Smooth like butter

Relationships are no joke [View Message in Browser]( / [Add Us to Safe Sender List]( WEEKLY NEWS 12.15.23 WEEKLY NEWS 12.15.23  [Together with ClearVoice]  FEATURED [Marketers vs. Marketer With an AI Assist (Spoiler: Everybody Wins)]( By Jodi Harris Can an AI-assisted marketer working alone create a better campaign than two experienced marketers drawing on their human expertise? We put it to the test. Find out who won — and what the experiment revealed about AI strengths and limits. [Read more](  SPONSORED CONTENT 🧗 Scale YOUR Content Mountain by ClearVoice OK, marketers, it’s intervention time. Your brand’s content is lost in the wilderness. Your content team: talented? Sure. Inspired? Debatable. Your inbound demand gen? Lagging. The remedy? I.C.R.A — [click here]( to optimize your content journey.  MORE OF THE WEEK'S BEST STORIES [New Study Reveals Clear Writing Tips for B2B Marketers]( by Ahava Leibtag Plain language brings a power too few decision-makers appreciate. This study proves that clear communication can attract a B2B audience and make them more likely to convert. Plus, get the resulting data-driven writing tips. [Marketing in 2024: AI, Brand, and the End of Social Media?]( by Content Marketing Institute Robert Rose reviews the 525,600 minutes that made up 2023 — and offers thoughts on what should happen with that time next year. [The Marketing Mandate for 2024: Build Stronger Bonds With Your Audience]( by Robert Rose If you want to develop and keep your customer and audience relationships in 2024, you’ll need to strengthen those bonds. Here’s why that’s marketing’s new mandate — and how to make it happen. [Write Like You Talk: 12 Tips for Conversational Content]( by Darek Black Engage your readers in a conversation with this writing advice, from breaking grammar laws to crafting simpler sentences.  A NOTE FROM ROBERT ROSE Smooth like butter I’ve been thinking about how relationships will affect marketing in 2024. And I mean specifically the relationships between your brand and your audience. The idea of customer relationships has received lip service for over 25 years. Some say Gartner brought the acronym CRM — customer relationship management –— to the lexicon. Others credit Tom Siebel, the former Oracle executive who formed Siebel Systems, one of the first companies to focus on sales-force automation. Another Oracle graduate, Mark Benioff, popularized the acronym in 1999 when he launched a little company called Salesforce from his San Francisco apartment. Leave it to Silicon Valley to use “management” to describe navigating a relationship. Then there’s the book by Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, The One-to-One Future: Building Relationships One Customer at a Time, which provided the idea of CRM as a marketing strategy. As they said in the 1990s edition: “[M]ore and more companies have realized that interacting with customers is no longer an option, but a competitive necessity. And now they have questions: How should an interactive company treat its customers? What objective should a business set for the interactions that take place at its site? How can it measure success? Should different customers be treated differently? Is it sometimes necessary to reward customers for participating in Internet dialogue?” Well, 25 years later, those same questions still get asked. It’s time to redefine what it means for a brand to have a relationship with potential and existing customers (or, as I prefer to call them, “audiences.”) I love the Irish saying, “We live in the shelter of each other” because it implies all relationships are the same kind of bond, even though they form differently. I live in the shelter of others. My strong shelters include my friends, family, and co-workers. Other shelters are not as strong, but I still value what they provide. These relationships might be with my accountant, teacher, mentor, the mailbox place where I get all my packages, or my favorite actors and bands. In all these cases, the shelter works as a two-way street in which something is shared — value. All brands should understand and commit to this concept. From 2010 to 2015, the concept of customer relationship management peaked as social media emerged. The talk at the time centered on creating relationships with your customers through social media — engaging, entertaining, inspiring, and ultimately creating a bond with them. I often heard brand and marketing thought leaders castigate that idea. I can’t tell you how many times I’d hear someone say, “No one opens up their refrigerator and says, ‘You know, I really want a better relationship with my butter provider.’” That always got a laugh. But it always felt cynical. True, customers don’t need a better relationship with their butter provider, power supplier, or CRM software brand. But that doesn’t diminish the marketing mandate to establish stronger relationships with your audiences. You live in their shelter for some time, and they live in yours. The question is: How strong can or should the shelter be (how much value can you offer)? That thinking contributed to the meteoric rise of content marketing as a strategic function in business. If your brand’s product doesn’t lend itself to a stronger relationship bond with an audience, then you can and should create the kind of experiences that do. For example, if your brand sells enterprise-grade DC power supplies, the shelter — the bond — you provide is weak. But if your brand helps customers be better electrical engineers, the potential exists for a strong bond. Maybe the most spectacular example is Amazon Prime Video. In 2022, it earned about $5 billion in revenue and spent approximately $16 billion on content. I don’t care what Hollywood math you use. If it were a standalone business, you would say, “Put that thing out of its misery!” But in [Rose-Colored Glasses]( this week, I explain why Amazon continues to invest in Prime Video (spoiler: It comes down to relationships). And why strengthening your bond with your audience should be your 2024 mandate. [I’d love to hear how you’ll work on relationships in the new year.]( It's your story. Tell it well. Robert Rose Chief Strategy Advisor Content Marketing Institute Robert Rose Chief Strategy Advisor Content Marketing Institute Would any of your colleagues or friends benefit from Robert's weekly updates? Please invite them to [subscribe]( here.  SPONSORED CONTENT Maximizing the Top 7 Trends in Customer Experience What does it take to create unparalleled customer experiences in 2024 and beyond? Discover seven transformative trends in CX and learn how to act on them today. [Free download »]( Maximizing CMS for Omnichannel Experiences Learn what it takes to choose a content management system (CMS) that future-proofs your business. Get real-life examples and insights from industry experts. [Download the report »](  Unleashing Creativity: Scaling High-Quality Video Content With AI Video Editing Tools Learn how AI video editing tools are revolutionizing a new era of engaging content by enhancing creativity and productivity. Get recommendations on tools used throughout all aspects of video production. [Get insights »]( How Bynder Is Simplifying Digital Asset Management In this case study, Bynder invites life science client Cell Signaling Technology to showcase the collaborative journey of how they established a Digital Asset Management (DAM) system and eventually a whole ecosystem across other technologies. [Watch the video on Streamly now! »](  MORE FROM CMI Unwrap the Magic of Learning With CMI’s Content Marketing Certification With the holiday season upon us, give yourself the gift of learning and step into the new year with content marketing expertise by becoming a Professional Certified Marketer®. CMI’s new content marketing certification program, in partnership with the American Marketing Association, gives you the foundational building blocks to reinvigorate your content strategy for 2024. Calendar too full this holiday season? Enrolling gives you 12 months of access to the course and exam to get certified at your own pace. [Learn more »](  To change your email preferences or unsubscribe, visit our [subscription center.]( Copyright © 2023 Informa Connect, All rights reserved Content Marketing Institute, an Informa Connect brand 605 3rd Ave | New York | NY 10158 [Terms of Service]( | [Privacy Statement]( [informa tech]