The majority of content marketing managers know that the key to success in most aspects of business is hard, constant work. How often in your life have you heard the phrase “Put your nose to the grindstone?” The phrase may be a cliché, but it is based around a truth — constantly working on all of the little things, and subsequently achieving many small successes will usually bring you overall success in your line of business.
It seems that in the world of content marketing, rather than focusing on the grind — doing lots of little things and achieving many small successes — some marketing managers are too focused on finding silver bullets. Everyone wants to make a video that goes viral and gets over a million views, instantly building brand awareness, and driving traffic to their brand’s web site. Everyone wants in on the next great meme that spreads their product information far and wide while entertaining and engaging potential customers across the world. Everyone wants to make the next “Old Spice Guy” or “Ship My Pants.”
Building your content marketing strategy around finding silver bullets is like planning to win the lottery as a career goal. Obviously it helps if your content is compelling to the people consuming it, but much of what makes a piece of content go viral is luck, and “getting lucky” is lousy business strategy. Yet still many managers will use phrases like “Let’s create something viral” or “I want a million views on our next video” when what they should be saying is “Let’s put our noses to the grindstone.”
Instead of focusing on creating viral content, focus on making a ton of great content. If you make great content, it will get shared. You will get impressions, you will drive traffic to your web site, you will build brand awareness. You will accomplish all of the things that a marketer sets out to accomplish on any given day. Do not freak out if that video that you invested all of your time in does not go viral. Do not give up on your corporate blog when no one leaves any comments for your most recent entry. Just keep grinding. Make more good content, share it through appropriate channels, and accept the fact that slow, measured growth is awesome.
Here are some concrete steps you can take to start grinding:
- Focus on making a ton of content.
- Take the time to refine and edit your content before it goes live.
- Optimize your content for different channels.
- Once shared, take the time to respond to comments on your channels.
- Spend time each day researching industry trends.
- Compile data on your content and utilize this information when producing future content.
When you learn to grind, to constantly create great compelling talent, and accept that slow-growth can be great growth when it comes to your digital presence, you set up your brand, or clients’ brands, for long term success.
