Senior Content Strategist Q&A

Senior Content Strategist Q&A

This month’s Q&A features a senior content strategist with a top-tier technology company.  

‍How does your role as senior content strategist fit in with the larger ecosystem of your company?

I help with messaging and overall storytelling for our business. My goal is to uplevel everyone's day-to-day experience so they can see the forest for the trees. I remind them of the big themes we're all working toward on a daily basis. Sometimes, we all get so bogged down in the details of what we’re doing that we forget the bigger picture. I’m here to make sure that doesn't happen.

‍This month, we've been discussing the concept and value of “coopetition” and what happens when external partners, agencies, vendors, and resources work together toward a shared goal: the client's vision. Has this approach been effective as you execute your comms and event portfolio?

‍We've made a strong effort to expand the network of third parties we work with because we want folks who are best-in-class in specific areas, whether their superpowers be in scriptwriting, production, or overall event logistics. Having the best brains in the business greatly improves both your experience as a client and the overall customer attendee experience.

‍Do those collaborations ever yield more fruitful outcomes than expected?

Yes, absolutely. The agencies and partners we work with play really well in the sandbox. As long as you're working with partners who don't have egos about them, the results will be better. When you have the opportunity to bring multiple brilliant minds together, only goodness comes from that.  

‍How has your business changed over the past five years?

Although it seemed like everything changed so much because of the pandemic, some things have stayed the same. Specific to the events industry, we all went virtual because we had to. But now that we’ve come out of that period of intense restrictions, we believe more than ever in the power of live events and the power of connecting people.

There's a need and an excitement to get back to being in-person, and a large investment—at least from my company—in making that happen. We find that we can invent, move, and align faster and better when we're together. And we not only break through barriers quicker; we also develop relationships quicker.  

‍Do you see any changes on the horizon?

Transparency is the name of the game. We can't hide behind words anymore.

People see through the fluff. They want to know what's going on in a tangible way. I think transparency is increasingly going to guide how we communicate. We will pull back the curtain more and more and let people see the inner workings. In the context of live events, this means being really granular and bringing people along on the journey because they're the ones who are going to help you achieve your goals. The more transparent you can be, the better results you'll have.  

‍Lastly, what is your biggest concern—in other words, “What keeps you up at night?”

It’s this: are the messages we want to relay and the stories we want to tell actually going to resonate with the audience? That may seem obvious, assuming you're smart and do your job, then you will know what your customers and audience want. But sometimes, messages get misaligned. So, you ask, are we saying the right things? Are we saying them in the tone in which they need to be said?  

We have big messages we want to share, and we always ask, will this message work? Will people latch onto this, and will we be able to turn the ship in the way we want to? Will our words be effective?  I've seen it go both ways.  

That's part of what keeps me up at night, and that's the value my team and I bring.