Here are five things to consider before investing in the next bright, shiny object: Find a content strategy partner with no horse in the race Before attacking technology, nail other aspects of content operations, such as: Understanding the needs of all members of an organization who influence the buying process for specific-use cases Clearly defining your publishing processes; developing the necessary skills and institute governance Architecting your content so it can be sourced, targeted, distributed, and reused across many programs, channels, and devices Many platform players offer strategy services. Their work, however, focuses on optimizing their own platform and the integration of its partners. While this is valuable and necessary, few create an overarching strategy that considers the needs and behaviors of multiple buyers at multiple points of the decision journey. (Disclosure: My firm, ComBlu, provides enterprise content strategy counsel. In the absence of an enterprise content strategy, lines of business or functional organizations often try to jump-start the content optimization process. Conversation at the workshop should focus on executing the overarching content strategy and dissecting what the organization needs for a high-functioning publishing competency. Wrapping the journey around the tech stack creates a more contextual view and allows the team to visualize requirements to deliver content strategically and ultimately to scale. It’s highly possible that some of your existing platforms have new functionality or contain functionality that is not turned on. Here are a few things to consider: Is it a tool or a platform? Will it support your strategy road map now and into the future?
CMOs want to automate as much of content operation as possible and believe achieving scale is a matter of deploying the right platform and tools. The result? Platform proliferation.
According to Chief Martec founder Scott Brinker, the number of marketing technology solutions has doubled since 2015 and will soon surpass 4,000.
A recent Forbes study reports that CMOs are overwhelmed by the amount of technology choices and confused by vendor claims that their platform can do it all. Before investing in more technology, they want to optimize what they already own.
Here are five things to consider before investing in the next bright, shiny object:
Find a content strategy partner with no horse in the race
Before attacking technology, nail other aspects of content operations, such as:
- Understanding the needs of all members of an organization who influence the buying process for specific-use cases
- Clearly defining your publishing processes; developing the necessary skills and institute governance
- Architecting your content so it can be sourced, targeted, distributed, and reused across many programs, channels, and devices
Many platform players offer strategy services. They recognize that their platform will only perform as well as the strategic framework it supports. Their work, however, focuses on optimizing their own platform and the integration of its partners. While this is valuable and necessary, few create an overarching strategy that considers the needs and behaviors of multiple buyers at multiple points of the decision journey. The templates they provide often do not consider interdependencies of multiple buyers in the content modeling process. That said, end-to-end solutions providers are more likely to help clients address enterprise strategy before addressing technology, so consider them as a good resource.
Working with an objective third party helps ensure that counsel is more far-reaching and is not viewed through the lens of a specific platform or set of partnerships. (Disclosure: My firm, ComBlu, provides enterprise content strategy counsel. You can find these services, however, from many third-party sources including digital agencies, CX firms, and independent consultants.)
The strategy part of the process often gets truncated in the rush to get a tool or platform that can solve all pain points. But not all pain points can be solved with a platform. A recent Forrester study, From Priming the Pump to Engaging Buyers, points out that it takes time to scale. First you must design the right processes, implement organizational change, and align functions.
In the absence of an enterprise content strategy, lines of business or functional organizations often try to jump-start the content optimization process. Many of these efforts fail to thrive because no one connects the dots between these separate initiatives to uncover systemic issues and problems. Leadership is needed to map an enterprise approach. Once the strategic road map is complete, the organization has a map for content operations and data for selecting the right tools.
Schedule a workshop that mows down the weeds and tidies the landscape
Workshops are a great venue for gaining stakeholder agreement on enterprise content strategy and its underlying infrastructure. The best workshop facilitators take time to understand your specific business objectives, aligned content mission, and where your organization sits along the content maturity life cycle. Conversation at the workshop should focus on executing the overarching content strategy and dissecting what the organization needs for a high-functioning publishing competency. This spans everything from skills and organizational assessment to governance and supporting technology.
Participants should include a cross-functional group of first-line managers who need to work as a team to optimize and scale content operations. Suggested…
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