Quite often when I’m on stage giving a keynote, I include a slide to encourage the audience that says the more content you create the easier it becomes.
What I’m trying to explain to the audience is that no one starts out as a great photographer, writer, or filmmaker. We all start at zero and the only way to get more comfortable and better at creating your content of choice is by actually creating it.
We find ourselves at a time where everyone can put on a thought leadership hat and step up on their social soapbox of choice and tout the virtues of content marketing. Talk, talk, talk, and very little do, do, do.
But dealing with the do, do, do is what many marketing leaders worry about. I’ve been talking with numerous CMOs around the country — while I’ll keep them anonymous, I can share that there is a growing concern for many of them around just how much work it takes to do marketing these days. In fact, I think the challenges today’s CMO faces are harder than ever.
The Challenges CMOs Are Facing
Well done marketing has always been a mix of detailed strategy, long-term vision, flawless execution, and a bit of luck thrown in for good measure. But, all changes to the marketing industry aren’t making the work any easier.
Yes, the tools have become smarter and more powerful — but they’ve also brought even more data to track. And according to IBM, 82% of surveyed CMOs feel unprepared to deal with this data deluge.
Yes, everyone now carries a full production studio in their pocket, new networks are popping up every day (anyone looked at Ello yet?), and your customers can complain or praise at any hour of the day — but these all require new skills and resources to be successful. And CMOs are worried. In that same IBM survey, 2/3 of CMOs report they’re not ready to cope with the demands of social media.
To weather it all, we need to collectively start sharing the truth instead of glossing over it.
The truth that it can sometimes take more time to properly strategize a campaign than it can to execute it.
The truth that while marketing campaigns may be short-lived, content marketing is a long-term initiative that will be with your company for years to come.
The truth that a CMO’s role has evolved because marketing efforts now cross over to all sections of a business in a way they have never in the past.
The truth that anyone can create content, but that doesn’t mean that content marketing is easy.
Read all the books, subscribe to the blogs and attend the appropriate conferences. All of that will help you learn, and that is important.
But, the key is to go back to your organization and really take the time to allocate the resources to make your marketing efforts successful. Actually doing marketing is what’ll make your company successful — and that’ll help your CMO sleep better at night, too.
