It’s indisputable that marketing strategies have changed. The question is, how aware is your company’s C-level suite about this? At a content marketing breakfast and panel session held during last week’s ITEXPO Las Vegas 2013, a group of expert speakers and industry-leaders put their heads together to provide an answer to this golden question.
Panelists included Richard Williams, President, Connect2Communications; Mostafa Razzak, Founding Partner, JMR Worldwide; Ilissa Miller, CEO, IMPR;Rich Tehrani, CEO, TMC; and moderator Carrie Schmelkin, our very own Director of Content Marketing.
Adapt or Die
“The world has changed… every CEO has to change. You either adapt to this technology or you die. That’s the new reality,” Tehrani says.
It’s Okay to Stumble
In the past, there used to be multiple layers between what a CEO would think and what would be filtered to the public. Today, with the advent of social networking technologies, this process is essentially obsolete. Because of the transparent nature of marketing today, mistakes are bound to be made. As a response to this, Tehrani advises that CEOs should loosen up and realize that it’s okay to make mistakes.
Keep Them Comfortable
In this same vein, your CEO must be comfortable with the content marketing process being put in place. “You have to make sure you’re not asking your C-level executive to talk about something that’s outside of [his or her] comfort zone,” Williams notes. “Each one of your C-suite executives is a strategic asset to you, and you have to leverage them appropriately. Their comfort level and their comfort level to speak effectively on certain topics will have a big impact on the authenticity [of the content].”
Establish Trust
“The quantitative benefits of what [customers] get from [the content] you produce is paramount,” says Miller. “It’s so tough to get even your own employees engaged in social media and marketing…it’s about building trust with the C-level executives; showing them that the campaigns work; showing them the progression over time and how the campaign has moved in their favor.”
Edited by
Brooke Neuman
