I’ve been in the content marketing space long enough to be familiar with the saying, “If you create all this great content and yet no one sees it, what’s the point?”
This simple question helps those starting in content marketing stay focused on the big picture.
Today, though, that saying should go something like this:
If you create all this great content and yet you’re not putting it in front of the right person at the right time on the right platform on the right device in the right format in the right language, what’s the point?
(I could make the question longer, but I’ll just leave it there for now.)
Delivering content in such a personalized, context-dependent way requires a strategic content management approach and a sophisticated tech platform most likely fueled by artificial intelligence.
In other words, it requires systems and repeatable processes for creating and managing content in a way that can scale.
Yet 72% of respondents to our 2018 Content Management & Strategy Survey say their organization is challenged with managing their content strategically.
And only 12% say they’re extremely/very successful at managing content. The fact that 85% say they’re moderately or minimally successful shows how much work needs to be done.
The content management struggle is real
It’s not hard to see why marketers grapple with content management. The explosion of AI and other technologies is astounding. As Robert Rose said at this year’s Intelligent Content Conference, “Technology is outpacing our ability to comprehend what we can do with it.”
If you’re struggling to manage content in a responsive, automated, scalable way, you’re hardly alone. And the findings from this year’s study, sponsored by Contentful and Publicis.Sapient, provide some clues about where to focus your efforts.
1. Build teams that understand content strategy
The surveyed marketers say their organization’s top strategic content management challenges in 2018 include:
- Enough staff skilled in content strategy (61%)
- Content production workflow (47%)
- Lack of budget (44%)
Not surprisingly, how to build a scalable content strategy is one…
