Ben Stroup

This is a critical decision you must make: will you be a corporate marketing monger or an advocate for the customer, client, prospect, donor, etc.?

The people who win at content strategy…

• Think like their audience thinks.
• Asks the same questions their audience asks.
• Reads the same material their audience reads.
• Commit to finding a way to stay plugged into life through the eyes of the person you’re speaking to.

The people who fail at content strategy…

• Act in the best interest of the company, organization, or cause.
• Expect others to adjust to their language and habits to your preferences.
• Assumes their perspective is consistent with the intended or target audience.
• Believe everyone else is as interested in “you” as you are.

Content Strategy affords organizations the ability to…

• Listen.
• Learn.
• Engage.
• Adjust.
• And do it all over all.

If the depth of your interest in the people you’re trying to reach is to create a specific, one-time transaction, then you’re wasting your time with content strategy. Keep perfecting what it means to be a corporate marketing monger. But if you want to start a revolution, create evangelists, incite a riot, and create change, the path to becoming a customer advocate…an insider that fights the corporation on behalf of the client, customer, prospect, giver, etc…begin with an entirely different posture.

Which path will you choose? (Hint: Your audience will instinctively know.)

Ben Stroup is a content activist in a post-paragraph world. He is chief broker of opportunity at Ben Stroup Enterprises. Connect with Ben via email, Twitter, and Google+. Subscribe via email to learn how to use content to move people to action.