In almost all of my conversations, when I ask “what is your biggest challenge with marketing”, I usually get the same response: “Time”, or more specifically “I can’t find the time for marketing.”
Ahh yes, the old “can’t find the time” excuse. The truth is, we take time for granted. We have a finite number of days, hours, minutes and seconds on this earth, yet we all fall guilty of wasting those precious seconds.
But the ironic thing is, even though we’re guilty of wasting so much time, we ultimately make time for the things that matter the most, and we treasure those timeless moments that last forever. I’m guilty of it as well, as I’ll tell you more about shortly.
Before I do, I ask you this: Why should your marketing be any different? Why can’t we make time for marketing?
When you think about it, content marketing is timeless. Why? Well, if you look up the definition of “timeless” on Google, it reads as “not affected by the passage of time or changes in fashion.”
So by that definition content marketing is absolutely something that is timeless, because there will always be blog articles, premium content, webinars and more that you can attribute clients directly to, as in, that is the content that got them over the finish line.
Some call it “evergreen content” because it stands the test of time, but in reality, it’s a timeless piece of content that has and will continue to bring you new business and new clients.
You probably haven’t realised this, in which case I strongly recommend you take a look at the content you’ve published and do some research into which content pieces are netting you the most business, and have proved to be the most successful and timeless pieces of content. Tools like HubSpot, when used right, can help track buyer activity right down to specific ads, blog posts, website pages, and more, and can be really useful in determining the timelessness and return-on-investment of your content marketing efforts.
But I can hear you screaming: “What does this have to do with putting time into marketing?!” And the answer lies in that word: Timeless.
Let me tell you a story:
How I discovered and created TIMELESSTM Marketing
In 2017, my “fishy grandad” passed away at the age of 90. His death, out of all of my relatives, shook me the most, because I was closest to him out of all of my family. When I was growing up, we spent a lot of time together, with him taking me to my piano lessons every week, and much more.
If you’re wondering, why we called him “fishy grandad”, it’s not because he smelt(!), but because he used to keep fish in his garden, and when we used to visit growing up, we’d always go out to the garden and take a look at them.
After my grandfather passed, I remember feeling this enormous sense of guilt, that I hadn’t spent enough time with him as I grew older and moved away from home. I also remember thinking back to the times we’d spent together: the countless trips to piano lessons, the journeys home from school, the days out, and more.
Those moments were, and still to me, are timeless. I will always cherish them, and I will always have them as memories whenever I need them and whenever I think of my grandad.
Fast forward 3 months and we’re busy clearing out what was my grandad’s house. Now, my grandad to some could have been seen as a “hoarder” because he never threw anything away. He had a room filled with anything you could think of: The beds my dad and uncle slept in when they were kids, empty cheque books with cheque stubs, garden bulbs wrapped in newspaper, plastic bags filled with plastic bags, and so much more.
As I was clearing out some drawers, I came across some old paperwork, specifically, the tax tables from 1958. For anyone unfamiliar, these were tables that demonstrated how much tax you were expected to pay based on your salary.
These tax tables were, alongside other related paperwork, in mint condition. They were clearly of the utmost importance to him. And that got me thinking: To him, they were timeless. They were valuable to him, and back in those days, tax tables would have been an important marketing item.
Hence why, in my view, content marketing is timeless. Because there will always be a single piece of content that you can trace a relationship back to. For my grandad, it was the tax tables from 1958. For your business, it might be a blog post, or an eBook, or a webinar.
But this also goes one step further, specifically this idea of “time”. Remember, I said at the start that the number one excuse I get from business owners is “I don’t have time for marketing”.
Think about that for a second. If you don’t have time for marketing, and content marketing is timeless, then in theory, you don’t have time for your customers, because you don’t have the time to create content that will hook them and create those lasting relationships.
So, with that in mind, let me explain what TIMELESSTM Marketing is. In short, it’s an acronym that demonstrates why you need to put time into marketing, but also what happens if you don’t.
