How to Start a Content Marketing Strategy - Let Go of Fear and Become Vulnerable
I was listening to the Elvis Duran Show on my way home from the pool this morning, and they were talking about National Nude Day. Before hearing this, I had no idea it was actually a recognized holiday. Did you? After returning home, a quick Google search tells me we sadly missed it, which means the show I was listening to was a rerun. By the way, mark you calendars for July 14th so you can celebrate or avoid this holiday at all costs. That is your decision.
Even though the ‘holiday’ has passed, the Elvis Duran rerun show reminded me of a classic book by Patrick Lencioni, Getting Naked. No, it didn’t take much inspiration to make that connection. In this business parable, Lencioni speaks of ways to reach levels of trust and loyalty. He challenges service providers to be completely transparent and vulnerable with clients in order to overcome fears that ultimately sabotage relationships.
The Fears
The stated concept of ‘getting naked’ by The Table Group is developing a service which “requires the provider to be vulnerable—to embrace uncommon levels of humility, selflessness and transparency for the good of the client. Client loyalty and trust are achieved by overcoming the three fears.”
Fear of Losing the Business
Fear of Being Embarrassed
Fear of Feeling Inferior
Are You Ready to Become Vulnerable?
Very commonly, business owners and sales people allow these same three fears above to hold them back from a content perspective. While we often hear excuses like “I’m too busy” or “My clients and prospects don’t read Blogs”, the root of the issue is fear. When asked to consider creating content for a marketing campaign, most individuals let fear cloud their decision. Even with the overwhelming stats and proof on how effective content marketing can be, these professionals still let fear hold them back.
“What if I say something that offends my audience?”
“What if we highlight clients and then our competitors steal them?”
“What if no one but my significant other reads my Blog?”
“What if my content isn’t good?”
“What if I have nothing to say?”
“What if someone tries to poach our best people?”
“What if our competitors steal our ideas and IP?”
Here is the truth. Information is readily available, and the market demands it. They can either get valuable and timely information from you, or from someone else. Talk about the fear of losing business!
My guess, since you are reading this, is that you are one of the top firms in your market. If that’s the case, you most likely have a wealth of knowledge and information you could share with your clients, prospects and vendors. If you allow fear to hold you back, you are not simply stuck in place, you are moving backwards! The market place rewards authenticity and transparency, and B2B and B2C clients want to do business with people who are adaptive.
Instead of letting fear hold you back; instead of playing it safe, what if you allowed yourself to be vulnerable? What if you ‘got naked’ and put yourself out there in a way that gave you control of your corporate or personal brand, not the other way around? What if people could gain a sense of your value, personality and values before ever meeting you? I bet the results would seriously surprise you.
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