Feeding The Monster...The Keys to Leveraging Content Marketing
So you've figured out that content is king. No surprise here. Content does a lot for your company and your website. It can be your best friend, or the monster that keeps you awake at night. Why? Content marketing only works if it's valid, correct, well-written and there is a steady stream of it. Let's check out both sides.
On the plus side:
- Content positions you as the authority in your space...allowing you to be the expert and giving your brand more value in the minds of buyers and prospective buyers alike.
- Content helps your website SEO - search engine crawlers love content, your ratings go up instantly - and the more the better!
- Content can become a "go to" for your own employees - nothing wrong with having an internal knowledge base.
- Content directly impacts leads and sales. Notice all those "free" downloadable white papers? They are informative and helpful, (if they are done well), and they are designed to get potential customers' information for future marketing use. Nothings ever really free right?
Now that we've got that covered your probably thinking to yourself - perfect! I'll start a blog, an eNewsletter, a series of white papers, articles or vlogs and I'll be rolling in loyal customers and hot prospects in no time!
Its true, all of this could happen. But, don't say I didn't warn you. You need to have a plan before you start...one that takes you well beyond the first few weeks of your content marketing program.
First off, you should know content is hard, it's time consuming to do well, and it's difficult and expensive to farm out.
Why? Well, believe it or not well written anything takes time. Time to source, time to research and frankly it's hard to produce. As easy as some make it look putting words to screen in a way that correctly communicates your message is a science. Not everyone does it well. So if you are thinking of handing it off to "Bob" who has been around forever and knows lots about your product, beware. Product knowledge is great, that is if Bob can actually write. On the other side of the coin you can certainly hire a free-lance writer to do your content creation for you. Problem solved, right? Well, sorta. Depending on your industry finding someone who knows the ins and outs can be next to impossible. If you do plan to go that route, make sure you bake lots of time and extra dollars into getting that person up to speed on the nuances. The worst mistake you can make here is to simply "hand it off" thinking a professional writer will wave a magic wand and you don't need to be involved. Can they write? Absolutely! However, if they don't have lots of input from you, or know your industry from previous experience it could result in disaster.
Doing content is one thing, doing it well is another. You can't just write promotional copy, or throw your already canned advertising copy out there, or even directly tout your own product. It's sublte, it's the "soft sell" of the cycle. Here's an example: I'm currently working on several projects during my day job...two of which include choosing software systems, (yeah I know not really marketing but we all wear lots of hats). Since this isn't really in my background I need resources to get up to speed. I scan the internet, I download a white paper titled "How To Evaluate And Choose Your Next CRM System". Awesome, just what I need!
However, after foolishly giving up my name, title, phone and email address I am sorely disappointed. The entire paper isn't at all what the title claims it to be, it's simply a really long advertisement for the company that is selling the software, and even worse it's all about them. Ugh. Now I'm frustrated, I wasted my time AND they have my info! How do you think it went when that sales person called me? Hint: not well. Turn that same scenario around. Had the paper been helpful, well thought out, well written and not centered soley on the company writing it ...in other words actually conducive to my needs - how do you think I would have responded to that sales call? Houston we have a winner! Its about giving your customers what they want and need, in a format they find useful. You are not the sun, everything does not revolve around you. Simply put to do content marketing well you need to get over yourself.
Feeding the monster can be the toughest hurdle to climb. What does that mean? Once you've created this content black-hole (aka your blog, video stream, eNewsletter etc.) it has to be fed - well and regularly. This takes some serious planning and strategic thinking. Consider the following:
- How much content will you need for the monster to live for the next 6 months?
- What resources do you have to fill that need on a consistent basis...every day, week, month?
- If it's a regularly intervaled communication (which I highly recommend) do you have a back up plan for content? What if the person responsible becomes unavailable? What is your plan B?
- How can you get ahead of the monster? I try to have 2-3 extra issues "in the can". Is that possible for you?
- What are you going to talk about? Develop an editorial plan that details your content for at least three months ahead. That way you can certainly shift topics as things come up and your business changes but you still have a solid foundation to stand on. When doing this consider "evergreen" topics that will still be valid a week or a year from now. Sprinkiling those into your plan will help you combat the "here and gone" news type syndrome that can leave your content coffers empty.
- Reuse what you have. Repurposing evergreen content is never a bad idea. Just make sure you put a fresh spin or face on it to keep it lively.
Content marketing can be a real benefit to you and your business. Plus, the creation of it is truly a labor of love and can be quite satisfying (she says as she feeds her blog monster). Just keep in mind that with some planning and strategy - and a few good writers - the monster won't go hungry...and, neither will your bottom line!