Ted Schadler first said “content is the soul of digital.”
To that, I add: “…and content marketing platforms are its church.”

CMPs. This tech is like the ace up the sleeve for savvy marketing leaders. A marketing leader at Airbnb told us that this is the crucial tech that allows the company to move faster than competitors.

Despite excitement and 3x growth over the past two years, CMPs can still be described as emerging. Many don’t get what they do.

Do they replace content management systems? No, not really.

Do they promote your content for you? No, not really that either.

Do they automate content production somehow? Not exactly.

What they do is this:

  • Provide a common environment for everyone across the brand to plan out their campaigns and communications.
  • Manage production by dozens and even hundreds of teams simultaneously.
  • Provide systematic structure to make in-channel execution and reporting far more intelligent.

Users have quantified the benefits in terms of quality improvements, team efficiency, and brand governance in the millions.

We just completed our semiannual Forrester Wave assessment of the CMP space, and there are new faces and some new front-runners in the space (with some breakaway work planning capabilities and brand governance tools).

The Forrester Wave goes deeper into the value of CMPs, how the players differ in terms of their visions, and where they differ across 37 key differentiating criteria. You can read the report here.

We’ll be doing a webinar on the CMP evaluation later this year. In the meantime, I’m always happy to discuss the space and the vendors.