I often hear consultants, service providers, and even other marketers talk about starting a splashy media project to promote their work.
Maybe the season is slow, or the latest service offering isn’t selling like it was supposed to. Or they’re just getting worried about the pipeline.
So they think about starting a new, expensive podcast. Or investing heavily in a series of videos. Or even launching a course.
They think that if they create a new and impressive piece of media, people will naturally notice it and be inclined to work with them.
They hope that the podcast, the video series, the course will get famous and end up funnelling work to their primary business.
But that doesn’t really work, does it?
No, instead what happens is now they have two problems:
- A slow service business
- And a media asset no one notices
Podcasts don’t promote themselves. Video series don’t get noticed naturally. Courses take a lot of concerted effort to sell.
What ends up happening is they have to promote the thing that was supposed to promote their business.
They split what little attention they might be getting between their actual services and the media they’re using to promote them.
But Joel, I hear you saying, aren’t you constantly talking about having marketing content?
You betcha! But I’m also constantly saying it needs to work even if no one else notices it. It needs to help fuel and improve your work absent an audience. And it needs to be sustainable for the long-term.
Only then will you stick with it. Only then will you give it enough attention for it to one day work on others.
But if you want to start a new, expensive media asset in the hopes it will promote your main business, think again.
You’ll probably just end up with another thing you need to promote.
So think first about the content you’re already producing and how you might get it in front of your ideal audience, where they already are, not where you have to pay or clamour for their attention.
Think about where you could be demonstrating your value at a distance that doesn’t require you to constantly pay for the privilege.
In short: Focus on the main problem, don’t give yourself another one.
Kelford Inc. shows you the way to always knowing what to say.