We have to stop defining ourselves by the department we work in. We are all content creators, content strategists, content advocates, content thinkers. (We need a more unifying term, a unifying discipline separate from marketing and design. “Contenter” doesn’t seem to work. I spend probably way too much time considering alternatives.) And it goes way beyond marketing and design. Every department needs content. Every department needs content thinkers. (I could probably map every kind of content creator to a different Avenger, but I will refrain.)

That’s a problem. Because essentially, the model we use for content is the same as it was thirty years ago. And in case you haven’t noticed, the way businesses operate today—and especially the way they communicate with their customers—has radically changed.

But in today’s technology-driven, socially-responsible, ethically-complicated landscape, what a customer needs from a brand has radically changed. And it goes way beyond the screen. This means we need to change the way we think about what the customer needs—in other words, about content. And it means we need to change the way we think about not only the user experience but the holistic customer experience itself.