Today, brands have a big mission for content. As part of the steering committee for a Forbes study called, “Publish or Perish”, we had the opportunity to survey over 300 CMOs and interview another 15 about the role content plays in meeting their business objectives. When asked to indicate the mission of their content initiatives, the following responses told a diverse story.
The interviews uncovered additional context for this survey response. Almost all of the CMOs agreed that content is critical to growth and needs to:
- Deliver personalized experiences
- Help sales ramp to quota quicker
- Speed time to revenue
- Makes sure “demand finds us”
- Differentiate through “Thinking, insights and perspective”
- Stimulate engagement and build relationships
- Drive customer loyalty
Almost all of the CMOs believe that content is essential for delivering “remarkable” digital experiences and delivering highly personalized engagement. Content has become more than a marketing asset; how well it performs in its multiple roles and how well it represents as the brand’s proxy in the self-nurturing process impacts top-line business growth. When the enterprise offers multiple product lines across multiple BUs, the content need grows exponentially. It’s no wonder that scaling content operations is a top priority of today’s CMOs.
Many are beginning to organize their teams in a different way. One major pain point is the transition from a traditional advertising structure to a publishing model. New skill sets are one of the first orders of business. People are looking for visual storytellers, meta writers, data visualization specialists, tech experts and listening specialists. Even those with traditional marketing skills need deep digital competency. Some CMOs are seeking people with deep platform knowledge; they want professionals who are deeply engrained in Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. Social media generalists don’t bring deep enough knowledge to the team.
Many are recruiting from the publishing or entertainment fields to find people who understand how to uncover the most compelling story, package it in an engaging way and publish it across multiple platforms. CMOs also want to find help with the management, control and measurement of their content assets.
The study will be available later this summer. Watch here for more information.
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.