All Work and No Play: After the Design and AdWords

When first evaluating content creation, especially as an outsourced service, the process seems like "real work" / you are "getting it" (sarcastically saying) / Jean-François Millet- TheGleaners

This month I started looking for new "serious" customers. "Serious" customers are ones which not only need my services, but also actually benefit immediately. This may mean getting business right away (i.e. at Tikal Networks), or getting attention or a unique advantage over competitors (i.e. SolidRun). The process is simple: I contact a CEO or marketing director, they tell me what they need, I pitch an idea and sometimes write a short proposal or sample. Then we are off to the races. If the CEO is not sure how unique content, targeted at his market will help, they will usually ask the "hard questions". Which means, answering about the same questions every time (after 7 years this is normal), and showing some examples. Either this works or it doesn't. If the initial screening process works, then comes the real shock: "oh this is real work! I tried this before and it has not really worked for me!" This may sound sarcastic, but believe me, it is not. 

     What does "real work" mean? It means researching, writing, editing, testing, promoting... all the tedious tasks which break down a content creation process. To some managers, the idea of "real work" is just fine. They have not gotten to where they are just by luck. To some, this is actually a refreshing change from the internet hype they were getting until now. I have seen a few hype presentations where SEO or design (UI/UX) suppliers tell stories of promotion which are beyond belief. It turns out that they are also beyond reality and they usually tend to show examples of the one out of fifty which performed the best. So what? This is simply normal business in a mostly unregulated and completely without standards field. You get the same hype stories from people selling coffee to your office manager and insurance to your brother. Why should internet marketing services be any different? Well, just like good coffee and insurance, some internet services are "for real" and they show real results. This simply means "real work". Once I start hearing questions and comments about the "real work" (i.e. how long does it take to do "the work"? and how much is it going to cost me?) then I know the customer is serious. 

     The other approach I take, is to talk to marketing and sales professionals on their own terms. Every serious (and usually successful) professional would not hesitate to tell you how much "real work" it takes to do their job. A good salesman will quickly describe their "sales funnel" from the smallest prospecting and qualification details, to sales collateral and trade show traffic. There is a reason why in the sales world about 5% of the top sales pros make 80% of the big sales. In marketing, from branding and strategy consultants to direct marketing and lead generation, the same ratios usually show up. This tends to work well in most professions. Just turn the tables and try to think of yourself as a customer in a large consumer electronic shop. You want to buy an home appliance. Think of a refrigerator, a washer, a large TV... anything that you will have questions about features and trade-offs between price and a dozen other parameters (size, quality, brand name, etc.) If you are going to act as a "non-serious" (or is it unprofessional) content creation outsource service client, you probably stay away from shops with helpful and well informed sales people (just being sarcastic). You probably just pull out a list of three models with prices you found on the internet, and see if they can compete with the price and supply the model type. But most consumers want to see what the sales person knows and what he can offer. Even with a washing machine which you will spend very little time "programming", you still want to make some trade-off decisions. You still want to get the best deal with the best service. 

     This is what you should be doing when looking at a content creation services. After all, what you will be buying is the core "image" and "content" for your business. The topics, writing style, editorial experience and editorial quality, their promotion ability will determine not only how people see your business, but how you will be seen in relationship to every other supplier. Just like selling a refrigerator, you want to show your interest in the buyer and his concerns. You want to explain to him what you know about the manufacturers and the models in the market. You want to give him the best "sales service" before he makes up his mind. This is what content does in most sales and marketing situations. Content is not just the glitzy happy copyrighting of the product description in a catalog. It is also the deep understanding of the use and long term ownership of a product. It is the understanding how the whole family will use the washer, even when the "mom" is not there or you don't even want the "mom" to know how that teenager (girl) got that slimy puke stain on the new jeans on a night when she was suppose to be in the "library" (or as the Beach Boys song goes: And she'll have fun fun fun / 'Til her daddy takes the T-Bird away)

 but that's a different story all together...  be happy, have fun, and work hard...