The Secret You’re Missing For Great Content Marketing

Reset your expectations about what your content should do.

You need:

• More leads from search.
• And social.
• And email.

You’ll take any lead from anywhere.

I know that desperation mode. How do you find the way out?

Spray and Pray: Please Let This Be The One

When you’re that scattered, you’re hoping that anything and everything can be the one post that will skyrocket your traffic and leads.

Yes, I’ve sat in coffee shops and prayed that a few more clicks would come my way.

When you use content marketing as a lead generation strategy, you’ll learn one important thing super fast.

Don’t worry, I’m going to save you hours and hours by sharing this secret right now.

It sounds ridiculous on the surface, but once you put it into play, it will change what you expect, saving you tons of frustration in the process.

The Secret You’re Missing With Your Content

Here’s the secret: Every article can’t do every job.

Just like you don’t expect your Kia hatchback to haul heavy machinery, not every piece of content can carry the same weight.

But it’s just words, right?

Yes, it’s just words like a semi-truck and a Kia both have wheels.

They could be made out of the same stuff. But they’re not made the same way.

They are built for completely different jobs.

It’s the same for content.

Have a Different Expectation For Each Piece of Content.

Do you expect every article to get thousands of shares?

Or likes?

Or conversions?

It is very difficult to get a single piece of content to do that. It can be done, but that proves the exception to the rule. It’s a hard strategy to repeat continually on every post.

One way to temper these expectations is to well… expect something different.

Instead, know the role you want that particular piece of content to play. And don’t expect it to do anything else.

That simple mindset change will set you free to work on the next piece of content, once you know the piece you worked so hard on is doing its role.

Nothing more. Nothing less.

Build Your Content For The Job You Want It To Do.

Let’s examine two different sets of popular content: evergreen and viral content.

Evergreen is primarily driven by Google searches.

Viral content depends on Facebook, Snap, Reddit, Twitter, or similar outlets.

By even listing out those channels, you can understand that the same content will not work in all of those areas.

You’ll soon discover that viral content often looks very different than content built for traffic and search.

To be honest, search content is kinda boring. That’s why it’s often called “evergreen content.” It can function at just about any time and any place.

Viral content, on the other hand, is often about the moment. You’ll have a quick spike and then a quick fade. It’s pegged to a newsworthy event or to a timely interview or the latest meme.

The traffic chart will also look very different.

Evergreen content often has a slow build, while viral content is made for that quick, share-able spike.

Don’t expect your evergreen content to go viral or your viral content to keep bringing in traffic months later.

What’s Next?

1. Reset Your Expectations.

Remember, you’re building different types of content for different purposes. Explainer videos won’t go viral like your video interview with a famous athlete. But they could both serve a role. Know what you want your content to do and how it works within your larger funnel.

2. Do The Research On How The Type of Content Functions

There’s a lot more to say about different types of content (another post!), but research what makes that particular type of content successful.

How does something go viral? Can it be engineered? What elements make for great sales copy for leads? Does the product page have those elements or is it more informational?

3. Identify the KPIs

Know what would make that content a success. Is it shares? Traffic? Leads? This will influence your expectations.

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You can also check out my keyword research template/idea doc that I’ve personally used to grow site traffic by the thousands.