4 Business-Critical Reasons to Stop Postponing Content Creation
If you’re not quite ready to start producing more marketing content right now, I have two words for you: DO IT!
Here is a typical – and true – story of a smart, successful software CEO who decided to delay content creation.
Last year Mason declared himself ready to push his company’s growth to the next level. His main goal was to draw more traffic to his website and convert a greater percentage into leads. He was (and still is) convinced that inbound marketing was the key to boosting his numbers.
But he also had a few other things to do. Mason felt he needed to be prepared to handle the additional traffic and opportunities. He had to update his CRM. He wanted to switch to Hubspot. He saw this as a good time to redo his website.
He chose to postpone content creation until these other things were done.
Big mistake.
Fast forward to today. Mason’s projects, which had been estimated to take six months, not surprisingly took 12. When the new site was finally launched last month, a year had passed, Mason was no closer to his goal of generating more and better leads, and his competitors had gained ground. He’s going to lose even more time because now he has to create content.
Here’s what Mason had neglected to consider:
1. You won’t change your current results without content.
A beautiful new website, efficient CRM and the awesome automation/tracking capabilities of an application like Hubspot won’t deliver more leads on their own. It’s the content your marketing people generate, the content you make available through various channels, the content your sales people utilize that engages buyers and helps them choose your product. In other words, it’s content – not applications - that moves the needle.
2. Content creation takes longer than you think it will.
Good white papers, case studies, blog articles and webinars – let alone good content marketing programs - are not thrown together over night. Once his other projects were online, Mason had to wait even longer to pull together the content that would drive more traffic and convert more leads.
3. You can increase your leads with content alone.
The reality is you don’t need a CRM, Hubspot or even a new website to deliver more leads to your sales team. Your life might be hell without these systems. You may be inefficient and somewhat sloppy. But you don’t need them for lead generation.
4. You’re losing sales opportunities while you don’t have content.
IT buyers are making buying decisions now. They’re actively looking for content. Even if they don’t find yours, they’ll find your competitors’; and you’ll miss the cut to the short list.
In Mason’s case, had he prepared content in parallel with his other initiatives, he would had realized 3 measurable benefits:
He’d have been ready immediately to pump a higher volume of leads into his new systems.
He’d have maintained pace with his competitors.
He would already be generating more leads and better sales opportunities.
Mason’s circumstances represent only one of the reasons software CEOs and marketers postpone creating content. Some marketers plan it to death. They won’t create content until they’ve strategized, analyzed, refined and finally produced a perfect plan. This is just as deadly.
So my advice to you is: whatever you’re waiting on, whatever is keeping you from putting your content machine into action, get over it and get going. You’ll be glad you did.
If you’re hesitating because you don’t have time or in-house resources to write your content, check out this article on How to Find a Great Marketing Writer for Your Tech Company.
If you want to know how to develop content that gets buyers to take action, take a look at our white paper: What Every Software and Technology Marketer Need to Know About Creating Content that Generates Great Results.