Perfection clogs your content marketing workflow and drains time and money. Don’t be the bottleneck, be consistent instead.

At a time when content marketing is everything, it can be easy for marketers to get carried away about content perfectionism or the perfect marketing plan.

Dissecting every Google algorithm update or picking apart every blog post is not a valuable use of your time. In fact, constantly seeking perfection for each blog, ad, or email you publish can have a negative impact on your content marketing workflow. When this happens, you risk wasting company resources and can lose perspective on your marketing goals.

There’s a difference between holding your work to a high standard and expecting perfection. When it comes to content marketing, authenticity and consistency is most important.

In this article, you will learn the benefits of setting perfectionism aside to reach new heights with your content marketing goals.

No, You Don’t Need to Be an Expert

As a marketing expert, you influence your brand’s voice and overall impact. Your ad campaigns and content drive conversions for your business. That takes skill! But being the all-powerful marketing specialist doesn’t mean you also have to be an all-knowing genius.

Your content marketing workflow isn’t a dissertation, and making the top results on Google’s search engine results page (SERP) is not the same as making the New York Times Best Sellers List. Similarly, you don’t need to be the next Hemingway to create a captivating content marketing strategy. You must research your topics and integrate them effectively into your piece.

In addition, a single piece of content will likely have little effect on your marketing efforts. Even if you publish the perfect piece, you’ll start back at square one a few days later. Good content marketing doesn’t rely on a single hero to carry the weight of a brand. It’s the collection of work that creates the foundation for your strategy. Each piece should build off the others, connecting through a web of internal links and references.

To create content that’s just right, focus on a few key aspects of the process:

• Do your research, but don’t overdo it. Again, you’re not going for a Ph.D. Don’t drown yourself in all the minutia of a subject. Instead, research enough to get a handle on the essentials.
• Communicate effectively. Once you have an idea of what you want to say, put it into words. Focus on accessibility and relevancy over perfection.
• Bring your personality. Nobody wants to listen to a robot. Effective content should feel human and genuine.

Limit the Number of Chefs in Your Content Kitchen

When building a marketing team, avoid spreading the responsibilities too thin.

Too many decision-makers can clog up your content marketing workflow. The more time and money that goes into publishing a single piece, the less efficient your marketing strategy is.

Dedicate a Point-Person

It is best practice to have one point person who ultimately has the final say on each piece of content. Proper delegation and feedback can increase accountability and balance everyone’s workload, larger teams have their limitations. A clear line of command will help everything run more efficiently.

Curate your content like you would cook for a dinner party. It’s critical to consider everyone’s dietary restrictions, but accommodating every culinary preference would be too tedious. Get feedback on your content for the necessities, but don’t get bogged down in stylistic proclivities.

Think Less, Publish More

The quest for perfection can be the black hole in your content marketing workflow. You drain valuable time and money each time you request team feedback. Essentially, too many cooks spoil the content soup.

Keep in mind that the publish date moves back a bit with every revision—every delay in content production means you’re publishing less overall. It’s critical to spend your time and money wisely, especially if you’re at a smaller company with a smaller budget.

You must also consider this from a financial perspective. Your business has a budget for each quarter’s marketing campaigns. Spending extra time chasing perfection can drain your valuable financial resources, so you must strategize how to properly spend that budget. For example, you can spend three months polishing and perfecting one single article or you can publish multiple sufficient articles every week.

Results > Perfection

Getting results is the greater goal of marketing.

Your business goals and standards must be realistic. Wasting time on unrealistic standards can create roadblocks on your path to success. Again, you can publish exponentially more in the time it takes to perfect a piece of content. But when you’re splitting hairs, you miss out on more than just the quantity of posts.

Opportunities Pass Perfectionists By

Every time you post a blog or send an email campaign, you receive valuable feedback such as:

• Content views
• How long your prospect spent on the page
• Compare audience to target demographic
• Conversions

After you publish a piece of content, your site analytics will tell you what worked and what didn’t. This gives you valuable insight into the success of your content marketing workflow and gives you even more opportunities to increase clicks, subscribers, and customers.

Another important thing to remember is that even if your conversion rate is lower than you hoped, any movement is better than none.

Content That Checks Boxes

While you should have high expectations for your content, you should always aim for effective content and should be able to answer yes to the following questions:

• Is your content useful and convenient to your audience?
• Does it provide a reliable overview of the topic?
• Is your content SEO optimized?
• Has the content been checked for grammar and spelling?
• Is it properly formatted with the correct heading distribution?

Once you can answer yes, publish your content and move on to the next task.

Focus on Gaining Your Reader’s Attention & Trust

Your audience provides you with a valuable resource each time they consume your content—their time. While you may not convert each time, having their attention for that moment is just as valuable.

Your top priority is to hold the audience’s attention, so figure out what will pique their interest.

Authenticity Is Attractive

Prospects seek out genuine content over overly perfected content. In fact, striving too hard for perfection comes off as pretentious and out of reach to readers.

Studies show that 86% of customers expect more business transparency and authenticity. Let your brand’s personality shine through. As trust is built, conversions will come.

When you create content, you’re appealing to your consumer’s emotions. Publish engaging articles, so readers are tempted to share or comment. Interaction with readers is validating and gives them the personal experience they are looking for, don’t hesitate to comment back.

Consistency Is Key

What does it take for a customer to commit to a brand? It’s the same as any relationship: consistency. Consumers want consistent content from the brands they follow, just like you want your romantic partner or friends to show up.

In fact, research shows that more than 75% of consumers anticipate companies to deliver content regularly.

Marketing expert Dr. Jeffrey Lant proposed the Rule of Seven, starting a business needs to make at least seven contacts with a potential customer before they will convert.

So, for the best ROI (return on investment) for your marketing campaign, you must maximize your content marketing workflow and output. Maintain your audience’s attention by publishing consistent content.

The Goal of Content Marketing is NOT Perfection

Business goals are the driving force behind any content marketing strategy.

Some goals may evolve and change throughout the year. For example, if you develop a campaign focusing on social media engagement in quarter one, you can shift focus to increasing website visitors in quarter two.

Ultimately, the goal of content marketing is to increase revenue for your business with lead nurturing content by focusing on brand awareness, search optimization, and conversion content.

To do this, you’ll need to get specific with your content marketing goals and priorities. Time-sensitive and result-oriented goals (think SMART goals) will put each piece of content into perspective.

Suggested Reading: How to Prioritize Your Digital Content Marketing Goals to Maximize Your Efforts

Partner with WriteForMe for High-Quality Content

Worried YOU might be the bottleneck?

When you’re in the trenches of your content marketing workflow, it’s easy to get pulled into the spiral of perfectionism.

You don’t need to spend hours researching the nitty gritty details of a topic or get revisions from everyone in your organization. These waste your time and resources and can prevent your business from seeing tangible results. Keep yourself grounded in the goals of your marketing campaign with every single piece of content.

WriteForMe produces high-quality blog content at the scale and builds content strategies specific to the needs of your organization. Gain valuable insights into content marketing opportunities specific to your business with a complimentary content marketing playbook.

Contact the content marketing experts at WriteForMe to learn more today!

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