Erika Heald is the host of the weekly #ContentChat LinkedIn Live video podcast for content marketers, held Mondays at noon Pacific. As a B2B marketing consultant, she helps organizations define and execute content marketing strategies that drive business and professional growth. As a creator, and gluten-free blogger helping people discover gut-friendly farm-to-table food. She frequently speaks at B2B marketing industry events on employee brand advocacy, content strategy, customer experience, AI readiness, and social media topics. You can find her on her blogs erikaheald.com and erikasglutenfreekitchen.com.
The #ContentChat Bulletin: Only YOU Can Prevent Random Acts of Content
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I had a boss whose first quarterly goals for me were to publish 12 blog posts and acquire 30 demo signups. Somehow, we managed to publish a blog post every week and cranked out a whole slew of social content in pursuit of those "goals". Unfortunately, we could only prove that we were the source for 29 demo signups, so I didn't get my bonus. The lack of a bonus was definitely a bummer. But, more importantly, because we had to publish a blog post every week, and spend most of our time creating content for this lead generation campaign, we made very little progress on the content creation and operational refinements I'd outlined in the content strategy I'd completed the prior quarter, which that same manager had approved. If I was in the same position today, things would have gone a lot differently. If a manager tried to saddle me with a quantity goal like publishing 12 blog posts, that would have been a quick "nope" from me. Because quantity of publishing has absolutely nothing to do with delivering business results. Similarly, as the head of the content marketing team, I would have pushed back on being assigned a random number of demos as a goal. Content marketing isn't a get leads quick scheme, like those companies filling my inbox promising me a hundred leads per month. It takes time to build a relationship. Content marketing is great at that! But it's not great at quickly generating a bunch of demo requests for an expensive, long-term contractual obligation The next time I had this sort of situation happen, it ended differently. I brought up my content strategy, reminded my manager of the goals we'd agreed upon, and proposed a different set of goals for my team and me. We focused on crafting high quality content that reflected our strategy, and building relationships on social. At the end of that quarter, we had two separate companies reply to our social content to ask for a demo. We also completed a customer case study video that the organization is still using, many years later. The thing is, when you create truly thoughtful content that is designed with your ideal customer in mind, it has the opportunity to become a long-term strategic asset—not just a one-time hit to your budget. As we mark the midyear milestone, and set our goals for the rest of 2025, just keep in mind that only you—and your content governance activities—can prevent random acts of content. Coming Up on #ContentChatContent Chat is my weekly LinkedIn Live video chat focused on sharing expertise and ideas amongst the content marketing community. Join the conversation on Mondays at noon Pacific / 3 p.m. Eastern. RSVP for our upcoming conversations by clicking the chat date below to get a reminder and to access the chat.
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Take my content scalability assessment!How ready are you to scale your content program? Check out the new edition of my content scalability assessment and find out! While the version that's going into my book has closed, I'm making a new version available as an ongoing tool to help content marketers benchmark and fine tune how they scale their content strategy and its execution. Content Marketing + Related Jobs
Send Us Your Content Jobs!If you have a content marketing contract position, full-time job, or freelancer opportunity, reply to this email and let us know. We are always happy to share jobs with the community at no cost. ICYMIAn excerpt of From Taxonomy to Templates Content Operations + AI Survey from Content Science Last Chances for Early Bird Pricing Sadly, I was not asked to speak at this year's CMworld conference, but I'll be at the other three events—hope to see you there! What I've Been Reading
And here's what's next up on my to read list:
Until next time, stay safe and be well! Cheers, Erika |
The #ContentChat Bulletin
Erika Heald is the host of the weekly #ContentChat LinkedIn Live video podcast for content marketers, held Mondays at noon Pacific. As a B2B marketing consultant, she helps organizations define and execute content marketing strategies that drive business and professional growth. As a creator, and gluten-free blogger helping people discover gut-friendly farm-to-table food. She frequently speaks at B2B marketing industry events on employee brand advocacy, content strategy, customer experience, AI readiness, and social media topics. You can find her on her blogs erikaheald.com and erikasglutenfreekitchen.com.
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