KL BlogThe good news is you’re going to be at the forefront of marketing. The bad news is it is getting harder to perform to expectations. So says the author of Why Content Marketing Success Will Be Harder to Achieve in 2016. It would be wise to heed his counsel. The popularity and proliferation of content marketing programs is driven in large part because the old ways of going to market and achieving sales goals has changed drastically and the C-Suite knows it.

But wanting a successful content marketing program and actually getting one is a major issue facing CMOs in virtually every industry. A big part to the disconnect is because a disproportionate marketing investment is in technology before enterprise-wide strategy is in place.

New team members – beware! The number of technologies available to help you achieve success increased from 947 in 2014 to over 1,876 last year. Plenty of choices are out there to keep you busy in your planning stage. If you haven’t seen the scary super graphic of all these vendor solutions see the Marketing Technology Landscape for your viewing pleasure.

Our viewpoint at ComBlu may be contrarian to some, but we recommend that every content marketing initiative begin with a strategy based on the business goals of your organization. Do not try to decide on any technology solutions until that is complete. 96% of CMOs and other senior marketing executives we interviewed, along with our partners at the Brand Publishing Institute, for Forbes Insights agree. For a synopsis of the key findings from Forbes’ Publish or Perish report, download now. The complete report is available here.

To get you started, here are the 10 major areas you need to have in place so that you can deliver the results your company is looking for.

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Cheryl Treleaven

Cheryl Treleaven

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.