Content Marketing. Not Everybody’s Glass Of KoolAid

The core of this piece was actually the response to a comment on a post I did over in the Lumpy Kingdom of the Mighty Hamsters (LinkedIn) sometime in 2015.
The opinions expressed here are my own, but they have most certainly been influenced by intelligence gathered from marketers I know and have read about plus the legendary Bob Hoffman of the Type A Group who has most of this stuff figured out and travels the world telling people about it.
You can certainly choose to agree or disagree. That’s kind of why we express our opinions in the first place.

KoolAid KoolAid Tastes Great. KoolAid KoolAid Can’t Wait

Some Copywriter A Long Time Ago

There is a big pitcher of KoolAid that digital marketers carry around with them. They persuade prospects to drink this KoolAid and once they have, they suddenly feel the need to develop elaborate and costly content marketing programs, which the digital marketers are only too honored to manage for them.
But as they move along in this KoolAid-induced state, they slowly (and for the digital marketers, the more slowly the better), start to realize that this content management stuff is a lot of work and isn't cheap.
As the effects of the KoolAid start to wear off a bit they realize that they have to perpetually dig deeper and deeper to find engaging ideas for their content.
And the digital marketers are little real help outside of offering more KoolaAid and platitidues like "It's not a sprint, but a marathon".

Where Is The Freakin’ ROI?

Me

After a while the famous 80/20 Differential kicks in as 80% of these people run out of gas or budget or both, look at their ROI, which is sad or non-existent and start thinking, man I could have done a substantial direct marketing campaign with that money and had a lot more to show for it.
Of the 20% who forge on, only 20% of those will actually realize any sort of profitable benefit from all the work they have done. And even then, it won’t be anything to write home about .
The other 80% of that 20% will drop out too and go back to what they used to do to grow their business.

The Realities Of Brand Building

Now a lot of companies will write off the cost of content marketing as the part of the cost of branding building in the digital world. But others are a little more pragmatic.
A good example of this is Procter and Gamble, which just recently cut its digital marketing budget by about 75%, citing lack of performance.
Now if this is where the world’s largest marketer stands, you can bet that it’s only a matter of time before other companies wake up to the same reality, and there is a rather substantial shakeup in the world of digital marketing, which you can feel free to file under “What Goes Around Comes Around”.
Of course, not every company is as smart as P&G and so the learning curve for them is steeper. But it’s a good bet that the majority will end up at the same place sooner or later.

Sometimes The KoolAid Just Isn’t Sweet Enough

The future of content marketing is that it will always be there, but, despite what many digital marketers tell you with their magic KoolAid, it's not for everyone.
In fact it's only for a small percentage of everyone.
And slowly but surely, the business world will figure that out, like they have everything else, and content-based marketing tools will find their rightful place in the hierarchy of marketing.
which, because of its inherently low ROI, is pretty far down the list.
Now this is not to say that content marketing is a bad thing or completely useless. It’s not and it can be highly beneficial to certain types of businesses.

The Only Constant In Marketing Is Change

The digital marketing community (not all of it), has convinced a lot of advertisers that consumers or buyers don’t want to be ‘sold’ in the way conventional advertising does. They don't trust it. They want to find out more about what makes a product or service tick. They want to be engaged. They want to feed back and get answers to their questions. And all that biblical digital marketing jive.
Well, that may very well have been the case when this kind of marketing was all shiny and new. But everything in marketing has a wearout factor. And most companies reach theirs within a year or two. Because even genuinely relevant content can really only be sustained for so long, before their prospects start to yawn and their eyes glaze over.
So if you’re thinking about developing a content marketing program for your business, here are some questions to ask yourself.

1. Who am I talking to and how can I find out what they need to hear?
2. Do I have enough talent/budget to sustain a content marketing program and if so for how long?
3. If I want to have this done for me, can I afford the long term commitment that’s required to make it work?
4. What level of ROI can I live with to sustain this program?

If you figure out answers to those basic questions, you will have a pretty good idea of whether or not a content management program is a good direction to pursue.

Why I’m Using Content Marketing For Myself. And Warning You About It

It’s no paradox that I am using content marketing to market my business. But I am, after all, a writer and every piece of content I create, with few exceptions, can be a sample for me to show people what I can do.
Generally, people in many areas of the creative and business services sector can effectively use content marketing to get work.
My business is a good example of the kind of business that can benefit from content marketing. But a big part of the reason is that marketing and communications are very large and very meaty areas from which to create relevant content. And relevant content is the key.
I have sustained my campaign for about 8 years now from WordPress and Blogspot posts, as well as LinkedIn & beBee. And it has produced some very good results for me.
On the other side of the coin, someone in, say, a vertical manufacturing industry might have a lot more difficulty, simply because there’s only so many ways you can sustain a campaign without it eventually reaching out into areas beyond your business, thus reducing the relevance of your content stream.

Summing Up

1. Content marketing isn’t ideal for every business.
2. Consumers do not necessarily fit the descriptions that digital marketers provide for you.
3. Do your due diligence before starting or investing in a content marketing program.
(See questions above)
4. If you start to see that your program is not providing a satisfactory ROI, you might want to do a re-think.

As previously stated, this is my opinion. Yours may differ based on your experience.

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