This article states

"The last 12 months have accelerated many changes in content generation that were already well under way. As a result, 85% of marketers know they need to transform for the long term to align with the current climate. But how?"

It then goes go on to describe a world that has been dramatically changed (in the buyer process) by the pandemic and how content has to change to meet these new challenges.

Catherine Coale the marketing leader has said to me many a time "the days of throwing a white paper into a bunch of strangers have long gone."  How very true.  The article goes on to say.

"The content landscape has been experiencing changes that have been bubbling below the surface for a number of years, only to be escalated by Covid-19 and shoot rapidly straight to the attention of chief marketers. Many of these changes are not transient or knee-jerk reactions to the global pandemic, and marketers are realizing that they need to adapt their strategies to continue to engage their markets and deliver the required ROI."

The domination of digital

"The trend for digitization has been under way for some time. Faster and better internet connections, smartphones and social media have all been instrumental in driving an ‘always on’ culture that can connect us to individuals across the globe in a matter of seconds. 

As the world went into lockdown in 2020, digital provided the means for maintaining our daily activity, whether business, social or leisure. Most in-person transactions moved online and contributed to an unprecedented rate of digital growth. McKinsey highlighted this growth in its research The Quickening 2020, revealing that the US experienced ten years’ worth of digital growth within just three months. 

Buyers mindsets have changed too

But it isn't just the technology that has changed the buyers mindset has changed too.

Back in 2019 it was common to see marketers using advertising, cold calling (telemarketing) and email marketing.  It was seen as normal to send these and receive them.  The normality was that we received this in the office.  Advertising, cold calling and email marketing; push marketing as it's often called was seen as a normal way to do business.

With the migration to work remotely and from home, now these interruptions invade our personal space.  This has fundamentally changed the buyer's perception of these interruptions from "business as usual" to annoyance.  

When we went to an office, we went into "work mode" and it was OK to receive these work mode interruptions.  Now we work from home and these "work mode" interruptions are seen for what they are processes from a bygone age.  No relevance to us and in fact now we see advertisers, cold callers (telemarketers) and email marketers for what they are, sales and marketing dinosaurs.  Teams that are no idea how to market and sell in this post covid world.

In fact, we have seen with the knowledge that there are better ways to market than these 30 to 40 year old technologies, the modern buyer sees cold calling (telemarketing), email marketing and advertising from companies that no longer understand how to sell or market and it makes the companies that use these techniques seem old fashioned, out of touch and dreft of new ideas.

In case you missed it, one of the most conservative businesses in the world the Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch has just banned cold calling

Back to this article. 

Demonstrating relevance

"With the expectation of a personalized experience comes the need to reflect the current climate and demonstrate relevance. During the pandemic, the rapid and often significant changes to our lives presented a further time- and resource-draining obstacle. 85% of marketers surveyed reported that Covid-19 had increased the importance of creating content quickly. However, 72% were unable to create enough content to meet this demand. Worryingly for brands, with audience expectation remaining high, those who do not have the agility to respond to market changes face disengagement or, worse, disapproval."

But the answer is simple.

You empower your employees to talk, write and engage on social media.

If you think about how people market, they all go to market and say "buy our product, because it's great" of course there is no differential.  Most products and companies are actually the same and the buyer couldn't tell companies or products apart.

The only unique you have as a business is your employees, their knowledge and their experience.

When I say, empower your employees to talk on social, I don't mean buy a tool and get them to spread corporate content on social.  In fact research shows that this is detrimental to your brand.  The high performing companies stopped this a long time ago.

The answer to getting content, and content that resonates with your prospects and clients is to empower your staff to write.  In fact, the marketing leader Catherine Coale in her article, talks about removing the need for the marketing department to create content.  Note I didn't say get rid of marketing, their role has evolved and so should your team.

Think about it, all the content you need, that is insightful, educational and humanised .... that your prospects and customers want to read, they want to engage with and even better than that.  Content that generates leads, meetings, conversations and commercial interactions (sales).  Is in the power of your employees.