As marketing professionals, we groan every time we have to tell management how much this tv spot or that display ad costs. They are expensive and we know that a) we can’t really measure the success of the ad and show marketing ROI, and b) once the ad is gone, it is gone! This is not the case with content. Unlike various forms of advertisement that either disappear into the airwaves or get thrown out in the recycling bin, online sticks around. Not only does it stick around, it actively works to get your message in front of anyone that happens to be searching for it.
Always Invest In Durable Assets
Good investors know that the more money they have tied up in volatile stocks and risky investment schemes, the more risk they incur. Conversely, the more they have invested in durable assets that appreciate in value, the less chance they have of losing their investment. The same goes with how you invest your time and money in marketing. When you spend money on a display ad, television or radio spot, billboard or any other kind of traditional marketing expense – you are buying a temporary bit of exposure that you “hope” will bring in some business. Maybe it did, maybe it didn’t. You can’t really measure it. What’s worse is when it is gone, it is GONE! These kinds of expenses are most definitely not durable assets.
Content = Durable Assets
As an aside, developing content is a key part of what we call “The Gravity Strategy”. Your business is a planet, you grow your planet with content, and the bigger your planet the more customers you will attract. It’s a really helpful illustration and way to understand Inbound Marketing. If you haven’t seen it, we strongly suggest you check out The Gravity Strategy!
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So how is a piece of content a durable asset? Content published on your website or in social channels does not go away easily. Ordinarily that is a good thing (unless it’s an embarrassing picture from the office party last week). Here is an example though of how good content can be a durable asset in your marketing portfolio. Let’s say that you write a blog post on a subject that attracts 10-15 new visitors a day. What if your next 9 blog posts are all equally well written and targeted, and each one also attracts an additional 10-15 new visitors a day. After your first 10 posts are published, you’ve increased your visitation by 100-150 visitors a day and they won’t stop working, even as you move on to writing posts about other topics. This is only blog posts. eBooks, white papers, reviews, testimonials and social posts are all types of content that are indexed by the search engines and are there at the ready anytime a customer searches on one of those topics. You will never get this kind of repeat performance out of any traditional media ad.
Focused Marketing vs. Broad Marketing
Another distinct advantage we have with content marketing is that it lets us focus on one specific topic for each piece. For instance – this post is strictly about content marketing and durable assets. We don’t talk about everything that our business does – we focus on one small part. When you are designing a display ad – one of the biggest problems is in trying to distill everything your company offers into a couple of key bullet points or sentences. Ads tend to be very broad in nature which means they get much less attention in the long run. With content marketing – you can have 20 pieces of content specifically targeted to 20 different segments of your audience, and that will bring about more results any day over one ad that is generic enough to apply to all 20 of those segments. Content marketing can be very refreshing to marketing professionals. No limits of page size, word counts, colors or seconds. You can take your time and sell your idea the way YOU want to.
Start Building Durable Assets
If you do not have a way to easily publish content on your website to grow your business, then the first step is to make that happen. You have to have the right kind of website that allows you to either write blog posts, or that is accompanied by a system where you can publish content easily and frequently. If you haven’t checked out The Gravity Strategy yet, please do so. We explain how anyone can start this process and be more successful online in a very clear and easy to understand manner. What’s more – we also have many services to help our clients succeed with this strategy. There’s no time like the present to take control of your future and start growing your business!
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