Our latest Enterprise research, focusing on content marketing teams and the keys to transformation

1. C O N T E N T M A R K E T I N G I N S T I T U T E E x ecutiv e R esearch S eries
The State of Content Marketing
Operations for the Enterprise:
The Future of Content Marketing Teams
and Keys to Transformation

2. OVERVIEW
The most common and dynamic theme that is
evident when we look toward the future of content
marketing is change.
“I can’t tell you there’s any immediate change on
the horizon, but given how many new technologies
and how many new models are coming into the fold,
I wouldn’t be surprised that at some point there will
be some change.”
So how will marketing leaders change as a result of
content marketing? Many want to improve their editorial
process and centralize some of the planning. Others
are taking this a step further and want to integrate their
editorial and demand-generation processes so the
content they publish can better drive business results.
But at the crux of this change is the need to transform
organizational culture, which is very challenging in
enterprise organizations where silos and strong histories
often hold sway.
It is useful to examine what marketing leaders would like
to improve within their processes and organizations, but
the most meaningful advice comes from organizations
already beginning to transform. Like everything we have
uncovered, there is no one right way to accomplish
this transformation, but rather there are myriad ideas
that marketing leaders are exploring or have already
implemented.
Methodology: About CMI
Executive Research Series
In spring 2014, Content Marketing
Institute (CMI) embarked on a qualitative
research project to develop a deeper
understanding of how enterprise
marketers approach content marketing.
Topics addressed include operations/team
structure, international strategy, budgets,
effectiveness, challenges, successes, and
what the marketing department of the
future might look like.
CMI partnered with Market Dynamics
LLC, which conducted interviews with 27
senior-level enterprise (1,000+ employees)
marketers actively engaged in content
marketing strategy and/or content
marketing in their organizations. The
interviews took place between February
and April 2014 and included marketers
from both business-to-business (B2B) and
business-to-consumer (B2C) companies.
The State of Content Marketing Operations
for the Enterprise is the second of two
reports that synthesizes the information
gathered from those interviews, along
with insights gleaned during the inaugural
CMI Executive Forum 2014—a two-day
gathering in May 2014 of 40 enterprise
marketing leaders (some of whom also
participated in the qualitative interviews).
Quotes that are included throughout this
report are from the forum’s participants.
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3. THE FUTURE OF
CONTENT MARKETING TEAMS
More than two-thirds of marketing leaders we
interviewed see their marketing departments
restructuring to address content marketing needs.
Among the few companies that indicated their future
structure would be similar to their present organization,
most already had gone through major restructuring
to adapt to content, either within marketing or with a
separate group.
What does this restructuring look like and what will
need to change? Below are the key themes that
emerged during our interviews.
As a note, in many cases companies were shifting
resources from marketing and other departments to
handle content marketing versus hiring new employees.
More focus on publishing
mindset/approach
Several companies have adopted editorial principles,
such as having a managing editor or content marketing
manager who identifies key topics, defines the workflow,
manages the writers, and measures success. Those who
do not yet take this approach hypothesize that they will:
“I would like to see us evolving into a publishing
house, in which an editor will help shape stories and
content, acting as an advisor for teams. Editorial
calendars will be a constant among the teams.”
As one offshoot of this, it’s a good idea to have
someone in the company focus on your organization’s
point of view and tone of voice. If you don’t, there is
a good chance your content will sound like everyone
else. Your managing editor needs to read and consume
everything you produce to make sure your content is
consistent and as true to brand as possible.
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EDITORIAL AND SOCIAL MEDIA TOP
LIST OF SKILS IN HIGHEST DEMAND
A look at who marketing leaders have recently
hired and who they are planning to hire gives
a good indication of how content marketing
teams will evolve in the near future. Where is
the skills gap, and what do they consider to be
important?
Many of those who are hiring say they look for
content marketing professionals who can wear
many hats, with editorial and social media
skills in highest demand. There is also a trend
in hiring people with publishing backgrounds
(writers, editors-in-chief) as companies strive
to create better quality content. An additional
bonus is that organizations can tap into these
people’s networks.
Other positions for which marketing leaders are
hiring include digital marketing, creative/ design
and content marketing managers.
If you are really serious about content
marketing, you need to push yourself and your
team to look more closely at storytelling and
creating valuable and engaging content.

