Turning a Creative Eye on Content ROI

While engagement tools and channels are rapidly progressing, content engagement strategies are lagging behind. In an effort to evolve omni-channel engagement that is personal, relevant and effective, the CMO Council and Rock Content are spearheading a campaign to investigate how marketers are evolving content to meet the shifting tastes and needs of their customers. 

Is content trapped in a time warp? While engagement channels have evolved, content has by and large remained a strategy in motion powered by a process in stasis. While deployment methods and channels have evolved dramatically, introducing automation, personalization and measurement along the way, the total lifecycle of content, from the moment an idea is hatched through to the point of engagement with the customer has largely evolved incrementally and in silos. 

In reality, content has most often been siloed by deployment channel, leaving consumers to grouse over the lack of omnichannel connectivity across their desired journey. In fact, in a recent consumer poll conducted by the CMO Council, consumers broadly agreed that omnichannel engagement that was a blend of physical and digital experiences and touch points was a must-have attribute of their customer experience. Yet fewer than 13% felt brands were living up to this promise – most often failing to connect the points of engagement across live events, in-store experiences and other tangible touches with content delivered via digital avenues. Even in the age of automation and cloud, content has largely been asked to exist in a single channel ecosystem while our customers exist in an omnichannel world.

While bits and pieces of the content marketing strategy can scale, shift and improve, the question remains: can marketing organizations truly track the efficiency, effectiveness and return of content from idea to impact? Where and how are leading edge brands rethinking their content cloud, applying automation to processes once thought to only be the domain of creative or even IT? How are organizations looking to scale while still keeping content personal and contextual to the individual customer or prospect? Are these new cloud-empowered processes revealing new content applications to better connect the customer across the totality of the omnichannel landscape.

The CMO Council, in partnership with Rock Content, will investigate where and how marketers are starting the discussion around the evolution of content. Where and how must content iterate and replicate to truly meet the shifting tastes and needs of the customer? How are best of breed brands capturing and operationalizing intelligence to not just deploy but to develop and reshape conversations with customers? How is content strategy intertwining with omnichannel strategy to turn traditionally single touch engagements into content generating opportunities that scale and extend experience? Can content be up-leveled to be both highly interactive, customizable and personalized while also being efficient, cost-conscious and engaging?