In 2017, I shared a compilation of 23 inspirational quotes, from Rachael Ray to Ann Handley to Andy Weir and many people in between. Each of those quotes continues to inspire me and impact the way I think about content marketing

Today, to kick off the new year, the CMI editorial team asked me to share some more quotes.

I’ve been a quote junkie since I was a kid. Some of the quotes I’ve included this year I picked up recently. Others came from the dog-eared journal I started in 1993, which includes gems like this one:

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When you look at the library of content you publish, is it a string of somewhat-related blog posts, videos and more — or do all the pieces work together to tell a better, broader story?

Of course (to poorly paraphrase Robert Rose), you want your editorial to tell one story instead of each piece being disconnected from the rest.

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Editor’s note: You may have missed this article when CMI published it last year. We’re sharing it now because the misperceptions about editorial calendars and content marketing strategies are still common.

Marketers often talk about how they have a strategy … then proceed to say they are set because they have an editorial calendar.

At the risk of sounding ranty, I’d love to yell from the rooftops: An editorial calendar is not a content marketing strategy!

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Did you know Andy Crestodina spends 150 hours on his annual blogger study? (This truly blew my mind – and it’s just one of the many insights I gleaned from a recent podcast with Andy on the Inbound Success podcast on original research. Absolutely worth a listen!)

While I can’t quantify how much time I have invested on any given research project, it’s somewhere in the ballpark of heaps to a truckload. Putting in the time – and money – makes sense because research works, but you can do much more beyond publishing the initial findings.

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When you have been in any industry for awhile, it’s easy to feel a bit burnt out on the topic.

As the former head of editorial at CMI I’ve read thousands of articles, written hundreds of posts, and had countless conversations about content marketing. Still, I continue to have aha moments that impact how I approach content marketing.

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“Peek behind great content marketing efforts and you’ll nearly always find a driven, well-organized team.”

I adore this sentiment from Cameron Conaway because it succinctly illustrates the power of your content marketing team. Regardless of how much content marketing know-how you ingest, here’s the dirty little secret: Those ideas only work if you have the right people on your team to implement them.

In short: Your success (or failure) in large part depends on your team.
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Each year, CMI founder Joe Pulizzi covers the essential roles you need on your content marketing team. It’s one of those posts that is consistently well received because it hits a nerve: Whom do you need on your team to make content marketing work in your organization?

I had the pleasure of thinking through this question in more detail when Joe asked me to speak about creating the ultimate content marketing team at Content Marketing World 2017. While I shared a framework useful for restructuring your team and/or making hiring decisions (which will be published shortly on this blog), today we’re digging into the various skill areas your team needs to cover.

But before we do that, a bit of explanation …
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Audience first.

Are you tired of hearing this mantra? I am.

But, here’s the thing: Too many marketers say and even think they are all about the audience, but when you dig into their programs, you see it’s still all about them.

While it’s not easy to make a genuine shift, here are four twists in perspective to truly make sure your audience is at the center of everything you do.

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