Content Marketing is a Marathon

Content marketing is a crucial part of your marketing mix, but it's a marathon.

Week after week you have to come up with new and interesting things to write about. You have to find new angles, new ideas, and new stories. You have to consistently create content that gets people to say, “That's interesting. Tell me more.”

And the operative word here is “consistently.” Writing one great article is not enough. Content marketing demands you do that month after month, if not day after day.

Set your pace

The blank page is intimidating if you run out of things to say, which is not unusual.

Structure is the savior to the blank page. It's your pace:

1. How often will you publish?
2. How long are your posts?
3. What is the format of your content?

I publish every Tuesday and Thursday at 5:00 a.m. EST. My articles are between 350 to 500 words, and they have an introduction, two to three sub-headings, and a conclusion.

This is my pace. Instead of worrying about form and format, I can focus on ideas, concepts, and insights that I think will resonate with you and deliver value.

What's your pace?

Fuel your content

You can't complete a marathon if you don't maintain your energy. You need food and water to keep going.

The same is true for content marketing. You need to constantly consume other's content to consistently produce your own content.

I consume content from three primary sources:

1. Feedly. I subscribe to a couple hundred blogs and magazines, and read it every morning. It's like the morning paper, and I get a fresh dose of content and ideas every day.
2. Podcasts. I listen to podcasts in the car and when I'm doing chores. I gain a ton of ideas from the interviews with experts.
3. Books. There's no better source of ideas than reading long form content. It gives me time to digest an idea and expand my thinking.

Consuming content is part of my routine, and gives me the fuel to share new content week after week.

How do you fuel your content marketing?

Have a backup

Inevitably you will hit a bump in the road and something will sideline you: an illness, a major deadline, a family emergency, a vacation, or something else.

Have backup content for these days. I like to keep a content vault, and draw from these articles when life or business gets in the way.

Keep writing

To run a marathon requires running. You've got to put one foot in front of the other and just keep going.

This is true for content marketing. Once you commit to a blog or an email newsletter you are going to be doing it for a long time. It's at least a five year marathon, if not more.

Set your expectations and get typing. There's a lot of great ideas you have to share.