CMWorld: No Man's Sky?

CMWorld isn’t just a marketing conference. It’s a vast landscape of knowledge waiting to be tapped, like pretty much every planet you come across in No Man’s Sky. (Just like in the game, your inventory space is just too small for this stuff!) But in this case, the CMWorld event lives up to its hype – and then some. 

I had the pleasure of attending this year, though my initial reason was far from altruistic. I saw the initial announcement that Mark Hamill would be the keynote. That launched me from “meh” to “OMGYESPLEASE” with my company. I figured if anything, I’d get to hear a lifelong role model speak in person, and that was enough for me. 

Oh, boy, was I so wrong. Happily so. 

In a bit of curiosity to see what I was in for the other 47 hours of the event, I started joining in CMI’s weekly chats. I got hooked, fast. It amped up my anticipation factor for the conference. I could sense that something rather monumental was going to happen. For once, my foreboding proved right in the most spectacular way. 

There’s a lot that happened at conference for me, some personal victories, some coincidental great news, and some bedrock-shaking shifts in my focus and thinking. I’ll probably cover all that some other time. Right now, though, I thought I’d run down some of the absolutely brilliant insights not from keynote speakers that struck me during my solo run through CMWorld.

Journalism Is the New Content

Journalists don’t think they need the skills of a content marketer. Content marketers, however, do think they need the skills of a journalist. A journalist is a content marketer’s best audience and most avid reader. 

Cameron Conoway had everything to say about the new intersection between journalism and content marketing. What really struck me, however, was the differentiation of focus and how that defines the soul of your organization.

To discover the soul of your company, you have to reach your target audience and find out who you really are. A common problem in journalism is that you write for everybody – and end up targeting nobody. Content marketing takes the passion of journalism and refines it to reach a particular target audience. By doing that, you find out what the soul of you and your organization really is. You create an authentic relationship through that outreach, and that’s when content becomes different and valuable to the reader.

Web Design and Metrics Still Rule the Landscape

Andy Crestodina offered up a rapid-fire list of do's and don't's when it comes to site design, architecture, and practices - and how to effectively analyze it all. There was a lot in his session; here's a small portion of things I brought away for my organization to consider - and experience to put into practice.

If your website is built properly, most visitors won’t even see your home page.

• Do your ‘thank you’ pages offer more content opportunities and additional calls to action?
• Dates shouldn’t go into titles of articles; it makes content look old and the audience immediate becomes disinterested in what you have to say.
• PDFs are horrible for design and SEO because they are difficult to measure. Fix this by converting where you can into HTML webpages.
• Nobody trusts press releases any more. (Kill the “For Immediate Release” and “About” language especially.) Turn it into a content piece(s) and push out through other methods. Most journalists don’t pay attention to these anymore; they’re just white noise.

Unthinkable Is Exactly Where the Best Reside

Jay Acunzo recently launched his Unthinkable podcast, which is a fantastic show that coincides well with his Sorry for Marketing blog. His energy and passion is boundless and he held an entire ballroom enthralled with his Unthinkable message.

Do we know what customers are actually trying to buy, or do we just assume it?

The “Unthinkable” gap is what lies between what the best practices say you’re “supposed to do” and what your intuition is urging you to try. You can fear the gap or embrace it. If you shy away, you'll find yourself feeling like you could be more - but can't quite get there.

It's when you embrace it and "plunge" into the gap that you become great. Creativity shouldn't be bound by fear - it should wrap it up into its arms and soar into the heights previously unknown.

It's All About You

I went not really expecting to make any truly lasting connections. I walked away with profound respect for so many people and what they do, a re-invigoration of my own skills and abilities, and the seeds of budding professional relationships.

However, what I found to be most important at CMWorld isn't about data, analytics, trends, brands, marketing technology, or even content depth. From the top keynotes down, the theme that really emerged wasn't "Content Strikes Back." The message that seemed to resonate with every session I attended, every keynote speaker that graced the CMI stage was this: "Be who you are and let your story be what everyone else wants to talk about."

I came to CMWorld looking for the basics. I walked away with the world wide open before me.