Marketers have a hard job to do every day, every week, every month and every year. Starting from creating a deeper relationship between brand and customer, creating values for the market, finding solutions for the needs of their clients and yes, they also need to educate themselves. Sometimes it is hard to do all that and… let’s not forget that marketers are also humans.
They are humans with feelings, fears, hobbies and passions. And they struggle a lot every time they want to do their job.
Looking at myself, this year was a challenging one and I want to make 2016 an even bigger challenge. I love the work I’m doing at Bannersnack and I know that this product is more than a simple banner maker. I like to call it – the smartest way to design banner ads!
Going forward, I want to write down my thoughts about what I want to do, or to be in the next year.
I know it is that time of the year when lots of bloggers and content marketers are writing the “x trends for 2016” or “x steps in being xyz for 2016”. This is NOT that kind of an article. This article has been written somewhere in the middle of nowhere, on top of the mountain, in a car while having no reception to my smartphone.
This is the moment when I can put down my ideas about what I want to be in 2016 without being disrupted by any other red or orange notifications.
In 2016, I want to listen more.
The gurus say that we need to put out there a lot of content for our followers or customers.Well, I want to go a little more profoundly and educate myself, listen to the needs of my community and try to give them the real content they need. Not what they want, but what they need.
If I’d have to choose a quote for this year I’m going with Robert Rose’s quote:
I’m not interested in the SEO theory, in the SEM ideas and other strategy that can bring me more followers and audience. I’m interested in creating that kind of content that will have a bigger impact in your professional life. So maybe there will be days when I’m not putting any other content out there. Why? Because I’m listening.
In 2016, I want to consume less content
I’m a big podcast consumer, I listen almost 20 podcast episodes/week and sometimes this is too much information. I don’t want to consume content just for the sake of staying in trend, just for the sake of wanting to hear another opinion about how one start-up raise a few million dollars just because they engage with their community and create valuable products. It’s the ame words but put it in other languages from other people.
I will be more careful with whom will I read, why I will read that person and what can I learn from him. Everybody is talking about content marketing but there are a few people that are really doing what they are saying.
Consuming less content will give me more time to be a better listener and to create the important projects that my audience needs. If you absorb so much content, that doesn’t mean that you will be smarter or better in what you do.
This is that kind of situation where you share a lot of content on Twitter or Linkedin from other publications. I know that you want to be a “media company” where people can find links and other ideas about a topic. But you are only a human and you’d better start acting like a human, not like a company.
Consuming less content will give me more time to create valuable content, even if we’re talking about an infographic, a slideshare presentation or a blog post.
I’m not saying that we should stop consuming content that educates or inspires us. I’m just saying that we should stop consuming so much content and think deeper, not wider, on how to put something really important and with bigger impact on the internet.
So guys, here are my thoughts for what I want to be in 2016 and I will work hard to succeed.
Would love to read your thoughts about this. Leave a comment or a response.
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