The rules around content marketing have begun to chip away at its true power. Pieces of content are dispersed throughout digital channels, seemingly separated from long-form content, which is fed only to audiences with the appetite to delve fully into the experience. Short-form content, often the sweet spot in brand strategy, is valued for being easy to consume in the digital space in which we all operate.

A recent study from Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs showed that 67% of B2B marketers say their team was asked to do more with the same resources in the last year. When the pressure is higher and the budget isn’t, it’s easy to feel like we don’t have enough time, budget or people to do all the things we want to do, or to pursue all the exciting new tactics and platforms we’re hearing about.

Michelle Stinson Ross, co-founder of mental health technology company Mindful Appy, wants companies to understand the “why” behind employee turnover and customer purchasing habits, and the key to understanding these behaviors, Ross said, lies in emotional data. To that end, she and her fellow co-founders Tina Schweiger and Richard Bagdonas created Mindful Appy to be able to collect emotional data using the universal language of the 2020s: emojis.

Mindful Appy launched two years ago amidst the pandemic with the goal of “providing emotional data in actionable forms,” Ross said. “We came out of the pandemic as a response to the realization that mental and emotional health in the workplace is really important, and people need to express themselves in ways that are valid and real while protecting their psychological safety.”

Are you feeling stuck? Whether you’re shocked it's already July (or ONLY July), it’s never been a better time to look back at your marketing efforts from these past few months to dial in on what’s working, what needs help, and more importantly – where you can get creative and drive inspiration in the areas that make the biggest impact.