Event Wrap Up:

Listen to the full Virtual Roundtable [55:44]
Watch the Highlights Video [1:26]

A recent Gartner survey forecasts that for 85 percent of marketers, data will drive significantly more decisions by 2022.

But can content marketing decisions all be data-driven, or is it a balance between art and science? Patrick Bernardi, CMO at Hu-Friedy Group, Armen Najarian, CMO at RSA Security - Fraud & Risk Intelligence, and Jon Suarez-Davis, CMO at Salesforce, led a recent CMO Club Virtual Roundtable that explored where art and science converge in effective content marketing.

It’s a Fusion of Data and Storytelling

• Use data to understand a specific audience. What is their journey? Where are they clicking? Have an ear to the ground–what they are talking about?
• Storytelling is what will drive your content marketing outcomes.
• Appeal to your customers’ hierarchy of needs and emotions to really break through.

“Inside a person are these churning emotions. How do I compare? Am I good enough? You've got to tap into those secret things that are inside in order to really be relevant and breakthrough with your content.” – Patrick Bernardi

Copywriting is Crucial

• Every marketer needs to be a good copywriter.
• Even those in data-driven or behind the scenes roles, should develop copywriting skills
• At the heart of great copywriting is tone and authenticity
• Tone matters – you have to sound conversational, and not stuffy.

“The number one skill that every marketer should have is copywriting. Everyone has to be comfortable expressing their thoughts in a pithy way. Copywriting is the foundation for great content and great marketing strategies and programs.” – Armen Najarian

Make The Most Interesting People Central to Your Content

• Build a relationship with these people – interview them, learn from them, and develop great content with them.
• These people may not always be in your company, and you may need to look externally.
• Pay experts for their time and insights, or create other quality incentives to secure their participation.

“Let’s engage directly with these people. Let’s build a relationship. Let’s see if we can learn from them. Let’s interview them. Let’s get some great content from this.” – Armen Najarian