When Will I See Content Marketing Results?. Of course, there will always be businesses that see results before six months and others who will have to wait longer than nine months. Two categories of variables affect the content marketing timeline: those you can control and those you can’t. Your goals Your strategy How you measure success and failure How frequently you post content How well you promote your content The quality of your content What CAN’T I Control? Be realistic about how much time and money you can dedicate to content marketing. Create content your audience will appreciate. As I mentioned above, the short answer to, “When can I expect results?” is six to nine months. However, if performance consistently trends down for several months, it’s time to adjust your strategy. Above all, remember the timeline for content marketing results is not set in stone. The next most important thing is to be rational about your expectations.
As much as you hate hearing, “It depends” in response to, “When will I see the benefits of my content marketing?” I can confidently state we marketers hate saying it even more. Alas, sometimes it truly is the only answer.
But if the C-suite won’t ease up until you can give them at least a ballpark estimate, then the answer is usually six to nine months. Of course, there will always be businesses that see results before six months and others who will have to wait longer than nine months. Again, it depends. (Author’s note: I sincerely do shudder every time I say that.)
In a time where we’ve all grown accustomed to instant gratification, this can be a hard number to swallow. But as the great Clark Griswold once said, “Nothing worthwhile is easy.”
If you Googled, “how long does content marketing take to get results” (or some variation) with the intention of simply finding a number, there you have it. But I’m willing to bet the very next thing your CEO asks after you tell him or her “Six to nine months” will be “Why?”
Rather than having to reply, “Because the internet told me so,” read on to learn about:
- Which factors affect the results timeline
- The ebb and flow of the content marketing timeline
- How to improve your chances of seeing results within six to nine months
What Impacts the Time Between Execution and Results?
Two categories of variables affect the content marketing timeline: those you can control and those you can’t.
What CAN I Control?
- Your goals
- Your strategy
- How you measure success and failure
- How frequently you post content
- How well you promote your content
- The quality of your content
What CAN’T I Control?
- The economy
- The marketplace
- What your competition is doing
As you can see, while there are a handful of factors you can’t govern, there are far more things that you can. To increase the chances of success and having a more predictable timeline, you need to establish a plan for each of those elements.
Here’s what to do …
1. Choose your unique goals. You can use industry standards as a jumping off point, but no business is exactly like yours, which means no business will have the same objectives. Pick the goals that…
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