Lack of alignment on content. Stakeholders who think they're marketers.
More than half say it's a big problem.
I'm hired to write great copy. I do. The technical MD clearly knows best though, and needs to rewrite everything a million times just to grow his ego and make marketing feel like shit.
In B2B, it seems everybody thinks they're a marketer and everyone will have an opinion on the content you create. 86% of respondents say it's an obstacle to making good content; for 54%, it's a big problem.
The issue is widespread, with particular challenges in medium-sized businesses and SaaS (where it's a big problem for 68%).
I've had many projects drag on far, far longer than they needed to because we had to have 6+ stakeholders weigh in. We revise according to their feedback and put it in front of them again, only to have them find new issues or suggest something entirely different that now they're excited about and want to see.
It's not just annoying... Respondents who said stakeholder interference is a big problem are 26% less likely to be proud of their content's business results.
No wonder interference is such a problem. Just 14% said everyone in their organisation agrees on what good content is.
In large enterprises and on mainland Europe, it's 0%.
Without a clear, agreed standard defining what good content looks like, it's inevitable that stakeholders will go beyond their remit, and start to micromanage copywriting, strategy, messaging and design until they see something that suits their own personal taste.
So we asked Doug Kessler for his view on that.
The number one job for marketers now is aligning stakeholders. Stakeholders are still the big obstacle, and that comes through loud and clear in the research. But maybe there's a sign that people are starting to take that seriously as part of their jobs. I certainly hope so.
Creating stakeholder alignment is not an obstacle to doing our job. It is our job.
We've all got great graveyards, full of fantastic ideas that failed. And we blame the person who killed them – we don't take it on board ourselves.
The research suggests the more stakeholders are involved, the worse the content is, and that's probably true. But it may be a reflection of our misuse of our own stakeholders.
Stakeholders should make stuff better. A product expert should be able to keep us more accurate. Salespeople should be able to help us find things that resonate with prospects. So the fact that we don't feel that's true, is, I think, a fundamental symptom of misalignment.
If we can get aligned on strategy and what great content looks like, the rest should fall into place. And we may find that stakeholder involvement becomes a positive thing.
Admit that the work of creating alignment is part of the job. Don't bring strategies, tactics, or ideas for approval until you've got solid alignment from everyone. Until that work is done, the chances of you sending up a clay pigeon, and having everyone miss their shot, are pretty slim.
Take the alignment work outside the daily process of approval cycles and establish your foundation before you move forward.
If your stakeholders are not in alignment, nothing is possible. And if they are, almost anything is.
