“You don’t just have to be the woman who does everything; you now have to SHOW that you are. Welcome to the new résumé.” – Stacey London
Ladies and gentleman, how often each day do you feel like you have to have all of your $%&@ together, in perfect order, for the world to see? As a communicator and PR professional, there is a constant expectation to churn out content. We’ve all heard the catchphrases of “content is king” and “content trumps all.” I wholeheartedly believe those things, but I don’t feel like it is important to churn a blog post, press release or piece of copy out, just because I have to create 10 million things a day. Oh, the pressure! And, for the longest time, I thought I was the only one who felt this way.
Not true, folks. Stacey London, of What Not to Wear fame, explained this exact issue in her latest Medium post “A Culture of Extraordinary,” and did a much better job of explaining the tension than I could have.
The struggle of quality versus quantity is ever-present, and isn’t fading anytime soon. I’ve had this conversation so much more frequently now that I’ve been in the communications scene in Seattle. No matter what new digital marketing channel pops up or what social network emerges, there will be a push to create more content. And, being a person that has severe FOMO tendencies, I know I’ll give in to the pressure and want to create, create, create.
However, let’s shift the conversation from creating content to developing content with value. It isn’t a matter of simply being relevant – there has to be a monetary or symbolic value for the audience that you’re trying to reach. You can only do that when you listen and truly see what your customers or audiences are trying to say (instead of what you think they’re trying to convey).
Only then can you make a unique contribution of value to the conversation – instead of simply making shit up (as London puts it in the article, and I wholly agree).
I received a piece of advice long ago to listen and enter the conversation when you had something valuable to say: “Nothing can command more attention in a room than a well-informed, insightful, humble, concise and clear statement.” As with anything I write, I promise to use this blog to contribute value to the conversation instead of simply adding to the noise.
