In times of rapid change, learning new skills allows you to adapt and thrive. It also helps you circumvent programmatic thinking – the tendency to rely too heavily on existing knowledge and ignore signs that it isn’t as effective as it once was. Nowhere is this more true than in the field of content marketing.
A growing body of evidence, gathered from surveys and conversations with marketers from various organizations, points to a growing gap between our need to plan, execute and measure effective content marketing initiatives and our skills. to do it.
Part of the problem is the inability to recognize the need for new skills and find the dedication to develop them and apply them to today’s challenges and tomorrow’s exciting opportunities.
Blinded by the need for change
When it comes to solving challenges, your brain is surprisingly programmatic. To navigate each day and manage the torrent of incoming information, your brain typically operates in stimulus-response mode – a sort of autopilot for handling recurring situations. When faced with a familiar stimulus, you tend to react in predictable ways based on your knowledge and experience. You don’t give much thought to recurring decisions and actions.
In many cases, this is a good thing, because your indonesia phone number brain’s limited bandwidth is being used efficiently. In other situations, especially in times of change, this autonomous mode of operation can be a big problem.
Even when you engage in creative problem solving, chances are you’re a creature of habit. When brainstorming solutions for a challenge, you stop as soon as you discover the first “right” answer. It’s human nature. While it may ease the discomfort of uncertainty, the first good solution is usually not the most valuable.
Don’t let repetition become a mistake
How does programmatic thinking manifest in content marketing?
Many marketers are still using the same old strategies and tactics to influence and persuade audiences to buy their products – and they’re seeing diminishing results. You follow deeply scripted habits and ways of thinking about customers, competition, products, and marketing. You find it hard to change, especially when the tactics still seem pretty effective Croatia Phone Number List even if they aren’t sexy or exciting.
Under these circumstances, you may not realize how constrained you are by your existing skills and experience. You can just take for granted that they are good enough. Only they are not. This is reflected in data from CMI ‘s 2015 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends research:
- Eight percent of respondents feel they are very effective in their use of content marketing.
- Thirty-four percent say they face gaps in the knowledge and skills of their internal teams.
- Thirty-two percent say they have difficulty finding qualified content marketing professionals, more than three times higher than in 2013 (10%).
Additionally, responses to an open-ended question showed a growing thirst for information on topics such as content planning and strategy, ROI measurement, marketing automation, and paid promotion.
As best practices in content marketing strategy, execution and measurement rapidly evolve, the knowledge gap will have significant implications for businesses large and small, according to CMI Chief Strategy Officer Robert Rose:
