At the fifth Content Marketing World conference this year in
Cleveland, 3,500 marketers got together to listen, learn and commiserate about
the challenges we all face back home.
But this year felt a little different to me.
It was my third conference and I truly love it. Someone
attending with me for the first time this year told me it was like I had found
my people…and I have. The best part about attending #CMWorld, as we like to call
it, is the people. We often see each
other online, but it’s rare that we get to meet face-to-face. When that
happens, as it typically does every September in Cleveland, it’s simply a joy.
But there was a nagging difference for me this year. Sure, I
learned a lot; and I had the chance to meet many great people I had only known previously
in cyberspace, which I wouldn’t trade for anything. But there was something.
I think CMWorld, and Content Marketing as an industry, is
growing up.
We're talking more about grown up things, like measurement and ROI and audience development. And we're acting more like grown ups, with more sessions that went beyond the basics of simple content creation than ever before.
And the sponsors have grown with us. What was once a room filled with very similar tools has expanded to include a variety of experts who are truly practitioners in the space themselves.
But it's still there, that feeling.
Parents reading this may understand best, but there’s a
bittersweet element to having your child grow up. There’s a sense of
accomplishment, for sure, but there are other feelings, too. Feelings like a
loss of control and knowing that you will at some point have to let go.
I wonder if this is how the folks at Content Marketing Institute feel. Joe Pulizzi and his team have created this event from nothing in just five short years and, in the time most of us have just paid off our latest cars, it has blossomed into the premier event in the world for Content Marketing.
My guess is that, as the parents of a five year old, they may be too busy raising their child to have time to see it. Or feel it.
Oh don’t worry, I’m not ready to let go of Content Marketing
just yet. But I can start to see a time when it’s not just us anymore, if you
know what I mean. Others have said this and I believe it to be true: Content
Marketing will just be marketing at some point in the future. And that gives me
pause.
It’s not that I don’t want to share Content Marketing (well, okay, maybe there's a little of that). But after trying hard to
share the practice of Content Marketing with the world -- as so many who attend
CMWorld have done these last five years -- the scary reality is that we might
actually be successful.
Then we will have to watch our baby walk out into the world
all by herself and hope she comes back to visit every once in a while.
Enjoy Content Marketing while you can, CMWorld peeps, she's only ours for a little bit longer.
