personalized experiences at scale.
Hearing these and other pain points was the impetus for a new ComBlu eBook, The CMO’s Guide to Personalization. This guide helps organizations just beginning their quest for content personalization. It offers an overview of the pain points that CMOs and their teams grapple with as well as common sense tips for breaking down the process into digestible steps.
Chapters include:
- Individualized Experiences defines five different types of personalization and delineates the type of information needed to execute the strategy.
- Pre-personalization discusses the various steps that brands need to take before they can launch a personalization strategy.
- The “Rush to Scale” presents a “press pause” approach before purchasing new technology.
While the holy grail of personalization is individualized content and experiences at the “person level”, most organizations are not equipped to dive into the deep end of the pool. Many are adept at personalized email or retargeting with customized offers, but they are not ready to use sophisticated algorithms to predict the best piece of content to serve up contextually at different touchpoints.
Creating an enterprise content strategy that aligns with overall customer experience goals is the important first step. Some organizations skip this process in their eagerness to get started. Experimenting in an agile environment can provide key learnings and yield building blocks for a broader, integrated strategy, but it does not replace it. The sheer volume of content needed to deliver individualized experiences at scale dictates that a company transforms its content supply chain and creates a culture of collaboration with a customer-centricity.
While technology is essential to scale content operations, the bright shiny object syndrome masks the underlying issues inherent in large, global enterprises with complex content ecosystems. As one CMO commented, “Technology alone will not make an impact without change management – practices, processes, skills, strategic and operational planning need to be embedded in standard marketing, and relationship practices.”
The CMO’s Guide to Personalization helps organizations think through these issues and find answers that are right for their level of content marketing maturity.
Download a copy of the book here.
You may also like: Content Supply Chain, The Alchemy of Content, BPI Presents: Ten Steps to Building a Brand Publishing Center of Excellence, The Forbes Publish or Perish Report
Principal
Engaging your customers is at the heart of successful marketing programs. For more than 20 years, Cheryl has been building and executing content and thought leadership strategies designed to do just that. She is excited to be applying that well-honed skill to a help companies like Microsoft, Cisco, 3M, Intel, Capital One and Barclaycard tap into their stakeholder communities and build sophisticated content strategies.
Her experience base spans a range of industries – from technology and financial services to retail, travel, consumer products and healthcare. Cheryl has served as an integral member of her clients’ marketing teams, providing counsel on marketing and brand strategy, thought leadership, media relations, product introductions, and event management.
Prior to joining ComBlu, Cheryl spent 10 years leading corporate marketing for large, complex organizations.