Why Marketers Abandon Their Content Strategies Too Soon

Why Marketers Abandon Their Content Strategies Too Soon. Because of all the hype surrounding content marketing, sometimes we expect too much too soon. Or, you’ll use a company like Contently to help source your writers. If it happens right away for you, great—but it usually takes time. More often than not, however, you won’t be able to determine the best tools and process for your team until you’ve created content for a few months. That’s fine, as long as your long-term content strategy doesn’t devolve into a short-term sales strategy. You need to build up trust with an audience. And you may need to promote your content initially to generate traffic. It’ll take time to get everyone on the same schedule and all of your data onto one report. Then, make sure you go to management and get their buy-in.

Author: Joe McCambley / Source: The Content Strategist

Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson once said, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” The line gets at something most people can appreciate, regardless of whether they’ve been in the ring.

As the SVP of enterprise content marketing at POP, a digital agency, I often think back to Tyson’s words. No matter how many marketers you speak to, no matter how many articles or books you read, nothing can really prepare you for how difficult it is to create excellent content that an audience cares about. Because of all the hype surrounding content marketing, sometimes we expect too much too soon. In the face of mounting expectations, we question our strategies—and too often we abandon them before they’ve had a chance to succeed.

While the difficulties associated with content marketing aren’t as daunting as taking an uppercut to the mouth, they still can be significant enough to get in the way of your long-term vision.

Here are seven reasons why marketers give up on their content strategies, along with some advice on how to overcome them.

1. Finding good content creators is too difficult

If you’re an agency, or work with an agency, you may start out using your in-house copywriters. Or, you’ll use a company like Contently to help source your writers. Or you’ll call a friend who edits a local newspaper and get some referrals.

All are logical paths to follow, but just like brain surgeons, fighter pilots, and dog whisperers, the talent pool in any craft follows a bell curve. You must continuously strive to find writers who are two or three standard deviations to the right. If it happens right away for you, great—but it usually takes time.

If the portfolios of your potential contributors aren’t filled with work you love, take a pass. “Good enough” never is. Eventually, as you refine your voice, you’ll have a team of freelancers you can trust every time.

2. They underestimate how much time great content takes to produce

When you commission a 50-page e-book, don’t expect to generate your first draft in a week and then go through two revisions before you can publish. These content projects aren’t going to have the same workflow as a promotional email or a banner ad.

The amount of time it takes to write an article or an e-book will depend upon a number of variables specific to your organization. For instance, if you belong to a regulated industry like pharmaceuticals or insurance, legal reviews will consume much more time than they might for a retail brand. If your content will be repurposed internationally, you’ll need extra time for localization.

Over time, you will figure out your “normal.” Until then, if things take longer than expected, lean towards asking yourself, “How can we be more efficient?” not, “How can we fix our strategy?”