Strategy. You Keep Using That Word ...

mlns='> But does it mean what you think it means? [View Message in Browser]( / [Add Us to Safe Sender List]( Weekly News 8.19.22 Connect With CMI [5 Steps To Build a Content Operations Workflow That Helps Everybody]( Smooth content marketing operations can happen when your team members have a clear workflow and efficient processes to make the work manageable. Follow this approach to build both elements with greater ease. [Read more]( By Jodi Harris More of the week's best stuff: - [How a Silly Content Question Led to Surprisingly Delicious Answers]( by Ann Gynn - [Content Strategy – Not Content – Is Your Brand's Competitive Advantage [Rose-Colored Glasses]]( Robert Rose - [8 Must-Haves for High-Quality Original Research]( by Clare McDermott - [CMI News: What You Should Know About New U.S. Data Privacy Rules [Video Update]]( by Robert Rose - [A Content Marketing Strategy for Your Personal Brand? Yes, You Really Need One]( by Ann Gynn  Strategy. You Keep Using That Word … A CMO recently asked if he could push back on a word I used in a webinar. “Sure, push away,” I said. The word was strategy. I talked a lot in the webinar about how the content provides no sustainable competitive advantage. However, a content strategy might. The CMO asked: “What is a content strategy, and how does it provide a competitive advantage if the content itself does not? “Isn’t the strategy supposed to define the content?” OK, yeah, time to get a cocktail. Now, I didn’t have to come up with a great definition of “business strategy.” Harvard professor Michael Porter has already formulated a workable answer. (I can’t implore you enough to learn from him.) Anyway, I won’t and can’t do it justice here, but I’ll paraphrase a few points from his seminal article [What Is Strategy]( published in 1996: A strategy is the creation of a ‘fit’ among a company’s activities – establishing a unique and valuable position involving different sets of activities: - Serving the FEW needs of MANY customers - Serving the BROAD needs of FEW customers - Serving the BROAD needs of MANY customers in a NARROW market. A strategy requires businesses to make trade-offs in where to compete – and to make decisions about what NOT to do. The success of a strategy involves creating a fit among all the activities the company decides to perform. As you might guess, “activities” are the important part of that breakdown. As Porter says, “Ultimately, all differences between companies … derive from the hundreds of activities required [to run the business] … Activities then are the basic units of competitive advantage.” (The emphasis is mine.) But, Porter sees a difference between simple operational effectiveness (OE), which he defines as “performing similar activities better than rivals,” and strategy, which is performing different activities than rivals or performing similar activities in different ways. Thus, strategy is “creating a fit among a company’s activities.” Different or differentiated activities position the competitive advantage. You can see the alignment when you consider [content strategy]( and marketing. Everything you’ve been taught centers around developing strategic content that fits the activities that enable your business. You’ve learned to communicate with audiences in a coordinated and differentiated way. Your challenge for competitive advantage? Do those things efficiently – but find ways to do them differently. So, responding to the CMO’s question about defining content strategy was easy: “It’s what Michael Porter said.” I’m kidding. I actually said, “A great content strategy is the coordination of all the activities required to enable a business to communicate effectively.” A content strategy is not “the brand will talk about x, y, and z.” A content strategy is fitting together different activities or activities the brand will do differently so the brand can talk about whatever it determines it needs to talk about. Then, I thought about the second half of the question – how does content strategy provide a competitive advantage if the content itself does not? As I considered the answer, I reread Rita Gunther McGrath’s book [The End of Competitive Advantage](. (She is another influential teacher.) She claims that all competitive advantage is transient. So, she asks, “Why hasn’t basic strategy practice changed?” Most executives, even when they realize that competitive advantages are going to be ephemeral, are still using strategy frameworks and tools designed for achieving a sustainable competitive advantage, not for quickly exploiting and moving in and out of advantages. The last part of that sentence has the most profound implications for the evolving practice of strategic content marketing in a business. After working with hundreds of enterprise brands over the last five years, I’ve come to this conclusion: Most businesses think about how they can change content to fit marketing’s purpose instead of how they might change marketing to fit content’s purpose. Your content itself will never be a sustainable competitive advantage or differentiator. All content is easily replicable, and any differentiated value is transient at best. So, what do you do? How do you make your activities serve as a competitive advantage? In [Rose-Colored Glasses]( I explain how to foster your team’s ability to be dynamic and fluid so you can create and exploit temporary advantages. I’d love to know what you think. Send me [an email](mailto:cmi_info@informa.com) or leave a comment on [the article page](. 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 Creating Content for Your Audience’s Context Learn how to more clearly imagine the context of your key readers and produce content that will echo their emotions, speak to their pain, and drive conversions. [Download »](  Sponsored Content .Store tells the world you are #OpenForBusiness! Trusted by over 450 thousand online businesses, and now by marketing guru Seth Godin, himself! Check out his bookstore that's now #OpenForBusiness on a brandable and memorable .Store domain.   Content Marketing Job Listings Currently on a job search? Thinking about switching gears with your career? Please check out our job listings below. Available positions: - Content Marketing Manager, Eaton – [Learn More]( Interested in posting a job here? Please see our [CMI Careers page]( for more info. Preview the issue and subscribe free for full access »   More from CMI Bonin Bough Joins the Content Marketing World Keynote Lineup Bonin Bough – known as one of the foremost-awarded marketing executives in the world, host of CNBC’s Cleveland Hustles, and author of Txt Me – will join us on the Content Marketing World keynote stage in less than four weeks! As Chief Media Officer at Mondelez International, Bonin led the growth of brands including Oreo, Cadbury, Pepsi, Gatorade, and Frito-Lay. 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