When you’ve determined that content marketing is of value to you and your company (costing 62 percent less than outbound marketing while generating three times as many leads, according to Content Marketing Institute, it is of value), it’s easy to feel like you should be doing more. And by more I mean all the things, all the time.
Then you suddenly find yourself already one month into the New Year with none of your content marketing goals met (not even the one where you, ahem, set some content marketing goals), it’s easy to get bogged down — and ultimately paralyze yourself— with all of the things you could be and should be doing.
But it is possible — and precisely because of content marketing’s value to your company, it’s also essential — to snap out of your frozen-in-fear state and start generating content.
Start small. (But be consistent.) Sometimes when you look at examples of great content marketing, it’s easy for overwhelm to set in. Every time I watch the original Dollar Shave Club commercial, I want to turn in my keyboard and hang up my thickly framed glasses. But you have to overthrow those thoughts of mediocrity. And the perfect way to keep them from having the power to undermine any of your content marketing efforts is to take small, consistent steps. Write a post. Share it. Measure its success. Repeat things that worked. Change up things that didn’t. You’ll build up your confidence as well your content simultaneously.
Figure out topics your audience cares about. But how are you going to figure out topics your audience cares about? Ask them. For suppliers, thanks to commonsku and industry Facebook groups, this work is easy. Join those groups, start engaging with members and get a feel for the pain points and things that keep customers and prospects up at night. Distributors, you might have to do a smidge of work to find exactly where your target audience hangs, but after a little digging, you could find yourself hitting the mother lode Reddit and Facebook group perfection, where your potential clients are seeking answers about the very things you can provide. A little work, and your content calendar can be queued up for the rest of the year.
Content marketing goes beyond copy. Remember, content marketing doesn’t only mean blogging. There are dozens of ways you can put out content to drive meaningful conversation (and leads!). Don’t forget about infographics, videos, podcasts, webinars… even memes. Anything that delivers valuable information and gets people talking (and sharing) counts as content marketing. Interview customers. Create new case studies. Share fun details about your employees. Embrace your inner child and have fun with it. If it’s drudge work, that’s likely going to come through in the finished product. It’s important to remember that while content is king, quality is the queen.
There’s no need to go it alone. If you own your own business or have a very entrepreneurial spirit, you might have a very “do it yourself” mentality. But in most cases, your company’s content marketing efforts don’t have to be solely your responsibility. Create a content committee (or content champions!) and have various members of your team contribute. Seek out partners to write guest blogs for you (the very nature of the supplier/distributor relationship makes these partnerships a perfect match). If all else fails, hire some help, even on a part-time or per-project basis.
When your to do list feels endless and your calendar is overscheduled, it’s easy to push something like content marketing aside, especially if it’s an area you don’t feel exactly comfortable. All those days of putting it off add up, though, and the rest of the year is going to go as fast as this first month, so if you don’t make a point of prioritizing it, 2017 is going to be another year this goal slips through the cracks. If it’s important to you, get it on that overscheduled calendar of yours and start creating more of the content this industry desperately needs.
Aubrey Collins is the director of marketing and communications at MediaTree, a supplier of branded digital entertainment cards. She fell in love with the promotional products industry in 2011 at her first PPAI Expo. She shares her perspective on everything from the industry, what parenting continues to teach her about business, to what marketing campaigns make her cry on her blog. Connect with her on Twitter or email her atacollins@mediatreegroup.com.