The biggest problem with content marketing is the perception that it’s free. From an outside view it’s difficult to see the hundreds of hours that go into producing and promoting the content. Once you realize the cost and time involved it becomes a lot easier to compare it to other marketing channels.
Off topic, but the trend of writing blog posts where every paragraph is a single, 10 word sentence drives me a little batty. Not that there isn’t some useful info in here, but it feels like it’s written for every paragraph to be shared as a tweet rather than to be something valuable in itself.
It is indeed not free, but it has a couple of big advantages in my opinion.
The first it that the cost is time. That’s what many bootstrappers can only afford to spend.
The second is that it is an investment, not just a cost. Once the content is produced, it continues to work with no additional effort. It can even just sit on your blog and still generate traffic from Google. Moreover you can repackage it in different forms and make the ROI even higher.
The third it’s that it works better than other channels, where all you can do is tell people “buy my product”. Here instead you give value before any transaction happens, which helps building relationships and trust. In the long run that is much more valuable than a sale.
If you are going to do content marketing you should also invest time into learning how to write amazing content. Folks like Ray Edwards have books you can pickup.
We found that creating controversy online helped a lot with our site getting traffic.
Yup, you’re spot on here. It’s a completely wrong perception. And you’re right, there’s so much that goes into it, even before the actual content production begins.
the trend of writing blog posts where every paragraph is a single, 10 word sentence…
Ha ha, sure. But the problem is that with so many people now consuming content on mobile devices or literally on the run, it makes for the best reading option.
Speaking as a writer, I like it too (when used within reason, of course). Mainly because it helps to add a bit of rhythm to the copy. But that’s just my personal opinion.
The biggest problem with content marketing is the perception that it’s free. From an outside view it’s difficult to see the hundreds of hours that go into producing and promoting the content. Once you realize the cost and time involved it becomes a lot easier to compare it to other marketing channels.
Off topic, but the trend of writing blog posts where every paragraph is a single, 10 word sentence drives me a little batty. Not that there isn’t some useful info in here, but it feels like it’s written for every paragraph to be shared as a tweet rather than to be something valuable in itself.
It is indeed not free, but it has a couple of big advantages in my opinion.
The first it that the cost is time. That’s what many bootstrappers can only afford to spend.
The second is that it is an investment, not just a cost. Once the content is produced, it continues to work with no additional effort. It can even just sit on your blog and still generate traffic from Google. Moreover you can repackage it in different forms and make the ROI even higher.
The third it’s that it works better than other channels, where all you can do is tell people “buy my product”. Here instead you give value before any transaction happens, which helps building relationships and trust. In the long run that is much more valuable than a sale.
If you are going to do content marketing you should also invest time into learning how to write amazing content. Folks like Ray Edwards have books you can pickup.
We found that creating controversy online helped a lot with our site getting traffic.
Yup, you’re spot on here. It’s a completely wrong perception. And you’re right, there’s so much that goes into it, even before the actual content production begins.
the trend of writing blog posts where every paragraph is a single, 10 word sentence…
Ha ha, sure. But the problem is that with so many people now consuming content on mobile devices or literally on the run, it makes for the best reading option.
Speaking as a writer, I like it too (when used within reason, of course). Mainly because it helps to add a bit of rhythm to the copy. But that’s just my personal opinion.