“I wonder what would happen if…?”

“Would it be possible to…?”

“What if we…?”

For all the articles about the “Top Five Keys” to creating effective content marketing
that mention target audiences, measurable metrics, video lengths and so on…This is
where we believe content marketing really starts: In the imagination.

It starts with inspired wonder. Without boundaries. We are given a challenge and
then we imagine the possibilities of solving that challenge. Those top-five articles
(and there are good ones to check out!) often (always?) skip this important step.

“I wonder what would happen if we attempted to have a guy skydive from space?”
Tens of millions of views later, Red Bull had its answer. I can’t be 100% sure as I
wasn’t in the room, but I’m guessing that conversation didn’t start with analytics.

It’s possible to get too locked up in the logistics and analytics of a project before
fully exploring the imagination’s potential. It’s possible to lose sight of the
possibilities beyond the wall of numbers. It’s important to remember that
imagination (born from authenticity) is the most important start to any project.

It’s impossible to know how many great ideas have never seen the light of day
because we (marketers) didn’t understand the power of imagination as a KPI. And
not just our own imaginations, but also the imaginations of our consumers. “What if
we put a bunch of babies on roller skates to show that our water is good for youthful
bodies?” 100s of millions of views later, Evian found out.

We talk about our GreenLightXpress Platform as supporting the content marketing
process “From Imagination to Insights™.” We believe the process of creating the
most effective content comes from fostering a collaborative, easy-to- share
environment. One that starts with, “So, I had this idea…” One that always starts with
imagination.

Where does imagination fit in your content marketing execution?