Finding the Fun(ction) in Dysfunction

mlns='> You don’t have to fix all your content problems (yet) [View Message in Browser]( / [Add Us to Safe Sender List]( Weekly News 1.7.22 Connect With CMI [How To Find SEO and Keyword Ranking Success on Google in 2022]( With its MUM algorithm, Google aims to give searchers what they want more often. That could be a win for content marketers who keep up. Here’s what you need to know about MUM and other SEO developments in 2022. [Read more]( By Mike Murray More of the week's best stuff: - [How To Do Less and Get More in Every Facet of Content Marketing]( by Jodi Harris - [Why Typewriter-Like Linear Thinking Works Better Than Tools for Content Creation]( by Jonathan Crossfield - [7 Steps to a More Strategic Editorial Calendar]( by Kelsey Raymond - [Why You Might Not Need a Unified Content Development Process (Yet) [Rose-Colored Glasses]]( by Robert Rose  Finding the Fun(ction) in Dysfunction Welcome to 2022. I hope you’ve kicked off the year in glorious fashion and are poised for an amazing year of growth. Hang on tight – you’re about to take a wild ride. During the past 10 years, content marketers had to make the business case for building a team and a scalable approach to creating content-driven experiences. You’ve done it. Congratulations. Starting now, the challenge will be to convince business leaders to treat content-driven experiences as products worth managing – and to build the unique processes needed to create, manage, activate, and promote them. I’m making it my mission in this column in 2022 to walk this journey with you. Every week, I’ll share what I’m seeing through my (ahem) [Rose-Colored Glasses,]( along with reasoning, rationale, and rhetoric to help you navigate these new challenges. This week, I’m taking on a situation I see often now that the pandemic has made organizations care (finally) about building a strategic content development function. More and more content marketing leaders are asked to solve the challenge of managing content's flow through the entire business. And it’s not easy. Enterprises are a messy thatch of conflicting agendas, values, priorities, and goals. But, when parts of the business aren’t communicating well internally, the business can’t communicate well externally. I recently spoke with a marketing leader who plans to launch an initiative to sort out the company’s enterprise content strategy in 2022. The effort arose out of a problem many enterprises face – a lack of agreement about who should drive content development for specific parts of the customer journey. The marketing team didn’t feel responsible for creating content to cross-sell new products and services to existing customers. But the account services team felt that kind of content should be a core marketing responsibility. With no one owning the initiative, random acts of customer content occurred. Existing customers got mixed messages about which new products were available, when, and why they might care. And each team felt frustrated with the results. As the marketing leader dug into the issue, they realized the content development process was dysfunctional from head to toe. But tackling content at an enterprise level felt overwhelming. My advice: Look for ways to create function within the dysfunction. If you want to know how to do that, read the new column: [Why You Might Not Need a Unified Content Development Process (Yet)]( Then, let me know what you think in the comments section for that post or [by email](mailto:cmi_info@informa.com). I’d love to hear from you. Robert Rose Chief Strategy Advisor Content Marketing Institute You're getting this exclusive article from Robert Rose as a perk of your newsletter subscription. Do you have colleagues or friends who would benefit from Robert's weekly updates? If so, please invite them to [subscribe]( here.   More From CMI CMWorld Book Club: Building a StoryBrand, by Donald Miller If reading is your jam, why not join the CMWorld Book Club on Slack? We gather on a quarterly basis for a thoughtful discussion of a book that’s been cherry-picked by your fellow bookworms in the CMWorld community. Our selection for January is Building a StoryBrand, by Donald Miller. [Learn More About the Book Club](   Lead the Conversation at Content Marketing World 2022 Calling all content marketing thought leaders, brand practitioners, and creative storytellers! You’re invited to showcase your expertise on a global stage and inspire your peers at Content Marketing World 2022, September 13-16 in Cleveland, Ohio. We want to hear your unique insights and practical advice that will arm attendees with the latest tools and innovations to accelerate their content marketing and grow their business. 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