With apologies to my international readers who don’t get US sports references: the Universe has staged an amazing half-time show for the pandemic.
But this isn’t a game and while gallows humour helps me, at least, deal with frightening times, it’s not really that funny. If you take everything from someone, including their last breath, where’s the silver lining?
There is none. We thought it was hard to keep building, keep selling, keep delivering when it was just a terrifying global pandemic. And it was.
Now what – when the entire world order political order wobbles? When it’s Faux Pax Americana.
The same thing – marketing is a long-term game and so are our businesses. And for what it’s worth, the US economy isn’t going anywhere; that should bring some stability of spirit to you, wherever you are in the world – if you play “the long game”. Facebook created enormous value for at least a billion people by being in business now for 16 years; it didn’t sell despite offers. It wasn’t just any startup.
When you hire a content marketing agency to write your blog, you get a checkerboard, a grid of boxy blog post teasers, usually between 10 and 20. They are solidly written and spell-checked. Keyword-enhanced. But they are forgotten because there’s no personality there and hardly any point of view.
But here’s how to do content marketing right: Profiltwell.
Profitwell is a hybrid consulting/software company that helps SaaS and DtC subscription companies get max value out of their recurring revenue business models. And if you take some time to read their blog, you start to understand why – their world is full of experts, personalities, blog posts, videos, interviews, podcasts, data visualizations, analysis. These aren’t tacked on to their product, they are part of the product. Marketing is the creation of products that the market wants ((In the 4 P’s Matrix (Product, Price, Place, Promotion) proposed by marketing theorist E. Jerome McCarthy, the very first decision a marketer makes is product design https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Marketing-Managerial-Jerome-McCarthy/dp/B000MJI89O)). For years Profitwell have done this kind of marketing. They’re playing the long game.
Relatively soon as compared to the length of an average life, the pandemic will end. The riots and protests will end. And hopefully, the legacy of US-American slavery that is the modern-day “alt-right” will also end. And what will your content marketing look like when it does? Better I hope, but to get there we have to keep making little steps forward, day by day.
To your health and safety,
Rowan