Step Two It

mlns='> It’s not your content strategy until you take this step. [View Message in Browser]( / [Add Us to Safe Sender List]( Weekly News 3.11.22 Connect With CMI [How To Raise Your Brand's Voice on Issues That Matter [Examples]]( Consumers want brands to take a stand on social and political issues. Just make sure you first ask these questions – and study these inspiring examples of brands getting it right. [Read more]( By Ahava Leibtag More of the week's best stuff: - [Google’s Featured Snippets: How To Get Your Content to Appear]( by Julia McCoy - [How To Take Your Content Idea From Generic to Original]( by Jonathan Crossfield - [Building a Content Strategy? Watch Out for That Second Step [Rose-Colored Glasses]]( by Robert Rose - [How To Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle Your Content for Improved Search Results]( by Manick Bhan  Step Two It Which part of a tightrope walk takes the most courage? Most people believe it’s the first step out on the rope. But the tightrope walker who narrates one of the short stories in the collection Vigilantes of Love says that’s not the case: “The hardest was the step after the first. That’s where you gained or lost your balance. That’s where it becomes a walk or a fall. After the second step, there is no going back.” The same holds when developing an innovative content strategy – the second step is the hardest. I had an interesting chat the other day with a vice president of content operations at a technology company. She’d recently gotten the mandate to build an innovative content strategy and a new team. But she wasn’t sure how to start. “I’ve spent so much time at conferences and workshops,” she told me. “I’ve read successful case studies and thought, ‘I can do that too.’ But now that I have the OK to start, I want to find the best map to follow.” The desire to find a content strategy map, template, or guide hits nearly everyone starting a new initiative. But I’ve found developing new content strategies by looking through someone else’s lens rarely produces impressive results. I’ve noticed that when people ask, “Can we do what they did?” they usually come up with one of these three answers: If they did that, we surely can. This response often comes with a hint of jealousy. It dismisses the person or team but weirdly applauds the map. The NFT that recently [sold for $69 million]( (created by computer scientist turned artist Beeple) offers a great example. Many people who heard about the sale thought, “Wow, an overpriced JPEG? I could do that!” But here’s the thing. They didn’t. Beeple did – and got paid for it. That’s the lesson. Give me the map to their content program, and I’ll be just as successful. This response, which I call the template model, comes up often in marketing. People look for the prototypical case study, the template, or “proven” best practices to follow. And they expect to get the same results. I’ve rarely seen teams following this approach end up with the results promised by that original template or fascinating case study. The map is never exactly right for where they’re going. Why? Because it doesn’t allow for your particular skills or unique context. You have to customize a template or map to suit your circumstance. Think of meals you’ve prepared for friends and family. How often do you change the recipe to suit what you have on hand, what’s in season, or what appeals to the people you’re making it for? Does anything like what I want to do already exist? The most helpful response involves looking for guidance in content projects or strategies that reflect the essence of what you want to achieve. You may find it useful to look outside your industry or even the most similar examples and study the essence of what made those efforts successful. Looking beyond the familiar pushes you to interpret the idea through your creative lens. Instead of duplicating the exact form of the projects you study, look to spark innovation. My client at the technology company benefited from this approach as she considered the challenges of leading new people, creating new workflows, and producing new outputs to support a new content strategy. I advised her to look for projects involving a disruptive change at a company that’s nothing like where she works. She ended up studying how a colleague of mine had implemented an internal product design team for a financial services company. The details differed, yet the example inspired her to discover new approaches she could bring to her process. In this week’s [Rose-Colored Glasses]( I share the exercise my client and I worked through to prepare her to introduce disruptive change in her organization. I hope you find it helpful when developing your content strategy innovations. I'd love to hear what you think about the approach. Share your thoughts in the article's comments section, or send them to me [by email](mailto:cmi_info@informa.com). In the meantime, remember: It's your story. Tell it well. Robert Rose Chief Strategy Advisor Content Marketing Institute Do you have colleagues or friends who would benefit from Robert's weekly updates? If so, please invite them to [subscribe]( here.   Sponsored Content Report: The Neuroscience of Digital Content Your buyers are using digital content to discover, understand, and narrow their options before they make a buying decision. But, what makes content memorable?! [Get the Research Now »]( Content Marketing Job Listings Currently on a job search? Thinking about switching gears with your career? Please check out our job listings below. 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