We see this problem time after time:
A company will ask its in-house marketing team to start producing fresh, branded content—and, for awhile, everything will run according to plan.
Then, cracks begin to show in the foundation as scenarios like the ones that follow occur:
- The team changes: A team may have a marketing wizard who is also highly adept at writing clean, compelling copy. This person may spearhead the company’s blog, email or social marketing efforts. But what happens when this team leader takes advantage of another employment opportunity? After all, jumping ship is rife in today’s competitive job market with the average total turnover rate across all industries hovering around 16.4 percent. When this happens, it can be very difficult to keep content rolling along.
What’s more, many times the new hire who comes in to fill the opening will bring along a new agenda. This can upend the entire marketing strategy, meaning the type of content that is being produced, as well as its tone and brand “voice,” could be subject to change. Consistency, in other words, often flies out the window during times of transition.
- The well runs dry: Make no mistake about it: Producing a large volume of interesting copy is a tough and mentally draining job. A team that lacks editorial experience is certain to find itself scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas, falling behind and losing readers at some point or another.
- Other responsibilities arise: We’ve all experienced the chaos of an “all hands on deck” meeting before a trade show or marketing event, where everyone’s workloads are rededicated to the happening—and on tight deadlines. When this happens, tasks like blogging and maintaining social channels can come to a halt. Along with this particular productivity collapse, the sales pipeline could dry up.
Suffice it to say, effective content marketing takes knowledge and dedication. As CMI explained in its benchmark 2016 content marketing report, effective content marketers understand what successful content marketing looks like; they document their content marketing strategy; they document their editorial mission statement; and they communicate frequently with their teams.
CMI also found, however, that just 30 percent of marketers say their organizations are effective at content marketing ...
With these points in mind, don’t blindly start content marketing in your organization. Bulletproof your strategy to ensure its effectiveness. After all, content marketing doesn’t typically bring about overnight success. Building a base of readers and earning their trust to the point where it can be leveraged to drive sales takes time.
So, how can you bulletproof your content marketing strategy? It’s simple: You should hire the services of a third-party content strategy vendor.
In doing so, you will gain the arm of a powerful, experienced content marketing team to help provide the backbone of your daily content marketing efforts. Make no mistake about it, you’ll still call the shots about what you want to produce, when you want to produce it and where you want to post it.
What you’ll gain, though, is a dedicated team of experts whose sole mission will be to stock your marketing channels with fresh, creative and insightful commentary. This team will also be available for phone or email support to answer questions or help you navigate the nebulous waters of a product release, company announcement or industry breakthrough.
Just think, you’ll never have to ask an overworked colleague to blog or fill in when a writer goes on vacation!
So be proactive and protect your content marketing investment today. To learn more about how Content Boost can help with this initiative, contact us here.
