Noah Brier recently published a fantastic presentation entitled\u00a0everything is media\u00a0\u2013 a must read (embedded at the end of this post for your convenience). I\u2019ve stressed the idea of\u00a0experimenting\u00a0for awhile, and slide 59 really nails the rationale behind this:<\/p>\n
Try things and iterate.\u00a0<\/strong>Face it, you\u2019re not as good at predicting success as you think you are. It is well-established that things become popular mostly randomly. Sure you can spend against but even that isn\u2019t a guarantee.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Noah is spot on and hits upon something most marketing and PR pros don\u2019t get. All content\u00a0needs<\/em>\u00a0to be iterative \u2013 whether an infographic, video, blog post, white paper, etc. To put this into an action: \u00a0you should be following a plan and publishing a stream of new content that has expectation of success with frequency throughout the timeframe of a program. Improve as you go based on data, and refine bit by bit. The old days of optimizing a limited set of pages on a website, linkbuilding and hoping for rankings area dead. So is the idea of publishing one video and trying to push it throughout channels in the hopes of it catching on (if that was ever a good idea).<\/p>\n
Most communications pros overvalue each single piece of content because they are following a set of rules applicable to a society where the amount of content created and power to publish it was limited. This world no longer exists.\u00a0It used to be expensive and time consuming to create and distribute content. If it still is for you, you\u2019re in a lot of trouble \u2013 make it cheap and simple to create and distribute with very low cost of failure or forever be dominated by the agile.<\/p>\n
In reality, you should never expect a single piece of content you make to be successful.\u00a0Ever<\/em>. \u00a0First, it does not properly manage expectation, second,\u00a0none of us<\/em>\u00a0can accurately predict success and third \u2013 perhaps most importantly \u2013 it doesn\u2019t even matter if it is. Not really. One success is not what you should be after. If you are staking your\u00a0digital marketing\u00a0results on a limited number of pieces of content that are relatively static you\u2019re doing it wrong.<\/p>\n
You need to structure your efforts in a way that you are constantly trying new things and iterating through the content formats that fit the behaviors, preferences and formats of your audience (and perhaps testing new ones that you think might work). Would you rather go fishing with one rod or an ever-increasing number of them?<\/p>\n
In a world where every company is a media company, it\u2019s no longer about any single one piece of content. Create, publish, promote, measure, repeat. Don\u2019t dwell.<\/p>\n
One other point made in the presentation that stood out is another huge mistake most businesses make with their marketing. They neglect to build an audience and reinvent the wheel with every single thing they publish or promote:<\/p>\n
Build on prior success.<\/strong>Too many brands rebuild their audience for every campaign, spending the same money to reach the same people over and over again. Even if you\u2019re not sure what to do with it yet, you\u2019ve got to recognize the value of building an audience.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Spot on \u2013 you are in absolutely no position to create\u00a0increasing returns\u00a0or build momentum without this. That\u2019s really the whole idea of focusing on\u00a0opt in at the source.<\/p>\n
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Noah Brier recently published a fantastic presentation entitled\u00a0everything is media\u00a0\u2013 a must read (embedded at the end of this post … <\/p>\n