Is it time to be Killing Marketing? Killing Marketing, a new read penned by content marketing aficionados Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose (of the Content Marketing Institute), delves deep into this question and takes it to an ultimate conclusion. Now… this dynamic duo is by no means instructing us to dilute or reduce our marketing efforts (thank you gentlemen), they are simply advocating for marketing to change with the times.

They ask: “What if everything we currently know about marketing is what is holding us back? Over the last two decades, we’ve watched the entire world change the way it buys and stays loyal to brands. But marketing departments are still operating in the same, campaign-centric, product-led operation that they have been following for 75 years. The most innovative companies around the world have achieved remarkable marketing results by fundamentally changing their approach. By creating value for customers through the use of owned media and the savvy use of content, these businesses have dramatically increased customer loyalty and revenue. Some of them have even taken it to the next step and developed a marketing function that actually pays for itself.”

Pulizzi and Rose showcase shining examples of companies who have not only excelled at content marketing but have disrupted and flipped the traditional marketing paradigm on its head. “Red Bull, Johnson & Johnson, Disney and Arrow Electronics have succeeded in what ten years ago would have been deemed impossible. They continue to market their products as they always have, and, through their content-driven and audience-building initiatives, they drive value outside the day-to-day products they sell ― and monetize it directly.”

They invite us to: “push away our biases and start to look at marketing as not just driving demand,” so we can make ultimately make bold decisions to “kill” how we market today and take advantage of an entirely new model. This is blunt advice but also enlightened.

They implore us to take a look at – what our content is doing? And what else can it do? The marketing skills of tomorrow are “equal parts marketing and publishing,” so we now need to understand the new business model that has emerged from this blend.

This is a conversation we’ve been having and driving for years (and I’ve touched on it from multiple angles across our weekly Mashups). Content Marketing is the way forward – but how we approach things is key. Think of it as a rebirth for marketing that plays to our emotional core as humans – tripping our dopamine and tickling our serotonin receptors, reeling us in with the familiar… encapsulated by vivid, well told, engaging stories. There is a wide open space for companies to really reinvent themselves here… will your company be one of the ones who recognize this moment and act?

Michael Chase, CMO
St. Joseph Communications

#MondayMorningMashup