As a business, one thing that you absolutely need is a content marketing plan. For larger businesses, this is usually done by a team of marketers but if you run a smaller business, you may handle all these plans yourself.
These plans can take a little while to make if you’re working on a truly fantastic content marketing plan. After all, most of the time you have to start with a content audit and then move onto consider aspects such as your audience. Then, of course, you have to implement new content that matches your strategy.
However, it isn’t always all toil for an immediate payoff. Instead, many times, businesses create their content marketing plan only to run into barriers preventing them from implementing it as seamlessly as they want to. Some marketers try and infuse compulsory acquisition as a part of their content marketing plan but whether it can really deliver results or not is debatable. That’s why, in this article, we are going to look at 5 common barriers that you might run into when you are implementing your content marketing plan and how you can break through them and move forward.
If you are a small business, the thought of putting money into a plan can be scary. After all, the majority of small businesses fail in part because they don’t make a profit that outweighs the costs they endure. After all, a new content marketing plan could include training so employees can learn the new plan or even extra labor costs to get your content up to speed.
However, you can’t let your fear of failure hold you back. One thing that many small businesses need to come to term with is that some risk has to be taken to get the results you want. After all, if you don’t take steps to market your content, no one is going to find it. In turn, if no one finds your content, you might not get any business at all.
The idea of having a successful small business without sticking your neck out is a great one but ultimately rather unattainable as well. As a small business owner, you need to take note that there are certain risks that you need to take and you need to know when the right time to take them is.
When you implement a new content marketing plan, it can be tempting to write up your plan and leave it at that - a simple report detailing the changes you think need to be made.
However, that probably isn’t going to lead to a smooth or easy transition. Instead, take the time to work up a new workflow model. This way, employees at the company will have a template to follow while they commit the process to memory.
You could always work without a model but you will probably end up with confusion in the office. Even though crafting a model can take a few extra hours, that time spent working doesn’t even compare to the time it would take to fix every employee mistake as they learn the new method.
When companies implement new content marketing plans, they often run into a similar problem - friction in the transition period. Even if you have a solid model to follow, there is still a learning curve. After all, you are working through a period where everyone is learning a new plan.
So, is this just something you have to endure? Well, part of it is patience. You do have to give your employees time to learn the new process and implement it properly. However, if this carries on for weeks or months, you might find yourself in a position where you need to give your employees a push in the right direction.
Another thing that can help immensely, though, is documenting your content marketing plan. With detailed documentation, it will be easier for employees to see what they need to change and help them learn how to make those changes more quickly.
Finally, to avoid this, try to make an efficient plan from the start. Imagine how your employees and coworkers will react to the change and account for that. If you think they’ll struggle with a particular concept, do your best to break that down into simpler terms.
Up to this point, we have referred to the employees in a company learning the new method. What if, though, you don’t have any employees? After all, for many small businesses, they have only the owner and perhaps a couple others who were influential in getting the business running.
Of course, this might seem easier because there is less friction in the transition because there are less people trying to learn a new process. On the other hand, though, there are also less people to pick up the workload necessary with the new plan.
The best answer to this is to plan carefully and prioritize. If you only have a certain amount of time a day to get things done, start with what’s most important and work your way down the list.
Finally, any sort of change can be difficult to handle. Not only can it be difficult to learn but individuals in your company may resent a change in the way things are run. When this issue comes up, what can you do? After all, you can’t avoid change and still be a dynamic enough company to succeed.
To counter this, you need to prove the change is for the better. When you present the new plan, be ready to field questions on why the change is being made and what about it makes the newer plan the better option. The more your coworkers and employees feel the change is a necessary one, the more likely they are to welcome it with open arms.
