Every morning we have a planning meeting to discuss the organizations who have requested to see our web content marketing software products. The purpose of the meeting is to be sure we have a solid understanding of the prospects functional needs so we can highlight features and functionality of our software that will solve these pains.
The number one concern we hear from customers is that “It must be easy to use.” From there the top 5 usually follow in some order: Workflow, Content Re-use, Multi-Site and Social Media. Mobile continues to flatter to deceive despite us all twitching anxiously at the possibility of our smart phones holding a new update. Bottom line, there are plenty of tactical requirements being surfaced and plenty of suppliers waiting to exploit that.
But what I found curious was the lack of overall business goals. WHY does “easy to use” matter to the business? How will workflow drive a business outcome? What will Multi-site or Social Media do for the business?
Given this, I decided to sit out in the sales room for a few days and listen first hand to these customer conversations. It’s a very simple process: people search for content management, they find Percussion through one of our numerous channels, engage with our content and raise their hand that they are interested. We follow up to make sure they found what they were looking for, and a conversation ensues about Need.
The problem is that Need gets lost in product requirements. Often the person leading the selection process is solely focused on solving a particular pain (our current system is hard to use, or it won’t scale) or making sure that each business unit’s key features are included in the system (workflow, multi-channel etc). They either don’t know, or have already moved past the stage of trying to think about the overall business goal.
If we are not careful however, an arms war ensues where features and functions are tossed around like candy on Halloween.
What we need to do is help connect need to goals. Let’s look at Growth. Is the customer looking to grow? (Duh!) What role does the web play in that growth? How will that online growth be measured? Where does the current web site and web content infrastructure stand in the way of achieving those objectives?
The risk is that there is a gap between feature functions and measurable goals. If the customer is not careful, and if we shirk that responsibility to close the gap, the risk of project failure increases. Customers are unable to connect their requirements to their needs, and their needs to their goals, and their goals to results that are measurable and achievable.
Aside from being better sales consultants, we are also working very hard to deliver out of the box ways to address this in the software. The Dashboard in Percussion CM1 is just one example of how the customer can measure their efficiencies and effectiveness. We are also building on our experiences and providing tools to help support the business case here. Finally, we are holding ourselves accountable to asking hard questions of this marketplace; for starters: “How will you measure the success of this project”?
We welcome these conversations so give us a call (or click here and we will call you). Just know that at some point in that call, we are going ask you the questions above!
In dizzying pace, Google continues to refine its search algorithm with big new things. This week comes word about how Google + shares will start to make their way into your search results.
For a recap on the details read this from SearchEngineWatch, or this interesting take from the CMO Site (including the comments as always.)
I personally think this could be a huge problem for Google in general which I write about as well here.
But what does this mean for content marketers, and your web infrastructure? Three keys to consider:
- Fresh content still matters: To remain interesting and relevant, post new and engaging content frequently across your online presence. The more content you have to engage with your prospects, the more that content will be shared, the more conversations that will be created around your core concepts.
- Running social and web silos, will be increasingly difficult. It’s already hard to keep up with your blogging in one platform, your social sites in a third etc. Even if you just consolidate your web and blogging platforms to make it easier to cross-share content, and then publish that content out to your social channels that is a good first step. Even better if you consider all of those areas as “nodes on a network” and publish differentiated and connected content to each.
- WebSpeed is real. Many of you are just trying to figure out what the Freshness change means and now have to figure out how to grapple with what “search +” means for you. I have written before about the kitchen sink mentality. Sorry, you just don’t have time. Much like the software development world has gone Agile, so should you. Make sure you have systems, technology, processes and people in place who can adapt quickly, and adjust on the fly.
In total however, this means your technology matters more than you thought. What you know today isn’t going to be relevant in Q4.
So if you are thinking you will spend effectively all of 2012 redesigning your site and deploying a new content management platform we wish you luck on reaching your 2013 goals. Think instead about what you can do NOW to impact 2012. Take a look at how Lancaster Bible College got their new web infrastructure up and running in just 45 days.
Look at the calendar right now. Ok? Now add 6 Weeks. Doesn’t THAT sound better than the 6, 9 or (shudder) 12 month roll-out plan you were considering?
Don’t get locked in, agility matters.
