Hear
NEW! Listen to article
How to find the optimal content marketing mix
Who remembers putting together a mix CD or – get ready to say this a long time ago – a mixtape? Long before the endless playlist options offered by Spotify, Apple Music, and others, there was limited space for a great mix. Every second and every choice was crucial.
So what do playlists have to do with developing a marketing strategy that really resonates?
It’s all about balance, but the prevailing opinion of many companies is that they should use a little bit of all types of content in their marketing.
So many times I’ve spoken to business leaders who think they need to jump on board with the next big thing in marketing for no reason other than what they think they “should” be doing. But when I press them and ask them about the goals and success metrics for their approach, they can’t really give me an answer.
Instead of developing a content marketing strategy feels Right, based on what you think you see in the world, put one together Is based on your business model and the behavior of your customers.
Doing a little bit of everything means you don’t do anything really well. But with a consistent investment in fewer types of content that are relevant to your audience, you can develop a content marketing mix strategy that you can use again and again for years to come.
Find the mix that brings music to your audience’s ears
Like most business initiatives, any marketing strategy is both a financial investment and a creative endeavor. Try the following four tips to find balance in your content marketing mix strategy – both engaging your audience and remaining financially realistic.
1. Don’t let your sales team’s information go to waste
Sales comes as close as possible to real-time customer surveys. Whether sales reps are connecting with new leads, servicing leads that have been struggling for a while, or connecting with current customers, they’re always on the ground learning what’s working and what’s not.
Your insights can be crucial to your content marketing mix. When your lead and customer retention strategies succeed (or fail), sales reps will likely be the first to know and help guide you in how much time and money you need to invest in doubling down on what’s working (or course-correcting). needed).
So, reach out to the sales team regularly to talk about what an ideal buyer’s journey would look like and what types of sales enablement materials and support might support them:
- Are you doing too much in one area and not enough elsewhere?
- Is your website successfully keeping visitors on the site but not getting them to go a step further and actually make calls?
- Are calls being made but don’t get any further after the first call?
Sales reps can fill knowledge gaps and help you determine the next direction.
2. Test some tactics before investing too much
The buyer’s journey, along with information from your sales team, should form a plan for what your content marketing mix looks and will look like. Working together, these components should be able to continually help you identify gaps and opportunities to pursue.
Then it’s time to put on your strategic hat. Diversity for diversity’s sake has never done marketers any favors. Instead of trying to create all different types of marketing materials at once, look at the pressing inbound needs and try to meet them with a few relevant content types.
Far too many times I’ve seen people stuff themselves with blog posts, publish them, and complain about their lack of immediate response.
Instead, diversify your mix. You could try writing some blog posts and exploring the potential for a trademarked article as well as some earned media in relevant industry publications. This way, you can test a few approaches to see which ones will stick before investing even more time and money.
3. Trust the process and give it time
Content is not a quick fix. Essentially, achieving the optimal mix is an experimental endeavor that involves trying things out and then being patient while waiting for the results. ROI doesn’t happen overnight. So give your content marketing mix strategy time to produce results.
When my company decided to do this Doubling down on inbound marketingsuccess did not come immediately. But once we found the right mix of SEO, link building, on-site content, and third-party placements, we hit our stride and started building a steady stream of inbound leads.
However, that took some time. And we had to be persistent and patient – no more start and stop tactics and no more hoping for results.
If you’re lucky, the right mix of optimized content marketing can start producing results in about six months – or longer if you don’t do SEO. Before you just move on, give yourself – and your content marketing mix – time to find an audience.
4. But know when to walk away
Maybe there are marketing tactics that you’ve put time and energy into for a few years: testing and brainstorming different approaches…only to see the same mediocre results – if any at all.
If this is you, I want you to hear me when I say it’s okay to move on.
My company noticed that many companies were able to sponsor podcasts or create their own, so we thought, “We should do that too!”
So we jumped into it and started sponsoring a podcast. Then… crickets. We didn’t see any traction; We didn’t generate any results. In the end, we just didn’t invest enough and it was a distraction from the other revenue-generating work we were doing.
Believe me: jumping on the bandwagon with every new trend is not always the right approach. And if you jump on the bandwagon, try the tactic; However, if you’re still not seeing results, it’s 100% acceptable to leave this tactic behind and focus your efforts on components of your content marketing or broader media mix that make the difference.
* * *
It can take a while to create a content marketing or media mix that speaks to the soul of your audience the way a good mixtape does. But if you approach it collaboratively, strategically, and patiently, you can settle on a mix that will keep your target audience wanting to come back to you again and again.
More resources on types of marketing content
Five types of content to include in your sales enablement playbook
Effective Content Types for Each Stage of the Buyer Journey (Infographic)
17 Types of Content Google Will Devour
What types of content should you create? (Infographic)