Content marketing is hotter than ever right now and shows no signs of slowing down. As a recent Forbes article explains, “Effective marketing and content creation are inextricably linked. It’s one of the best ways to regularly connect with your audience while boosting your reputation and credibility. ...[So,] in today’s digital-first consumer ecosystem, it’s increasingly important to generate content for potential and recurring buyers.” Echoing this sentiment, HubSpot has declared content marketing to be the most effective form of marketing today, saying, "Consistent, high-quality, and engaging content impacts audience decision-making more than any other technique."

As content marketing continues to be an effective lead generation and customer acquisition tool, companies are starting to evaluate whether new AI-based tools like ChatGPT can provide low-cost assistance with their ongoing content creation efforts.

The answer to the question of whether ChatGPT can save a company money compared to the cost of hiring a professional content writer or digital marketing company is obvious. Using ChatGPT costs a fraction of what a professional service of any type would charge because anyone at any level of the business can generate an article on any topic in a matter of minutes. There is no first-hand knowledge required or research needed to get an article created. You simply need to ask a few questions and copy/paste the answers into a document and voila, you have an article. The hours of brainstorming, researching, outlining, and writing that an experienced content writer would normally spend are replaced by an AI algorithm that aggregates existing content into an article in a matter of minutes. It’s free and it’s fast.

Sounds great, right? Maybe not.

A colleague of mine has been living in his basement Airbnb rental for almost four months as he renovates the rest of his home. As is typical these days, every part of the project took longer than expected with the contractor running into delays getting materials and problems finding subcontractors to do the work. Finally in the home stretch, he and his wife gave the contractor an exact shade of Sherwin-Williams paint that they wanted used on the walls. This is not their first home renovation, and as such, they are picky about their paint. Previous experiences, both good and bad, have made them die-hard Sherwin-Williams brand loyalists.

But when the painting was complete, they immediately recognized that the paint they had requested had not been used. They asked if the painters had used Sherwin-Williams paint. They insisted they had.

The pandemic hit many industries and demographics hard, but some shouldered the burden more than others. Women, especially working mothers, were overwhelmingly negatively affected.

In fact, the 2020 Women in the Workplace report revealed that 25% of working women and over 30% of mothers with young children were “contemplating downshifting their careers or leaving the workforce” with mothers citing increased domestic and child-care responsibilities as their primary motivation for doing so. The study summarized,

“Women in particular have been negatively impacted. Women—especially women of color—are more likely to have been laid off or furloughed during the COVID-19 crisis, stalling their careers and jeopardizing their financial security. The pandemic has intensified challenges that women already faced. Working mothers have always worked a ‘double shift’—a full day of work, followed by hours spent caring for children and doing household labor. Now the supports that made this possible—including school and childcare—have been upended. Meanwhile, Black women already faced more barriers to advancement than most other employees. Today they’re also coping with the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on the Black community.”

While these challenges impact women individually, the cumulative effect of women leaving the workforce significantly affects the companies they work for as well.

So, how can B2B companies keep women among their ranks and on their leadership teams?

Strategic revenue development is a function of assessing your company’s strengths and weaknesses; filling in the necessary gaps; and optimizing the alignment between core strengths, internal structures, people, products & services, and marketing strategy; followed by ongoing measurement and plan adjustments.

One of the 37 Foundational Questions (FQ) in our Revenue Development Action Plan, is:

“Describe what your company is in the business of:
Delivering… making… servicing… providing…”

In essence, we want to know there is clarity and alignment regarding products and services. In the B2B market, a sales team needs the support to ensure messages are aligned and services are delivered as promised. Though it may appear obvious, too often there are dozens of versions. Marketing takes the description one direction, sales another… and neither serve the customer well.

Every business owner and senior executive dreams about having a great company. And as an engineer, innovator, and business CEO Elon Musk said,

Great companies are built on great products.” (The same could be said about excellent services for service providers.)

Yet, there is something else that is essential to success, something that has a significant impact on revenue. That element is a great product or service description. A great product or service description is essential because every business must be able to articulate clearly and appealingly what it makes, delivers, services, or provides. Without that, how would a buyer find, understand, get excited about, or purchase what is being sold?

Formulating a social media plan has many rushing to hyped up platforms to shout, pose, rant and act if they are celebrities and that others care. Or you have heard and hopefully not said: “We should use social media because our competition does.” This is difficult to accept as a foundation for a strategy and plan.

It’s better to walk alone than with a crowd going in the wrong direction.” 
-  Gandhi

Today I want to share some thoughts about the real power of social media and how it potentially relates to your company, team and revenue growth.

I suspect it will be much different from the noise marketers share. Please note that my focus is to support profitable B2B revenue growth and may not align well with your business.

The second foundational question (FQ) in the Revenue Development Action Plan is:

What is your company’s purpose? Why are you here?”

In the early stages of creating a business there is a strong focus on developing a vision, a formal mission statement and company values. However, the company purpose is something that is often more elusive.

Most new businesses are primarily focused on generating enough revenue to be sustainable. Business owners may have a strong personal sense of why they formed the business, but that purpose is not always reflected throughout the company. As businesses grow, however, they may naturally begin to develop a purpose that drives strategic decision-making. This direction must be refined into a clear purpose statement or the company will aimlessly wander.

Another Leadership Forum is happening in March for members of Center for Advanced Manufacturing Puget Sound (CAMPS).  The forum will be at the offices of Clark Number in Bellevue, WA on March 27. I will have the honor of presenting on the topic of “Becoming a Thought Leader”.

When it comes to corporate communications, the writing is on the wall. Companies and their top managers need to develop a top-down approach to their online business, including social media, or find themselves left in the dust. The data supports this suggestion.