I came across a powerful story about plans (and who can afford to go without them) that I want to share with you today…
George Bernard Shaw by Sir Jacob Epstein from Bowman Sculpture
It’s said that British sculptor Sir Jacob Epstein was once visited in his studio by another famous Brit, the author George Bernard Shaw.
While Shaw was there, he noticed a huge block of stone standing in one corner. After awhile Shaw finally asked Epstein what it was for.
Epstein said, “I don’t know yet. I’m still making plans.”
Shaw couldn’t believe what he heard. This was not the way he worked.
So he replied back, “You mean you plan your work? I change my mind several times a day!”
He thought Epstein would be impressed. He was wrong.
Epstein quickly replied, “That’s all very well with a four-ounce manuscript, but not with a four-ton block.”
The Billions of Dollars Wasted in Content Marketing
In a blog post on Econsultancy.com called “How to fix the $50bn problem in B2B content marketing” Andrew Davies recently revealed a shocking fact…
“Unused content in B2B digital marketing will soon be a $50bn problem for the industry and for CMOs keen to prove ROI.”
Why is so much wasted?
Davies gives this as one of the reasons…
“According to the same SiriusDecisions study cited earlier, the main reason that content goes unused is that content is being created without a clear strategy or purpose. 28% of respondents said their content process was still in ‘the Dark Ages.’”
Many content marketers don’t have a plan!
That’s fine if you’re just creating content for fun.
But if you’re create content to attract prospects and grow your business, then that will never do!
CMI/MarketingProfs B2B Content Marketing
In a report titled B2B Content Marketing 2015: Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends — North America, produced by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs and sponsored by Brightcove, reveals the progress that has been made in the content marketing industry.
In some ways, the progress is positive…
Overall Content Marketing Effectiveness
45% of B2B small business marketers say that their content marketing is effective, which is great, because only 34% believed that the previous year.
But that still means that 55% of small business marketers CANNOT say that their content marketing is effective.
Why is it that so many small business marketers aren’t sure if they’re content marketing is effective?
That CMI/MarketingProfs report reveals that it comes down to having a content marketing strategy (or plan)…
And when CMI/MarketingProfs asked marketers which out of a list of 28 initiatives they’d choose to focus on for 2016, many chose the same three content marketing challenges and initiatives.
Here’s what these top challenges and initiatives are…
Top 3 Content Marketing Challenges and Initiatives
There’s a reason I wanted to mention these three things.
The reason is because these three things can only really be accomplished if a company has a plan!
It’s not going to happen from instituting Shaw’s “changing my mind several times a day” outlook.
Giving Up on Content Marketing Isn’t the Solution
Giving up on content marketing all-together might be the knee-jerk reaction that some people have to all of this information.
But that would be a big error.
An an accredited, qualitative rolling research study from thebigshot.co.uk called A Content State of Mind examined what UK consumers think about branded content.
And one of the results they discovered was this…
69% of people said that they are more likely to buy or consider buying a brand as a result of well-produced content
So knowing that why would you give up using something, that when used effectively, gets almost 70% of your prospects to buy from you?
It doesn’t make sense to give up on content marketing!
The Content Marketing Solution for 2016
That means your solution should NOT be to stop using content marketing.
Your solution should be to figure out how to use content marketing more effectively than your competitors who are struggling with it.
And that means having two things that most of those competitors of yours who are struggling don’t have:
- A better understanding of content marketing
- A content marketing strategy or plan
If you feel like you don’t have a plan for your content and your content marketing, then 2016 needs to be the year for you to form one.
By the way, the main reasons that I created “The 4 Steps to Successfully Implement Question Directed Content Marketing” were:
1. Help individuals and companies to elevate their content above the generic content that fills the internet wasteland.
2. Enable individuals to create content that resonates with their prospects and customers and produces more ROI.
If you’d like some help in planning out your content marketing strategy for 2016, then I’d encourage you to purchase “The 4 Steps to Successfully Implement Question Directed Content Marketing” today by 6 pm, while you can still save $50.
(NOTE: This offer ended at 6 pm PDT 11/30.)
P.S. I’d encourage you read the entire report to learn more about the findings that CMI and MarketingProfs uncovered…
B2B Content Marketing 2015: Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends — North America
P.P.S. I still will be continuing my series on content serialization (How Content Marketers Can Use a Literary Technique That Made Charles Dickens Famous and How to Create Content That Will Hold People’s Attention and Keep Them Reading), but I wanted to post this today, so that you’d have this solution in mind and so you’d have a chance to take advantage of my offer before it’s too late.
I’m a business strategist, consultant, content creation specialist, and speaker. I’ve been studying effective marketing and business methods (both online and offline) since 1999.
===> If you would like to see ways that we could work together, then please click here to learn more.
