Lots of companies - of all sizes - understand the benefits of becoming known as industry experts, as trusted sources of information, and recognized as organizations that really understand the challenges faced by their customers. Some of these companies have started programs to generate informational content - a content marketing strategy. And many of them have failed.

These are great companies. They are run by motivated, knowledgeable people. They have terrific products. So why can't they handle something like content marketing?

Part of the answer is that these companies aren't set up to consistently deliver high-quality editorial content across multiple channels. They're set up to sell stuff! The mindset and the focus on these two activities, even though they both may have the same end goal, are quite a bit different. Managing sales activities and publishing content at the same time can be overwhelming. And when push comes to shove, guess where the energy is directed? Sales will win out every time.

Believe me, I know. We've got dozens of future customers who have told us they need to get started on publishing more informational content. But they say they have to take care of some items first. Most often these priority tasks are related to short-term sales development. They just can't seem to commit to getting started with content marketing; even though we're willing to do virtually all the work for them!

Three months later we are having exactly the same discussion. Three months wasted when these companies could have been raising awareness for the company and establishing themselves as thought leaders. When they finally do decide to get some help they wonder why they waited so long.

Do You Have the Time?

The other factor that comes into play when companies start thinking like publishers is they find that they have severely underestimated the time commitment. Starting out, it seems reasonable that they should be able to easily handle the publication of one newsletter a month. The companies we talk to usually manage to keep up that pace for only six to nine months - sometimes even less. Then the effort starts to fade until the newsletters disappear altogether. The truth is that producing quality material takes some blocks of uninterrupted time, and that is a rare commodity in the lives of business owners and subject matter experts.

It's a shame the efforts can't be sustained

because it is the consistency of effort that

is the key to results.

Companies quickly find out too, that the volume of content they need to create is greater than they anticipated. Sure, it's great to send out a monthly newsletter to an in-house list. But how are they going to reach prospects that they don't have on file yet? To connect with those individuals we're talking about producing longer pieces for trade publications, You Tube videos, Twitter, Linked In, Facebook, etc. Oh, and since newsletters really ought to include some semblance of a call to action, companies need things like white papers and customer case studies their readers can download from their web sites. All of a sudden, that little newsletter has become a much bigger animal.

Making Content Marketing Work for You

If any of these situations sound familiar, I urge you to take a half a day to sit down and write out a plan. Include dates, topics, and publication channels. Then figure out how to get it done. Assign some resources, be they internal or external, and then set reminders to reinforce the commitment and make sure the resources haven't been sidetracked with other responsibilities.

We'll try to help you out, giving you some tips here in this newsletter, and our monthly 90-Second Content Marketing Lessons. If you get stuck and just don't know what to do next, call me for a no obligation, no sales pitch, chat about what you want to accomplish and how to get there. There are lots of ways to get your content marketing efforts in line with your objectives. I'd be happy to share them with you.