The simple, overlooked element that could floor your content marketing campaign

Pic: Alexander Mueller

By Neil Barraclough

“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.”
– Tony Robbins

In the late 1970s an American high-school student was left devastated after missing out on selection for the varsity basketball team.

He’d worked for years. Sweated, toiled, slogged.

But at just 5ft 11in, he was facing the brutal truth that there was simply no way he could make an impact.

Not in a sport where height is a prerequisite.

“I learned something,” he said. “I knew I never wanted to feel that bad again.”

The challenge was what to do next.

How could he climb off the floor and make a success of things after the biggest disappointment of his life?

He started small, but he took the crucial first step. He set himself a goal.

How to start content marketing

The same thing applies to your content.

If you only do one thing before you start building any content marketing campaign, make sure it’s setting measurable goals.

Your goals will shape the nature of the content you produce.

If your target is social media exposure and inbound links, your content could look very different to a campaign that’s designed to increase conversions or assisted conversions.

And if you don’t know what you’re trying to achieve, you can’t measure whether your campaign has been a success.

The benefits of goal setting

Each piece of content you produce should be done with purpose.

Investing the time, resources and energy needed to create compelling and eye-catching content is not a decision you should make purely because “our competitors are doing it”.

Whether it’s building inbound links or driving social traffic and interaction, make sure your objectives are clearly defined and measurable.

By doing this you’ll add focus and direction to your project.

Ignoring goal setting is the first step towards failure.

And that high-school kid back in America?

He eventually hit his first goal, becoming a starter for the varsity team.

Then he set another, and hit that too.

He grew a few inches.

Set another goal. Hit it.

Kept going.

Always setting goals, always letting them shape his future.

His name? Michael Jordan.