Patricia McParland00:02 — I like to look at the content the same way. So to say whatever piece I have and here's the messages, I can use this content to create all kinds of things. So to me, the content is the original content and the messaging is like the Bisquick. And now I'm going to create multiple things out of that. And I like to look at all my content as a program rather than a piece.
Benjamin Ard00:47 — back to another episode of Content Amplified. Today I'm joined by Patricia. Patricia, welcome to the show.
Patricia McParland00:52 — Hey Ben, thanks, it's great to be here.
Benjamin Ard00:54 — Yeah. Patricia, this is one episode I am thoroughly excited about. There's this whole theory that you're bringing to the table and I'm just hungry for it. Literally figuratively in every way, and form. But Patricia, before we get there, let's let the audience get to know you, your background, work history, all that kind of fun stuff. That way we kind of know who we're talking to today.
Patricia McParland01:18 — Yeah, it sounds great, Ben. And by the way, you should call me Pat. Whenever I'm called Patricia, I feel like I might be in trouble. So nice name, but I don't usually go by it. yeah, so I'm pretty much a lifetime B2B marketer. I've been a B2B marketer for more than 30 years. And pretty much all that time, I've spent in business information and technology. So I've worked for really tiny companies with fewer than 30 people. And I've worked for really gigantic companies. Like I worked for Dun at Bradstreet, very large company. I worked for Dow Jones. I work for Honeywell, which is an enormous company. And some of my favorite things about that are it's been great to create content messages and go to market with products, whether it's a small startup or kind of a larger organization. The things that I have found is sort of the fundamentals carry through, whether it's a small company or a large company. And that's some of what I look forward to you and I chatting about today, including my famous theory, which I can't wait to unveil with you.
Benjamin Ard02:12 — I think it's going to be exciting. I love it. Okay. Well, Pat, what we're going to talk about today is make your content work harder and getting back to the basics. So when we say content doesn't really need to be as hard as we make it to be, why do so many teams make it harder than it needs to be? Why have we gotten away from the basics? Why have we made it harder than it should be?
Patricia McParland02:35 — You know, I think it's a great question, Ben, and you know, maybe for me, because I've been in the business for such a long time, and also because I consider myself a storyteller by nature. One thing about me is I love to read and write. I started reading when I was about four, and then the next year I read like the whole Nancy Drew series, and then I started writing books for my dad. I mean, they're pretty silly books, but I love to read and write, and I always have. And you know, when I think about the basics of creating content, I think sometimes we get yanked up in the tools and the technology. So I need to create what I'm gonna call the vehicle versus the message. I need to create a video, I need to create an ebook, I need to create a podcast. And so very focused on the medium versus the message. I forgot who said that, Marshall McClure or whoever said the medium is the message or I probably have it backwards, but focused on the. I really like to go back to basics because I say, who are you talking to and what is the story first? And then how am going to deliver that second? And I do think that we get yanked up in this, how am I going to create all these different versions of things? it's so complicated. the technology. And I just don't think it has to be that hard.
Benjamin Ard03:47 — that. That's so cool. And I love getting back to the basics. I love that you're focused on who's the customer. What's the story we're going to tell. And I think that really is the core of it. And it's shocking how many times people will go say we need to create this content, but we've forgotten who we're writing for in the story we're trying to tell. And
Patricia McParland04:04 — Yeah, and what outcome do we want to drive, you know?
Benjamin Ard04:07 — Exactly. I love that. So you have a framework called the ABCDE framework. And I love when we're talking about basics, it doesn't get more basic than the ABCs. So I love the ABCDE framework. What does each letter stand for and how does it help us kind of get back to that good foundation?