4. Demand generation and
publishing come together
Taking this a step further, some marketing leaders want
to more closely align their publishing and demand-generation
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skills. So, instead of focusing specifically on
creating and distributing content, they will combine
this with the demand-generation mindset so they
are also getting and nurturing leads to achieve more
profitable action.
Planning becomes more centralized
Several marketing leaders remarked that they would
like to see their content marketing structure become
more centralized as it relates to planning. For many,
this means deciding on key topics at the corporate level
and getting the right groups and subject-matter experts
involved.
“Based on how we’re structured—and I talk about
that centralized combined with a decentralized
content model—in order to have an effective
content strategy we would have to rein in all
the decentralized areas and get everybody on
the same song sheet. That’s a mountain of work
and a challenge that would require a lot of focus
and energy from someone like the marketing
department.”
Content Marketing for
Customer Retention
For many marketing leaders, content marketing
turned out to be as much about engaging
with current customers as it was about sales
prospecting and demand generation. This
was particularly true for several major high
technology and financial services companies
that see content marketing as a cornerstone of
their customer retention marketing strategy.
“It’s really about engagement and retention.
We want to make sure that our clients continue
to look to us for what’s happening next ... To
retain them, we need to up our game so that we
continue to add value to the equation.”
While using content marketing to retain and
upsell customers is nothing new, there is a lot
of opportunity for companies to apply their
processes and what they have learned to drive
more profits.

