Content Marketing: Get Real

You’ve heard a lot about content marketing. And sure, it all sounds simple enough. Write a lengthy white paper and then implement a campaign to break it into various distribution channels – a blog here, a tweet there, a website landing page, perhaps a video and a webinar. The belief is that if you place your content in enough places, enough of your target audience will read it enough times to influence their buying decisions. Or at least change the way they think about you.

I’m saying enough is enough with this approach.

The problem with the theories surrounding content marketing is that most big companies don’t operate in the highly efficient manner strong content marketing plans require to be effective. White papers take ages to research and write, and even longer to unwrap the red tape for approval. Sometimes they don’t ever get published – more often, in fact, than any of us would like to admit to. And if the master document doesn’t see the light of day, the campaign doesn’t even leave the starting gates. So what’s the answer?

In years to come, the content marketing pyramid will be turned on its head. Firms will start with easy-to-deliver content, such as blogs, short pieces, FAQs from subject matter experts, HTML client emails and other less unwieldy content. These pieces will kickstart the discussion and lead to an internal consensus that a larger piece needs to be researched and written. That way, the campaign builds on itself and is not snuffed out before it begins.

It’s time to get real and deal with the way companies really operate, not how they should in a utopian operating environment.

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