Patricia McParland04:22 — I love it, Ben. So this is a framework I actually learned at one of my companies. So I didn't create this, but I love it. I think of it as another something I love is the power of three. So I like three things, know, ABC, you know, easy as one, two, three, you know, sort of like the Jackson song. And, know, I think about this ABCDE is such a simple framework or mnemonic, but it is so helpful. And it goes back to what I just said about going back to basics. So the first A is for audience and. So who are you talking to? So what do you know about them? What do they want to know? Are they new to the subject? Who are they, basically? And then, so that's the audience. That's the A. Then the B is the behavior. What do you want them to do with this message? Do you want them to be excited? Do you want them to come to a demo? Do you want them to purchase? So I think of the B as the outcomes, basically, but it's behavior. And it's kind of a combination of attitudinal and action. So what do want them to feel? What do want them to do? So that's the audience and behavior. Then the content is content not in the fully baked sense, but in the, what are the key messages? So what should this say? And I like to challenge my team members, for example, if they come back to me and say, well, here's my content. And it's like 45 pages of notes. And I say, Okay, summarize this down to, can you tell this story to me in three to five key points? What's your overall headline and what are your three key points? And that's what the content is. So what are the key things that you wanna say to this audience based on what you want them to do, what's the content? And then is the design. And design is where many people like to start. And design is the vehicle. So now that you know these things, and here's the person, here's what I want them to do, and here's what I wanna say. what's the right way to do this? know, okay, based on what I know about them and they never use their mobile phones, you know, maybe a mobile video is the worst way to do it, you know, so, or maybe a long form content will be better based on what I know about the audience, but, or maybe I multiple vehicles, but I like to see the letters, you know, go in sequence to inform the D as opposed to starting and saying, hey, Pat, I need to create a video, you know, which is often how the conversation starts. And then the E, which I think is really important, is the evaluation. How do I know I was successful? So did people understand my message? How am going to know? Can I get feedback on that? If it's a webinar, for example, how many people came? How many people engaged? How many leads do I expect? And that's it. mean, it's such a simple framework, and I love it. so audience behavior, content design, evaluation. That's it. And the thing I love about this simple framework is It works for anything. It works for a conversation or it works for a detailed video, anything. And at the company I worked for, they actually encouraged us to use it before meetings. So let's say you had a big meeting like a board meeting or you have to present to the senior leadership team meeting or something. We would always do an ABC before the meeting to say, who are the people in the meeting going to be? What do want to come out of this meeting? What do I need to make sure that I say in my content? What's the right form for this? Should it be like three slides? Or would it be better for me to do a demo? It's helpful to think through those things. And then E, how do I know I was successful? What's the evaluation? it's simple, but I find it really useful. also like acronyms and things that I can remember, like pity my dear Aunt Sally for math and grade school.
Benjamin Ard07:44 — Love it. Now to double click on that real quick, going the ABCDE, it feels like maybe that's a little cyclical. Do you often look at the evaluation before you start over for the next piece of content? How does that stage inform the next set of content and the framework moving forward?
Patricia McParland08:02 — Yeah, definitely. mean, and I'm probably making it sound simpler than it is in some ways. It is simple, but nothing is 100 % linear in life. So yes, I use the E's to say, OK, yeah, how did this one do? What did I learn? What kind of learnings can I apply to the next one? But also, there any, maybe more than one design vehicle, for example, at a time. So I may say, based on this, I want to create a content program. as opposed to a one particular piece. And I would say more often than not, that is the case. So I know if I'm explaining that clearly enough here for you, but.
Benjamin Ard08:36 — No, no, no, that's great. Obviously, following the framework and then saying, hey, for this particular use case, since we're following the ABCDE, hey, the D might have five different options or something like that. There's different components there for sure. Love it.
Patricia McParland08:46 — Yeah, yeah, Yeah, yeah. And that's one of my key, that's one of my key things in life and work and marketing is the key message and the content matters more. It doesn't matter more, but it's critical to get anchored on the content and key messages before focusing on the vehicles. I know I've said that a couple of times already, but it's so important. And whenever you're ready for me to tell you my best quick theory, I will, because this is part of it.
Benjamin Ard09:14 — We're getting there. We're almost there. I just have to apologize. I think you left a joke out there for me to pick up on a while ago and I totally botched it. I apologize. it's one of those moments. We're like, one of those moments where I'm like, wait a minute that, that didn't quite settle. And I don't think I understood what was going on. I love it. Well, Pat, I am excited. We're finally to the bisquick theory
Patricia McParland09:15 — Okay. What? makes me happy.
Benjamin Ard09:35 — theory. What is the theory? How does it work? What does this look like?
