Nothing is more annoying to a customer when browsing online than completely irrelevant content appearing on screen. Interrupting what would be an otherwise seamless, informative browsing experience with unwanted information can trigger an understandably negative reaction among consumers – compromising a brand’s reputation in the process.
This isn’t a small problem. In fact, three quarters (74%) of online customers get frustrated when confronted with content that has nothing to do with their personal interests. Considering that an estimated three billion people now use the internet daily, it’s an almost impossible task for brands to take into account individual tastes and preferences.
But they need to if they want to engage with today’s ever powerful consumer, who engages with a brand at a time, and device of their choice.
Learning from the past
Content now matters just as much to consumers as the product itself. It builds trust, engagement, and ultimately leads to loyalty. In today’s content-focused world, the science of managing a physical product supply chain has evolved because of globalisation and advancing agile technologies.
And so too must the science of managing the content supply chain. Large brands have historically held vast stores of raw materials and goods and paid to have stock sitting in warehouses. As we all know, it’s a highly inefficient and costly method. Compare this lack of sophistication with traditional content management approaches. Too many organisations still store content in a repository until all the project content is complete, meaning the creation, translation and delivery of content occurs sequentially in that order.
In the most advanced companies, modern content supply chain management is already happening. These organisations have embraced agile methodologies with continual content updates, which include translation and delivery. Iteration is central to these agile methodologies: content and code is updated frequently and kept in a perpetual ready-to-launch state.
Shifting towards an agile future
Preparing for an agile future means content creation, translation, and delivery must shift. For translation, that means not just a shift in automation, but a fundamental shift in our relationship with the translators themselves. By embedding machine learning and artificial intelligence throughout the entire content management supply chain, brands have experienced a huge uplift in productivity.
The right technology ensures continual improvement and increased speed of translation processes. And for continuous content delivery, brands can componentise content marketing, and deliver a truly engaging experience for everyone.
It’s almost unfair to bet on the future of agile content since the future is already here. But it’s essential organisations prepare for the future of agile content by understanding that they need to manage their content supply chains as diligently as they do their product supply chains. Alongside self-organising content, and content that creates itself from nothing, brands finally have an opportunity to speak to a global audience, while accounting for everyone’s own, individual preferences
