In content marketing, as in life, sometimes you’re cruising along in great shape and suddenly you find yourself in a slump. And if you’re using a marketing automation tool like HubSpot, the analytics it provides may confirm that fact for you. The materials you’re putting out just aren’t as inspired as they used to be, and consumption is down as a result. Fear not. There are ways to get you back on top of your game.
Getting Out of a Rut
When I talk with companies that feel like they are in a rut with their inbound marketing, and in particular their content creation, the most common cause is that they are failing to look “outside of the box.” Remember that "Variety is the spice of life,” as they say—it can spice up your content marketing efforts as well.
While blog posts, case studies, e-books, and the other standards of the trade are a great foundation, there are many other types of materials that you can easily overlook as you work to meet content creation deadlines. Here is a reminder about a handful of them to get your creative juices flowing:
- Live events
No, events don’t immediately come to mind when you think of “content,” but there’s a surprising amount of that stuff that gets produced in planning, preparing for, and executing an event. Invitations and announcements, take-away pieces, event follow-up emails… they’re all important materials that help you connect with your target audience. And good ol’ fashioned face-to-face interaction is never a bad thing! - Digital training courses
Your company has expertise in a particular area or areas—share it! You’re doing this already in your blog posts and other content, but putting what you know into a start-to-finish educational format and giving it away can generate a tremendous buzz. - Research results
Companies love to know about the trends in their industry but often don’t have the resources to research them. If you take the time to do it for them, they’ll flock to your door. Creating a thoroughly-researched and well-written report takes time and effort, but it can be well worth it. And a bonus is that the information you collect in the process can be used to produce other content or breathe new life into existing pieces. - Templates
Anything you can do to help your target audience complete a task more efficiently will be greatly appreciated. By giving them the framework they need to create a document, develop a spreadsheet, etc. you’ve eliminated that “blank page paralysis” we all feel sometimes and helped produce the momentum that can help them complete a project in a fraction of the time. - Quick reference pages
We all have web pages we’ve bookmarked because they have information that helps us do our job. No marketing pitch, just bare-bones cheat sheets or checklists on one topic or another. Gathering, editing, and making this information available can help you shake your content creation slump, and I guarantee your clients and prospects will thank you for it.
Working Together to Create Inspired Content
We’re passionate about helping clients in Colorado; Springfield, Missouri; Olympia, Washington; and across the country develop content that cuts through the noise and delivers results. Let’s talk about where your content marketing efforts are today and where you want them to be down the road. 