This year, 3500+ digital marketers and 100+ speakers ventured to Content Marketing World in Cleveland, OH. The TrackMaven team sat in on a number of sessions and listened to top content marketing experts share their insights on how to break through the noise, understand your audience, and be better content marketers. Below are our favorite quotes from this year’s conference:
You are everywhere, but you don’t have to be. Strategy is a decision to take a path, to say no.
-Kristina Halvorson, Author of “Content Strategy for the Web” and CEO of Brain Traffic, on why saying no doesn’t have to be restrictive. It can be empowering. Today’s digital marketers often confuse activity with productivity. We need to spend more time and energy answering WHY.
The biggest missed opportunity in content is playing it too safe.
-Ann Handley, Author of “Everybody Writes” and “Content Rules” and Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs, on being bigger, braver, and bolder. Content is an opportunity to do something different. Tone of voice is your most powerful, gutsiest, bravest asset. A braver voice attracts like-minded, and repels the timid.
Competition commoditizes competency.
-Jay Baer, Author of “Youtility” and President of Convince and Convert, on how everyone is learning the same tricks, best practices, ideation methods, etc. Content marketing requires heart. What separates great from good? What becomes the difference maker? The difference maker is people. Even more so, passionate people. Everything you do can and will be copied by your competition. The one thing they can’t take from you is if you fundamentally care more about content than they do. Passion will set you apart. Are you making content, or are you making a difference?
Find authentic stories, not just because people can sniff out authenticity, but because they’re simply better.
-Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Author of “For Love of Country”, “Little America” and “Imperial Life in the Emerald City”, on choosing subject matters that are passionate, articulate and will stick with people. Recognize it’s not all about money; it’s about aligning around values and the opportunity to do something creative and impactful. Provide context. You can embrace difficult, even controversial, issues if you do it with sophistication and authenticity.
If a piece of your content is successful, don’t do more LIKE it. Do more WITH it.
-Jay Acunzo, VP of Platform, NextView Ventures, on how to publish sustainably, around one core idea, and with focus. When something works, lean into it.
Creative thinking in the morning, critical thinking in the afternoon - it makes best use of how your brain works.
-John Cleese, English actor, comedian, writer and film producer, on the importance of establishing special time and space boundaries to be creative.
Every trackable interaction creates a data point, and every data point tells a piece of the customer’s story.
-Paul Roetzer, Founder and CEO of PR 20/20, & Author of “Marketing Performance Blueprint”, on the importance of properly training your team to leverage, understand and visualize data to be efficient and effective marketers.
Stop vomiting your content on every channel.
-Andrew Davis , Founder of Monumental Shift, on the need to be smarter and rethink your content distribution strategy. Figure out when and how your audience consumes your content. Understand social channels and how best to use them. It’s less about where you distribute content, but when. Focus on one channel at a time. Build social momentum one channel at a time.
Content marketing is like a 1st date. If you only talk about yourself, there won’t be a 2nd one.
-David Beebe, Vice President, Global Creative and Content Marketing at Marriott International, on why you should focus on what your audience wants to hear, and not what you want your audience to hear.
Did you hear a quote you loved this week that you don’t see listed here? Email me (becca@trackmaven.com) your suggestion!