Let go & lean in
Let go & lean in
Tips to refocus your current strategies and build on what's working
We have a bright, bold future ahead of us. Do you have what it takes to keep up and stand out?
Let’s dig in.
Today’s agenda:
🙋 Are you forgetting this one type of customer?
👀 Why you need to stop micromanaging
⌨️ Content marketing skills you need now and later
💼 Briefly — our quick news roundup
⏱️ Up & coming
Your client personas are missing a key characteristic
B2B marketing experts Neil Baron and Rod Griffith say businesses often forget to include urgency of need when creating their client personas.
They say that while “classic demographics” are helpful in producing lists of prospects, they don’t determine which client the salesperson should call on first.
🚨 Using a “needs-based” approach, place potential clients into these four segments:
Urgent, or an immediate need
Non-urgent, where need is recognized but not high priority
Need is currently being met, but isn’t a long-term solution
None, or customer has no needs and won’t anytime soon
🗣️ How do you learn their level of urgency? The authors suggest reaching out to talk to customers and prospects, focusing on the following:
Their frustrations and their urgency to resolve them
Do they have clear, consistent, and measurable goals?
What is keeping them from reaching their goals?
Are there environmental, situational, or technological factors at play?
Finally, you need to turn to your company to determine whether you are able to meet the most urgent needs, and how to navigate those with no needs or less urgent needs.
Leaders: Let it go
Creative agency founder Taja Dockendorf gets it: It’s hard to give up control and hand others the reins.
But in a recent piece for Entrepreneur, Dockendorf explains why it’s important to do so, and how to do it if you find that you can’t.
You hired these people for a reason — over-directing their creative process leads to bland designs
Trust the process, and aim to be a “constructive collaborator” rather than controller
Hire thoughtfully and communicate clearly from the start
Offer feedback and direction, then let your team “recalibrate” and try again
💪 Dockendorf emphasizes that a tight grip on your team is guaranteed to result in mediocre work — at best. Trust, let go, and expect the best.
Skills to carry you through 2028
Content Marketing Institute asked presenters for this year’s Content Marketing World which skills we need to meet today’s challenges and the unexpected changes to come.
🔑 Key tips from the experts:
Continue to focus on data privacy compliance, including leveraging Web3 solutions and blockchain
A basic knowledge of AI is “critical,” and marketers must overcome their fear of it to leverage its full potential in our jobs
AI won’t take your job — but a marketer skilled at AI will take your job
Think outside the box for “innovative solutions” to challenges by embracing experimentation and continuously learning about new technology
Embrace diverse perspectives
Businesses with staying power are “compelling storytellers” that aren’t afraid to address the serious issues their audience faces
Unique content will continue to stand out
Develop discernment and the “ability to say no”
Marketers will need a “solid understanding” of behavioral science to get people to pay attention to your message and respond to it
Get back into the world and network, talk to your customers
Read the full list of insights and ideas here for more inspiration.
💡 What would you add to the list? Which skills do you think will become increasingly important in an AI-driven world?
Briefly
🤖 Insider Intelligence report reveals that millennials and Gen X are leading ChatGPT’s growth explosion in the U.S.
📹 YouTube is testing a feature that will allow brands to hyperlink over words or phrases in the comments section, which will link to a search results page without interrupting the current video
💬 Check out Hootsuite’s free caption generator and 135 Facebook caption ideas for all types of posts
📰 Instagram boss Adam Mosseri says the new Threads app is not encouraging politics and hard news
Up & Coming
Student loan forgiveness allowed borrowers to contribute more to the economy.
Here’s a look at how the program ending is already setting off an economic “ripple effect.”