Content technology. Consider this finding from CMI’s 2018 Content Management & Strategy Survey: 51% of the content professionals say their company lacks the right technology to manage content across their organization. From those 5,000-plus options, you have to choose tech that will work for content creators, content strategists, content consumers, anyone who handles content governance, marketing or business analysts, the IT department, and so on and so on. In fact, the Content Marketing Institute recognized that and is evolving the Intelligent Content Conference into the ContentTECH Summit next year. Robert points to it as a way out of the technology debt that threatens to bankrupt content marketing: One critical factor for content marketers is to have a formulated strategy, which includes a technology landscape, from the beginning. The selection method Real Story Group uses is based on design thinking. Instead, keep things focused on the people involved through stories or user journeys. Take the learning from the demo and edit your user stories. Narrow your vendor list to two and ask them to address the edited user stories during the proof of concept/test phase. After working in content marketing for enterprises and startups for more than 20 years, she’s looking forward to exchanging ideas and lessons learned with other content marketing practitioners.
Content technology. Sometimes it feels like we can’t live with it. But we know we can’t work without it.
Consider this finding from CMI’s 2018 Content Management & Strategy Survey: 51% of the content professionals say their company lacks the right technology to manage content across their organization. And another 35% say they’re not using the technology they do have to its potential.
Only a sliver (14%) say they have the right technology and are using it to manage content across the organization.
Why do we as content marketers struggle to get the right technology in place?
It’s not for a lack of options. Anyone who has seen that ubiquitous martech landscape chart knows that.
But having more choices only adds to the complexity. From those 5,000-plus options, you have to choose tech that will work for content creators, content strategists, content consumers, anyone who handles content governance, marketing or business analysts, the IT department, and so on and so on.
This isn’t easy. In fact, the Content Marketing Institute recognized that and is evolving the Intelligent Content Conference into the ContentTECH Summit next year. The vision sprang, as CMI Chief Strategy Advisor Robert Rose writes, from the challenge marketing leaders face: the effective use of technology that helps create, manage, deliver, and scale enterprise content and marketing.
But let’s take time now to identify at least three ways you may be making the tech process harder on yourself and your team (and corresponding ideas to make it easier).
1. You don’t have a content-tech strategy
You know CMI research points to a documented content marketing strategy as one of the things that separates successful content marketers from those who say they’re less successful.
Doesn’t it seem logical, then, that a documented content technology strategy would be a dividing line between successful and less successful tech implementations?
Both Robert Rose and Cathy McKnight, co-founder and head of the enterprise consulting practice at Digital Clarity Group, underscore the importance of a tech strategy.
Robert points to it as a way out of the technology debt that threatens to bankrupt content marketing:
One critical factor for content marketers is to have a formulated strategy, which includes a technology landscape, from the beginning. In other words, as content marketers we must get out of ‘how can we learn to do that’ and get into ‘this is what we aim to do, and here’s what we need to do it.’
Cathy sees a tech strategy as an antidote to the “shiny new thing” syndrome. Instead of running after new technologies, she recommends, take a step back and really understand what you have (in terms of tech capabilities and people who can put them to use) and what you truly need.
You might find you already have the capabilities in your content tech stack. Or, you might find that a purchase makes sense. Either way, the resulting decision will be grounded in what makes sense for your goals and your organization.
2. You rely on outdated methods to filter your options
Tony Byrne, founder of tech analyst firm Real Story Group, says marketers have been relying on the wrong things to filter their content tech choices. He feels so strongly there’s a better way that he co-wrote a book called The Right Way to Select Technology: Get the Real Story on Finding the Best Fit.
Traditionally, Tony says, tech selection is made based on one of four problematic approaches:
- Horse race – You choose technology based on static analyst-firm pronouncements about which tech vendors offer the most/best/newest capabilities without regard for what you’re trying to do.
- Love at first sight – You’re enamored by the…
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