I recently had the opportunity to speak with a sales representative for a popular content marketing platform. I spent nearly an hour on the phone with him, looking over his products and services. They were great. They’d probably be really helpful. They were also a thousand dollars a month. Sure, that’s a fraction of most small business marketing budgets, but as old fashioned as it sounds, anything that costs a thousand dollars a month gives me a serious case of the doubts.
Platforms, Widgets, and Gadgets
Our tech-prone world philosophy suggests that anything shiny, new, and “helpful,” is a must have for businesses, right? Sure, get a smartphone; you can work from anywhere. Grab a tablet. It’s big, shiny, and better than a smartphone. Add this CMS to your site so you can easily edit it. Add this cloud service to your company so you can access your files from your hotel room. All of these are very helpful tools, but do you actually need them to make it work? Put simply, no.
If you’re looking for a solid content marketing strategy, it starts with some internal work on your part. Put together a good planning document, then start populating it with ideas. You can work the platforms on your own. You don’t actually need tools to do it. In fact, it may be cheaper to go with social media services or writing services from a small business like us than it would to go with a shiny new tool that you’re still going to have to work on your own.
Content marketing is about good content, not shiny tools. Don’t get sucked into the idea that you need to buy more just to get your name out there.