3 min reading time
I completely ripped this off my friend Tom McCall, Vice President/General Manager, Critical Care Division at ICU Medical. Like, verbatim. It was that good.
Tom wrote,
“If it’s true that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, then the road to content marketing consistency must run along a parallel path.
Whether it’s a customer-focused blog linked to your website, a social media marketing initiative designed to foster conversations with customers, or a media-rich digital magazine to showcase your company’s good works, a consistent content marketing program takes commitment, hard work, and resources. And that’s so why many of them fail to maintain momentum after a while. Some sooner. Some later.
Now, the truth is, nobody begins a content marketing initiative with the intention of failing to keep the effort going. Sometimes it just happens. Here’s a few tips for what to do when (not if) it happens to you:
1. Hit the reset button: Given 91% of B2B companies intend to make content marketing an important part of their business strategy, it’s highly unlikely that you’re going to let one or two failed attempts stop you from pressing on. That means no matter what, you’re going to need content (duh). So take a thorough inventory of whatever you have out there now and determine how much of it is still viable and usable. Then insert it into the mix and present it as new. Chances are if you’ve let it just hang out in cyberspace for a while without any concerted effort to drive traffic to it, the content will still be seen as new to most people, anyway. New post, new date, fresh content. Reset button engaged!
2. Build on what you have: Now’s a good time to evaluate your existing stale content and see what can be freshened up with new data and additional detail. Can you turn one long post into two or three by elaborating a bit? Can you build on a theme already established to further tell your story? Can you turn static content into dynamic by adding video or motion graphics? Do you have a case study now that adds color to a piece you created earlier? All of these are great ways to add depth to your content library by repurposing what you have.
3. Know when it’s time to take out the trash: OK, face it, not everything you do is going to be amazing. Get over it and move on. Be honest with yourself when reviewing existing content and know when to say “well, this sucks” and just get rid of it. It never needs to see the light of day again. There are way too many examples of content initiatives that were begun with great fanfare and fizzled out way before their time. Some of them you may have even begun yourself. Know when to say when and start over again. You’ll be glad you did.
Content marketing is here to stay. Don’t let past missteps get in the way of future successes.
You can do this!”
– Tom McCall
