Would it make sense to run a relay race with four runners, yet only two of them were willing to run their fastest – if run at all? What if the fourth runner didn’t only finish last (obviously), but didn’t finish at all? Imagine if the above four runners trained for months, had themselves positioned to win first place, then performed pathetically as described above?
This sounds absurd, but it’s a metaphor for the timid small business dipping their feet into the “content marketing pool” instead of diving in – aka: committing. We just broke down a metaphor with another metaphor, but the point is to be consistent with your content marketing.
Let Us Help You
Of course, our hope with temporary contracts consisting of content marketing (three to four months as a typical example) is to achieve powerful results motivating the client to continue. With content marketing, the true magic lies in a continual campaign, hence consistent content marketing. It isn’t unlikely to achieve results in the short-term, but it would be like saying a Porsche 911 drives amazing in school zones.
Some may be wondering why to engage in content marketing if the results tend to arrive later rather than earlier. The answer is the later results are not only more powerful, but they become higher quality, which means the results will be consistent. The powerful and quality results are a product of the genuineness of the engagement – which leads to customers, subscribers, clients, contracts and – most importantly – relationships. These relationships land running, which means you’ll have warm or hot leads as opposed to cold or lukewarm leads.
To say these results are consistent is the same as saying a bigger and better thing is more likely to happen regularly. In our opinion, these results are worth waiting for and/or paying for. We invest in these results ourselves; it’s why this blog was written. This blog is content marketing.
Content Marketing for Contract or Hire
The success of content marketing comes from its genuineness, and it’s achieved from doing it regularly and fairly often. A quality content marketing strategy should theoretically never end, and be “fed” with genuine content such as blogs several times a month. Also, as a teaser for future blogs we’ll be writing, Google knows if this content is genuine, and it’ll reward you for it…or the reverse if it’s not.
Most of our relationships involving content marketing are with businesses who understand the power it has, but they also understand the time it requires, so they hire us. Other businesses, who also understand the power of content marketing, tend to have a dedicated/staffed team or employee to handle their content marketing. Businesses in this category know content marketing must be consistent, which requires a staffed employee given the time they know it requires.
Don’t Quit Before the Miracle Happens
The tragedy of content marketing is when a business starts a content marketing strategy, but exits too soon. Another metaphor for content marketing is the process of growing a plant. Few would tell you that plant failed to exist until the green stem breached the soil. Obviously, for weeks – probably longer – much was happening, but nothing was growing above the soil. The plant was being watered, given plenty of sunlight many times daily, but still no visible growth.
The reality is the plant undergoes a natural cycle, which is seemingly ineffective until it’s breaching the soil. Why do we grow all these plants and vegetables, breaking our backs and spending all that time and money? We know – if we remain consistent – growth will be achieved regardless of the instant gratification we normally crave.
We don’t stop our growth strategy because we see no immediate results. We continue to water and feed the plant because it would be a shame to quit before seeing what the plant looked like, thus justifying the time, money and effort we invested into growing something. Content marketing is no different, but the rewards will be greater.
Don’t quit before the miracle happens.
Let us help you grow.
Be Bold.