global/local perspective, segmentation can be a boon: it allows you to chop up the content and use it in different ways

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All the planning and stakeholder engagement in the world is worth nothing if the outputs aren’t up to scratch, and when the panel discussion moved on to content, two words came up again and again: quality and longevity.

The former has long been a guiding principle for thought leaders. It is about doing less, and doing it really well. And to achieve this, our panel agreed, CMOs must get used to saying no.

The latter speaks to the importance of segmentation and making the content work hard – “bleeding your assets dry,” as one panel member put it – over the course of a campaign. Our panel members were keen to point out, however, that this is a slow-burn approach: the best time to release a particular piece of content might not be immediately – if there’s a newsworthy hook for it in six months, its impact will be greater if you bide your time. Reassure your internal stakeholders that they will see returns, but they will take a while to appear.

From a global/local perspective, segmentation can be a boon: it allows you to list of guatemala cell phone numbers chop up the content and use it in different ways, at different times, in different markets. This will maximise its relevance to its audiences. Consistency and sticking to core topics are crucial, but there needs to be flex. Within clearly defined parameters, give local teams the flexibility to adapt content to have the most impact on the audiences that they know best.

The balancing act
Your brand’s values should be the same in Stuttgart, Beijing and Rio, and your content should reflect those values, but consistency needn’t be so rigidly prescriptive that regional nuances are ignored.

And when ceding the necessary degree of freedom to local markets, it will be a lot easier to achieve the right balance of coherence and relevance by sticking to three core principles:

1. Get the right people involved – from the very beginning

2. Listen to your audience

3. Produce fewer outputs, but make them work harder

Because thought leadership created with its audiences in mind is effective wherever those audiences are; well-designed campaigns can be made to work anywhere; and great content, refined with an eye on market relevance, will resonate – globally and locally.