The Content Trap: A Strategist's Guide to Digital Change
by Bharat Anand
Third is the relentless search for best practices, the belief that there’s one “right approach” to confront digital fires—rather than understanding that the right way to fight fires depends on the context in which they burn. This is an error that mistakes strategy for universal solutions. Content has been a curse. It causes you to think you can make what’s going to delight customers. It causes you to ignore user contributions. It causes you to focus on your own content rather than on how to get the best content in the world—content anyone can make.
Third is the relentless search for best practices, the belief that there’s one “right approach” to confront digital fires—rather than understanding that the right way to fight fires depends on the context in which they burn. This is an error that mistakes strategy for universal solutions.
Content has been a curse. It causes you to think you can make what’s going to delight customers. It causes you to ignore user contributions. It causes you to focus on your own content rather than on how to get the best content in the world—content anyone can make.
Online wasn’t considered journalism; it was considered copy-and-paste from the paper. So when we started, Torry and I realized we had to take the team elsewhere. So we literally went to another floor.
Winning strategies come from figuring out what’s right for you rather than from looking to others.
They come from going back to the basics of strategy: Know your customers and what they want, and align your organization to deliver it in a unique way. That requires seeing, respecting, and making connections across your decisions.
"Third is the relentless search for best practices, the belief that there’s one “right approach” to confront digital fires—rather than understanding that the right way to fight fires depends on the context in which they burn. This is an error that mistakes strategy for universal solutions."
"Content has been a curse. It causes you to think you can make what’s going to delight customers. It causes you to ignore user contributions. It causes you to focus on your own content rather than on how to get the best content in the world—content anyone can make."
"Online wasn’t considered journalism; it was considered copy-and-paste from the paper. So when we started, Torry and I realized we had to take the team elsewhere. So we literally went to another floor."
"Winning strategies come from figuring out what’s right for you rather than from looking to others."
"They come from going back to the basics of strategy: Know your customers and what they want, and align your organization to deliver it in a unique way. That requires seeing, respecting, and making connections across your decisions."
"The need for lifelong learning—upgrading or replacing employees’ “human capital”—was as important as ever."
"We can learn a lot from these stories. But the most successful organizations don’t mimic successful others; they do what’s right for them."
- →Content has been a curse. It causes you to think you can make what’s going to delight customers. It causes you to ignore user contributions. It causes you to focus on your own content rather than on how to get the best content in the world—content anyone can make.
- →We can learn a lot from these stories. But the most successful organizations don’t mimic successful others; they do what’s right for them.
- →Newsweek’s demise reflects the Content Trap—or more precisely, the third expression of it. It speaks to the tendency to focus on content rather than understanding context. It speaks to the tendency to look to others for answers—about what content to offer, in what form, at what price, and on what platforms—rather than shaping them yourself.
- →They cause us to miss what’s actually most important—“connections.” Connections, I will argue in this book, are at the heart of what shapes any digitally touched business today and will for the foreseeable future. Being able to recognize, leverage, and manage connections separates companies that succeed from those that fail.
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