Patricia McParland09:40 — So the Bisquick theory, this is my own theory, okay? So we all know what Bisquick is, I hope. So Bisquick is a baking mix, you know, and has like, okay, I don't know exactly what has in it. It's probably secret, but it's got flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, whatever. It's a foundational mix. And from this mix, you can bake all kinds of things. You can make cookies, you can make pancakes, you can make biscuits, you can make bread. So it's the foundation. I like to look at the content the same way. So to say whatever piece I have and here's the messages, I can use this content to create all kinds of things. So to me, the content is the original content and the messaging is like the Bisquick. And now I'm going to create multiple things out of that. And I like to look at all my content as a program rather than a piece. So if I'm creating, let's say for example, I'll just use a typical example from a B2B. company or companies I've worked for. So a survey, for example, or an annual report. Let's say we're going to do something we've done in my company, for example, is this is the state of the governance, risk and compliance industry. So we'll do a survey with various professionals and say, here's what we learned. So we could stop there and say, that's the survey, there's the report. But I like to use, that's the Bisquick there. Now we're going to make the cakes and the cookies. So the cake would be here's my infographic and then the cookies are the webinar and then you know the muffins are going to be the videos and then the pithy four or something I can't think of more baked goods off the top of my head. But those are going to be the live event that go along with it. So you get the idea. They have the you know it's almost like the bread starter in a way too. You know have the starter and then you're going to use it to make all kinds of different things.
Patricia McParland11:21 — Once again, I think it seems really simple, but I think it's a fundamental foundational way of thinking about content. Because if you're not thinking of, I have to now make a webinar. now I have to make this. I now have to make this. You're creating the essence or the best quick at the beginning. And then you're making all these goods based off of it. it works really well. It's worked well for me for 30 plus years, but it works even better now that I have throw another little metaphor at you now. now that I have the easy bake oven of AI. So because that really makes it really makes it come to life. So I can tell you how I feel like. Yeah.
Benjamin Ard11:52 — I love it. Very cool. I love that. absolutely. What I love about this framework is often we are so busy with the idea of creating content. Like you said, you do the survey, you get the results, you make the report and you're like, okay, checkbox next thing. And I love the analogy of Bisquick because you're not done. with the batter until you have made the cookies and the cakes. Like it's all a part of the process. That is what you're actually looking for. And you kind of can't check that box until you say, okay, it's a survey, but it's also a report, but it's also the, you know, social media posts. It's the infographics. It's the webinar we're going to host on this. It's all of these kinds of things. So I love that you're not actually done with the content until you've used every ounce of that batter. think that's super cool. So Pat, let's dive into AI, because that's the next question. with all of these frameworks, with Bisquick and all that kind of stuff, AI is obviously playing a massive role. Where is it helping? Where is it even hurting? Like, what does it do? And how should we look at it when it comes to content?
Patricia McParland12:57 — So I think it's a great question, Ben. Obviously, I'm sounding like I think every question is a great question. But I think it's such a fundamental question today, because you can't work in a company or work in marketing where people around you are not going to say, what are you doing with AI? And how are you making yourself more efficient and productive with AI? And I think efficiency and productivity is one piece of AI. And it really can help with the. the content actually is very instrumental to the Bisquick theory because if you've created your, you know, your content and your messaging, you know, run through your ABC, it can actually even help you with your ABC and help you think through that thinking. I use Claude the most personally. You know, I've used ChatGBT. I love Claude. I call Claude my best friend. I call Claude Claudy. Claude calls me Patsy. It's a little whatever, but I love Claude and Claude is very useful for helping frame those thoughts, like who is your audience, who's your behavior, who's your content, and set that up. But it's also very helpful for, I have an asset now, which is my main asset. Let's just say it's that report we talked about. How can I now turn this into other things? And I think AI is super useful for that. And you can prompt Claude, for example, to say, this, would like to turn it into these seven things. I want to turn it into a blog. I want to turn it into a social media post. I want to turn it into a LinkedIn article from my CEO with sea level lens. I want to turn it into slides I can share with my customers. I want to turn it into all kinds of cookies, biscuits, and muffins. And Claude is very effective at doing that. Once you've set the original content and set the tone, it can carry that through. I don't want to say it. or he or she whatever, it can carry that through all the way. And I think that's an extremely effective