Why CMS buzzwords are killing your digital groove
You hear these CMS buzzwords all the time, and you feel you should be on the train - or risk getting left behind. But are they helping or halting your digital evolution?
Digital transformation. Content marketing. Personalization. Marketing automation. Customer experience.
CMS vendors, analysts and industry experts throw these phrases around in every other blog post and press release. The message is clear: If you want to succeed, you should be embracing all of these concepts.
Preferably - all at once. Or else, you know, your business is doomed. No pressure.
Right attitude, wrong questions
Speaking to current clients, and reading RFPs from prospective clients, we get a lot of odd questions like:
Does Episerver enable digital transformation?
Can we implement content marketing in Episerver?
(Short answers: Yes and yes.)
The problem here is they're asking one-dimensional questions that really require client-specific, multi-faceted answers.
None of these concepts are solved by a single feature or plugin. They are solved by combining tools, creative ideas and a long-term, organization-wide mindset.
We learn some valuable lessons from these conversations:
- Most businesses have high digital ambitions, and a desire to evolve, which is great news!
- Businesses are often unsure how to incorporate vague buzzwords into their digital strategy.
Paralyzing pressure
When we sit down with clients to discuss digital strategy, many are concerned whether they have the resources or organizational maturity to follow through.
How far off are we today?
Where should we even begin?
What if we get it wrong?
...Maybe we should just avoid doing any changes for now?
Where should we even begin?
What if we get it wrong?
...Maybe we should just avoid doing any changes for now?
In fact, the pressure to tick all the buzzword boxes actually makes businesses more hesitant when deciding how to invest next.
This hesitation is especially true for:
- Organizations where a few key people juggle many different roles all at once - they're the project owner, the webmaster, part-time marketer, and tech support, all-in-one. These are often fully occupied just keeping the website running and producing the bare minimum of content.
- Organizations where the communications department (and their digital presence) is not getting the necessary level of support from the rest of the hierarchy. Iniatives get underprioritized and underfunded, making it extremely hard to implement org-wide strategy changes.
- Organizations that "don't have anything to sell" and struggle to see why they should invest in strategies they perceive as commerce-related.
- Organizations that have just recently established their digital presence, but have no ambitions other than having a simple "mandatory" website. These are often unaware of, or uninterested in, the benefits of advancing beyond their current state.
Getting your groove back
I'm not saying the strategies these buzzwords represent are halting your business, but they way they're casually thrown around doesn't help anybody but those who love complicated jargon.
The truth is: You're probably doing many of the right things already!
So you've finally established a website? That's digital transformation right there! You're promoting your site's content on social media? Congratulations, you've entered into content marketing!
Don't let the buzzword hype paralyze your initiatives. They are big words describing a bunch of small changes that are within your reach.
Find an implementation partner that will help you plan sensible tweaks that you can follow through and measure. Let that strategy evolve over time after you see what works.