Don't Let A Lack of Time Cripple Your Content Marketing Plans

Content Boost

Don't Let A Lack of Time Cripple Your Content Marketing Plans

By Allison Boccamazzo, Director of Brand Strategy  |  October 26, 2015

If a magic genie were to approach a content marketer with the opportunity to grant three wishes, it’s a safe bet that one of those wishes would be for more time. After all, today’s marketers wear many hats – donning salesperson, customer service rep, and data analyst caps – often making it difficult to allocate enough time to properly develop, execute, and evaluate their content marketing strategies.

Research proves this to be true. For instance, according to the Content Marketing Institute’s 2015 “Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends” report, only 27 percent of B2C and 35 percent of B2B marketers have taken time to put their strategy in writing. Furthermore, according to Zmags’ “The State of Digital Marketing Survey 2015,” marketers understand that producing rich content is key to creating engaging digital experiences; however, nearly 70 percent feel challenged by a lack of time.

It makes sense that we as marketers contend with a lack of time. We are tasked with juggling innumerous initiatives from increasing lead generation to creating higher-quality content to managing customer retention and acquisition campaigns; in fact, the average marketer today is working on 13 content marketing initiatives, according to CMI. It’s understandable that marketers may feel strapped for time, but the fact remains that time is the key ingredient needed for organizations to see long-lasting, measurable results with content marketing.

You may not have access to a genie who can magically grant you more time, but that is no justification for stalling your dedicated content marketing strategy. After all, lack of time hasn’t stopped your competitors from producing rich content that engages and retains customers. Nearly 70 percent of B2B and B2C marketers are creating more content now than they were one year ago – including even those who say they are ineffective and don’t have a strategy for doing so, according to CMI.

The key to unlocking time freedom involves finding a solution that enables marketers to do more with less time. They need a solution that enables them to:

• document their content marketing plan in writing, detailing exactly how long certain elements of their strategy will take based on their individual goals and objectives;

• easily map out which integrated content deliverables they will be producing – blogs, email copy, press releases, web copy, and whitepapers – and when (preferably doing this at least two months in advance so that they always have visibility into what’s coming down the pipeline); and

• keep a finger on the pulse of their industry so that they can capitalize on real-time happenings and breaking news.

Most importantly, marketers need a solution that enables them to do all of this and the other dozen initiatives they have on their plates. So, what's the solution? It is assembling a dedicated content marketing team that can bring your strategy to life, rather than tasking one or two people with ad-hoc tasks. In other words, ask yourself whether your organization has employed a team of experts – writers, editors, social media strategists, and designers – who are solely dedicated to making significant splashes on the marketing front.

At the end of the day, it’s impossible to think that one or two people can singlehandedly carry a comprehensive content marketing strategy across the finish line. Rather, a team of professionals can help you execute top priority initiatives of your content marketing plan, from fine-tuning your target market to determining the right content marketing vehicles to use to developing a clear content distribution plan.

Remember: If you don’t have time, that’s fine (after all, one person or team can only do so much). Understand, however, that you need to make time. You’ll never be able to see your content marketing strategy ignite without a team of experts working together to fan the flame.

Allison Boccamazzo is managing content producer for the Custom Publishing Division (www.contentboost.com) at TMC (News - Alert) (www.tmcnet.com).




Edited by Kyle Piscioniere
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