Over the last few weeks, I’ve been buried in work. So have my clients. The economy has everyone skittish, because our prospects aren’t buying like they did five years ago. Even the fact that the digital forensics field is increasing in popularity doesn’t guarantee customers.
So, we’re all busy. There are things we’d like to be doing that aren’t getting done because, even though we know they will improve business in the long run, we aren’t willing to take a chance on just how long that run will be.
Yet, we can’t afford to ignore these things either. Things like white papers that raise brand awareness and generate leads; Wikipedia entries that increase one’s chances of being found on search, if properly written; case studies that show what our customers are doing with our products and services. These and other forms of content (including the blogging I wrote about in the last post) deserve as much attention as careful customer support.
How do you make the time?
With one client, I realized recently that our marketing plan had overextended itself. I work primarily with small businesses and few employees; I do as much work as consulting how to do it, which means I’m overextended too. How do I get clients to pay attention? I wondered.
Answer 1: Build it into what you’re already doing, when you’re already doing it. Not long ago I looked at my 700+ Google Reader blogs and worried that I was missing out on important information about both marketing and digital forensics. I knew I had to carve out time to read, even if I couldn’t read everything in one sitting.
My morning ritual is about reading: email, news articles, social sites. It wakes up my brain so that I can write. Later in the day, distracted and worn down, I can’t absorb reading as easily (unless it’s from a book). I decided to read my blogs in the morning for about an hour before I start the day’s “real” work.
Answer 2: Know what it does for your business. I knew one client wanted to use Twitter, but used it only sporadically. Thinking about his schedule, I realized he probably wasn’t making time for it because while he recognized what it could do, he had no way of knowing whether this would pay off.
Solution: I showed how we could tie together webinars (and other content), the company blog, and the client’s Twitter account in a way that would increase our online presence and get people to interact more with our brand. I also introduced the idea of hashtagging, which combined with web analytics could make all the interaction easier to measure.
Answer 3: Pull in other people.
- Got channel partners? Enlist their expertise on white papers you can both use.
- Too many tech support calls? Think about whether investing time to build an online support community will pay off as your strongest customers start to help newer customers solve problems.
- No time to blog? Tap the partners and/or any part-time employees – and think about asking customers to guest blog.
Content marketing often seems like a bigger chunk than you can chew, when you let it. But if you carefully select only certain projects according to your business goals and untapped resources, and figure out a way you can fit them into your workday/week, they’ll become more manageable – and pave the way for larger scale projects.
Christa M. Miller specializes in public relations, writing and editing for the law enforcement and digital forensics communities.
