Content Marketing Typewriter

Content is the lifeblood of B2B marketing, yet I have met with few B2B marketing teams that have a consistent and continuous pipeline of content and even fewer that say they don’t need more.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying that these B2B marketing teams don’t produce any content. Most produce webinars, whitepapers and blogs, but they do so sporadically and at a lower volume than they need.

So, how do you start building a continuous content pipeline?

Let me first tell you what isn’t the fix: buyer’s journey mapping, content audits, personas, content calendars and, in general, content marketing consultants. Now, please don’t take my words out of context. I am not saying that those things are not valuable. What I’m saying is that if your biggest issue is creating content, buyer’s journey mapping, content audits, personas, content calendars and content marketing consultants aren’t going to solve that problem.

It’s like having a broken leg and hiring a personal trainer to get you running better; you aren’t running anywhere until you get that broken leg fixed, no matter what kind of fancy personal training program you’re doing or, rather, not doing.

If that analogy is a bit too dramatic for you, think of it like this. How many times have you or someone you’ve known attacked getting into shape by signing up for some fancy exercise program, joining a gym or hiring a personal trainer only to find yourself not showing up in just a few weeks?

There is a very annoying commercial that comes on Hulu all the time selling an exercise app. In the ad is a line where they say, “The hardest part about going to the gym is going to the gym!” That line is so annoying, but it sticks in your head and makes me think about most B2B marketing teams’ content problem. The hardest part about writing content is writing content. Buyer’s journey maps, an audit list of your content, personas, content calendars and most content marketing consultants aren’t going to jump on that keyboard and start typing.

Getting all that stuff is like being the person who shows up to the gym with all the gear and spends most of the time talking on the phone. If you’re really out of shape, you have to focus on building a pattern of regularly exercising, eating healthy and sleeping enough. The first step is putting down whatever you’re doing and going to the gym and then repeating it the next day and the next after that. Anything else is just a distraction.

The same is true for content. All that other stuff are just excuses as to why you aren’t reaching your goals. The first step to meeting your content goals is to sit down and start writing. I don’t care who you are: CMO, designer, CEO or content specialist. If you are concerned about your content pipeline, then do something about it.

If you don’t, who else will?

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