Weekly Alert: What’s Most Important: People, Process, or Technology?

mlns='> Up next: Content Marketing World [View Message in Browser]( / [Add Us to Safe Sender List]( Weekly News 8.21.20 Connect with CMI Content + Technology: 4 Things to Learn as You Move Into 2021 Leveraging content and technology requires you to keep this one thing in the center. Learn that and more from the happenings at ContentTECH Summit 2020. [Read more]( By Stephanie Stahl [Editorial Process and Teams] Some more of this week's best stuff: - [6 Proven Tips for Successful Facebook Videos]( [Teodora Lozan]( [Content Creation] - [How to Create an FAQ Page Optimized for Search]( by Dan Steiner [Distribution and Promotion] - [16 of the Biggest Threats to Content Marketing Success]( Ann Gynn [General Success Tips] - [Should You Add More to Scale Your Content Strategy? [The Weekly Wrap]]( Robert Rose [Trends and Research] - [If You Can’t Give a Customer a Cookie]( by Tim Hayden [Chief Content Officer Exclusive]  A Note From Robert Rose What’s Most Important: People, Process, or Technology? Something weird is happening in digital marketing. Right now, the two questions I’m being asked most often are, “How can we scale our content marketing?” and “How do we measure it?” There’s immense pressure to create more and more content for digital channels. So, marketers really need to think about the answer to a different question: Why? They start with the premise that they need to scale their content efforts. But – here’s the weird thing – they’re not sure why because they’re not sure if what they’re doing is actually working. In the [2020 Content Management and Strategy Survey]( CMI found that only 10% of marketers say their success with content comes from their ability to extract meaningful insights from content consumption. It feels like our content is working. But most of us can’t pin down how. What’s the most important part of getting to the answer? More people? New technology? A change in process? New technology is the most common response. Many marketing leaders believe they are just one app away from solving the puzzle of how to scale and measure their digital content efforts. They say things like, “If only we had a DAM (digital asset management) system,” or “If we just bought that content performance system,” or “Just wait until we get that customer data platform in place.” And it’s not just marketers who think this way. The head of marketing at a health care company I worked with last month told me every time she mentioned a digital content and marketing challenge to her CEO, she got this response: “Isn’t there a tool that can handle that?” Is it any wonder that companies [have almost 100]( in their martech stack? Or that 85% of marketers are [spending more time]( than ever managing technology? Or that marketing technology takes up [more of the CMO’s budget]( than staff does? But scaling content marketing by simply adding more – technology, people, or processes – doesn’t work. Scaling requires evolving, so we can add value faster than we take on new costs. Those two questions I get asked are reflections of backwards thinking. Instead of asking how to measure to justify needs (for more tech, or people, or new processes), think about how you’ll scale your content goals. That will tell you what you should be measuring. Adding more people and more technology aren’t solutions. They’re possibilities for a solution. But a solution to … what? If you begin with the idea that “we need a marketing automation strategy” or “we need a personalized content strategy,” you’re starting on the wrong foot. Instead, consider setting your sights on strategies for better customer experiences, building an audience, or using content more efficiently. Then define what that success looks like. Set your goals before you decide what digital tools you need (or don’t need) and whether adding more people will help facilitate and accelerate your progress. People, processes, and technology are all tools of the business. But as this quote, often [attributed to Marshall McLuhan]( reminds us: “We shape our tools, and thereafter our tools shape us.” If you want to change your content marketing’s shape, pay attention to all of your tools, equally. 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](. Tune to the Weekly Wrap Listen to the latest episode, browse the show notes, or watch the video version [right here](. 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[Use code COMMUNITY to save $150 off any virtual pass. »](  CMI Video In July 17th’s episode of The Weekly Wrap, Content Marketing Institute’s Robert Rose is thinking about the long game (on purpose). He talks with marketing leader Folayo Lasaki about everything from the Facebook boycott to why representation matters as much in marketing as in media. And he shares an article that explains how to be purposeful with your purpose-driven content. [Watch the video »]( [COVID-19 CONTENT MARKETING RESOURCES]( Events Content Marketing World ContentTECH Summit Master Classes Content Marketing Awards Resources Research White Paper/eBook Library Content VIPs CMI Business Directory Education Content Marketing University Chief Content Officer Webinars Career Center Interested in advertising with CMI? [Learn more.]( To stop receiving future Content Marketing Institute update emails, please respond [here](. 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