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Sparking Joy at Content Marketing World 2024
By Debbie Friez As marketers, how do you spark joy in your work? For yourself? For your audiences?
‘Spark’ was the theme of the 2024 Content Marketing World (CMWorld) in San Diego. I can tell you the attendees were all about sparking joy from seeing each other and from the amazing content shared by the many, many speakers.
Three key themes stood out to the TopRank Marketing team:
SEO had a disruptive year
Content performance is more measurable than in the past
There is a consistent love/hate relationship with AI
Let’s look at how the sparks flew and dive a bit deeper into a few of the presentations and themes.
A spark of big story ideas
Great brands tell great stories, said Content Marketing World keynote R. Ethan Braden, Vice President, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Texas A&M University. And, “Good stories beat good spreadsheets.” I would add that the spreadsheets can inform, but to understand them, you need a good story.
Great brands focus on delivering outcomes rather than just features. His advice? “Be a painkiller, not a vitamin.”
Ethan’s presentation highlighted these qualities of brands that really matter:
Stand for something for someone.
Offer outcomes, not features.
Are about feelings, not facts.
And they tell great stories.
So, what story and stories are you telling?
Slow it down
I wasn’t at the 2023 Content Marketing World, but I was told the sessions on Artificial Intelligence (AI) were jam-packed. If 2023 was the year of AI, 2024 was the year of human-driven content. There was a lot of interest in AI, but it was more about how to work with it in new ways. Discussions sparked around how to work smarter with AI, but not necessarily use it to make work faster.
“For me, the overall feeling in marketing right now was well-stated by Robert Rose in his keynote: ‘We have made marketing much less risky and simultaneously much less joyous.’ Both he and Ann Handley advocated for the value of friction and slowing down — how it makes us smarter and wiser and produces better outcomes — if we’re willing to do the long, hard work. This idea isn’t about avoiding AI. It’s about using AI to do the ‘busy work,’ while we keep our brains engaged in the critical strategic and creative work — not because AI ‘can’t do it,’ but because it actually makes us better marketers (which will drive better results).” – Speaker Ali Orlando Wert, Strategist & Consultant at Ali Wert Marketing
We know AI can write, but it can never be a storyteller. It can help, but it won’t be taking our marketing jobs.
One of my favorite speakers, Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer, MarketingProfs, challenged us to rethink ASAP (As Soon As Possible) to AsAP or As slow As possible: slowing down at the best moments to deliver the best possible results. It’s about understanding when to slow down and where to spend your mental energy.
Where and when do you need to take it slower to see better results?
AI and the SEO disruption
AI is also disrupting search. There’s a new trend called zero-click marketing. …read more
Source:: Top Rank Blog
