Recently, I made Toy Story alien cake pops for my son’s school friends. The recipe is far from easy, but the idea of taking a shortcut and using a cake pop mold for regular cake mix didn’t appeal to me as much as making the pops the old-fashioned way. In the process, I learned that making cake pops isn’t so different from content marketing:
- They require careful planning. Cake pops are not something that can be made all in one sitting. I spread out my cake pop-making efforts over several days to make sure I’d have time to complete each step correctly. Content marketing also can’t be completed in one sitting; it’s an ongoing effort that requires budgeting time and resources.
- You’ll get your hands dirty. Despite owning one of those neat cookie-ballers (a device that looks like an ice cream scoop and creates perfectly round balls of cookie dough for baking purposes), I still had to use my (carefully washed) hands to mold the pops. Content marketing can’t be done in a hands-off manner; to make sure your content is broadcasting the right message, sometimes you have to roll the content balls yourself.
- You’re going to need patience. Cake pops don’t form overnight. Neither does compelling content. Both need nurturing, molding, and planning to come out just right.
- Shortcuts won’t do the trick. Believe me, I researched cake pop molds and was not impressed with the pictures of lumpy, overflowing cake pans. That’s why I started from scratch. With content marketing, it’s tempting to try to repurpose something else or cut corners, but that’s how you get lumpy, unappealing content that drives away prospects.
- The result is completely worth it. The cake pops were super-cute and apparently a big hit at my son’s school. (And tasty, too.) When content marketing is done properly, it becomes a big hit by driving traffic and assisting with sales and credibility.