What We Learned From Content Marketing World Conference

During the first week of September, the webSURGE content team attended the Content Marketing World Conference in Cleveland, Ohio, and it was a TREAT.

The conference was literally jam packed (no joke – Kelly missed lunch one day because she was so busy) with great information, new research, and innovative technology to propel our content marketing to the next level. Oh, and Tina Fey made an appearance. We’re pretty convinced that some people attended the conference just to see Tina Fey speak. She was amazing, by the way.

So, what did we learn that’s important enough to pass on to our readers? Well, lots. But here’s the gist:

“You can’t buy attention; it’s earned over time.” – Andrew Davis

“Content marketers have the power to shape beliefs.” – Robert Rose

“The average person spends 7.5 hours every day consuming content. Make it meaningful.” – Kathleen Diamamtakis

Aside from all the great technical skills we learned, these were the themes that prevailed over the conference.

I think that the main takeaway from this is that content marketing is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. The purpose of it is to earn attention, to gain trust, to shape (and sometimes change) beliefs.

We have an incredible opportunity – we live in the age of content. Users are devouring content from the moment they wake up until the moment they go to bed. It’s not a matter of attention span anymore, it’s a matter of interest. As content producers, our goal is to create something that captures the full attention of our audience and that is captivating enough to keep their attention, despite the millions of other pieces of content available to them.

What’s even better is that consumers, both B2B and B2C, are consuming content all throughout their buying journeys. Content marketers have the responsibility to help users throughout their journey decide on the best product or service for them, and that sometimes means that your product or service is not the right fit. But that’s okay, because then that consumer is #NotYourDoris! (Content marketing inside joke ?)

If I had to sum up how all this new knowledge will change our content, this is what I would say:

Create more meaningful, in-depth, and relevant content through the help of subject matter experts.

The content team here will be asking to interview subject matter experts at your company more frequently for content creation. Especially in highly technical fields, insight from an expert will be crucial in creating content that is both valuable and meaningful to the target audience. Depending on the topic, this could be a new person every month. The more information we can gather and share, the stronger the content program will be.

I’ve also come back with a renewed faith that digital marketing, true digital marketing, takes time. And when I say time, I don’t mean days. I don’t mean weeks. I mean months. I mean years; it’s a long-term relationship. We aren’t trying to buy trust – we’re earning it.

I am really excited to see how this new mindset transforms our content this year. I hope you are too!

Thanks for making it to the end. I’ll assume that means I earned your attention ?

Kendall

P.S. Here’s an awesome video of the content team having a BLAST in Cleveland.