What it means to create “Fit Content”: A story of brand identity

Meet Christopher Willis the CMO/CPO of Acrolinx.

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Episode summary

As a young person in technology, we often believe the product creates the value of an organization. We build a product and tend to focus more on the product itself rather than the identification around how our customers value our brand.

Make no mistake, a solid product matters.

But from an external perspective, strategy matters more. Because let’s face it, we need to run a business around it.
Meet Christopher Willis, an AI content governance and brand alignment strategy expert who is currently serving as CMO/CPO at Acrolinx. He joins the Radically Transparent podcast to talk about an interesting lesson he learned back in 2011 that he wished he would have known sooner.

Throughout the episode, Chris opens up about a former rebrand that happened to coincide with a magic quadrant where the organization he was leading at the time was being tracked. That specific year, there was no product launch or major product innovation, yet they moved up and right (which is the direction you want to move on a quadrant!) but the question remained, how did they do that?

Christopher attributes the move in the right direction to all the work the team had done in rebranding around defining the true identification of the brand. He even opens up about the multiple challenges of category creation, and some of the biggest obstacles he’s facing today as he creates a new category while trying to align everything together.

Hot topics of this episode:

Going beyond the product and how to talk about all the things that matter to the outside world about your organization
Christopher’s biggest challenge when it comes to category creation and what he would have done sooner to make the concept of content governance easier to consume
How to get your competitors to speak the same language as you, so your audience understands and sees value in both you and your category

Meet Christopher Willis

Christopher P Willis is Acrolinx’s Chief Marketing Officer, responsible for all aspects of the company’s Marketing strategy. Christopher is a specialist in Content Governance, AI, and pipeline management with over 20 years of experience growing companies in the technology sector. Before joining Acrolinx, Christopher held leadership roles in marketing, creative, technical, and business development at companies including Perfecto, Pyxis Mobile, KPMG-CT, ModelGolf, and Cambridge Technology Group.

Willis is a recognized thought leader in the areas of AI, DEI, and Content Governance, and is active within industry groups dedicated to the growth and health of Marketing Technology and the verticals he serves.

Christopher is a dynamic, captivating, and knowledgeable speaker, with insightful stories from his many years working with some of the biggest tech names in the world, including Google, Facebook, and Twitter. Some of his thoughts on the importance of content governance and brand alignment today are incredibly valuable and actionable for a range of audiences in tech, operations, leadership, and brand alignment.

Christopher is also a CrossFit coach and passionate about physical health, as well as sports discipline and team-building. Hosts and listeners will love his tips and insights on how to keep fit mentally and physically in today’s business world.

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Radically Transparent is a podcast geared towards the modern-day B2B marketer. Host Jennifer Gutman and her guests are a mixture of renowned marketing and sales leaders from B2B marketing organizations around the globe.

Each episode shines a light on the inner workings of B2B leadership– including what keeps successful CEOs, CMOs, VPs, and social media teams up at night, professionally. The conversations are real, raw, and authentic, all while revealing to listeners the unfiltered, not-so-known truths of today’s most interesting marketers.

Quickly becoming one of Oktopost’s most popular original podcast shows on the internet, new episodes air every Thursday on Radically Transparent, a podcast channel, built for marketers, by marketers.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How does AI content governance contribute to consistent brand messaging across a large organization?

Drawing from Christopher Willis's expertise at Acrolinx, AI content governance ensures all content adheres to brand guidelines, tone, and style. By leveraging artificial intelligence, organizations can scale content quality checks, enforce brand consistency across diverse teams and channels, and ultimately strengthen their brand identity in the market. This goes beyond simple spell checks, focusing on strategic alignment with brand identification.

Why is brand identification and strategy crucial for B2B market positioning, even without major product innovations?

As highlighted by Christopher Willis's experience, an organization's brand identification and external strategy can significantly impact its market perception and positioning, even more than product features alone. A strong rebrand and clear articulation of value, focusing on how customers perceive the brand, can drive positive movement in market quadrants and competitive landscapes by clearly defining the organization's unique value proposition and strategic direction.

What are the primary challenges in B2B category creation and how can they be addressed?

Christopher Willis identifies aligning disparate elements and making complex concepts digestible as key challenges in B2B category creation. Overcoming these obstacles involves clearly defining the true identification of the brand, simplifying the communication of new concepts (like content governance), and strategizing to educate the market effectively so the audience understands and sees value in the newly defined category.

How can B2B companies encourage competitors to adopt a common language for better category understanding?

Christopher Willis suggests that getting competitors to speak a similar language can benefit the entire category and its audience. This involves strategic thought leadership and market education efforts that establish a shared understanding of the category's value proposition and core terminology. When key players use consistent messaging, it clarifies the market for potential customers, making it easier for them to perceive value across the category, including your own brand.

What actionable insights can B2B marketing leaders gain from focusing beyond product features to external strategy?

B2B marketing leaders should prioritize defining and communicating the organization's true brand identification to the outside world, rather than solely focusing on product features. Christopher Willis emphasizes that strategy matters more from an external perspective. By investing in rebranding, clear messaging, and robust content governance, leaders can articulate their brand's value, enhance market positioning, and create sustainable business growth by aligning customer perception with strategic goals.