What Worked and What Didn’t: Lessons from Doing, Not Planning

In my latest content marketing project, I focused on turning ideas into action. This article explores what worked, what didn’t, and the real-world insights I gained from diving into the work. It’s an honest look at the practical challenges and the lessons that emerged from getting things done, rather than just planning them out.

In this project, I worked with a leading debt collection company to develop a content strategy aimed at enhancing their online presence and driving conversions. The focus was on creating a series of targeted blog posts, whitepapers, and case studies that spoke directly to the pain points of their target audience: financial institutions and businesses needing effective debt recovery solutions. By aligning content with audience needs and industry trends, we aimed to build authority, increase engagement, and drive measurable results.

Working with a well-established financial services company, with over a century of history, taught me that even the most successful organizations can have areas that require significant improvement. This is especially true for large companies, where complex structures and long-standing processes can sometimes hinder progress. These inefficiencies are not necessarily a sign of failure but rather an indication of the challenges that come with scale and history.

One key observation was that this company, like many other large firms, had developed certain processes over time that, while once effective, had become outdated. This is understandable, given their deep roots in the offline market. Their business model has traditionally focused on face-to-face interactions, and as a result, their online strategies hadn't been prioritized as much as they needed to be in the current digital age.

However, rather than viewing these issues as insurmountable obstacles, I recognized them as opportunities for growth. The key is not just identifying these areas for improvement but also understanding that large organizations have the resources and potential to implement meaningful change. What distinguishes successful teams and leaders is their ability to take a constructive approach: acknowledging these challenges, leveraging the available resources, and making strategic, gradual improvements.

For example, in a similar context, FC Barcelona faced a significant crisis after the peak of their Messi-Suarez-Neymar era. Despite financial difficulties and management issues, the club leveraged its resources and strategic vision to navigate through these challenges. This demonstrates how even large, complex entities can recover and thrive if they approach their issues with a clear, methodical strategy.

In essence, this experience reinforced the importance of being a proactive and solution-oriented team player. It’s not enough to simply point out what’s wrong; the real value lies in contributing to the process of improvement and leveraging available resources to drive change. This mindset is crucial in any area of life where growth and adaptation are needed.

During my recent project, I quickly realized that achieving content-related objectives, especially those tied to driving traffic through SEO and improving content conversion, required close collaboration with various departments. I found myself working not just with the marketing team, but also with sales, product development, graphics, web development, and IT. This cross-functional collaboration was essential for aligning content strategy with the broader goals of the company.

One of the challenges I encountered was that, like many organizations, cross-functional collaboration didn’t naturally occur and required extra effort to facilitate. This isn’t unique; many companies struggle with fostering collaboration across departments. Often, this issue isn’t due to a lack of desire from management to see productive cooperation, but rather because the existing organizational structures don’t facilitate it effectively. As a result, the burden of initiating and maintaining cross-departmental collaboration often falls on individual employees, who may not always be eager to take on this additional responsibility.

What I observed is that while companies may advocate for productivity and synergy, they don’t always create the necessary conditions for it to flourish. This often leads to silos where departments operate independently, which can hinder the overall success of a project. To navigate this, I found that it was important to approach cross-functional collaboration in a thoughtful and understanding manner, recognizing the challenges and working to build bridges between departments.

In practice, this meant taking the initiative to foster open lines of communication, ensuring that each team understood how their work contributed to the larger project goals. For example, by coordinating with the sales team, I was able to better align content with the questions and pain points they encountered from clients, which in turn helped to create more targeted and effective content.

Promoting such collaboration requires more than just formal meetings or email chains; it requires a genuine effort to understand the workflows and priorities of other teams. It’s about being proactive in facilitating discussions and ensuring that everyone is on the same page. This kind of initiative not only helps in achieving the immediate project goals but also builds a culture of collaboration that benefits the organization in the long term.

As someone who began my career focused purely on content, I've found that my interests have naturally evolved towards user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design. Over time, it has become clear to me that good content cannot truly succeed without a solid understanding of UX principles and basic psychology. This realization isn’t just a result of my professional experiences but also stems from my academic background in psychology.

In this project, my UX-focused approach was particularly valuable. Through cross-functional collaboration, I had the opportunity to work closely with UX designers, gaining insight into how they approach user-centric design. This interaction allowed me to align my content strategy not just with marketing goals but also with the company’s UX templates and standards. This ensured that the content didn’t just look good or read well, but also resonated with users and integrated seamlessly into the overall user journey.

One of the key takeaways from this experience was the importance of balance. In large organizations, where established processes and standards are deeply ingrained, creating a piece of content that is too innovative or different from the norm can sometimes be counterproductive. While it's tempting to introduce brilliant, cutting-edge ideas, it's crucial to recognize that these must fit within the existing framework of the company’s UX strategy. Change is often gradual, and it's more effective to enhance what exists rather than to disrupt it with something that, while creative, may not be practical or usable in the current context.

This project reinforced the idea that successful content is not just about strong copywriting or effective sales techniques: it’s about creating a cohesive user experience. Content must serve the user’s needs in a way that is intuitive, accessible, and aligned with the overall design of the platform. This requires a deep understanding of UX principles and a collaborative approach that bridges the gap between content creation and user experience design.

I believe, based on my experience and observations, that the content game isn’t just about groundbreaking ideas (though they have their place). What’s much more important are the small, thoughtful choices that build lasting impact. Doing the simple and boring things the right way is where the magic starts happening. I know this may seem vague and cliché, but I hope the rest of the article proves otherwise. Thanks for your time and attention, and have a good day.