Isn't It Obvious

It’s Monday. I was promised there would be no fact checking.

How many times have you asked the question “isn’t it obvious?” when somebody asked you something you thought you’d already communicated. How many times have you heard it asked of you? This "signal amplification bias," as psychologists call it, explains why miscommunication is so common. We often overestimate how much we've communicated (my wife is raising her hand just about now).

Before I go on - I don’t want to assume of course - speaking of communicating…

<cue “and now the ask”> We we’re just in the last stages of working with a client that hired us to put together a new six month content plan. We worked through how they might put new story packages together, and create a much bigger story that could help them scale their work, and scale to create content across all their channels. Now they’re in good shape for content until the end of the year, AND they have the bandwidth to start thinking about what “big idea” they want to create for 2025.

If you're starting to plan for 2025, and could use some help. Let us know.

Okay… Let’s get focused and talk about the obvious!…. In this week’s edition.

• Miscommunication in Content Strategy
• The Marketing Career Path Is Crumbling
• NotebookLM - Welcome To Cliff’s Notes Content

Let’s roll….

ZOOM LENS: ISN’T IT OBVIOUS?

Communication.

As I just mentioned, we can often believe we’ve communicated things when we actually didn’t (see what I did there). Remote work only makes this worse. Email, text, Slack, and Zoom increase the potential for misunderstanding. And if you think you're safe because your team shares a mental shorthand, think again. Researchers found that miscommunication happens even more frequently among people in close relationships.

With AI and technology automating more content, the chances for miscommunication – particularly between marketing teams and the rest of the business – is growing.

The failure to communicate

A recent client of mine, a B2B tech company, struggled with content chaos. The sales team ignored most of what marketing created, opting to use ChatGPT to whip up their own emails and social media posts. But they still requested new content from marketing, causing backlogs and conflicts. Should marketing stick to its thought leadership plan or cater to these new requests?

This problem is common in sales enablement and B2B marketing circles. Gartner found the top reason for sales-marketing misalignment is that each team has its own view of what drives customer action. CMI research echoes this, listing the top challenges as lack of resources, aligning content with the buyer’s journey, and aligning efforts between sales and marketing.

Two sides of the same problem

Both teams agreed on using up-to-date content but saw the problem differently. Sales struggled to find the right content and understand how to use it. For marketing, creating content tailored to sales' requests meant shifting focus from the audience, diluting its thought leadership and differentiation.

The issue wasn’t content quality or usage; it was communication.

Sales enablement saves the day

As I often say, “90% of a content strategy has nothing to do with content; it’s all about communication.” My client's solution lay in better communication and sales enablement. The marketing team began creating not just content but also clear instructions for sales on how to present and use it. Training was provided to help sales become informed storytellers.

The teams then developed a process to identify prospects' pain points, select the right content, and measure its effectiveness. Sales became more than just a distribution channel; it became a key part of a personalized, content-driven experience for customers.

Did you make yourself clear?

It’s easy to assume everyone understands your strategy. But in today’s fast-paced, remote-working world, oversights are common. Recently, I worked with a Fortune 100 company where a critical website update required an absurdly convoluted process. When I asked the person in charge how long it had been that way, he shrugged and said, “I assume everybody knows.”

No one did.

When you hear yourself saying, "Isn’t it obvious?"—stop. Chances are, what you think goes without saying, needs to be said.

Obviously.

It’s your story. Tell it well.

WIDE ANGLE LENS: MARKETING SNAPS

Let’s get it all in focus, shall we?

?? Marketing Career Paths Are Broken

It’s been a weird year in marketing. I’ve been saying that for 18 months, but it’s still true. There’s the quiet recession in B2B marketing. There are challenges in the job market. And AI continues to suck the oxygen out of every discussion of possible innovations.

Is a career path in marketing even a thing anymore? As we approach Content Marketing World 2024, I’m struck by how much has changed in just 12 months.

In my opening keynote talk last year, I proclaimed, “Content marketing is marketing.” It felt slightly provocative at the time.

But as much as marketing seems to have changed, many things remain the same.

I think we need a new approach to Marketing Career Paths. I explain myself a bit more here.

??? NoteBookLM - The Cliff’s Notes Of New Tech

Do you remember CliffsNotes?

The iconic yellow-and-black books summarized all manner of literary works. They digested the plot and detailed the themes and symbolism. CliffsNotes referred to them as “study guides,” but many used them to get around reading the full-length version.

I had the chance to review the newest AI darling - Google’s NotebookLM. I came away both impressed and, well…. a little worried about how we’ll use it.

Check out my thoughts here….

LENS CAP: Let’s Finish With A Flourish

I’m working to create new career path resources that reflect the reality of modern marketing organizations, so look for that later this year. In the meantime, consider this the beginning of the new marketing career path discussion, not the end.

Creating valuable content-driven experiences has become a foundational element of modern marketing. Businesses that differentiate to attract and retain their talent will build the career paths that support it.

It’s your story. Tell it well

See you soon!