5. TRANSFORMATION TAKES
MANY FORMS
While looking toward what marketing leaders want
to see in the future is useful, what is, perhaps, more
interesting is how they will get there. Shifting to a
content marketing mindset is very much tied to
shifting the organizational culture, but this is not
something that happens easily or quickly, especially in
large organizations.
Get executive buy-in
While marketing leaders are struggling with many
aspects of content marketing, there is one barrier
that is certain to impede progress: lack of executive
support. If executive management does not believe in
content marketing, it will be incredibly difficult to get
the right groups involved and get the permission to
experiment (and sometimes fail, which is essential if
you want to grow).
Not surprisingly, the principles of content marketing
may be exactly what marketing leaders can use to
get their management to buy in. Ask: “Who needs
to buy in, and what does each person care about?”
Market your content marketing efforts internally,
with a dedicated focus on how this transformation
will positively impact what management cares
about most. In short, figure out what content
effectiveness looks like to management and tailor your
presentations and communications to focus on that.
Get sales buy-in
While it’s critical to get buy-in from executive
management, it’s equally important to get support
from sales. Not only is sales a key team that will
provide insights into what prospects and customers
care about, but the sales team also needs to be using
the content you create. There is a big difference
between pushing out content to sales and creating
content that sales uses and engages with. Consider
this statistic offered by Paul Danter, VPA Sales and
Marketing from Genwi, at B2B Content2Conversion
2014: Up to 90 percent of marketing teams are creating
content that is not being discovered by sales teams or
customers.
For instance, one company used an internal “road
show” to present content marketing to sales. The
company found that even though it put a concerted
effort and investment into creating content, it was
wholly inadequate and ineffective to place it into
a central file repository and send an internal email
newsletter. Various sales teams even went to the level
of setting up spam filters to avoid the email newsletter
sent by the content group!
To address this, marketers developed the content
“road show,” a quarterly effort in which they go
around to various departments and tout content
successes, train salespeople on the latest case studies,
infographics, white papers and other content—and
generally build excitement among the teams. It has
been hugely successful for them.
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6. Get TEAM buy-in
Are you sensing a theme? You need to have buy-in
from all parts of the organization, including your own
team. One leader described in detail how he or she has
taken the team on a transformational journey:
“The way I am casting it to everybody on this
team is we’re going to create a competency that
we have never had before. We are going to walk
around the halls with a lot more pride than we
have ever had. By knowing that we’re now a
best-practice marketing organization instead
of feeling like we are fighting off our backs and
defending ourselves all the time; we are going to
be leading from the front.”
Create ‘pockets’ of success
Some marketing leaders who don’t yet have buy-in or
those who are still trying to expand content marketing
within their organization are finding success by
creating a “pocket.” This is a way to experiment with
content marketing, show success, and apply what they
learn as they grow the content marketing discipline
within the organization. Without sounding trite, it’s
often more useful to ask for forgiveness instead of
permission.
Consider agile marketing
Agile marketing is a trend in which small teams work
closely together to create marketing programs that
go through many tests and iterations. By learning and
adapting with each project, they continually improve
their output. This is an approach that a few marketing
leaders are taking to elicit change within their
organizations. As one participant explained:
“I think agile marketing is one of the keys to making
the transition from marketing—changing the
culture to be a more accountable one that really is
focused on results and outcomes, and not just lists
of deliverables that someone asks them for.”
Have collaborative workshops
If your organization needs to smash the silos and
get everyone on the same page, there is no better
approach than in-person workshops. As one marketing
leader explains, the outcomes of these workshops
should be the campaigns and initiatives that the
team should work on. Instead of having everybody go
out and do their own things, they are collaboratively
creating this in person, which gives everybody a sense
of ownership.
As part of this process, it also clarifies which themes
should be consistent across the organization.
Get comfortable with discomfort
Marketers by nature are positive and ambitious, and
(sometimes) structured, but content marketing is
messy, difficult, and uncertain. As backwards as this
may sound, embracing failure and uncertainty can be
an attribute of a strong leader. People are attracted to
those who are honest and human, so if you want to
get your team behind you, be decisive and confident,
but be open to sharing failed experiments as well. In
turn, your team will be more likely to experiment.
Align goals across your organization
As a general rule, organizations need to align personal
and team metrics with budgets and priorities.
However, you need to take this a step further with
content marketing. When executed successfully,
content marketing involves many departments
across the organization. While workshops help teach
concepts, to truly get everyone on the same page
and working toward the same goals, you need to
make sure everyone is rewarded based on the same
outcomes. If you have one team focused on getting
traffic and another team working on sales, there could
be a conflict and instead of meeting both goals, you
may not meet either.
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7. Communicate with the entire team
Just as you need to align goals across teams, you
also need to communicate with the entire team to get
everyone on the same page:
“In fact, we just held an in-person rally. Essentially
80 people all grinding out what is our content
strategy for these various industries, solutions,
and geographies going to be next year. It wasn’t all
done, but we got about halfway there. Just to get
the process kicked off.”
Another marketing leader talks about the importance
of monthly calls for the entire marketing team (this is
hundreds of people.)
Find meaning
Although this may sound somewhat esoteric, the
marketing leaders who feel most passionate and
enthusiastic about their jobs are those who find
meaning in both their positions and in their company.
One marketing leader at the Executive Forum
challenged his peers to truly care about their jobs and
their organizations.
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CONCLUSION
This series of reports raised more questions than it answered, but it’s important for marketing leaders to
understand they will always be transforming. There is no end point or perfect place to be.
The successful adoption of content marketing has less to do with the age or history of your company
and organization, but is instead driven more by the culture and mindset of innovation around content
marketing. For every company, the simple goal should be to evolve. Think of projects as a way to learn,
not as final destinations.

8. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
CMI is grateful to the extraordinary companies that participated in our 2014 Executive Research
Series and shared their insights and expertise.
 3M
 Ameriprise Financial
 Avery Dennison
 Beechcraft Aviation
 Cisco
 Cleveland Clinic
 CSC - Computer Science Corporation
 Diebold
 DuPont
 EMC
 Fidelity Investments
 Genact
 IBM
 Infor
 Kraft Foods Group
 LEK Consulting
 Lincoln Electric
 Master Control
 McGladrey
 Rockwell
 SAP
 SAS
 Standard Register Business Service
 Sykes Enterprises
 Symrise
 Towers Watson
 Wells Fargo Advisors
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9. ABOUT CMI
Content Marketing Institute (CMI) is the leading global content marketing education and
training organization. CMI teaches enterprise brands how to attract and retain customers through
compelling, multi-channel storytelling. CMI’s Content Marketing World, the largest content
marketing-focused event, is held every September. CMI also produces the quarterly magazine Chief
Content Officer, and provides strategic consulting and content marketing research for some of the
best-known brands in the world. CMI is a 2012, 2013, and 2014 Inc. 500 company.
If you manage your content marketing program, subscribe to CCO magazine.
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