41% of first time marriages end in divorce. People don’t get married with the expectation that it will fail. But it takes communication, commitment and patience to persevere. Not easy over the long haul.
Although the federal government doesn’t keep statistics on failed content marketing programs, they often flame out in apathy, infidelity and denial. You don’t launch a content marketing program with the expectation that it will fail. Losing interest, reallocating resources to other projects and rationalizing that it wouldn’t have worked anyway, bring them down. Just like marriage, content marketing requires commitment.
A commitment to a plan.
A commitment of time and resources.
A commitment to get through the tough times and persevere.
Marriage succeeds when couples have similar ideas about what they want in life. That same understanding and definition of purpose will help your content marketing live happily ever after. Content marketing means you need to think like a publisher, starting with defining the objective of your content. Your favorite magazine didn’t start by haphazardly publishing information until they figured out their purpose. Neither should you.
Once you've defined your content purpose, figure out what kind of information is required to support it. Audit your content to identify good sources of information and determine the best channels for publishing. You likely have more content at your disposal than you might think. Take these topics and develop an editorial calendar. This will provide the roadmap you need to execute your plan.
Now that you have a plan, commit the time and resources to execute it. Like marriage, content marketing falls apart if you stop paying attention to it. Avoid the downfall. Prioritize your plan. Allocate resources up front. Well intended plans fail when content providers get pulled away to other projects. Concerned about using internal resources? There are a number of content providers and freelance sources that can help. Interns are also a great source to explore. Engaging a local university to provide qualified students a great work experience is a win win.
You’ve taken the right steps and you’re two months into the program without significant progress to justify your time and effort. Do you give up? Just like the bumps in the road that are inevitable with any marriage, you must have the willingness to persist if you expect your content marketing program to succeed. When you hired a rookie sales rep, did she exceed her revenue targets immediately? Did you expect it? Unlikely. Nor should you expect instant impact from content marketing. Content marketing requires an ongoing effort, patience and perseverance.
That effort includes self education - your odds of success improve as you engage in learning more about content marketing. You’ll be grounded in understanding key steps necessary to execute an effective program, starting with the scope of program you can expect your organization to engineer.
Learn, plan, execute and commit. But most importantly don’t start unless you’re committed. Sometimes the best way to prevent divorce is not getting married to begin with.
Would you like to discuss content strategy? Connect with John on LinkedIn and Twitter or visit the InterEdge Marketing website.
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