Make Content Marketing your New Year’s Resolution
Posted by Beth Hrusch on Mon, Jan 10, 2011
For those of you who haven’t yet made a resolution for 2011, the good news is—there’s still time! For example, it’s not too late to promise yourself that you will stop wasting valuable resources on ineffective marketing practices and start getting your bottom line into shape. I think that’s an intended pun.
If you have a website or are planning on developing an online presence, resolving to learn more about content marketing is a great way to start off the New Year. Do it now, before you get too far into another year of online invisibility and sluggish sales.
Is a content marketing strategy a magic bullet? Of course not. You still have to do the work and you have to understand how to implement your strategy effectively. Trust me, if I could sprinkle content marketing fairy dust over your online business and make it all better, you know I would. Can’t, sorry.
But, I can steer you toward some great resources for information about content marketing, and practical measures you can take to put content to work for you.
A little while back, Russell Sparkman of FusionSpark Media came up with a content marketing schedule for businesses. He calls it the 1-7-30-4-2-1 plan. Maybe this is the perfect time for you to check out his plan and determine a way to modify it to fit your business and your budget. It’s an ambitious plan and not everyone will be able to follow it to the letter. Do not worry if you can’t manage it at first. The important thing is that you learn what content marketing can do for you, then try out some of the strategies over time.
This plan clearly outlines some of the ways that businesses of every size can use content to grow their customer base and their credibility with online visitors. What should you be doing daily? It doesn’t take much time to tweet something interesting or share with your Facebook fans. Weekly? Post to your blog, or participate in an online forum. Monthly? Send out your email newsletter, produce a podcast or organize a “tweetup”.
If you are ever stuck for ideas, go to Junta42 and get some wisdom from Joe Pulizzi, founder of the Content Marketing Institute.
There are many possibilities for anyone who wants more exposure for their business. You don’t need a big budget to attract a lot of attention anymore. Content marketing has seen to that. So, do yourself a favor—familiarize yourself with content marketing, then read through this schedule for some great ideas about how to give your business a boost in 2011.
Unlike that Thighmaster that’s still sitting in your closet, this is one self-improvement tool that will actually produce results.