Let’s face it, none of us are creating content in a vacuum.
We all have bosses to please, internal (and external) customers to serve, senior executives to… sacrifice lambs to.
We all have stakeholders.
People with a real stake in our success.
Like sales people.
And product managers.
And brand ‘custodians’ (I’m picturing a janitor holding a cudgel and stone tablets… brand guidelines?).
And CEOs. And board members.
Even people with a more tenuous stake in our success may find themselves with an important say in our work.
Like lawyers.
And that cousin of the CEO who took a graphic design class once.
And even that really junior person who was only hired last Tuesday but was invited to a meeting and turns out to have (how very dare you?) an opinion.
They’re all stakeholders. They can all make a big impact on our work as marketers. (Like, say, by killing it. Or by turning that snappy, fresh headline into a boring, conventional one).
We’ve been thinking a lot about stakeholders lately.
And we’ve become convinced that stakeholder management is far too important to leave to chance.
So we made a piece all about it. Kind of a scrolly, swipey piece that I can’t embed here but I can link to. It’s called A Stakeholder Through the Heart and, though it may sound like it’s just the high-pitched whinging of an agency snowflake with a victim complex, it’s actually all that and more.
Wait… was this post really just an ad for a piece of Velocity content?
Yes. It is. I’m a marketer. Sue me.
But do read the piece first. We’re kind of proud of it.
And I would LOVE if you shared your own stakeholder stories or thoughts in the comments below. *Jump Down*. (just kidding: scroll you lazy bastard.)
What the really nice critics say
If you think my reco isn’t a good enough reason to click through and read this thing, here’s some ‘social proof’ from the tough-but-fairest people on the Internet:
(No I don’t keep a scrapbook, you cynic). (Glad my mom does, though).
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