Written by: Chuck Leddy
Celebrating the launch of Kapost’s new book, Mastering One Voice.
Members of the Boston Content community came together on February 27th to network and hear about content operations, the subject of Kapost’s new book, Mastering One Voice, written by Toby Murdock and Zoe Randolph. The authors were interviewed at More Than Words Bookstore (in the South End) by Boston Content Executive Director, Sarah Dudley.
If you weren't able to make it to this event, here are five key takeaways for content marketers:
1. Content operations, defined - The authors championed the idea of content operations, which means organizational alignment around content strategy, content creation, and content distribution. As Mastering One Voice co-author, and CEO of Kapost (a content operations platform), Toby Murdock shared, “there needs to be in large organizations some function that’s keeping everything [around content] coordinated, and that’s what gave birth to this notion of content operations.”
2. Row the [content] boat, together - Murdock explained the impetus for writing the book: too many brands are generating too much content that’s disconnected from a single, core strategic message. The result? Content cacophony and customer confusion. Before any content gets created or shared externally, said Murdock, “brands need to take a deep breath and first figure out what they’re doing internally to ensure they’re all rowing in the same direction, talking the same language to their customers.”
3. Storytelling matters - While Murdock and Randolph acknowledged the importance of technology in content operations, they championed content creativity as a key competitive advantage for brands. “Human beings are story-consuming creatures, and we really learn things through stories,” said Murdock. Data doesn’t engage hearts and minds, but stories always have and always will.
4. Less (content) is often more - The authors also talked less about the pure volume or cadence of content and more about content’s focus and consistency across channels and formats. “Make less matter more,” recommended Murdock. “Take the time to be organized internally, even if that means producing less content. But that [less] content will matter more because we’re all on the same page internally and can be more effective externally.” As carpenters like to say, measure twice and cut once.
5. Internal alignment required - Much of the content chaos the authors described on Thursday night comes from siloed internal functions, systems, and stakeholders. Alignment won’t happen by accident, but is the result of systematic, structured (and sometimes less-structured) internal communication. As Randolph explained, “One of the things that’s really useful when people are talking about content operations is getting a bunch of different perspectives [in the room], because the way that a CMO is thinking about this is so different than the way a content creator is thinking about it.”
To learn even more about "Mastering One Voice," visit the book's website.
For more info about content operations and Kapost, see: https://kapost.com/kpstdm/
To view (former BCG Executive Director) Katie Martell's Facebook Live interview with Toby and Zoe (it's on-demand), click here.