Create Content that Sleeps, Creeps and Leaps

I had a great conversation today with Dr. Sandra Bauman from Bauman Research about start-up companies.  She shared with me the idea about "sleeps, creeps and leaps." In the first year of a business launch, the brand sleeps.  In year two, you start to see the company creep toward success.  But it's in the third year that the business leaps and really begins to grow.

Fascinating concept.

The same principle can be applied toward corporate content marketing.

As the corporate content program starts (let's say with a blog, white paper, enewsletter strategy), success is difficult to find. Not much of the right traffic, not many tangible results.  This is a good reason why most corporate blogs die within three months.

It's only after months and months, possibly a year of time before you start to see real engagement. Because you have kept your content promise, you now start to see people sharing your content, signing up for your RSS feed, and linking to your great content. Google starts to pick up on this and your organic search engine results start to pick up.

Then, after well more than a year, the real magic happens.  You become the thought leader.  A trusted advisor for your industry. People start to look to you for guidance in the industry. It's in this time period, that you start to see quantifiable business returns as a result of your content.

Yes, it could happen sooner, and it could also take longer, but the key issue here is this - content consistency.

The most important part of the content strategy (even, dare I say, more important that the absolute best content for your niche) is consistently delivering on your content promise day after day, month after month, year after year.

Comments

[Tom Allinder]

Most of the companies management teams that I deal with expect to see Internet marketing, social media, blogging and what have you work immediately. I have to constantly remind them that creating and marketing content is a process and not a one time thing like the email blasts they are used to. I think the easy money of the 90s and early 2000s turned a lot of individuals into "instant gratification" people.

[C.B. Whittemore]

Joe, I love the image and encouragement associated with sleeping, creeping and leaping.

Wonderful meeting you today and hearing you in person.

Best,
CB

[Brenda Gelston]

How true…as my practice grows I find myself writing more for my customers and audience rather than creating content based on my own expertise. I believe the critical mass of readers is achieved when this shift takes place. I am not there yet but that is my ultimate aim. The feedback I receive helps make that leap forward in every evolution. I welcome feedback of any form, even if it is criticism.

Your blog is one of the beacons I depends on that helps me stay on course.

Thanks,
Brenda

[Joe Pulizzi]

Tom...you are 100% correct. That's why we all need to keep educating our customers about this.

CB...it was awesome meeting you.

Brenda...thanks. It sounds like you will be there soon!

[Steven Woods]

Joe,
a great post and a needed reminder about consistency and content quality. What measurement/metrics do you suggest in the first year? Views/traffic? Subscribers? How do you suggest any objective measurement on whether the content creation process is working and/or could be working better? I get asked that a lot and will admit I have no answer that seems satisfactory. "Try for a year and then you'll know if you were doing the right thing" seems a bit of a tough sell...

[Joe Pulizzi]

Hi Steve...that's a fantastic question.

I would use these for the first, the building, year
- Never miss a week of your promised content schedule
- Inbound links. Important from the standpoint that you are commenting on other blogs and people are starting to find your content valuable.
- Conversions slowly build. I would make sure you have something of value for people to subscribe to...white paper, ebook, enewsletter, etc.

But you are right, it's a tough sell. It's like trying to talk someone into using Twitter. Seems really stupid until you really start doing it and see things happening.