I have been attending content management conferences for almost a decade. Just last week I was at the Gilbane Conference here in Boston, MA. This is where many of the insiders gather to discuss what’s important now and what might be next for the CMS industry. Over the years this has been a mixed event: something of a barometer on the state of the CMS and web content management marketplace.

We pay our money and get to meet and greet. We make contacts and we hope to meet buyers. Given that it’s very much an insider’s show, there is just a bit too much posturing and it’s a bit like school: cliquey, the in’s and the outs, cool and uncool, jocks and nerds, poets and scientists, Marketing and IT. (Look how happy these Marketing and IT professionals are, you can feel the love!) And unfortunately most vendors wind up sounding the same. 

What we all share, what we all hope for, are insights: impactful takeaways; new relationships and if it’s good, some real leads.  

So what was different about this particular event; why write about it; what is there to share?

The sheer number of messed up CMS projects.  

Messed up? Yes; messed up. Consider the following three scenarios (The names have been changed to protect the innocent):

• Day one, I grab my lunch and sit down next to two women from a large non-profit. Homegrown CMS incumbent, not documented, any modifications mean a code change (think $$$). Here’s the rub – they are 15 months into a re-design project and are 6 months into a cms selection. Their hope: maybe they get live in 2012. (Any guesses to the costs?)
• Then I meet a fella who is clearly an “educated” CMS buyer. Knows what he wants; uses the whole Interwoven kit AND has a “killer app” on his site that must be left un touched. Says to me “How come no enterprise vendors are here?” When pushed he goes on to qualify “you know, IBM, Oracle, Microsoft… to manage my 6000 pages and 5 authors!” (Insiders note: every vendor on the floor would have considered that to be a “normal” project.)
• Finally three “interactive marketing associates” swing by. In five years they have tried Interwoven, Ektron, and now they are rolling out Sitecore. “Well it was really down to the implementation. We know, it is going to get expensive, but we hope it will be worth it this time.” (Lets be sure not to confuse hope with a strategy)

You see, 10 years at CMS trade shows and hearing these horror stories makes me mad and it makes me sad. We the “influencers” have messed this up! Seriously! How much do you think that non-profit is going to spend? What would an “Enterprise supplier” charge the guy with 6000 pages? How can you afford three different WCMS’ in five years?

There has to be A Better Way. 

We have decided to take a stand against all three of these scenarios and the hundreds more that play out every day or every year. We believe that you should no longer be trapped in a never ending cycle of chasing the next big thing in web content management. We believe you should be focused on differentiating yourself on the web, and that your technology and processes should enable your success rather than stand in your way. To do that, our web content management products are at the core Flexible, Supportable, Upgradeable, and most importantly, Affordable.  

Ask yourself if your current WCM software is any of those things. Unfortunately, given the stories I continued to hear this week, I already know the answer.

@josephwykes

PS: We also took a stand with how we presented Percussion at the show to clearly stand out from the crowd. Have a look at our booth graphics here. More to come on this soon!!

Our latest Guest Post comes from Meg Temple, our new Director of Product Marketing. Just two weeks into the job, it was a perfect opportunity for her to attend Gilbane and blog about her experience. 

Last week I attended the Gilbane Boston conference. The timing was perfect for this “newbie” because I got the chance to immerse myself in web content management. As a marketing manager and content contributor, I am not new to content management – I have struggled along with the rest of you to keep web sites fresh and engaging. But I am new to this side of the house – the world of Web Content Management products, applications, frameworks, gurus, etc. Gilbane was an excellent opportunity to meet people, check out vendors and fight Boston traffic, but most importantly to listen and learn from a lot of smart people.

So what did I take away from last week? In no particular order:

• “Success comes from doing something over and over until you get it right.” Keynote intro by Frank Gilbane. We all know this intellectually, but how many of us remember it at the moment of failure? Frank mentioned this in reference to developing a business but it relates to everything we do. When writing or painting (what I do in my other “life”) I have to beat back the perfectionist demon, so the more reminders of this fact the better.
• “Content Marketing is the only marketing that is left” Seth Godin as quoted by Joe Pulizzi, Founder of Junta42, the Content Marketing Institute, and SocialTract. With the Google Panda changes it is more important than ever to make sure that your content is “shareable”.  Joe called it “social proof” of the value of your content.  When creating content think about what your audience really needs to know.  Do they want a big sales pitch (no) or do they want information they can relate to, learn from or eases their pain? Think like a publisher.
• “All of our channels form a messaging trail. If the trail goes cold, our audience will be frustrated,” Georgy Cohen, Crosstown Digital Communications. If you’re going to commit to social engagement in your marketing and customer engagement strategy– and you should – you better be fully committed.  Monitor all your channels and RESPOND!

I took pages and pages of notes and every presentation/workshop was valuable but the 3 quotes above summed up the high level messages that I took from the Gilbane “Customer and Engagement Track.” I have already begun to incorporate what I learned from the conference into my content planning for 2012. If you manage your organization’s web content marketing strategy or execution, I highly recommend that you attend Gilbane Boston next year.  

@MegTemple