For those us who don’t have endless resources, we can still aspire to be like prolific brands—as long as we have a realistic content marketing strategy. Successful content marketing doesn’t necessarily mean you have a gargantuan editorial empire in the middle of your brand. Level 1: A small, committed content team Team size: 1-2 full-time employees and (maybe) 1-2 regular freelancers Primary goal(s): Brand awareness Content output: 1-2 blog posts per week and 1 report or e-book per year Major pain points: Need executive buy-in and additional resources There’s no reason a single creator can’t develop and launch a content program, though it certainly helps if you have a clear purpose and time to devote to creation. Kamb runs Nerd Fitness meet-ups, oversees a vast roleplaying discussion board, and now has several writers working for him. “After nine months of publishing articles daily, I had [only] 90,” he said. Instead of publishing five short, topical, skimmable articles each week, I published two articles that went in depth on a subject, oftentimes topping 3,000 words each. That doesn’t mean you have to hire seven new people next month. Walmart, for instance, has a modestly sized content running one of its blogs, Tips & Ideas. Level 3: A robust team driving ROI Team size: 5+ full-timers, 5+ freelancers, full executive buy-in Primary goal(s) Brand awareness, lead generation, sales enablement Content output: 5+ blog posts a week, 1 video per month, 1 infographic per quarter, email newsletter 3x a week, 4-6 reports or e-books per year Major pain points: Aligning with the sales team, repurposing old content, tying content to revenue If you’re already part of a large content team, trust the strategy that got you to this point and find ways to make small tweaks that improve the ROI of your existing output. Now that you’re not hurting for resources, use your wiggle room to work with the sales team and create new content for the entire customer journey.
In “Parks and Recreation,” Ron Swanson offers sage advice: “Never half-ass two things,” he says. “Whole-ass one thing.”
Too many content marketing teams try to half-ass a bunch of things—blog posts, whitepapers, video, social media, SEO—in the pursuit of a cohesive content program. They plunge headfirst, but despite their frantic productivity, nothing seems to stick like it should.
Part of the problem is that small and mid-sized companies want to compete with huge corporations out of the gate. “We want to be as cool as Apple or as daring as Red Bull,” someone might say, ignoring the fact that Apple and Red Bull have giant teams and giant budgets devoted solely to content.
For those us who don’t have endless resources, we can still aspire to be like prolific brands—as long as we have a realistic content marketing strategy.
Successful content marketing doesn’t necessarily mean you have a gargantuan editorial empire in the middle of your brand. It just means your existing content team—whether one person or one hundred people— creates work that’s helping the business.
So how do you get to that point? The answer is different depending on your situation.
Level 1: A small, committed content team
Team size: 1-2 full-time employees and (maybe) 1-2 regular freelancers
Primary goal(s): Brand awareness
Content output: 1-2 blog posts per week and 1 report or e-book per year
Major pain points: Need executive buy-in and additional resources
There’s no reason a single creator can’t develop and launch a content program, though it certainly helps if you have a clear purpose and time to devote to creation. Steve Kamb, a writer and entrepreneur I admire, began writing blog posts about health and fitness while working a day job that drained him. He had a well-defined brand in mind as he wrote—Nerd Fitness—and that brand has since grown into a global empire. Kamb runs Nerd Fitness meet-ups, oversees a vast roleplaying discussion board, and now has several writers working for him. He has also published three e-books and sells a line of Nerd Fitness activewear.
Kamb told Forbes in 2016 that his initial content didn’t connect with an audience. It took him a very long time to hit 1,000 subscribers. “After nine months of publishing articles daily, I had [only] 90,” he said. “I…
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