I came across a quote the other day that I haven’t seen in a while. It’s from Benjamin Franklin, one of our Founding Fathers and an indisputably brilliant man.
He said, “Give me 26 lead soldiers and I will conquer the world.”
The 26 “lead soldiers” he was referring to were the 26 letters of the alphabet, in the form of letterpress printing blocks that I’m sure he became very familiar with during his days of publishing Poor Richard’s Almanack.
The sentiment is rather deep, especially when you think of the time he lived through. He witnessed the birth of the greatest nation in the world! He spent time governing Pennsylvania, he was Postmaster General for the United States, and he served as an Ambassador to France and Sweden.
And yet, through all of that, he’s saying that words are the best soldiers. Not flesh and blood. Not bullets or fists.
Words are more strategic. Words are more effective. Words persuade.
Franklin was basically referring to what we now call content management.
Content management is the act of strategically managing content throughout your organization. It’s treating your content just like any other business asset – giving it the same level of attention and scrutiny.
Content management determines what content should be used, where, and for how long. Then it analyzes the results to see if that cycle was effective or needs improvement.
And of course, there’s always room for improvement.
Franklin’s content management probably included a little propaganda and a lot of opinion. He controlled the newspaper, Pennsylvania Chronicle, chastising the British and vocalizing revolutionary sentiments.
During this year of political campaigning, content management is no less important. What information do the campaigns release about their candidates? When is the information released? Why was it released? In what way was it released? No information is released haphazardly. You can bet that a room full of people pour over polling data and other statistics before each official announcement or comment.
Why? Because every word counts.
In a world where content is king, you can’t just use the “build it and they will come” mentality. The business world is a battlefield. Your competitors are your enemies and your networking buddies are your allies. How can you attract customers in this environment?
You can’t fight a war without a strategy.
It goes back to what Franklin said. If you can say the right thing at the right time, in the right way, you can win any battle.
He used his lead soldiers to fuel a revolution. Just imagine what you can do with yours…
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