"A-ha" moment: The difference between CS and CM

Further explanation around the topic of HOW and WHY:

• CS » focuses on the question “HOW”


• CM » focuses on the question “WHY”

Bearing in mind that this is to support the argument put forward for the WHY/HOW analogy, the way I like to think about it is this:

• the question “How” is answered by thinking about the process by which you will accomplish something.


• the question “Why” is answered by seeking to understand the underlying reason or motivation for doing something.

For example:

• a Content Strategy must be developed to define the process of how content is to be used, reused, governed, managed, retired, etc. for the whole [extended] organization.


• Content Marketing needs to understand the customer’s motivation, their psyche, their rationale so that they can position content effectively for “profitable customer action”.

Hope that adds at a least a little value to the “hypothesis”…or as an esteemed fellow student astutely likes to say “the grounding metaphors”.