A spark can ignite a creative fire.
A spark can brighten a moment.
Last week, I watched glimmers of light develop into radiance on the faces of thousands of Content Marketing World attendees as new ideas took hold.
The enthusiasm expressed in San Diego was especially welcome considering our most recent research earlier this year had a general “well” about their content and marketing strategies.
Here at CMI, we don't keep track of good ideas. I'll share some of the highlights from the keynote stage here. And we'll bring you many more insights from other sessions throughout the year. (Of course, if you can't wait, you can always get a digital pass and watch the sessions on-demand.)
I hope these ideas get you excited to heed CMI strategy chief Robert Rose's call and do something (bold, big, or brilliant) with your content and marketing strategies.
1. Arouse admiration and demand
Another college story also lit up the keynote stage – this one from R. Ethan Braden, vice president and chief marketing and communications officer at Texas A&M University and 2023 B2C Content Marketer of the Year.
Late last year, Ethan moved to Texas A&M from Purdue University, where he led award-winning content and marketing programs.
On the Texas A&M campus he discovered this motto carved in stone:
“Looking at it from the outside, you can’t understand it. Looking at it from the inside, you can’t explain it.”
And yet, Ethan's job was to tell the story(s) of Texas A&M to the outside world in a way that stood out from the competition (4,000 other schools).
He found the spark to do justice to this task in the verb “enchant”. Although it sounds like a Disney philosophy, Ethan prefers this definition: to arouse and attract an ecstatic admiration and demand for something.
How can your brand achieve this?
Ethan outlines the four principles that will make your brand remarkable (or should I say “resparkable”?):
- Big brands stand for something and someone. Ethan cited Patagonia, Nike and Volvo as outstanding examples. Standing for something or someone can attract an audience, but it often also repels a potential audience. Decide what you stand for and who you stand for.
- Great brands offer results, not features. I liked Ethan's quote from Tony Ives: “Be a painkiller, not a vitamin.” He explained that while people should take vitamins daily, they often don't because they don't see any immediate benefit. However, people take painkillers because they solve a problem at the moment. The lesson? Offer something the audience needs or wants right now. Find out what results your brand enables them to achieve.
- Great brands are about feelings, not facts. Envy, respect, shame, fear, relief and nostalgia are just some of the reactions your brand can evoke. Ethan shared this observation from Seth Godin (which was a light-bulb moment for me): I don't know that anyone has ever gotten a Suzuki tattoo, but millions pay to have Harley-Davidson tattooed on their bodies. How do you use emotions to create a captivated audience?
- Great brands tell great stories. What stories do you tell?
2. Efficiency is not everything
A popular returning keynote speaker, Ann Handley, did not disappoint. She piqued the audience's interest with a topic that was on every participant's mind – the impact of generative AI. Ann praised the efficiency virtues of AI. But she also asked the question of whether efficiency should always be the goal.
Ann's answer is a resounding no. She sees the value in inefficiency – slowing down can make you think differently about the content you create.
Cultivating high-growth projects with lasting impact requires a different meaning for ASAP, says Ann: as slowly as possible. She even made up a word for it, combining “slow” and “moment” to make “slowness.”
3. Keep looking for the shine
Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, author of “Everybody Lies” and “Don't Trust Your Gut,” reminded us all that it's okay if the spark doesn't fly, as long as you try again.
He told the story of Jeff Seder, a Thoroughbred racing consultant. Jeff wanted to use a data-driven strategy to determine which horses would be the big winners. He began studying the nostril size of winning horses, but that spark shed no significant light. Jeff worked through several ideas, including the size of a horse's poop, but they all failed. But eventually he found one that was inflamed – the size of the horse's left ventricle. And that discovery helped him predict a fire on the track – American Pharoah, the horse that became a rare Triple Crown winner in 2015.
Seth shared another story to show how data can fuel the future success of your content and marketing programs. Just make sure you have the whole story. For example, likes and follows on social media are not necessarily signals of interest in buying. Seth used a comparison between The Atlantic and the National Enquirer. On Facebook, Atlantic Monthly has 45 times more followers than the National Enquirer. However, the National Enquirer sells three times more copies.
4. Stage content correctly
At some point, a Salesforce content initiative led by Melissa Leu landed on the “On Fire” list — and not on the good side.
But the initial failure of this program provided the spark that led Melissa and her team to work on developing a better program. They founded Salesblazer, which was named Content Marketing Project of the Year 2024.
How? They went back to the basics of content marketing and helped audiences solve their problems on a channel they want to use. (I encourage you to read the detailed story behind what they did.)
5. Create joy, professionally and personally
Shabnam Mogharabi, author of Harness the Power of Joy to Uplift and Inspire, struck a chord with many in the audience.
She co-founded Soul Pancake with Rainn Wilson (of The Office), a content-driven venture that elevates and gives meaning to the human experience by creating more joy.
Stress and anxiety take up such a large part of people's professional and personal lives that consciously choosing joy is an act of rebellion, Shabnam said. And she also had a toolkit on how to do this:
- Express gratitude: Being grateful and expressing gratitude to other people is the magic bullet. According to Shabnam, expressing gratitude is not just about the recipient. It also has profound effects on the giver’s brain.
- Know your why: What you do is less important than why you do it. To uncover your why, Shabnam suggests the seven-level why system. Each time you answer the question, you get closer to the core of the truth. For example, you might start by saying that meeting a deadline at work is important because you want to be a good worker. But keep asking why, and in the end you may find that you want your children to be proud of you.
- Build a community. Yes, it can be uncomfortable to be out there. But vulnerability is key to good relationships and building trust. How do you do that? Connect. Turn up. Remain.
Shabnam concluded with joy in the final steps of the rebellion: Start small. Get started today.
You don't have to go big, but you have to start.
What little spark will you ignite today? And how do you make it shine in your content and marketing programs?
Join the Content Marketing World discussion on LinkedIn or in the Content Marketing World Slack group to let us know.
In the meantime, I want to extend my thanks to these incredible speakers and the amazing Content Marketing World community. I hope to see you next year!
Couldn't attend Content marketing world this year in person? Register for the Digital Pass to access on-demand session recordings of the live event until January 31, 2025. Use promo code BLOG100 to save $100.
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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute
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