I wrote a blog post about content marketing strategies vs tactics a few months ago, but what about marketing hacks? Are they tactics or strategies? Or are they just plain cheating?
When I hear the word “hack,” the first thing that comes to my mind is computer hackers: people hacking their way through a cybersecurity system to gain access to information that does not belong to them.
The second thing that comes to my mind is of someone who is not good at their job, but is trying to convince everyone around them that they’re good at their job.
So you might understand why I cringe when I hear people talking up the latest “marketing hack.” I’m as skeptical of a marketing hack as I am of any get-rich-quick scheme.
When I hear people asking for the latest “marketing hack,” I don’t think of people trying to create content that provides value to their ideal customer. I think of people hopping on Threads because it just launched and they think they need to follow the crowd to stay relevant.
To be clear, I’m not against joining Threads. You should absolutely have a presence there if your ideal clients are hanging out there. But if you’re just joining because it’s what everyone is talking about right now, you should take a closer look to make sure it has a place in your marketing strategy.
Instead of looking for the latest marketing hack, try asking yourself these questions before adding anything to your content marketing strategy:
Table of Contents
- Does It Provide Value?
- Does It Serve Your Ideal Client?
- Will It Help You Achieve Your Business Objectives?
Does It Provide Value?
I read somewhere that the best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing, and I could not agree more. Your marketing content should be something your target audience wants to read/watch. This requires a combination of factors: first and foremost it needs to answer a question they have or address a pain point they’re struggling to solve.
It also needs to be engaging. That means it needs to be written in a language your audience members use and understand, and it needs to be told in a story that conveys how the lesson you’re teaching applies to them. How will your solution make their lives better?
Short sentences and short paragraphs also help keep readers engaged. If they see a giant block of text, they might decide they don’t have time to read all that and click away. But if your content incorporates a lot of white space, they’ll be more likely to read the first few paragraphs without even realizing it. Then they’ll scroll to see the next paragraph, and before they know it, they’ve read the whole article.
Does It Serve Your Ideal Client?
I once asked some of my webinar attendees what topic they wanted me to cover in my next webinar and several of them said they wanted a tutorial on how to use WordPress. I could give a tutorial on WordPress, but that wouldn’t help me achieve my goals.
I don’t set up people’s websites for them, and most of my ideal clients aren’t setting up their own websites. They have a web designer and a developer they’re working with who handle it for them, and they just bring me in to write the content they want to go on their website.
Will It Help You Achieve Your Business Objectives?
At times it might seem like the only goal of marketing is to get eyeballs on your content, but that’s just the first step. If your marketing content does its job, it should get your content in front of the right people, get them to engage with your content, then lead them to the next step in the buyer journey.
That means each marketing tactic you use needs to fit into your marketing strategy in a way that helps you achieve your business objectives.
For example, hopping on Threads might increase your visibility, but is it getting you in front of the right people? It doesn’t matter how many eyeballs you get on your content if none of the people attached to those eyeballs are interested in buying your products/services.
Every piece of marketing content you create, regardless of whether it’s a blog post, video, social media post, etc. needs to meet all three of the above criteria. If someone is trying to convince you you need to try the latest marketing hack, but it doesn’t check all three boxes, you’re better off ignoring them and focusing on your content marketing strategy.
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