More and more companies are trying harder and harder to incorporate content marketing as one of their core marketing strategies. Some companies already have a content marketing strategy in place and are looking for ways to make it work better; others are starting from scratch. The ones who usually run into trouble are those who already have a content marketing strategy in place and haven’t tailored it to meet modern demands or just haven’t put much time into it at all. Most of the time, they spent time and money to create it and therefore will naturally be reluctant to go for something new or start entirely from scratch, which in most cases, is probably what is required.
When it comes to content marketing strategy, you cannot expect to achieve perfection when you are already working with a content marketing strategy that was less than ideal in the first place. Simply making minor adjustments or tweaking it is not a long term approach and an old, out-dated content marketing strategy simply will NOT work. If you want to different results (better ones), then you must be ready to create a new content map and start afresh.
Creating new customer experiences is necessary if you are going to move at the same pace as the market and the online world. Unfortunately, that pace is so fast that if you don’t go in with an open mind, ready to absorb and try things that you haven’t tried before, you will surely fail. We think that if we take old templates and put in new material, we have a new experience, this is so far from the truth its not funny. We are so stuck in the way that we are used to thinking that letting go and embracing something new is almost a physically painful experience.
Think about an ice-cream truck that over the years has sold just vanilla ice cream. When they feel that customers are clamouring for a change, they put in sprinkles. Then they put chocolate chip cookies. Has anyone stopped to consider that all the customer may just be looking for a BRAND NEW flavour of ice cream? Not the same old and boring Vanilla flavour…
When you talk about new customer experiences with regard to content marketing, you will fail if you stick to the way you have always done things. For one, your customers are exposed; they see what is out there and if someone comes up with something that is smarter and more engaging than yours, you will be history. Additionally, sticking to a template and making basic changes to the same old template does not address the problems that you have. It’s like a car engine. It can keep going with superficial fixes but one day, you will have to pop the hood, get dirty and possibly tear the entire thing apart.
In content marketing and in the online world, things are changing at a rapid pace and if you are going to get significant positive results you need to be ready to redefine your entire strategy not just to continue to do well but to stay afloat as a business. Be ready to dare, do things that you haven’t done before and even things that haven’t been done at all.
Creating New Content Marketing Strategies
A fusion of existing marketing strategy and content marketing works best, but to get this to happen, you need to have minds that are thinking alike. This may be hard if you are working for big corporations where it can take years to get change through the door, but if you can start small, you have a fairly good chance of coming up with a new content marketing strategy that is not only refreshing but one that will bring in the results that you want.
Someone once said that for everything you do, first ask “why?”, and this is a good way to help you get the old content marketing strategy out of the way. Why do you do this just this way? What kind of results do you get? More importantly, is there a different way to do it, a better way? If you question your current methods and think about new and improved ways of doing things, you will eliminate any strategy that does not serve you and replace it with new, better ideas on content marketing.
Remember that you have to create content for all kinds of different interfaces and platforms that you use to communicate with your customers (and them back to you) through the internet, on their mobile devices, through telephones, through call centres and more. Your content creation strategy should cover all these angles.
Reinvention is a choice, and they say that those who don’t change die, especially in the online world. The great thing about content marketing is that you can start small. Pick whatever you are in charge of and start with that, and then pave your way to bigger content marketing maps.
If you require a content marketing strategy or plan put into place, a Content Marketer, Digital Marketer or SEO Consultant can help you.
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