Weekly Alert: The Joy of Marketing – Or Lack Thereof

mlns='> Free webinar days - November 18-19 [View Message in Browser]( / [Add Us to Safe Sender List]( Weekly News 11.13.20 Connect with CMI [What You Need to Know About the Data Party Game]( What’s in a name? In the data game, it could be a lot or nothing at all. Robert Rose sets the record straight on audience data origins, why it matters, and what it means for your content marketing future. [Read more]( By Robert Rose [High-Level Strategy] Some more of this week's best stuff: - [Make Content Integral to Your Lead Generation]( [Ann Smarty]( Creation] - [How a Digital-First Content Strategy Can Help Print [Winning Example]]( Ann Gynn [High-Level Strategy] - [Whip Up a Tantalizing Blog Post With These 9 Ingredients]( by Konrad Sanders [Content Creation] - [Personalized Palettes, a Content Exercise, and The Witches Lesson]( by Content Marketing Institute Team [Trends and Research] Join Our Weekly Wrap News Crew Have you come across an exciting content idea, unique example, or puzzling trend this week? Help us share it with your fellow Content Marketing Institute readers by completing [this form](. If we include your submission in an upcoming Weekly Wrap, we’ll credit you as the source of the inspiration.  A Note From Robert Rose The Joy of Marketing – Or Lack Thereof I work with a lot of clients at a lot of companies, and I always note whether they are joyful or joyless. Yup, I really write that down. Of the 23 companies I’ve worked with this year, 18 have been relatively joyful. That means five were joyless. I don’t grade on a scale, but the joylessness ranged from kind of grumpy to absolutely miserable. You might be surprised that I rate the whole marketing team as either joyless or joyful. “Can the whole marketing department really be joyless?” you ask. “Isn’t it usually a mixed bag?” Nope. I typically meet with 15 to 20 people at each client company. Almost without exception, the joy or joylessness I see is systemic. You can feel it. There’s a palpable tension in the air. People don’t want to be there. They’re generally unhappy and don’t find their work enjoyable. If there’s any laughter, it’s usually at the expense of some other group, company, or person. It’s just – well – joyless. Interestingly, I find joyless companies also tend to be ones that have recently made (or are making) big investments in technologies that foster collaboration and communication. But it doesn’t seem to matter how much technology is planned or in place – the joylessness is almost worse when there’s a Slack channel to facilitate it. A research study by management consulting firm A.T. Kearney [found]( that employees who felt joy (arising from harmony, impact, and acknowledgment) were much more likely to feel personally committed to making the businesses successful. For content practitioners, I find this particularly true. Despite having the coolest, AI-driven, socially structured collaboration systems on the planet, I never see joyless teams producing extraordinary marketing and high-quality, resonant content. This year, it’s been difficult to find joy. But I’ve seen it produce exponential results when people do find it. Crafting a culture that consistently fosters harmony within and among teams and finding joy in the work we do might be among the most important things content leaders and practitioners can do. Watch for joylessness creeping in. Plan for joyfulness to grow. As you consider that cool new, socially driven technology that claims to facilitate fantastic camaraderie and collaboration, don’t forget that joy will make that technology work. Successful content marketing teams focus on more than words and pictures. They care about why they’re writing the words and making the pictures. And it’s the joy that glues them together. 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](.  Sponsored Content Use Sales Enablement as a Guide to RevOps Experience is now more important than product. Eighty-four percent of customers agree. This means that to be competitive, the companies that excel at creating compelling experiences across the entirety of the customer continuum are the ones that win. [View here »](  More from CMI CMI’s Visual Storytelling Summit is taking place November 18-19! Join CMI for a few captivating days of inspiration, education and as always, time with our #CMWorld community. [Free registration »](   More from CMI There are big advantages to using live video. In our "Mastering Content Marketing Series", Ian Anderson Gray, founder of Seriously Social shares best practices on getting started with live streaming video. 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