102: We get the journalism we deserve, predictions for CX, category building, finding your voice, and a 1-question survey
Hello friends! A Sunday edition of The World's Best Newsletter:
In this edition, #102:
1. The journalism we deserve, and how to sustain the industry
2. Finding your voice - amid the death of a blog
3. How to create a category; in two POVs
4. Predictions for CX in 2019 - earn trust, keep it.
5. Take this one question survey, please?
6. My interview with LeadMD is live on the blog
7. Calling all marketers in Massachusetts
8. Quote of the week: We suck at thought leadership
Let's do it---
1. The journalism we deserve, and how to sustain the industry
We're awash in so much disinformation, even Pinterest is taking steps to prevent anti-vaxx nonsense on its platform. (Reminder, Russian trolls are actively inflaming both sides of that "debate".)
In his piece for Quartz, journalist Akshat Rathi argues that our lack of media literacy means we fall for, and inevitably incentivize, sh*t news.
The fundamentals are simple. Citizens need the basic building blocks of critical thinking: how to judge where information comes from, its purpose, and what the message’s context say about its meaning. These are increasingly important life skills in an always-on media world, and could help readers avoid being influenced by Russian disinformation campaigns, thinly sourced clickbait, or sponsored content masquerading as real news.
Even more interesting was a new report shared within the piece - the Cairncross Review - which the UK government asked for last year, tasking veteran journalist Frances Cairncross with exploring "ways of sustaining high-quality journalism in a fast-changing media landscape."
I found this recommendation particularly interesting:
Recommendation 3: News quality obligation. The Review recommends that the online platforms’ efforts to improve their users’ news experience should be placed under regulatory supervision. Online platforms have already developed initiatives to help users identify reliability, and the trustworthiness of sources. They must continue and expand these efforts, but do so with appropriate oversight. This task is too important to leave entirely to the judgment of commercial entities.
Ha, that is an understatement.
2. Finding your voice - amid the death of a blog
As Rep Cap Owner, Mary Ellen Slayter, said, "About a year ago, Lee Price and I killed our agency blog and launched Managing Editor, a digital magazine just for people working in this crazy business we call content marketing."
Well, like a Phoenix of words, rising from the ashes of their agency blog, comes their new podcast, Margins, the first episode of which I was so happy to be part of.
It seeks to answer questions like: How do you find your voice? What does it mean to have a unique voice? And why does voice matter so much at this noisy, crowded moment? Listen and read more here.
Congrats on the launch, Lee and Mary Ellen (and thank you for such a well-produced show.)
3. How to create a category; in two POVs
This week I came across a great post by Anthony Kennada, CMO of Gainsight spelling out five steps the customer success category-leaders have followed to craft their positioning and carve out a unique niche. He and CEO Nick Mehta had recently shared these tips on-stage at this year's SaaStr conference (affectionately dubbed "Coachella of the Cloud" by Kennada. Nailed it.)
#1 Ignore Analysts (Initially)
#2 Focus on People, Not Just Product
#3 Evangelize
#4 Be Authentic at Scale
#5 Be Long Term Greedy
Their post reminded me of a resource I treasure from 2013, "How to Create a Billion $ Category" from Mark Organ, presented at Dreamforce's Founder Forum. His tips:
#1 Use a hypothesis-driven, iterative approach to quickly find product-market fit
#2 Vertical niche market dominance (the narrower the better)
#3 Focus innovation on the emergent, under-served hero
#4 Drive the company on mission, vision and values... from day one!
#5 Drive leads to achieve profitable, efficient growth
#6 Invest early in customer success
#7 More long-term focus: design a business with multi-billion potential
Two valuable resources from those who have done it. Hope you find them both useful!
4. Predictions for CX in 2019 - earn trust, keep it.
SmarterCX, from Oracle, asked what I saw for the road ahead in CX in 2019. Read my response, here. As I've been saying everywhere recently, like everything else in marketing in 2019, earning trust is vital.
It feels so basic, but a good customer experience is predicated on trust.
To fix the trust deficit, CMOs in 2019 should focus on improving the steps along the customer journey where trust can fall flat. KPMG calls these the “moments that matter,” and in their excellent State of Customer Experience report, found what works at every stage. I share 5 stages within the full piece.
5. Take this one question survey, please?
If you're a marketer working at an enterprise company, would you do me a solid and answer this one-question survey? I'm helping MarketingProfs identify what your top challenges are in 2019 to help inform the B2B Forum agenda (this fall in Washington DC). Thanks in advance!
6. My interview with LeadMD is live on the blog
Thanks to LeadMD for having me on their blog - we talk customer marketing, truth, the role of marketing, you know - normal Monday-morning topics.
7. Calling all marketers in Massachusetts
My friend Heidi Erdmann (marketing leader from Care.com/Constant Contact) is putting together a new group for marketing women in MA, "Massachusetts Marketing Mentors."
"Whatever the reason, you need a mentor, a sponsor, or a sounding board…or two…or five? Fellow female marketing phenoms who can help you think through next steps and solutions."
8. Quote of the week: We suck at thought leadership
"B2B vendors that create thought-leadership content tend to underestimate the impact of these pieces and overestimate their quality, according to recent research from Edelman and LinkedIn."
- Source: MarketingProfs
Yup. PS, If you're struggling with this, we should talk it out...
Have a great week ahead, and thanks for being here.
Katie
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I like to travel:
The Art of the Startup, by StartOut Boston, is this week - Thurs Feb 28, 2019. Hear the do's and don'ts of launching your startup with Boston's LGBTQ community.
Join me for the MeritDirect Marketing Experience, March 6-7, 2019 in Austin, TX.
Viva Las Vegas... modern marketers, join me at Oracle's Modern Customer Experience event, March 19-21, 2019. Code CXKatie saves you $500 off the ticket price.
Who else is going to the Marketing Nation Summit, now part of Adobe? March 24-28, 2019 in Vegas.
PLAY 2019 from Brightcove is May 14th-16th, 2019. Let's talk video and how it moves buyers from apathy to action. Join us in Boston
San Diego, here we come, for ConquerLocal 2019 - where technology and marketing strategy converge for companies who sell marketing solutions to local businesses.
Save the date, I'm speaking at Content Marketing World, September 3-6 in Cleveland.
>> Book me to speak <<