Totally Transparent – I Struggle With Weekly Content Too

August 26, 2011 / in General Information, Social Media / by Jason Terry

Last week, we got a TON of feedback on Mic’s blog post about avoiding people that suck.  Mic had the idea that we should make up T-Shirts with that message and we are working on making that happen.  I am sure Mic will tell you more when we get the design done and the details worked out so that we can make them available for you to pick one up!

I am writing this post to fess up to the fact that I sometimes struggle keeping up with the weekly content grind just like everybody else we work with.  Let me be clear that this is Jason talking, not Mic… he has never missed a weekly blog post deadline.  We have been doing this for 121 weeks since I started the business.  We normally post our blog articles on Thursday afternoon at 2pm because that is one of the best times for people viewing our content.  (We also publish on Tuesday afternoon at 2pm with the “In Case You Missed It” tacked on to really make sure people have had a chance to see what is going on with Blue Gurus.)  So here it is Friday morning and I am staring a wonderfully busy day in the face and just realized I did not get my blog post done yet for this week.  I missed the 2pm Thursday afternoon deadline.  Crap.  I know that you have been there too… and the only answer is to suck it up and get whatever it is done that you need to get done, so here goes….

We believe that telling people every week about what is going on in your company is one of the best sales and marketing tools at your disposal.  We all have friends in the business community that want to help us be more successful, but too often, they don’t really understand what we do.  The 10 second elevator pitch is well practiced, but doesn’t really stick.  That 10 second description isn’t enough to let your friend feel confident referring you business.  Fast forward to a social networking presence where you put out weekly content about what you do and those friends become educated extensions of your sales department.  They get a feel for what you are doing and finally understand how the can help you by hiring you directly or referring you to a friend of theirs that needs what you do.  This isn’t just an idea… this happens to us at Blue Gurus every single week.  It works really, really well.

This weekly content thing works on so many levels:
1) You have to come up with new content every week, so you get used to being closer to your staff so that you can learn what stories need to be told.  This actually becomes a team management tool when done right.
2) Your existing customers start to see the depth of what you can do for them.  They also are glad to see that you are busy and productive, reaffirming why they hired you in the first place.  People want to work with successful people.
3) Your prospects go to your web site and see months of interesting content that has been published every single week (sometimes late <grin>)  It makes you look more professional and often larger than you really are.  People are sometimes shocked that Blue Gurus is just two people… if you just read that and were shocked, comment or let me know to help me prove the point.
4) Your web site will be fresh and new because of the content you consistently put out.  The days of going to a web site with a Copyright 2003 and a news section that says “Under Construction” are gone.  Get with the program.
5) Your brother or sister connected to you on LinkedIn starts seeing the kinds of things that you are involved in with your company and has the “Aha!” moment.  They finally understand what you do.  I have heard this story 3 times in 2011.  Same thing with all of those people that you have been in networking groups with for years that have not referred you any clients.  This just might break the ice for you.

(For more information on Content Marketing, Mic wrote a deeper dive a couple of months ago)

Whether you hire us to help you with this or not, get a web site set up that allows you to add weekly content easily.  (10 Reasons You Should Consider WordPress)  Start telling the stories and make sure they get out to your social media networks so that you can start educating your friends, current clients and new prospects about why they should be doing business with YOU!