Water Your Content Marketing Plan and it Will Grow

We recently wrote a post, Does Your CEO blog? written by our fearless leader and CEO, Suzi McCoy.  In it, she mentions that "there's an untapped opportunity for an early CEO adopter with the right touch." Untapped- meaning, not enough CEO's blog.

All too often it seems that blogs, social media and entire content marketing plans are left to the control of an intern or recent college graduate. Content marketing is too important to be left to someone who doesn't understand the brand goals and values of the company.  It is of the utmost importance to have the CEO and top level management at the company invested in the marketing plan.

Marcus Sheridan, one of my favorite content marketing gurus recently wrote about this issue as well on his blog, The Sales Lion.

"...the more I seek to help companies go big or go home with building their digital brand and business through content marketing, the more I realize nothing great happens without full buy-in from the top dogs.

Why?

Because success in this business doesn’t happen overnight. Content marketing isn’t a chia-pet—water today, a vine jungle tomorrow."

Wait, a chia pet?  Did he really just compare marketing to a chia pet?
Rather, he says, it follows the principle of the Law of the Harvest.

• The field must be prepared.
• The seed must be planted.
• The beginnings of life must be continually watered and nourished.
• The crop must be protected.
• And the harvest eventually comes.

These principals really hit home with me.  Working in the lawn and garden industry, the Law of the Harvest goes without saying. Companies understand wholly the time, energy and patience it takes for a seed to grow.  But, marketing, some think happens overnight.
The point is, when developing a comprehensive marketing and social plan, you need 100% “buy-in” from the top.

And as Marcus says, "By "buy-in" I'm not just talking about a CEO who is generally aware of what’s going on. Rather, I’m referring to someone who is actively engaged in the process and walks the walk with everyone else... understand how consumers think, shop, and research these days—and the role that social media and content marketing play in that process.

Content marketing is not a passive approach to business. It’s all-in and all hands on deck.
And it starts with the top."