Let’s split TIMELESSTM down the middle. TIME and LESS (time), or in more detail:
- TRUST (Building trust with your audience)
- INTEREST (Showing an interest in building the relationship)
- MANAGEMENT (Managing the ever-growing relationship)
- EXPERIENCE (Providing an experience that lasts)
Those are the four pillars of why you need to invest your own time and resources into marketing. And what happens if you don’t?
- Trust in you is LOST
- Interest in the relationship ERODES
- Management of the relationship SLIPS
- Experience with your business SUCKS
That’s TIMELESSTM Marketing: It embodies this spirit of content marketing being timeless, but also demonstrates and gives you an easy to remember 4 reasons as to why there is an omnipresent need for marketing, and 4 consequences of neglecting marketing entirely.
Let's look at each point in more detail.
Trust: Do you want your audience to trust you?
Marketing is nothing without trust. Today’s buyer isn’t making purchasing decisions based on a whim. They’re undertaking a heavy amount of research to help them make a buying decision that is as well informed as possible.
70% of the buying decision is now made before a user even gets in touch with a business, and that will in all likelihood grow as research-based consumerism grows.
Content marketing is the go-to way of building that trust. It’s about using your content to answer the most pressing questions a prospective buyer might have. It’s about having radically honest conversations that position you as the thought leader and expert in your industry. It’s about using your content to blow your competitors out of the water, so that your buyer doesn’t have any kind of excuse to choose them over you.
But if you put less, or even no time into marketing, that trust is simply lost, and good luck being able to get it back! If you fail to put the time into marketing, you’re effectively failing to put time into building a relationship with a prospective buyer.
The worst part is that they will see right through that. They’ll likely see an outdated website, with little-to-no regular content. They’ll see a brand that isn’t putting the time into answering questions and catering to the needs of their audience.
Trust is the number one factor of any client-service-provider relationship. Without this, you have nothing.
Interest: Are you showing an interest in your audience?
As alluded to in the last section, a by-product of marketing is showing an interest in building a client relationship, and investing your own time into the relationship to nurture and provide value where needed.
This is where marketing automation, social media and content play a huge role. Marketing automation can help you gradually nurture that relationship and continue to show an interest in providing helpful and engaging content long after that initial timeless piece of content. Social media helps you shout about your brand but also brands belonging to your audience. And content, as we know, represents your interest to provide answers to your audiences most pressing questions.
Failing to do any of this sends a message to your buyer that you are completely uninterested. It suggests that you don’t care, and if you seem uninterested, why should they be interested in working with, or buying from you?
Management: Are you continuing to manage the relationship?
A good relationship is two-sided. As we’ve already established, it’s a relationship that is built on trust, but also partnership. It’s important to manage the relationship as it continues to evolve.
That doesn’t just mean continuing to provide value where appropriate. It also means continuing to manage expectations, meeting them and where possible, exceeding them. Tools like CRMs can work wonders here, as well as pipeline tools such as HubSpot, Salesforce and many more.
But when the management of the relationship slips, the experience begins to suffer, which brings us nicely onto the final point.
Experience: Are you providing a lasting experience?
Remember what I said about providing an experience that is so good they won’t even want to go to a competitor?
Well, simply put, if you don’t take on board the other three steps, and if you don’t provide a lasting experience, one that is managed well, built on trust and shows an interest in your prospective buyer, then that experience, for lack of a better choice of words, sucks.
And when that happens, you drive your audience away, and then won’t look better. Worse, guess where they’ll go instead? Yes, you guessed it, your competitors, and if they provide a better experience, and if they invest in their marketing, then good luck getting those lost customers back.
Are you dedicating enough time to marketing?
It’s not enough to simply “do” marketing. As we’ve talked about in earlier chapters, you have to use your marketing to connect with your audience, provide exceptional value and information that gives them the power to make their own buying decision.
And when you do that, you’ll find that your content, like my grandad’s old tax tables, will become timeless.
Always remember, content marketing is built on:
- Trust
- Interest
- Management
- Experience
But if you neglect your marketing:
- Trust in you is LOST
- Interest in the relationship ERODES
- Management of the relationship SLIPS
- Experience with your business SUCKS
Wishing you every content marketing success!