“The secret of a getting ahead is getting started.”
As I said in my previous blog, going straight into content production mode without a proper digital marketing strategy tied to your goals is like heading out on a road trip without a map—you’ll run out of gas before you ever reach your destination.
While it’s important to “just get started” with your content marketing efforts, setting a few high-level goals can be the difference between successfully growing your business through content marketing and getting left in the dust by your competitors who are investing in content marketing. If you begin creating random content, especially, overly-salesy content, you risk isolating prospects or completely turning them away with shoddy, self-promotional content that lacks value to the end user. Remember, it’s not about you, it’s about your audience. So be smart, and set some realistic goals that your team, whether an entire marketing team or one employee, can spend the proper time needed to create something your company is proud to share, and are confident will help someone through your sales cycle.
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S.M.A.R.T Goals – Specific. Measurable. Attainable. Relevant. Timely
Specific – is your goal specific? E.g., I will increase my website traffic by 20% from 5,244 to 6,292.8 visitors per month by April 1st, 2019 by increasing my blog frequency from 2 times per week to 4 times per week
Measurable – is your goal measurable? E.g., I will generate 12 new client leads worth a total of $1.8 million in potential opportunity revenue by April 1st, 2019
Attainable – is your goal achievable? E.g., I will grow my new clients leads by 20% from 10 worth $1.5 million to 12 worth a total of $1.8 million in potential revenue opportunity
Relevant – Is your goal relevant? E.g., My goal of increasing my web traffic by 20% this quarter to 6,292 visitors will allow me to reach my overall goal of increasing my total new client leads and revenue opportunity by 40% year over year
Timely – Is your goal timely? E.g., My goal is to improve our website traffic by 5% every month in quarter 1, which will lead to a 15% increase by April 1st, 2019.
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In other words, don’t underestimate the effort and attention needed to provide quality content that sticks. No matter the size of the team, content is never a quick fix, it’s an investment in the long term success of your business. Start small, and find a point you feel you can replicate your efforts and continue to build upon that. It’s ok to have your goal be one piece of content each Quarter, or even one piece of content Bi-Annually. The key takeaway is to start somewhere and allow that following to build.
Parqa provides full-ranging content marketing services based on your S.M.A.R.T. goals that allow you to communicate your brand and expertise without adding unreasonable responsibility to your staff. If you want to discuss how you can pivot your marketing efforts to maintain and grow within your industry, reach out to Parqa today!