use of AI is to do that sort of thinking of the deliverables. Cautions that I have with AI, and I run a content team, so we use a lot of AI in there for, we use it for grammar checking, we use it for plagiarism checking, and we use it for drafting, but typically, We don't really use it for writing all that much. We might do it for first draft, but then we write it ourselves after that. We'll edit it and put our own human spins on it. Personally, I like to write things myself if I can. I feel like there is a difference with the writing that comes out of AI. It's excellent. mean, would say GPD is a good writer. ChatGPD is a good writer. think Claude's an excellent writer. Gemini is great at research. I mean, they're all very good. They all have a tone, you know, and you can say change the tone, make this sound like, you know, whoever you want to sound like, make it sound like the New York Times, make it sound like Norman Mail or whatever you want. And it will mimic those things. Very good at that. But they all have a certain syntax. And if you're, you know, a reader or writer, you see it pretty quickly where it says either it's the one, two, three kind of syntax or You know, the M dash is the most famous, you know, that they overuse M dashes. But there's just sort of a, not only this, but also that construction. There's certain constructions that are used and just the types of headlines that are written. can tell they were written by the same kind of tone. And I don't know, I feel, I feel like people kind of feel that, you know, especially if you're talking about social media, you know, and I've seen it myself with the engagement that we get on posts and things like that, that when we write them ourselves, versus having Claude write them or AI, whatever AI write them, we get much higher engagement. So I think that even if people don't know it, it's sort of that vibe they feel it. yeah. So anyway, overall, I think it's an essential tool. I think it makes us more productive. It helps through the thinking. It's excellent at summarizing. And I think it's fantastic at that once you have a base about replicating the base and creating lots of other kinds of content. And to me, that's the essence. of making your content work harder. And that is something that has been hard for years. Like this idea of making the content work harder, that's not hard. That's not a new idea. But the actual doing of it, it's been pretty laborious to say, take that and then turn it into all these things. it's, yeah, I honestly don't think I could do my job now without my daily dose of clot.
Benjamin Ard16:59 — I agree. A hundred percent. I'm obsessed with Claude as well. What I love is you're starting out with like the source report is human written and I'm a big believer that AI does its best work when it has, when it either creates the first draft and humans finish it, or you feed it a real conversation, like a transcript or a human created report or something like that. And then when it repurposes, it has the human essence to it still. And I think there's a lot of value in that. So I love that you've kind of picked on the front end or the back end. How are humans going to work with this content? What I also really love about what you just said is that it really provides this amplification, but I love how you keep the humanity in all of it. You know, it's truly caring for the craft, caring for people to have. Who you are, what you say, all the stuff that you do, like have it really shine through. And I think that there's a level of quality in that, that people do appreciate. Now I have to ask with the ABCDE method and Bisquick, have you made like actual skills in Claude that it refers to on a regular basis inside your system?
Patricia McParland18:10 — You know, I haven't, but there is a woman on my team who has. And so she has created, and it's, I think this is excellent. She has created a skill for writing a blog in the style of our company so that anybody in the company can now write one. And that solves a problem for us, which is we were trying to get more people in the company to write blogs. So it's not all in the same voice and we can get people on our product teams, people, others to participate. So she created a skill in order to do that so that they can go in and say, I'd like to write about this, and here's the things I want to cover. And then they can use the blog skill in order to do that. yeah, myself, when it comes to Claude, I know there's these other ways to do it, like the skills and the co-working and all that. I myself am pretty much a let's torture the prompt as much as we can. So it still works pretty well. It's probably not as repeatable as it could be. And that's probably where I could maybe improve with that.
Benjamin Ard19:02 — There's a lot of philosophies that that is the better way as well. So it's all up for experimentation and getting what you need out of the tool.
Patricia McParland19:07 — Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I kind of feel like we're all still learning with it, too. And when people say I'm the AI expert, I'm always a little bit like, OK, really? Because this is, I mean, you may be an AI expert in terms of AI that's been around for years. For example, when I worked at manufacturing company, I was very big into AI about 10 years ago, and advanced analytics and that sort of thing. But it's not the kind of thing we're talking about, like the generative AI. And people that I mean, how expert can you be? It's only been around for two and a half years, and it's changing all the time. So I feel like we're all kind of learning as it goes along. yeah. Sure.
