By managing content creation more efficiently using software, you save costs and leave more room for creativity. Why? That has everything to do with the big lesson from the book ‘Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance’.
Metaphor for romantics vs techies
That big lesson is a really fun one. The book opens with a group of friends preparing for a motorcycle trip across America: the narrator, a math teacher who takes his 11-year-old son Chris with him, and befriended couple John and Sylvia. John and Sylvia, both history teachers, prepare to perfection what they want to see. Trips to the Grand Canyon, and all other beautiful sights are mapped out. The math teacher has meanwhile prepared in a completely different way. He has ordered all spare parts, knows exactly where to refuel, has marked where the garages are. When they start the journey, it soon becomes apparent that this preparation was not in vain: a number of parts of his engine break down.
This story is actually a metaphor for romantics versus techies. And the lesson is about the importance of process-oriented thinking, as the narrator in the book does so beautifully.
At the intersection of creativity and technology
Just as John and Sylvia want to enjoy the beautiful scenery, marketers want to focus on beautiful, attractive and effective campaigns. Marketers don’t like to be hampered by technical and practical concerns.
At Qonqord we are actually more on the side of the math teacher. On the technology side. If you look at our target group, which largely consists of marketing managers, the challenge for us is to convince them to start thinking process-wise, or to help them orchestrate their content processes.
You need creative minds, and you don’t want to tire them with technology at all. That book actually argues that in addition to the romantics, you also need someone who is on the cutting edge of technology. He must understand what the marketing manager wants, but also understand what technology you need to manage your content and to think process-oriented. And then translate that into workflows and smart working methods. In fact, all major brands need some sort of ‘marketing technology officer’.
If you want to create a campaign, you will have to go through all kinds of steps, and you will still have to work in a structured way. A marketing technology officer who analyzes what is happening and helps to map out those processes. We as Qonqord can help with that. And based on that, we will set up the software.
With content orchestration software to the desired situation
With the right software for content orchestration , you can work more efficiently, which means you save costs at the bottom and shorten the time-to-market. Suppose a brand wants to launch a new product, it might now take a month. But with the right processes, this can be done within a week. That can save tons of value. For large organizations, a good flow can also make the process of cross-selling between own brands a lot easier.
We help you find the bottlenecks. How are the processes organised, how do people work, where are the bottlenecks? We work from the current situation to a situation as you would like it to be. A desired situation with an optimal working method and therefore with orchestrated processes. Once we have determined this, we will implement it together with the customer.
At Qonqord we understand what people in the marketing department want, but we also understand what technology is needed to make the journey there go smoothly.
* 1 The comparison between engine maintenance and marketing processes is taken from the book “Marketing Resource Management; The noble art of getting things done in marketing” by Romek Jansen and Frans Riemersma , 2008.
