Weekly Alert: When Failing Fast Becomes Paralyzing

Missed CMWorld? We have you covered. [View Message](2e5a5/ct0_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip) in Browser / [Add Us](2e5a5/ct1_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip) to Safe Sender List [] 2e5a5/ct2_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip [] [Forward to a Friend](2e5a5/ct3_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip) This Week in Content Marketing 9.21.18 Connect with CMI 2e5a5/ct4_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip 2e5a5/ct5_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip 2e5a5/ct6_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip 2e5a5/ct7_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip 2e5a5/ct8_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip [] How to Make Your Content Stand Out in a Crowded, Global Marketplace [] 2e5a5/ct9_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip If your brand operates in countries where English is not the native language, make your content a differentiator – localize it. Follow these tips to build a successful multi-language content marketing team. [Read more](2e5a5/ct9_1/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip)by Steven van Vessum [Editorial Process and Teams] Some more of this week's best stuff: - [19 Favorite Tools for Content Promotion in 2018](2e5a5/ct10_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip) by Sujan Patel [Distribution and Promotion] - [Want Engaging Social Media Content? Lessons From a Viral Smash](2e5a5/ct11_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip) by Jonathan Crossfield [Distribution and Promotion] - [How Cisco Merges Martech With Creative Content](2e5a5/ct12_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip) by Bethany Johnson [High-Level Strategy] - [4 Reasons You Should Act on Influencer Marketing](2e5a5/ct13_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip) by Jim Tobin [Distribution and Promotion] [] [] A Note From Robert Rose When Failing Fast Becomes Paralyzing There’s something in the air. I’ve had four conversations with enterprise marketers in the last week on how failing fast is overrated. And, sometimes, paralyzing. Failure is a popular topic these days. As marketers, we’re encouraged to fail early, often, soon – all toward some strategy that will ultimately help us succeed. Every path forward eventually involves failure of some kind. What doesn’t get reported is that sometimes those failures result in the business taking ever more careful steps. So, each small failure becomes a step toward paralysis – where we have to analyze everything before taking action. Now, certain kinds of failure seem almost warm and fuzzy – failures we can look back on with a smile, chalking them up to lessons learned. But what about those failures we feel are not on us; mistakes that seem beyond our control and maybe even beyond our ability to recover from? I don’t mean simple stumbling blocks or opportunities to gain valuable data points. I mean times when you trip and crack your skull. [Hurricane Heist](2e5a5/ct14_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip)-level failures. (Don’t remember the movie? Be thankful.) I mean Richard-Nixon-saying-a-tape-recorder-in-his-office-is-a-good-idea failures. I’m talking about catastrophic failures, especially those that happen to you, not because of you. Times when all hope seems to have left the building. When failure looms, we may feel hopeless and start to withdraw. We may get angry, blame others, and withdraw. We may disassociate ourselves from whatever comes next. “It’s not my problem,” we say. “I didn’t do this. Somebody else made it happen. I’m ignoring it.” And we withdraw. I propose the opposite. Keep moving. Take big steps. One foot after the other. In our content and marketing strategies, we often talk about beginning with the end in mind. We envision success and then work backward, plotting our steps, creating a grand map. We’re good at this. We know that this process works. In the face of disempowering failure, though, this process can seem beyond our reach. If we can’t imagine what success would look like, how can we plot the steps to get ourselves there? Try this. Simply ask, “Now what?” Take one step. Do something. There’s always something you can try, even something seemingly inconsequential. Make a phone call. Write a note. Create something and share it. Gather a small group. Whatever action calls to you, do that. Then ask again: “Now what?” The answer may be tentative: “Well, we could take this step.” Give that a go. Then ask again: “And now what?” Another step will suggest itself. Keep going. You may find that the “now what” results in nothing but hoping for the best. And, while hope may be, as Andy Dufresne said in The Shawshank Redemption, “the best of things,” hope alone doesn’t give us firm footing. But if we keep moving, eventually (to borrow from the title of a book by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn), a path appears. When big problems have you paralyzed, focus on the gifts they may yield. Do the next thing. Then the next. Keep asking, “And now what?” until your path appears. It’s your story. Tell it well. Robert Rose Chief Strategy Advisor Content Marketing Institute This article from Robert is available only in this newsletter for you, the newsletter subscriber. If you have friends that would see value in Robert's weekly updates, please have them [subscribe](2e5a5/ct15_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip). [] [] A Word From One of Our Benefactors eBook: How to Build a Content Marketing Program at Scale Our new eBook, is rich with actionable guidance to help you improve your large-scale content program, or ramp up a smaller one. Download and learn the six components every content marketing operation should include (and how to use them for success), eight critical elements for your content strategy and more! [Download your copy!](2e5a5/ct16_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip) [] More From CMI 2e5a5/ct17_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip Missed Content Marketing World 2018? If you didn't get the chance to come to Content Marketing World 2018 and see over 100 hours of the most amazing content ever to be constructed about content marketing, we have the solution. CMWorld Post-show video is now available for purchase. For $599 get access* to all of the main conference sessions for a full 12 months! *Sign up now to receive instant access to the video showcase. Videos available for viewing now! [Purchase now!](2e5a5/ct17_1/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip) [] [] Events [Content Marketing World](2e5a5/ct18_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip) [ContentTECH Summit](2e5a5/ct19_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip) [Master Classes](2e5a5/ct20_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip) [Content Marketing Awards](2e5a5/ct21_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip) [] Resources [Chief Content Officer](2e5a5/ct22_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip) [CMI Business Directory](2e5a5/ct23_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip) [Research](2e5a5/ct24_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip) [White Paper/eBook Library](2e5a5/ct25_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip) [] Education [Content Marketing University](2e5a5/ct26_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip) [Webinars](2e5a5/ct27_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip) [Career Center](2e5a5/ct28_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip) [] Interested in advertising with CMI? [Learn more](2e5a5/ct29_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip). [Manage your email preferences or unsubscribe.](2e5a5/q-58c8/zout?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip) Copyright © 2018 UBM, All rights reserved CMI, a UBM Company 2 Penn Plaza, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10121, United States [Terms of Service](2e5a5/ct30_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip) | [Privacy Statement](2e5a5/ct31_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdqF0ktSip) [UBM]