Benjamin Ard19:38 — Yep, 100%. I agree. Well, Pat, one final question, because we like to end these episodes with tactical advice. Anyone sitting here who is a part of a content team, runs a content team, anything of the nature, and they're thinking, huh, that was really good advice. What can I do today to improve what's going on? Maybe they're overwhelmed. Maybe they just want to one up their system. Any ideas of what they can start doing to actually improve today?
Patricia McParland19:46 — Yes. Sure, mean, one of my favorite things to say is to go back to basics, which we started talking about today. And I think it's really easy to become enamored with tools and technology. And it happens to me too. I fell in love with Claude. I fell in love with Google many years ago. I fell in love with HubSpot, whatever. And I think it's important to take a step back and take a look beyond the technology and remember that the technology is a way to help you or tool to help you deliver the outcome. And what is the outcome that you're trying to deliver? What am I trying to do here? I think it's kind of a basic thing, but I think taking that step back of what am I asking myself? A, it's back to the ABC in a way. like, am I going for? Who is my audience, number one? What I wanna achieve and what is my outcome? What am I trying to achieve? It's very easy to lose sight of that when you're moving forward and saying, I need to accomplish all this and I need to get my, know, know, SQLs and MQLs and just rushing, you know, and not taking a step back to see the big picture. What am I really trying to do and what's my overall outcome? So that's one piece of advice. The second thing is to think about, you know, the key messages in the content. You know, that's really the foundation. That's the flour, salt, baking powder, whatever, and the Bisquick. You know, that's the found. Those are the fundamentals. And you know what? As I said, I've been doing this for more than 30 years. It's actually probably more than 35. It hasn't changed since the day I started. know, that's the same now. It's probably going to be the same, you know, 20 years from now, which I don't intend to be doing it then. But, you know, it's probably going to be the same then. You know, it's back to the basics of, you know, what is the fundamentals of, you know, what you want to do and then how you do it is really, I think, what's changing. So I guess maybe don't lose sight of what you want to do. by being caught up in the how you want to do it. And then focus, my last advice for you is, yeah, my last advice is something that I call Three Rocks. People on my teams like to make fun of me because I have like little names for everything, but Three Rocks is something I learned from another boss, which it's about focus. What are you working on? And don't tell me that you're working on 400 different things or 47 things. I need to be able to say at all times, these are my three big rocks. And my three big rocks are this program, improving my social media and this. And I wanna be able to elevate my three big things. So I think another thing is just thinking about what are your three big rocks also. I think it's another productivity kind of improvement kind of thing.
Benjamin Ard22:34 — I love that. And I love the message that if you're doing something and it is working, great. Maybe you need to amplify it with tools. If you're doing something and it's not working yet, it doesn't mean that a tool is gonna fix it. And I like that you shouldn't be enamored by that and all of that. Yep. Love it.
Patricia McParland22:46 — Not at all. No. In fact, I like to think about AI as AI could keep doing the same process that you're doing, and it could do it more effectively, but it could be a stinky process to begin with. So it's, yeah.
Benjamin Ard22:59 — Yep. I love that. Well, Pat, we have run out of time. Thank you so much for the insights today. This is incredible. For anyone who is listening and wants to reach out online, where can they find you?
Patricia McParland23:03 — Okay. Yeah, so the best place to find me is on LinkedIn. So under Pat McParland, my company name is MetricStream. And I am very active on LinkedIn. And I always like hearing from people. So if you're interested in just reaching out, chatting about anything related to marketing, AI, risk, cybersecurity, any of those things, or you just want to talk, I'm there. I really enjoy chatting with people on LinkedIn. So that's the best way.
Benjamin Ard23:35 — Love it. Well again, Pat, thank you again for the time and the insights. This has been incredible. Appreciate it.
Patricia McParland23:39 — Thank you so much for having me. I hope you go get your BISQUIC now.
Benjamin Ard23:42 — I know, right? I'm excited.
