Executing an effective content strategy is a marathon, not a sprint.

Like exercise, if you want to see results, you have to put in the work. You know it’s important, and you don’t doubt it’ll produce results at some point or other. But most people quit after just a few short weeks.

Those companies that stick to a plan and continue to develop great, useful content consistently … well, they’ve built a thriving business.

Copyblogger.com started out as a copywriting blog in 2006. Today, it’s a thriving business with multiple product lines and continues to deliver high quality content marketing advice daily.

FindMyWayHome.com started out as a real estate and mortgage blog educating home owners on loan programs available to first time home buyers and teachers. Today, it has a mailing list of well over 10,000 subscribers and generates dozens if not hundreds of leads per month.

Dan Green has been writing theMortgageReports.com since 2006, educating homeowners and soon-to-be homeowners on the mortgage market giving them timely advice on what to do to get financed and no doubt has generated hundreds of leads to date.

BiggerPockets.com is on a mission to share the best advice on real estate and investing. They consistently deliver high quality content via their blog, their free guides like this one, “The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide To Real Estate Investing” and their podcast, The BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast. It’s no wonder they’ve built a community of 130,000+ members (many of them Pro members).

They know the secret to getting more customers, and they deliver consistently whereas most companies fall short …

3 Reasons Most Companies Suck At Content Marketing

Reason #1: They don’t invest in quality content

When you’re training for a marathon (or half-marathon), you need to put in the effort and get those miles in. You stick to a weekly routine doing easy runs, hard runs, mile repeats, etc. And on weekends you put in a long run.

If you half-*ss your workout by skipping runs, or never really hitting your goal mileage, it’s going to show on race day and you’re going to experience one heck of an ugly run.

You have to put in the work if you expect a good outcome. And that’s the same thing with your content strategy … If you’re expecting a good outcome, you have to put in the work and write.

Write high quality content. Content that speaks to the hopes, dreams, and fears of your audience. Content that educates and informs.

Do this day-in and day-out and you’ll attract an audience that comes back time and time again to listen to what you have to say and ultimately, buys what you have to sell.

Reason #2: They don’t produce content consistently

Your success is going to depend on your ability to deliver a long-term, consistent effort. Just like exercise, it takes a daily consistent effort to notice any real results.

Now you don’t quite need to write a piece of long-form content daily, but you do need to be consistent in your efforts. Especially when you’re just starting out.

So let’s say you’re starting a new real estate blog, here’s a good number to follow:

• Aim for 2-3 posts per week (they don’t have to be long posts, but they do need to deliver value)
• Write (at a minimum) 3-5 posts for each category … the last thing you want is for your category pages to look empty
• Then, keep that content strategy in check by developing an editorial calendar and sticking to it

The goal is to create a website so content rich with useful information that it positions you as the expert in your marketplace.

Now most people will get stuck and say they don’t know what to write about next and here’s some advice …

“When faced with writer’s block, lower your standards and keep going.” – Sandra Tsing Loh

It’s much better to write something than to write nothing.

Reason #3: They don’t promote or optimize their content effectively

There’s more to all of this than just hitting publish.

If you’re busting your butt to create all of this amazing content and no one is around to read it, what’s the point? You still have to put in some work to get your content out there to the right audience …

This process is one part promotion. One part optimization.

Promotion

• Share your content with your social network. Each time you hit publish, craft a message to your network and get your content out there. On Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.
• Develop a subscription strategy. Scott Schang, author of FindMyWayHome.com has an email list of well over 10,000 subscribers. Once a week (on Tuesdays) he sends an email update covering the latest topics on the blog discussing current changes and challenges in California real estate and mortgage. This list is one of the primary traffic drivers to the blog.

Optimization

• Optimize your content for SEO. This means taking the time to add the right title tag and meta-description to your posts.
• Always close with a Call To Action. What do you want readers to do next? Click? Register? Call? Always gently guide your reader towards the action you want them to take next.

Content creation and promotion should always go hand in hand when executing an effective content strategy. After all it makes no sense to create all of this great content if no one’s going to take the time to read it, right?

These Mistakes Can Be Avoided …

Planning, executing, and optimizing. It’s not a one-time deal. It’s an ongoing process. The companies that win are the ones that keep producing high quality content, consistently, and who know how to push it out there.

So the question is, what are you doing to optimize your content strategy?