Do you feel that your blogging and social media marketing efforts are going to waste? Do you feel that you can’t keep up with everything? You’re no longer sure which profile to use to publish which content?
I had all of those problems! I was rolling on my wheels, getting nowhere. Even though I was writing on my regular schedule, my efforts no longer mattered. All my online hubs looked out-of-date and inconsistent even though I was consistently working on them!
I was getting so discouraged that I started to feel that maybe I should just stop writing. It no longer seemed to have any impact.
Fortunately Laura Roeder’s Social Brilliant course helped me realise what a big mistake I had done.
I had created a marketing funnel monster
When Laura, a social media marketing expert, said that it’s ok and actually better not to have several blogs and profiles, it all became clear.
I had let my online presence get out of hands. When I drew out how people were supposed to consume my content, it was a mess:
When I launched FirstOfficer.io, I created a blog and a Twitter profile for it. Next came the SaaS Metrics Learning Center. The new blog and email drip course about metrics needed its own email lists of course.
Each of those points and arrows cost time and money to create.
That’s not a marketing funnel in that image above - it’s a three-headed marketing spaghetti monster. It sits online and screams, waiting for me to feed all the open mouths.
When I was done deciding what I actually needed, it looked like this:
From now on, I’ll have just one blog and one email list.
Simple marketing funnel has several benefits
There are several big wins here:
- Maintainability
- Clarity
- Quality & Consistency
- Brandability
1. Maintainability - keep it all up-to-date
Up-to-date blog and online presence means you’re alive. When people see out-of-date content it doesn’t take long to draw a conclusion that you no longer care or that your priorities have changed.
The workload/expenses to keep everything up-to-date grows each time you add a blog, social media profile or email list. So before you do that, ask yourself: “does this support my strategy? What will I gain by doing this?”
Doing something just because others are doing it does not qualify as a good reason.
When you follow a strategy, it’ll also be an easy decision to take on writers and content managers you need to keep everything up to date. Each part of the system has a meaning and will be pulling its own weight.
2. Clarity - make it clear where to find you
Clarity works both ways. When you have a trouble choosing which blog or social media profile to write to, your readers will have a trouble choosing where to follow you.
It’s so much easier for everyone if there aren’t many overlapping options and choices.
When it’s clear to you what to do and where, you are less likely to procrastinate. Every time you need to stop and make a small decision, there’s a chance that you don’t do anything.
I can’t count the times I’ve skipped tweeting something just because I wasn’t sure which profile I should use. There’s always something more important to do, something more important to decide.
3. Quality & Consistency - create less but better
No matter if you do the writing or someone you hired, it always takes time - and time is money. When you concentrate the efforts, you’ll be able to do more with less.
Some of my friends use content creation services where they spend 30-45 minutes chatting to a content creator who then writes a post on that discussion. I think that’s a great way to take some pressure off from yourself. It’s still you, someone else just does the writing.
I haven’t tried that myself though, I enjoy writing my own posts. Instead I am looking for a content manager who could schedule my posts to WordPress and do all kinds similar little things that make my blogging faster for me.
All this makes it possible to consistently create quality content. High quality content makes people come back again and again for more. Plus, consistency is the key to branding!
4. Branding - give a face to your content
Let’s face it - company blogs are boring unless they have a face. If you don’t see who wrote what you just read, how do you know if the next post will be worth your time?
People love to follow people, not businesses. With just one simple funnel, it’s so much more easier to fill that spot.
Why did I kill FirstOfficer’s Blog?
I love my customers and I love running FirstOfficer, but my mission is bigger than just being an expert in SaaS metrics.
I want to support and fuel up creative entrepreneurs so that they can go on and make things better.
Continuity was another big issue for me. I’ve been writing actively since 2008, but every time I’ve had an intensive personal growth spurt and level up, I have abandoned my blog and started a new one. This time I wanted keep the traffic and momentum I had gained with Happy Bootstrapper blog and take it with me. One of the big things I’ve learned in my journey is that you have to leverage what you already have.
From now on I write at turbineroom.com and you can follow me at @JaanaKulmala. I’ve also merged all my email lists into a single newsletter. Whatever you buy from me, wherever you sign up, that’s where you’ll end up.
Don’t work hard. Work smart.
PS: if you aren’t on my list yet, hop in here.